Artwork courtesy of rgbstock.com and xymonau
Another Great Breast Cancer Blog
I became acquainted with another breast cancer blog (and blogger) last week and I would like to introduce you. Her name is Elyn Jacobs and she is definitely a kindred spirit.
A Little About Elyn Jacobs
On the “My Story, My Passion” page of her website, Elyn shares with us “After battling breast cancer I realized that I would do everything possible to avoid a recurrence. I began with extensive research to better understand the causes, which led to certain lifestyle changes I have made. I also realized the support I received during my ordeal was invaluable and I felt compelled to share my information and experience in order to help others.”
That’s exactly how I felt after emerging from breast cancer and it had similar effects on me. Keeping the nasty little beastie at bay was paramount in my quest to find true healing.
DIM’s Shortcomings
Anyway, I digress. Elyn happened to pick up on my article about the natural supplement DIM: DIM Is Not The Wonder Supplement We Were Led To Believe, prompted by my naturopath, Dr Jacob Schor, and his article about estrogen metabolite ratios which appeared in a recent issue of the Townsend Letter.
Hoping that DIM would be a good natural alternative to Tamoxifen, I was pretty upset about Dr Schor’s research because I’d been relying heavily on DIM – also known as Diindolylmethane – and Dr Schor’s article pretty much destroyed my confidence in it. I’m sure it has some good attributes, but there are plenty of articles circulating on the Internet that DIM is a good natural alternative to Tamoxifen and that just isn’t the case.
Being the good breast cancer blogger (and coach) that Elyn Jacobs obviously is, she felt compelled to share that information on her blog today: DIM – New Thoughts On An Old Story.
It Is Not All About Estrogen
I particularly loved that Elyn said “Keep in mind that there are many natural ways to manage estrogen, and even more importantly, estrogen is a substance natural and necessary to the human body; it is not all bad and cancer is not all about estrogen.”
I couldn’t agree more. Just a few days ago, I finished an article on natural aromatase inhibitors by saying “The important thing I would like you to take away from all of this is that we can drive ourselves crazy looking for the tiniest things that will give us an edge over this disease. I hope you don’t get bogged down in this. Remember, estrogen is not the only factor involved in breast cancer. An overall anti-cancer strategy is to eat a sensible diet, include some of the things from this list where they make sense to you, get plenty of exercise and keep your stress levels down through the use of meditation.”
Ordinarily I wouldn’t quote myself, but I really believe this message bears repeating. There is WAY too much emphasis on inhibiting estrogen and it just isn’t the whole story.
If you would like my help with getting through breast cancer in an inspiring and ultra-healthy way, please sign up for my free e-newsletters and e-book on the right, or “like” me on Facebook (MarnieClark.com). It is my honor and my goal to help you through this so that you emerge from breast cancer feeling better than before.
Artwork courtesy of rgbstock.com and Idea Go
18 NATURAL AROMATASE INHIBITORS
The number 1 topic in breast cancer communities, and the thing I get asked about most often, is definitely about natural aromatase inhibitors. People are suffering from the effects of drugs like Tamoxifen, Raloxifene, Faslodex. The list of side effects these drugs are capable of producing is seemingly endless and I hear it all.
It’s a subject near and dear to our hearts and we can spend plenty of time trying to dig up research on new natural alternatives – I know I do because I chose not to take Tamoxifen, much to my oncologist’s annoyance. I just wasn’t willing to risk the side effects, such as cardiotoxicity and blood clots, etc.
It worries me that the side effects of these drugs can be so debilitating and disruptive to quality of life. More than that, I’ve know a few who were on AIs and suffered recurrences anyway.
I am continually on the outlook for natural aromatase inhibitors (AIs) and have written a few articles you may find useful: The Down & Dirty on Aromatase Inhibitors for Breast Cancer Treatment, Acupuncture: How It Helps With Cancer Treatments , Aromatase Inhbitors Natural vs Toxic, Researchers Discover Mushrooms Could Be Potent Natural Aromatase Inhibitors, Why Vitamin D is So Important for Breast Health and Is Chrysin a Good Natural Aromatase Inhibitor?
A Good Article
While doing some research today, I came a cross a lengthy article, “Natural Products as Aromatase Inhibitors” at the NIH website. Click here to view that article, but be warned, it will do your head in, unless you are a doctor, researcher or medical professional!
