[donocco]

The angiogenesis inhibiting effect of copper reduction is general. Normal cells in your body also use copper but it seems that copper reduction is not that toxic to normal cells. Perhaps they are far less involved in angiogenesis minute by minute than cancer cells are. The main side effect of copper reduction is anemia if the copper levels get too low.

I dont see why you have to ask very carefully. Yet I have to be careful of being intrusive when Im trying to be protective. I guess being a pharmacist Im less in awe (for lack of a better word) of doctors. Naturally Im rarely their favorite patient, in fact never if I have to be honest. If you find it hard to confront them let people on the board help you.

Ill tell you a story. I once did a foolish impulsive thing. I was working with a breast cancer group on AOL perhaps 17 years ago. I had just read Dr.George Brewers work on copper reduction.He was the doctor who thought of the idea. He was an expert in the treatment of Wilsons disease which is a disease of copper metabolism that can be controlled by copper chelators like Penicillamine and Trientene. He also introduced zinc salts as a treatment for the disease as elemental zinc 50mg taken 3 times a day prevents copper absorption from the intestine. If a patient takes this prescribed zinc a protein called Metallothionein forms in the intestine and this protein absorbs copper (ie chelates it) and prevents its absorption from the intestine into the bloodstream.

I was trying to get this AOL group interested in copper reduction as a cancer treatment. I began to feel like a Bible Belt Preacher from the deep south in the USA, preaching "salvation from copper reduction." My preaching had little effect on the "congregation" so I tried a different approach.

I told them I would be the guinea pig and started taking 50mg elemental zinc three times a day. Zinc is OTC. I did this for about two years. Maybe I could prevent cancer from developing in myself and maybe I could help these women and get them to talk to their doctors about copper reduction.

To make a long story short ,one group of lab tests showed me I had a hematocrit of 37, normal being about 42. The doctor at the clinic bluntly told me I probably had right sided colon cancer which is characterized not by bowel symptoms but by anemia, as the tumor bleeds slowly day by day. Very compassionate telling me bluntly "You probably have cancer."

Eventually I realkized that the anemia probably was from too low a copper level due to the zinc I had been taking so I stopped taking the Zinc and took a copper supplement. I had a lab test 3 weeks later and the Hematocrit was up to 41 so it very probably was anemia due to too low copper. I swear the doctor was disappointed. She looked at my chart, signed it angrily and walked off without saying a word to me. I imagine I wasnt her favorite patient.

Motto1 a pharmacist who treats himself like a doctor has a fool for a patient.

Motto2 Zinc itself can be used (under a doctors supervision) for adequate copper reduction. The problem is that zinc acts slowly ( years vs months) as the body has extensive copper reserves

Paul

Please forgive any misspellings