HER2 Support Group Forums - View Single Post

07-16-2005, 04:16 PM

Dear Irene and Jessica,

I am new to this site and not registered yet, but I felt like I should respond to you both. Before putting yourselves through so much scanning and chemo trials, be sure you KNOW what your serial CA 27/29 and serial Serum her-2 markers are on a regular basis. Keep the CA 27/29 below 10 and the her-2 below 15 or 12, depending on the assay and the "spots," artifacts, etc. will disappear off the scans. I have already "lived the dream" ...so many times... What I mean is that I have had mets in the liver (innumerable), bone and pelvis just fade away with ONLY HERCEPTIN, but the trick was in the dose. I have not had "chemo" since July, 1998, but have managed this horrible disease quite successfully just using Herceptin with dietary regimen and watching the blood markers, using them as biofeedback. When the markers go up, I take herceptin more often- or at a higher dose, when they go down and stay down, I take a small amount of herceptin once every 6 weeks or so. For many years, I only took Hercetin 5 times a year. But one time, before, I landed on this little trick, I unknowingly let my serum Her-2 markers go over 500 and was seeing spots pop up everywhere..., using a higher dosing of herceptin 8/ then 6, then 4 per week etc. , I brought the numbers back into range. Once in range, I just do what I have to do to keep them there. I have now done this regularly for years with amazing results and a High QOL (I am a single mom who supports herself by day and does cancer research by night) I also accidentally without realizing it had been taking in a lot of oleic acid in my diet and supplements. Now, we think that my combining the oleic acid with the herceptin is what was allowing me to use so little Herceptin and no chemo all along. I highly recommend that anyone who is her-2 positive check out the new research by Dr. Menendez on Oleic Acid combined with Herceptin. In my judgement, this combo is more powerful than ANY chemo combined with Herceptin AND OH SO MUCH LESS TOXIC THAN ANY OTHER CHEMO COCKTAIL going. I am sure every Onc out there would disagree because OLEIC acid is a lot cheaper to come by than most cancer drugs, but it has worked in combination with Herceptin for me. Many of the foods that contain the oleic acid are the very same ones many of you are already using with good results: Olive Oil, castor oil, canola oil, many nuts, especially walnuts, shark oil: all sharks' livers produce oleic acid naturally--has to make you wonder if that is what really keeps them from not having cancer; evening primrose oil-- a long touted Breast cancer remedy has oleic acid as does Black seed oil--an ancient Muslin remedy, and so many other foods and supplements that are by now all too familiar to those of us who struggle daily with this disease. Anyway, such has been my experience. If herceptin doesn't seem to be working the way it used to, try taking it differently. I have been on it off and on since early 1999 and my cancer has not circumvented it yet. It works completely differently from chemo and I do not believe that "cancer" can become resistant to it. As long as you have cells in your body over - expressing her-2 receptors which you can tell by following the tumor marker load in your blood on a regular basis (monthly is good), herceptin will keep working, provided you are basically healthy and that your immune system is strong enough to clean up the tumor - debris left by the herceptin....HOWEVER, if your CA 27/29 and serum her-2 markers are low and the cancer is still progressing, then, it is time to look for something else because most likely, the cancer that is progressing is being promoted by estrogen drivers or some other cancer promoter, not Her-2. That is just my opinion, but also, keep in mind that I am both ER and PR negative. If either of you are ER or PR positive or both, the above may not apply. Would appreciate comments and critique. My e-mail is GPOPP@Comcast.net. Best of luck to us all.

07-16-2005, 04:16 PM	#7
Gina Popp Guest Posts: n/a	Dear Irene and Jessica, I am new to this site and not registered yet, but I felt like I should respond to you both. Before putting yourselves through so much scanning and chemo trials, be sure you KNOW what your serial CA 27/29 and serial Serum her-2 markers are on a regular basis. Keep the CA 27/29 below 10 and the her-2 below 15 or 12, depending on the assay and the "spots," artifacts, etc. will disappear off the scans. I have already "lived the dream" ...so many times... What I mean is that I have had mets in the liver (innumerable), bone and pelvis just fade away with ONLY HERCEPTIN, but the trick was in the dose. I have not had "chemo" since July, 1998, but have managed this horrible disease quite successfully just using Herceptin with dietary regimen and watching the blood markers, using them as biofeedback. When the markers go up, I take herceptin more often- or at a higher dose, when they go down and stay down, I take a small amount of herceptin once every 6 weeks or so. For many years, I only took Hercetin 5 times a year. But one time, before, I landed on this little trick, I unknowingly let my serum Her-2 markers go over 500 and was seeing spots pop up everywhere..., using a higher dosing of herceptin 8/ then 6, then 4 per week etc. , I brought the numbers back into range. Once in range, I just do what I have to do to keep them there. I have now done this regularly for years with amazing results and a High QOL (I am a single mom who supports herself by day and does cancer research by night) I also accidentally without realizing it had been taking in a lot of oleic acid in my diet and supplements. Now, we think that my combining the oleic acid with the herceptin is what was allowing me to use so little Herceptin and no chemo all along. I highly recommend that anyone who is her-2 positive check out the new research by Dr. Menendez on Oleic Acid combined with Herceptin. In my judgement, this combo is more powerful than ANY chemo combined with Herceptin AND OH SO MUCH LESS TOXIC THAN ANY OTHER CHEMO COCKTAIL going. I am sure every Onc out there would disagree because OLEIC acid is a lot cheaper to come by than most cancer drugs, but it has worked in combination with Herceptin for me. Many of the foods that contain the oleic acid are the very same ones many of you are already using with good results: Olive Oil, castor oil, canola oil, many nuts, especially walnuts, shark oil: all sharks' livers produce oleic acid naturally--has to make you wonder if that is what really keeps them from not having cancer; evening primrose oil-- a long touted Breast cancer remedy has oleic acid as does Black seed oil--an ancient Muslin remedy, and so many other foods and supplements that are by now all too familiar to those of us who struggle daily with this disease. Anyway, such has been my experience. If herceptin doesn't seem to be working the way it used to, try taking it differently. I have been on it off and on since early 1999 and my cancer has not circumvented it yet. It works completely differently from chemo and I do not believe that "cancer" can become resistant to it. As long as you have cells in your body over - expressing her-2 receptors which you can tell by following the tumor marker load in your blood on a regular basis (monthly is good), herceptin will keep working, provided you are basically healthy and that your immune system is strong enough to clean up the tumor - debris left by the herceptin....HOWEVER, if your CA 27/29 and serum her-2 markers are low and the cancer is still progressing, then, it is time to look for something else because most likely, the cancer that is progressing is being promoted by estrogen drivers or some other cancer promoter, not Her-2. That is just my opinion, but also, keep in mind that I am both ER and PR negative. If either of you are ER or PR positive or both, the above may not apply. Would appreciate comments and critique. My e-mail is GPOPP@Comcast.net. Best of luck to us all.