I will attempt to boil it all down into layman’s language for you – you can read for yourself all of the reasons why AIs are prescribed, how they work in breast cancer, and how scientists are actively researching many natural products to discover which ones can be utilized to help breast cancer patients. I know what you are really after — the list of natural things that exhibit AI activity.
18 Natural Aromatase Inhibitors
- Dioon Spinulosum – or gum palm, a cycad which grows in Veracruz and Oaxaca, Mexico
- Encephalartos ferox – also a cycad which grows mainly in Africa
- Riedelia - a genus of plants in the Zingiberaceae family, comprises approximately 75 species that are distributed among New Guinea and the Maluku and Solomon Islands
- Viscum album – a species of mistletoe, also known as European Mistletoe or Common Mistletoe to distinguish it from other related species. It is native to Europe and western and southern Asia
- Cycas rumphii – also a cycad, commonly known as queen sago or the queen sago palm, it grows in the Moluccan island group (New Guinea, Java, Indonesia)
- Cycas revoluta – also a cycad, native to southern Japan
- Alpinia purpurata – also known as Red Ginger, a native to Malaysia
- Coccothrinax Sarg – Coccothrinax is a genus of palms in the Arecaceae family, there are more than 50 species described in the genus, plus many synonyms and sub-species, and they grow in a variety of places
- Five red wine varieties, the most active being Cabernet Sauvignon from Tanglewood (France), the other mentioned was Pinot noir from Hacienda (Sonoma, CA)
- Brassaiopsis glomerulata – a deciduous tree found in North Vietnam
- Garcinia mangostana L. (Clusiaceae) – also known as mangosteen, has a long history of use as a medical plant, found mostly in Southeast Asia
- Euonymus alatus – also known as winged spindle, winged euonymus or burning bush, it’s a species of flowering plant in the family Celastraceae, native to central and northern China, Japan, and Korea
- Isodon excisus Kudo var. coreanus – a small herbaceous plant that grows in Western Asia (Japan, China, Korea)
- Scutellaria barbata – a plant used in traditional Chinese medicine, other names include ban zhi lian’, scullcap or skullcap, it grows in Korea and southern China
- Camellia sinensis – also known as green tea
- Vitis L. sp – also known as grape seed extract, the report cited a study where a water extract of grape seed extract was utilized and it had AI activity
- Agaricus bisporus – also known as white button mushrooms
- Trifolium pratense L. – also known as red clover flowers. Note: in low concentrations they inhibited aromatase, however in high concentrations they were estrogenic.
The article also mentioned that coffee, cocoa, collards, stout beer, tomato leaves and even cigarette smoke (!) strongly inhibited aromatase using a microsomal assay. I don’t know about you but I’m not eating tomato leaves or breathing in cigarette smoke intentionally!
Many of the above listed things are not currently being produced as natural supplements, however some are. I would suggest you print out this list and take it to your naturopath to see which ones would be safe for you to use. Some of the listed items will be easily available (like #9, #15, #16, #17) and you could easily incorporate them into your diet.
The above list is not exhaustive, I feel. The report did also discuss 125 flavonoids, 36 terpenoids, 19 peptides, 18 lignans, 16 xanthones, 15 fatty acids, 10 alkaloids, and 43 miscellaneous compounds having been evaluated but there was not sufficient information for me feel it was worth listing them all.
Unfortunately, there is no information on how much of any of the above nutrients it would be advantageous to take.
Just Remember Estrogen Is Not The Only Factor Involved In Breast Cancer
The important thing I would like you to take away from all of this is that we can drive ourselves crazy looking for the tiniest things that will give us an edge over this disease. I hope you don’t get bogged down in this. Remember, estrogen is not the only factor involved in breast cancer. An overall anti-cancer strategy is to eat a sensible diet, include some of the things from this list where they make sense to you, get plenty of exercise and keep your stress levels down through the use of meditation. When you sign up for my newsletters, you get a free copy of my e-book which is all about the aforesaid anti-cancer strategy. Go ahead, don’t be shy – sign up for my newsletters and download my free e-book and report and I will do my absolute utmost to help you through this.
Photo courtesy of freedigitalphotos.net and Stuart Miles
I have a great tip for saving your nails from the toxic effects of chemotherapy. I have heard about this from several people who were going through chemotherapy (particularly Taxol) and they said it absolutely works and that it was introduced to them by the chemo nurses, so I decided to share it with you.
