An Alternative approach to Stage IV Health and choices

3littlegirls, do you take the curcumin as a pill?

Michelle,

If you could post the whole list that would be great...Do you take tumeric in a pill form? Had not heard of wobenzymes, will ask my dr.. about that. Would love to know what you did in Mexico. How are your markers during this treatment? 

Honestly just buy the pill form of curcumin.  That way you can easily get your daily dose with out getting sick of the stuff.  I was trying to do the Tumeric as well and I love curries but you can only eat so much turmeric before you get sick of it.  The best brand I think is the AOR. 

The scan will tell me how I responded to the dendritic vaccines as well as everything else.  I am seriously thinking of calling the hospital and saying I have pains or something so they will rush me in for a scan.   The Dr in Mexico wanted me scanned early Aug.  I am still waiting.  So yes I am going a little crazy.  I don't have an appointment until Sept 20th with my Onc and that is when I will get the results for the scan. It will be 4 months by then.  Ifile:///var/folders/Q5/Q5DipivPEZK3ZfvBth-a5++++TI/-Tmp-/com.apple.mail.drag/AFOprogram-N.pdf 

Oh and no side effects to Vitamin C . I used to get cold and a little shaky which is just your blood sugar levels dropping. I just bring a snack and then I am fine. I actually don't get that anymore.  It can also make you super thirsty is it is mixed with saline. So I just bring lots of ice cold water.  I have no symptoms of this disease. It was in my bones but those lesions are gone. And  I have great energy levels.  

oh i wish we could all sit around and share our findings. i am also doing Mistletoe injections. i do so many things i forget to mention them. anyway one thing i wanted to bring to the table is becareful of your copper levels. copper promotes blood vessel growth and that us what the tumours want. especially if you have a larger tumour vs lots of little ones. i was trying to be vegan ( i cheated a lot) but my new ND oncoloylogist said not too because most of the foods vegans eat are high sources of copper. i was tested for a bunch if thungs and while on a vegan diet my colestrol wqs too low ( who knew that could be a problem?) anyway just a heads up as for the last year i was eating a high copper diet thinking i was eating right. curcumin is good for inflammation as well.

I have been using supplements and eastern medicine right along side the traditional western medicine.  There is such value in using everything available and I am very fortunate to have a treatment center that encourages the treatment of the entire person.

Foods play a role and the removal of over processed foods and gluten makes joint pain from the antihormonals tolerable; the concord grape with antioxidents is fabulous; garlic and ginger add flavor and are quite helpful in many ways including keeping mosquitoes away helping to avoid those illnesses they carry - not the thing we need with an already compromised immune system; cummin, turmeric and curry are excellent and do come in capsule form but I like to cook with them; water; yoga can be wonderful but many of the moves are too taxing so Yoga on the Bed and Yoga with a Chair are good choices; music of all kinds can totally change your mood; pets are such great companions and studies have shown they can reduce stress and lower blood pressure; and there is so much more! 

The things I have listed are easy and readily available for everyone - depending on your committment to what degree you wish to use alternatives, be sure discuss things with the oncologist so you are not hurting yourself. 

I will be starting chemo next week for the new mets and have much research to do so I am off...more later.

LowRider 

While I realize that alternatives instead of traditional treatment is the main topic of this thread, I do believe that at stage iv, it is the melding of the two that gives the best results.  Early stages have a better opportunity to make use of the alternative treatments only but with care as once the horse is out of the barn, you can't put it back in. 

