Metformin and Breast Cancer

Chris:   I totally agree with you on the sugar!  It is our enemy and we should avoid it at all costs.  Being dx with bc and continuing to eat a diet of sugar and carbs that convert to sugar is akin to the definition of insanity..."doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results".  There are no guarantees, regardless of what we do, but the odds are that the elimination of as much sugar as possible from our diets is a benefit, and if the addition of Metformin would assist that along, so much the better.  I don't understand the hesitation on the part of doctors to prescribe it.  I have an app't with a new MO in March to discuss further.

Chris:  You said you started giving you wife Metformin on your own.  How were you able to obtain it without a prescription?

Chris very happy to hear your story and wish your wife a very healthy life ahead and stablility for a very long long time..

here is a article that explains very well the role of glucose and metformin in cancer..it also talks about Dichloroacetate and how this inexpensive drug is finding itself popularised in use for cancer..it is thought to play a role in the same glucose uptake for cancr cells..

 http://www.nytimes.com/2010/11/30/health/30cancer.html?_r=1&hp=&pagewanted=all

laurajane:  I pray that the Metformin and Halavan work to heal you.  So glad your friend found this thread for you!

Thats-life - the side effects are very minimal, which is why they can use it in clinical trials for thousands of non-diabetic cancer patients.  It is one diabetic drug that doesn't cause hypoglycemia, which would be a big concern for non-diabetics. 

I hope you go for it, and I hope it does the trick for you.

I believe it's being used in the clinical trial for all hormone statuses.

http://www.clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT01101438?term=breast+cancer+and+metformin&rank=6

This clinical trial is being conducted with Stage IV patients to combine metformin with various chemos.

http://www.clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT01310231?term=breast+cancer+and+metformin&rank=4

LuvRVing-

I don't know that the Metformin by itself is the best idea...it seems like doubling down with a chemo regimen that is complimentary is the best plan. Of course, I'm no doctor, it would just make me leery. It's good that they're suddenly taking this seriously though, I think it could really help some people.

p.s. thanks RV for those links, I appreciate it

LuvRVing:  This just shows how ignorant my MO is!  He had no idea when I showed him the study on Metformin that there were any clinical trials being done on it.  He basically blew me off and said that it was a diabetic drug for over weight people of which I was not.  Then he prescribed tamoxifen which I am reluctantly taking:(  I would much rather take Metformin instead.  I have an appointment with a new MO in March and I will talk to her about this.

 Again, you have to be your own advocate when you navigate through this bc process!

LuvRVing-

I hear you on the endocrine system health...I've heard if your liver or kidneys aren't running right that it's dangerous is all I meant.

 and we're in KCMO too, at KU Med.

 Kaara-take MORE studies in to him. I took almost 100 pages of unique information, some were clinical studies underway, some were preclinical studies. they're running trials everywhere from the Mayo Clinic to Harvard medical on Metformin. good luck!

For me that was the most discouraging thing about "standard" treatment, really. In talking with providers it was clear to me that so many are just influenced by the past and the reputations of those who promote the past dependence on tinkertoy science, and aren't keeping up with anything but that. I could buy into it better IF we had an endocrinologist trained to specialize in dealing with cancer sitting on our tumor boards. But right now we have nothing but surgeons to cut it out, radiologists to cook it out, and oncologists to experiment with toxic therapies with total control over medical management.

(It reminds me too much of the overconfident management worldwide of our economic systems during the "real estate bubble"!)

A.A.

Well the Halavan stopped working at the 5 week mark. Any of the chemos that worked just can't get past that 5 weeks. My onc agreed to giving me the prescription so I figure even though it probably works best with chemo since there aren't any more chemos it can't hurt to try it on it's own. My client wants to give me a glucose test kit and carry glucose pills just in case. Has anyone else had to do this? Has anyone else heard of anyone benifitting from this by itself?

I am now on the trial I am doing for myself, 2500mg / day taking prior to meals.  Am also keeping the glycemic index of food choices way down.  Did you know that millet even w its B17 is one of the highest grains on glycemic index?  WTH and I was using it for my main grain all summer.  And the glucose feeds the cancer.  It is a vicious cycle. 

The metformin,  being for metabolizing glucose efficiently, while eating low glycemic foods, no meats, never refined sugar.  So a buckwheat pancake with dense flour, not fine, organic ground seeds in it and organic hormone free butter and dribbles of agave nectar - think about it, yummy and so healthy even for us. 

I am also taking DIM and Breast Balance w DIM and working on hormone levels.  I think both are  necessary, IMO, just makes sense to me that the metabolism, though under control of hormones such as thyroid, is still needing addressed.  And the hormones are in need of their tweaking if an individual needs that.  My thyroid had been not only not working but was working against me, everything turned to fat, and my T scores were horrible, TSH huge, cannot remember.  But my nurse practitioner caught it and saved my life - and she then also got me on Metformin 500 mg at each meal.  She said that would keep my sugars down while my body healed and adjusted to thyroid hormone changes, which it did.  