I can’t tell you how many women I know going through breast cancer have been upset about losing their nails – having them turn black and falling off is definitely stressful and it can’t feel very good either. Not all chemo regimens cause this, but so many do and Taxol seems to be the worst. It isn’t permanent but it can take up to 6 months to grow out a new nail and that’s a long time to be without a nail protecting your fingertips.
How to Save Your Nails While Undergoing Chemotherapy
Just before you sit down for your chemotherapy infusion, get a bowl of ice cubes and water and plunge your fingertips – so that your nails are covered – into the bowl of ice. If it gets painful, just withdraw them for a minute or two, but try to keep your nails in the icy water for as long as you can. Don’t do it to the point of pain or frostbite! Just keep putting them in and taking them out when you need to.
How It Works
Icing your nails constricts the blood vessels, so less toxicity gets through. The chemicals that cause hair loss can also affect your nails and your fingernails grow much more quickly than your toenails.
Why Keeping Your Nails Is Important
Nail care is your first line of prevention, especially if you have had a few (or all) of your lymph nodes removed along with your breast cancer tumor. You will need to be particularly careful of damage to the nail, also hangnails or cuts or burns on the hands or fingers, which could lead to infection. Lymph nodes exist to help deal with infection and if they are not present, or present but in diminished numbers, an infection could be quite serious for you.
A Warning About Manicures & Acrylic Nails
Please also be aware about the dangers of manicures and nail polish. See my article Are Your Manicures Increasing Your Breast Cancer Risk for more information.
For a lengthy time after you finish chemotherapy your immune system is compromised and you will need to avoid infections and viruses until you are fully recovered. You can decrease the length of time you have a compromised immune system by being very proactive and juicing and taking the juice of lycium barbarum (goji or wolfberry), but here’s the thing about acrylic nails. If bacteria gets trapped between your natural nail bed and the acrylic overlay, either during application or from splitting and chipping or other sorts of damage to the acrylic nail, you could get a very serious infection and even need to be hospitalized.
To further complicate matters, many nail salons are using a poisonous substance called MMA in their nail adhesives, which is an industrial grade adhesive and not meant for use on the human body. MMA stands for methyl methacrylate and it is bad news for your health. This chemical is illegal but the nail industry is hard to police so it’s still being purchased on the black market and used in some nail salons. It can cause serious damage to your health.
Ladies, I know that acrylic nails look beautiful and it’s one of the things you CAN control after getting through breast cancer, but I don’t believe the risk is worth it. Just my two cents worth.
I send my love to everyone taking this journey right now. If you would like my help with getting through breast cancer in an inspiring and ultra-healthy way, please sign up for my free e-newsletters on the right, or “like” me on Facebook (MarnieClark.com) and I’ll do my utmost to keep you informed and empowered on your healing journey… and beyond.
Photo courtesy of rgbstock.com and Tacluda
Curcumin Very Helpful For Those With Resistance To Chemotherapy, Tamoxifen
According to breastcancerresearch.com, approximately 70% of breast cancers are estrogen receptor positive (ER+) at diagnosis. These patients are often recommended to have endocrine therapies that target estrogen receptors, such as the drug Tamoxifen.
Tamoxifen works by binding to tissues that use estrogen. This binding blocks the action of estrogen in the breast but mimics the action of estrogen in the bones and uterus. Tamoxifen is used to treat ER+ breast cancer in men and women and to prevent breast cancer in those at high risk.
Some People Are Resistant
Some people, however, are resistant to anti-estrogenic drugs like Tamoxifen, and also to certain chemotherapy drugs. See my article about chemoresistance, Chemo-Resistant Breast Cancers In The News. This has proven to be a huge problem for some patients.
According to breastcancerresearch.com development of resistance is a process that “appears to result from upregulation of growth factor and protein kinase signaling pathways that provide an alternate mechanism in support of tumor cell proliferation and survival.” So researchers are keen to identify or target the factors that come into play with endocrine resistance.
Some progressive oncologists are utilizing the chemosensitivity test for their patients who are resistant to certain chemo drugs. See my article If You Are Contemplating Chemotherapy, You Should Know About the Chemosensitivity Test.
Curcumin To The Rescue
The good news is that a new Chinese study, published in January 2013 in Molecules, indicates that curcumin, the active ingredient in turmeric, has been shown to be effective in helping to restore Tamoxifen sensitivity and also sensitizes cancer cells to chemotherapy, thus making the chemotherapy more effective. The researchers “discovered that curcumin treatment displayed anti-proliferative and pro-apoptotic activities” and that the “findings suggested that curcumin alone and combinations of curcumin with endocrine therapy may be of therapeutic benefit for endocrine-resistant breast cancer. Click this link to read the Chinese study.