Had to mention that as it is important to know that there do exist some very effective non-traditional treatments although I have not elected to try them.

thats-life...on the music.  Think of the way you mood is altered by those memories of the songs you hear.  What mood would you like to feel at the moment?  Are you stressed?  Listen to something that puts you in a quiet place, invokes a memory sure to put a little smile on your face and in your heart.  Hearing bad news can be changed in the way your mind processes the infomation by selecting either a totally silly happy song with no connection to any particular memory or again, one that invokes a happy thought.  Often, certain instruments play to parts of your body and mind along with the tempo, tone and the touch of the keys on a piano or the drum - slow beats can slow the heart rate and calm an anxiety episode, soft keystrokes and muted drums invoke a slower and quieting of the thoughts.  On the flip side, exciting news, good news that makes you want to sing from the mountain tops can be enhances with more rapid tempos and heavier keystrokes producing more resonance which prolong the euphoric feeling and does release more of our natural endorfins someitmes replacing the need for medication but more often, enhancing its effect allowing us to use lower doses to attain the desired level without the 'overkill' that some medications can bring on - that horrid sensation of feeling numb and unable to feel a full range of emotions.  I do take antidepressants and antianxiety meds but rather than step up to the recommended dose, I stopped at low doses and work with music and yoga to reach the level of control without losing the ability to cry and feel sad about things that you should feel sad about but without the immobilizing panic that used to come.

Eastern medicine has been around for a long time.  Acupuncture is a wonderful addition to any treatment plan - primarily it will be begin with pain relief but there is so much more!  I have such a good relationship with my acupuncturist that if I let her know I am going to be taking a road trip, she will pay special attention to the areas that are most effected by sitting in a driving position for an extended period of time - for instance, there are 2 very powerful areas on the back of the hand that the insertion of a 'tack' can offer days of relief.  You will be leaving with 4 little needles and they should only stay in for no longer than 3 days but I had no significant issues during the entire 12 hour drive. 

Another example (I am using myself here as it is who I know best) is the use of the needles in helping control incontinence.  It takes some time but each body part is connected to pressure points and the nerves all tie into the spine in some way.  I tried a traditional medicine and all I ended up with was blurry vision, an unbearable dry mouth and not one bit of improvement in the incontinence.  I quit taking it and we have been working with the needles.  It will take time but after 2 sessions concentrating on the bladder, I was able to go better during the day which did start to make me aware of the need to go during the night and stopped me from soaking the bed as I was waking when the diaper was full and got up to go and change it.  This was huge to me as not having to change my sheets everyday saved my back! 

You can couple the acupuncture with acupressure as many of the same 'points' react to pressure as well the needles and can be done by yourself.  Just as in yoga, there is a 'center' and meridians - I could go on and on.  What I can do is gather some of the materials I have been using and send you a PM with a list of some things you may want to pick up.  My sister is very much into healing and has also offered some excellent advice in the area of using herbs and body points that stimulate areas not normally stimulated through normal bodily functions. The biggest of these is the lymph node system.  It really has no natural means of stimulation - it could be why it is the path of least resistance for the spread of the cancer cells.  It does follow many of the same meridians so using the acupressure along the meridians will provide relief. 

I am just learning some parts of this but I find with each new discovery, it takes me to wanting to learn more and more and with the encouragement of my treatment team, treating the cancer is only a part of it - there is a person that has cancer in need of the same care and attention I have always needed - to ignore that means only the disease gets treated.

Enough of my babble for now...

Hugs all

Low

Dear friends, look for this thread in the research section.  Metformin and anti-oxidants combined starve cancer. - At least in the test tube.  Since metformin has shown promise and is undergoing trials, it makes sense that the anti-oxidants are the missing link.  They know the biochemistry behind it... from Boston University... 

When glucose supplies run short, NF-kB moves energy generation to an alternative process that doesn't rely on glucose. But blocking NF-kB in cancer cells leaves them unable to make this switch and so they ultimately die.

By targeting this protein complex, the researchers showed they could kill bowel cancer cells in the lab. To mimic the effect of glucose starvation, the researchers first treated the cancer cells with a molecule that blocks NF-kB, though by itself it has no effect on survival. But when combined with the diabetes drug metformin, which blocks alternative methods of energy production, they effectively besiege the cancer cells so that they starve and die.