Before Metformin, after eating a wonderful, healthy meal, I would be completely starved in 30 minutes or so, to the point sometimes I would cry from this horrible emptiness.  Mind you, I spent years in Overeaters Anonymous because of this emptiness.  Really.  I was undiagnosed my entire life - even in elementary school I remember the hunger.  

On Metformin - no more hunger and emptiness.  I would eat and be all right.  Naturally have an appetite when it was time, relief for first time in 52 years. 

When I got the BC, I went off the Metformin because I was suspect of everything, what did this and how to stop it.  Then researched the Met and realized it is derived from French Lilac, right? anyone?  and that studies were being done for cancer, as it controls the glucose uptake.  The point is to starve the cancer cells which are utilizing like 10x more sugars we take in than our normal cells.  That's a hard one for me because I do like food.  I do overeat when there is a cheesecake in the house.  I told Hubby, I am literally eating myself to death because this is feeding the cancer.  So we are REAL about it now, very serious.  Sometimes later on, I can eat what I want, but not now, and I must always be on maintenance for prevention of reoccurence, I realize.

I set my food protocol for two weeks at a time, not more then I feel like I can get to the next point and retest for changes in menu.  We use kinesiology and it has been a wonderful experience to see the truth after the testing, even when I did know the answers when questions are asked.

The Met needs monitored - the kidneys are the part of us that takes a hit if out of balance.  And potassium gets leached for some reason I think, throwing it out there but am in too much a hurry to look that up.   Just know my practitioner was always checking kidneys, potassium for some reason, think that is it. 

AND IF YOU ARE ON METFORMIN YOU MUST TELL THE TECH BEFORE AN MRI - PLEASE DO NOT HIDE IT IF YOU ARE TAKING THIS ON YOUR OWN, as I do realize some are trying to take it w/o an Rx.  After the MRI you cannot take Metformin for 48 hours, you have to have the kidney test first for whatever reason or you could end up with renal failure.  So pass this info on, please.  

Yes, Met  is 'safe' but there are always consequences to not following protocol for any supplement or Rx and this is the one I know for Metformin.

Definitely, test blood sugars while using if you are not diabetic, it cannot hurt, and be prepared for crashes, have a can of juice, some glucose pills, a butterscotch.  BUT ALMONDS, organic, natural, not irradiated fumigated ones AUGH, the natural ones are good to keep blood sugar normal.  No, cancer people cannot actually digest almonds, an old homeopathic truth, but if you chew them really well and have a few every hour, you can stabilize blood sugar with or without Metformin.  But the almonds are not a replacement for Met to see if it backtracks the cancer, almonds are just for nutrition and blood sugar.  So if someone is not supposed to be on Met but using it for cancer and having issues w blood sugar, the almonds are worth the try, instead of higher sugared fruit juices and food and sugar snacks which go against what we are trying to accomplish.

I am so relieved to find anything that does not KILL cancer cells, but actually causes them to starve or heal themselves one way or another.  This is exactly what I am online to learn and be a part of.  

Hope some of this helps.  Am learning a lot from everyone and appreciate the feedback and experiences so much!

I am with all of you, let's see if this works.  

Diane (Essa is my nickname but you can call me whatever)

Exactly, LuvRVing - it's that some doctors seem to be concerned about low blood sugar episodes for those who do not have blood sugar challenges to begin with, so these are ways to be prepared. 

I have loved Met from the beginning, I went from hypoglycemic with a next to dead thyroid and congestive heart failure to a normal person in a few days.  

From the first post

"It's thought the drug works by targeting a cancer tumour's stem cells which, if not killed off, can allow various cancer cell types to regenerate.

"It's not killing them; it is actually suppressing their growth and without growth, the cells eventually die," explains Vuk Stambolic, a cancer researcher at Princess Margaret Hospital in Toronto"

I think the researchers may be overcomplicating the theory??   But their jobs are to figure out exactly what is happening, so onward.

I am trying to figure out that since I was on Met, why did I get cancer, but  I think I know I was still eating wrong for me, and Met can only do so much.  Since I was not diabetic, and since I do love food, Met gave me a license that was not to my benefit, and I knew it.  I am hoping the higher dose and the new food plan will turn this around.   I am also using the right fats, and less since some cancer masses are all about the fat with only a few cancer cells involved, mine had 60 c cells in a 1-inch actual tumor,  and the tissue around it was taken too at 3-inches. My tumor blossomed, afte rit had been getting so much smaller from the alternative protocol I seet for myself , it blossomed when I was emotionally eating while deciding chemo or not, surgery or not, mastectomy or not, double mast or not, rads or not, ICE CREAM, I was eating everything I think.  I don't do that often, but this was a time I did and am so regretting it, because maybe the protocol could have done its work if I had let the food also be the medicine.  

Essa:  I'm reading a wonderful book right now by Dr. Christine Horner called "Waking The Warrior Goddess".  It's all about bc and the foods and supplements that work to prevent recurrence.  Also how they can be used to complement conventional therapy.  For instance, those with HER2+ who are taking Herceptin can take a lot of olive oil which helps the Herceptin work more effectively.  That is just one example.