You can get curcumin in capsules in health food stores, you can also use turmeric in your cooking. Allrecipes.com has a big list of recipes that utilize turmeric. It’s a gorgeous spice and adds depth and flavor to your curries, as well as other dishes. I recommend turmeric in my page Diet and Cancer (scroll all the way to the bottom).
References:
http://breast-cancer-research.com/content/13/3/R70
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23299550
If you would like my help with getting through breast cancer in an inspiring and ultra-healthy way, please sign up for my free e-newsletters on the right, or “like” me on Facebook (MarnieClark.com). It is my honor and my goal to help you through this.
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T-DM1 Approved For Her2 Breast Cancer
Further to my post of August 15, 2012, New Chemotherapy Drug for HER2 – Genentech’s T-DM1, I have an update for you. The FDA has finally approved T-DM1, now known as the brand-name Kadcyla, for women with HER2+, metastatic breast cancer. The new therapy has been approved for use in patients who have already undergone unsuccessful treatment with a combination of trastuzumab (Herceptin) and a taxane.
An Interesting Method of Delivery
Kadcyla is a conjugate – it combines the drug trastuzumab, better known by the brand name Herceptin, and a powerful chemotherapy drug called DM1. The trastuzumab portion targets HER2+ cells, then the attached chemotherapeutic molecule – the DM1, which is too toxic to deliver directly into the patient’s bloodstream – is delivered and attacks the cancer cell. T-DM1 has helped inspire a new generation of antibody + drug conjugates.
Study Results
FDA approval was based on a study known as EMILIA, in which patients with HER2+, metastatic breast cancer who had failed treatment with a combination of trastuzumab and taxane were randomized to ado-trastuzumab emtansine or conventional therapy with lapatinib and capecitabine (Xeloda). The patients given ado-trastuzumab emtansine resulted in significant improvements in both progression-free survival (9.6 vs 6.4 months) and overall survival (30.9 vs 25.1 months).
The Down-Side (Why Is There Always A Down-Side?)
This sounds like really great news, however, the drug is not without risk (what else is new?). The FDA requires labeling on Kadcyla to warn of risks of liver toxicity, reductions in left ventricular ejection fraction for the heart, and death. In addition, there is risk of severe birth defects, so a woman’s pregnancy status should be determined before starting treatment, the FDA said. The most common side effects associated with the drug were nausea, fatigue, musculoskeletal pain, thrombocytopenia, elevated liver enzymes, headache, and constipation.
As if all of that weren’t enough, the drug will cost $9,800 a month, or about $94,000 for a 9.5-month course of therapy. Let’s hope it can keep people alive.
References:
http://www.medpagetoday.com/HematologyOncology/BreastCancer/35052
http://www.asco.org/ASCOv2/Meetings/Abstracts?&vmview=abst_detail_view&confID=114&abstractID=98675
http://chicago2012.asco.org/ASCODailyNews/LBA1.aspx
I send my love to everyone taking this journey right now. If you would like my help with getting through breast cancer in an inspiring and ultra-healthy way, please sign up for my free e-newsletters on the right, or “like” me on Facebook (MarnieClark.com) and I’ll do my utmost to keep you informed and empowered on your healing journey… and beyond.
Photo courtesy of freedigitalphotos.net and David Castillo Dominici
Further to my article of December 11, 2012 “Dim Is NOT The Wonder Supplement We’ve Been Led To Believe“, the article written by my naturopath for which we were waiting publication in the Townsend Letter, the Examiner of Alternative Medicine, has been published and I wanted to share that link with you: Estrogen Metabolite Ratios: Time For Us To Let Go
The article was written by Dr Jacob Schor, my naturopath here in Denver. Dr Schor is also President of Oncology Association of Naturopathic Physicians. It’s not an easy one to read, I suggest you print it out and go put your feet up in a quiet place to digest the information. It will probably require several readings to fully appreciate what Dr Schor is telling us.
Kind of depressing, really. Many of us have been relying on DIM – and on apparently faulty information. The search continues for a worthy natural supplement to rival Tamoxifen.
If you would like my help with getting through breast cancer in an inspiring and ultra-healthy way, please sign up for my free e-newsletters on the right, or “like” me on Facebook (MarnieClark.com). It is my honor and my goal to help you through this.
Photo courtesy of freedigitalphotos.net and zirconicusso
Why It’s Important To Detox Your Body After Chemotherapy & Radiation
Although your body does a great job of detoxing all on its own – at least when you’re healthy – when you’ve been through chemotherapy and/or radiation, your body is overloaded with waste products. It is important to detox after chemotherapy and/or radiation and you’re going to feel so much better if you do.
An overload of toxins are known to cause bloating, fatigue, headaches, poor memory, aching muscles, a suppressed immune system (the very thing you’re relying on to keep you well), even halitosis (bad breath)!. Toxic buildup within the body is also a problem if you have had lymph nodes removed (our lymphatic system acts as another method of waste removal) and can worsen lymphedema.
Once chemotherapy and radiation are finished and these strong treatments have done their work, the body is filled with toxins. Radiation can damage healthy cells and create toxic buildup and if you think about it, even cancer cells themselves become toxins as they wither up and die from the treatments.
Make sure you’re strong enough to undergo cleansing, however. Consult with your physician or naturopath before embarking on a cleansing path! You might find it necessary to wait a number of weeks or even months if you are too weak but the sooner you get started detoxing, the better you will feel. Even if you are too weak, you can still increase your water intake, do gentle exercise and begin juicing.
How To Detox Your Body After Chemotherapy & Radiation
Colonics - colonic hydrotherapy can be of assistance not only after chemotherapy but during to help alleviate the terrible constipation that often results from chemotherapy. Your medical staff may argue the efficacy of chemotherapy (I had one nurse tell me that we are designed for wastes to move ONE way and we shouldn’t go against that!) but it really helps tremendously. I went through a course of colonic hydrotherapy post-chemo and found it to be a gentle and effective method for toxin and waste cleansing. There’s nothing new about colonics – Egyptians were using it for constipation centuries ago. If you’d like to read one person’s experience with it, click here.
Drinking Plenty of Water, Herbal Tea – this is the most natural way to detox your body after chemotherapy. Make sure your water is filtered (here’s a great, affordable water filter) to help keep you safe from herbicides, pesticides, and other assorted nasties that our water now has in it. We used to hear that drinking 8 glasses of water per day was essential, however, newer studies have shown that as long as you are sipping away on water all day you are probably getting what you need. Put in a slice of lemon for some additional flavor, cleansing qualities and antioxidant protection. Herbal teas are also wonderful to help the cleansing process, particularly dandelion tea which is a liver tonic.
Juicing, Juicing, Juicing - seems like I am always touting the benefits of juicing organic fruits and vegetables but their importance for health cannot be stressed sufficiently. Make sure you have a great juicer though, as not all juicers are designed to keep the living enzymes within your expensive organic produce alive! Here’s a great one, this is the one I use. Live juices can help to heal, rejuvenate, and flush away toxins. Fresh vegetable and fruit juices are the cleansers, energizers, regenerators, and blood builders of the human body. Try any combination of beet (great blood cleanser), kale, spinach, carrot, cucumber, apple, ginger and pineapple (both great anti-inflammatories). Blueberries, strawberries and raspberries are full of antioxidants and help to cleanse the blood of impurities.
Circulate that Blood – it might seem ultra simple but something as simple as bouncing on a rebounder (one of those mini trampolines) for 10 minutes a couple of times per day help so much to get the heart pumping, blood circulating and toxins flushing out of your body. Best done BEFORE a meal or juicing, however! Walking, cycling, hiking, dancing, yoga – all are great to get the body moving and detoxing. Make sure you drink plenty of filtered water after exercising.
Fiber – helps to grab on to toxins in your digestive tract. Fiber soaks up toxins rather like a sponge, speeds up elimination, helps with cleansing. Natural fiber is available from fruits, vegetables and whole grains, however there are also plenty of fiber products on the market which you could add to your regimen. Get a recommendation from your health food shop or naturopath.
Herbal Medicine – there are many herbs which will assist you in detoxing after chemotherapy and radiation. Milk thistle is a particularly good herb for liver cleansing. I would definitely recommend seeking the advice of a qualified naturopath before using herbal medicine, however, because they are specifically trained in herbal medicine and since herbs can sometimes have drug interactions you would want the best guidance possible.
Eating Organic Food- because at this stage you are working towards detoxing and keeping well and healthy your best bet is to avoid processed and sugar-laden foods as these will not assist the detox process. Eating plenty of organic fruits, vegetables and lean meats is much more conducive to keeping your system clear of any further toxins.
Epsom Salt Baths – there is something just so restorative about a hot epsom salt bath! Hot water opens the pores and assists perspiration to take toxins away. Epsom salts are full of nutrients such as magnesium and sulfate, which help generate enzymes that clean up the body. To make it a totally revitalizing experience, add lavender essential oil for calming effects, or ginger which also helps to open the pores and is a good natural anti-inflammatory. If you don’t have epsom salts, baking soda is also useful and it helps to neutralize the effects of radiation. This is another place where water filtration is important because if you live in an area where the water is highly chlorinated you are soaking all that chlorine up into your body through the skin. Chlorine and breast cancer are linked, see this article from globalhealingcenter.com.
Toxin Free Body Products - you might not think about this, but if your body and skin care products are laden with toxins you are taking all of those into your body via the skin as well. I would be doing you a disservice if I didn’t also mention the importance of using organic body products and cosmetics when you are detoxing your body. Here’s a healthy, safe brand, the one I use myself.
I know that’s a lot of things to think about, but if you are determined to get well and stay well, incorporating even just two or three of these suggestions into your life will be very helpful. Finally, I found a really useful article on ehow.com titled Full Body Detox After Cancer with some great suggestions and a very specific detox plan. I hope these suggestions help you!
If you would like my help with getting through breast cancer in an inspiring and ultra-healthy way, please sign up for my free e-newsletters on the right, or “like” me on Facebook (MarnieClark.com). It is my honor to help you through this.
Photo courtesy of freedigitalphotos.net and Renjith Krishnan
I’ve been following hyperthermia treatment for breast cancer for a number of years. Everything I’ve been reading about it is quite promising.
Hyperthermia for cancer treatment is well explained in this article from the National Cancer Institute.
Hyperthermia is the heating of body tissues (usually a tumor) to high temperatures (up to 113°F) to damage and kill cancer cells.
It is not considered to be a stand-alone treatment – hyperthermia is almost always used together with other forms of cancer therapy, such as radiotherapy and chemotherapy.
The interesting thing is that adding hyperthermia to pre-operative chemotherapy and radiotherapy has been shown to increase a patient’s response rates more so than chemotherapy or radiotherapy alone.
Hyperthermia and Radiotherapy May Make A Powerful Combination
Scientists are discovering that hyperthermia may make some cancer cells more sensitive to radiation and that’s why the two are generally used together – they are often given within an hour of each other.
According to Hyperthermia For Locally Advanced Breast Cancer, an article on the NCBI website, hyperthermia has been “quite effective in the treatment of chest wall recurrences of breast cancer.” This is quite an extensive article on hyperthermia and definitely worth reading.
Hyperthermia and Chemotherapy – Another Powerful Combination
In addition to the research mentioned above, scientists in China recently published an article showing that short-term hyperthermia promoted paclitaxel (a popular breast cancer drug) in its suppression of cell proliferation.
Be sure to read Hyperthermia for Locally Advanced Breast Cancer (see link above) to see how chemotherapy is being utilized in unison with hyperthermia. Pretty exciting research!
Side Effects of Hyperthermia?
There can be some side effects associated with heating body tissues but they appear to be minimal, usually small burns, blisters, discomfort, or pain – all of which are quite manageable and temporary.
The Down-Side
There is a down-side, but only as it relates to the inability of many patients to access this form of therapy. The NCBI article specifically mentions: “The lack of widespread access to institutions with the experience to perform hyperthermia is a critical barrier to such trials and needs to be addressed.”
If hyperthermia interests you, ask your oncologist about it. Remember the old adage “The squeaky wheel gets the grease”. If more patients start asking for this type of therapy, we improve our chances of getting more facilities offering it.
The Bicher Cancer Institute in Los Angeles utilizes hyperthermia – check out their interesting You Tube video discussing it. I respected Dr Bicher’s strong suggestion that even after treatment a woman must be vigilant and have quarterly exams.
I send my love to everyone taking this journey right now. If you would like my help with getting through breast cancer in an inspiring and ultra-healthy way, please sign up for my free e-newsletters on the right, or “like” me on Facebook (MarnieClark.com) and I’ll do my utmost to keep you informed and empowered on your healing journey… and beyond.
Photo courtesy of freedigitalphotos.net and healingdream
Disappointing News About DIM
A chance message from one of the members at a breast cancer forum of which I am also a member (breastcancer.org) had me scurrying around yesterday, in an attempt to discover some information about a favorite supplement of mine, named DIM.
She had heard that taking DIM might raise progesterone levels and since her tumor was progesterone receptor positive (as was mine), this was a concern. So she asked me about it.
Too Good to be True?
DIM is a product I have been on myself for about 4 years – it was recommended to me by a naturopath in Australia because it supposedly promotes beneficial estrogen metabolism and healthy hormonal balance and was supposed to be especially helpful for managing estrogen dominant conditions. Some articles I found on the Internet even said it was better than Tamoxifen, a well-known breast cancer drug.
Back to the “Drawing Board”
But apparently the longer view, taken from more current and exhaustive research, is that DIM is not the wonder-supplement we had all hoped for. DRAT! I hate it when something I’ve been actively promoting turns out to be bad advice.
My naturopath here in Denver, who is President of the Oncology Association of Naturopathic Oncology and also Associate Editor of The Natural Medicine Journal (and, among other things, a very learned man and someone I trust) was the expert from whom I sought information regarding DIM. He shared with me a soon-to-be-released article on this very subject that he’d recently written for The Townsend Letter, an alternative medicine journal, but asked me merely to ingest its contents and not forward it on as it had not been released yet.
The contents of the article had my head spinning. After reviewing decades of research on estrogen metabolites, my naturopath feels that we have been going on a theory that just has not proven to be fact, no matter how much we might wish it to be true. He told me in an email yesterday, “there is certainly little reason to think that DIM was a substitute for Tamoxifen, there was nothing about the proposed mechanism of action that was similar. One could argue that at least flax seed or soy genestein was kind of similar in action. Sorry to be the party pooper.”
So, despite this being really disappointing news for us breast cancer survivors I wanted you to know the latest thinking on the subject of DIM. When the article is released (probably not until February) I will post a link to it.
My own thoughts and feelings are that the best thing we can do for ourselves to keep ourselves disease free are relatively simple. Follow the recommendations in my page Diet and Cancer, exercise at least 30 minutes per day, keep stress levels down, keep toxic chemicals and xenoestrogens to a minimum and a few other important things I recommend in my free offering “21 Crucial Things To Do When You Have A Breast Cancer Diagnosis” – you can receive a free copy when you sign up for my newsletters on the right-hand side of this page.
Photo of Chinese Herbs courtesy of freedigitalphotos.net and Stuart Miles
Today’s guest post is written by MaryAnne Bachia, a dear friend of mine. MaryAnne is a Licensed Acupuncturist and specializes in women’s health.
I asked MaryAnne to write about how acupuncture and Chinese herbs can assist with the hot flashes that plague us during and after chemotherapy treatments. I found that regular acupuncture treatments combined with Chinese herbs really assisted me after chemotherapy.
MaryAnne writes:
“Sweating after chemotherapy is a very natural process. What really happens with chemo, as you probably know, is that the chemo burns out everything in the body, good and bad, if you want to look at it that way. It burns out the immune system as well as any signs of disease.
According to Chinese medical principles, this isn’t such a great idea. It’s like burning the oil in a car and continuing to run the engine.
What’s happening with hot flashes is that the body is trying to create the oil again – it’s attempting to rebuild estrogen levels. It’s one of the ways the body is brilliant for trying to create homeostasis and heal itself.
The body has a perfect way of managing stress. Cancer may be created in a similar way. The body has created much stress, systemically, and so it creates stagnation or a cyst or tumor compact, in one area, such as the breast. This is why it can be easy to have surgery and eliminate a tumor but we have to learn how to handle our stress in a way that is more balanced so we don’t re-create accumulations or stagnations (as tumors are called in Chinese medicine).
What To Do For Hot Flashes?
Chinese medicine works wonders with both acupuncture and herbs or either one on its own. If you find the right acupuncturist, one with experience with dealing with cancer, you can also gain tips for nutrition and lifestyle choices that can benefit your re-building and help you regain your strength.
For more information, see my article How Does Acupuncture Work?
For more information have a look at my website at: http://www.acupunctureenergyworks.com or contact me for a free 15 minute consultation.”
Thanks so much to MaryAnne Bachia!
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