Flaxseed Proves Itself

[Tom]

Well, well. God continues to be good to Mom and I. Not only has he allowed both of us to wake up and live at least one more morning, but he has given me another piece of research that I can torture the oncologist with. The poor guy is still reading the long green tea articles I gave him last week, and now he will be assaulted again tomorrow during her weekly Herceptin infusion. I shouldn't be so smug, but I do enjoy trying to enlighten them with research that they are truly to busy to sit down and browse through.

I found this article on one of my favorite sites today, which is www.oncolink.com. It describes how flaxseed, along with it's natural component flaxseed oil, inhibits the progression of estrogen-negative breast cancers, by promoting apoptosis and inhibiting metastases. Forgive my zeal, but it always makes me feel like we are getting somewhere when I read something like this. Those of us fighting ER negative tumors have always been a little behind the eightball, as we can't rely on Tamoxifen and the aromatase inhibitors for help. I have been giving Mom milled, actually sliced, flaxseed for some months now, along with flaxseed oil. My original purpose for doing so was to have an easy way to get her the Omega-9 oleic acid that has been proven to have a synergistic effect when used during Herceptin treatment. I had read that an additional benefit was gained by the use of flaxseed as well as the oil, from the pre-lignans and lignans found in flaxseed. This article seems to confirm those theories.

I still give Mom lots of olive oil, both by cooking with it, and giving her a tablespoon by mouth each day. I continue to give her the olive oil not only for it's oleic acid content, but just in case it turns out that there is some beneficial mystery component in olive oil besides the Omega-9 oleic acid. I like to cover my bases when it comes to pure supplements that are derived from foods. You never know what might be in the plant compounds that can either help by itself, or provide additional benefits when in the presence of the studied ingredient.

Anyway, I didn't mean to beat this thing to death, but here is the link for the article. I will now print it out so that I can be ready to thrust it into the hands of the oncologist as we walk through the door tomorrow morning. I think I will pack Mom a tuna sandwich with a table spoon of fresh flaxseed stirred in, for her bag lunch to take to infusion with us. Ahhhh...I love the smell of flaxseed, green tea, and Herceptin in the morning. It smells like...VICTORY. I always love to find another small nail to drive into the heart of the Beast. Take care all, and keep on reading. The answers are out there somewhere, and I'm not gonna give up until I find them. Mom deserves at least that much, and more from me. All of you beautiful ladies do. God Bless all of you and those that love you.

http://www.oncolink.com/resources/ar...th=09&id=12355

[RhondaH]

1st of all, that is a very nice picture of you. I LOVE the way you think as I have the same philosophy. My "Herceptin partner" and I were just talking about our attitudes vs. others and WE, like you want EVERYTHING we can to fight this. Being that I do the Breast Cancer diet, I not only drink a TBS of olive oil each morning (as well as cook with it) but, I put flaxseed in my Phytochemical Shake and eat 2 servings of fish a week. Whatever it takes.

Rhonda Hoffman

[Sandy H]

Way to go Tom!! Love that picture! I have taken flaxseed oil and cook with the meal, as well as use it in anything I can for a couple of years now. The oil is a bit pricey but you can call the 800 number on the Barlean's bottle tell them you are using it for a cancer patient and they will send it to you for half price. I get 3 32oz bottles put 2 in the freezer while I am using one. It is o.k. to freeze it. You can ask for some information on it and they will send you a packet full of all kinds of info. They are very helpful on the phone. I hope this helps you and others that may read this. God Bless you and your Mom. She is so lucky to have you. Sandy

Tom,
Thank you for posting the encouraging article about flaxseed. We estrogen negative women rarely get any studies pertaining to us. And I will try to add some olive oil too. Keep up the good work.
Leslie

[Martha]

Tom thank you for the post and I agree with the other ladies, great picture. I have a question for you, what type of cancer does your mom have (DCIS, IBC, etc.) and what stage is it in? Where can I find the flax both seed and oil? I already have a never ending supply of olive oil but never thought of taking it by teaspoon, only for cooking. I will start. Blessings, Martha

[RhondaH]

Martha,



I don't use flaxseed oil, but I do use flaxseed and I find it at our local health food store.



Rhonda Hoffman

[AlaskaAngel]

Hi Tom. Count me in. I've used it for 3 years now, generally just mixing 2 tbsp with hot cocoa or soy milk and Stevia, and am 3 years NED for whatever that is worth as a HER2+++. Best wishes to you and your mother!

A.A.

Just be sure to grind the flax seed. Your body will not absorb it otherwise. A coffee grinder works well.

Do you know how stupid I feel. I knew about flax when I was in my 20's and didn't take it and now here I am in my 30's with bc. Duh?

By the way would like to read more on the er neg connection but the article won't open. Is there another place I can go?

[RhondaH]

Go to ASCO's (American Society for Clinical Oncology) website. Pull up Reuters news and it is under there from a couple of days ago.


Rhonda Hoffman

[Amy]

Great information...thanks. Amy

[mamacze]

Hey Tom!

thank you for that GEMof information on Flax seed. Now, if I could just lay off the brownies....
How fortunate your mama is to have you; and please keep the pearls of wisdom coming...
Love Kim from CT

[Tom]

Hi again. Sorry I did not respond earlier to some of your posts. First to answer your questions Martha. My Mom's situation was a little unusual. I found the lump in her breast while helping her bathe, one of her strokes left her having difficulty using her right arm. After racing her to a women's imaging center, her mammogram and ultrasound showed a 1.6 cm mass, with a satellite mass of 1.8 cm. Immediately after her surgery (lumpectomy with 2 mm clear margin) I was told by her surgeon, much to my dismay, that he/she resected the masses and the single enlarged axillary node on the same side, WITHOUT having done a sentinel node biopsy, or any further axillary dissection. I have stressed this point in past posts, as it left us without a clear or accurate staging. This came back to haunt us, as I feared it would, because the incomplete information followed us wherever we went, i.e. radiation therapy and oncology. The doctors from each of these arms of treatment always asked of course, what STAGE is she, to which I shamefully replied, "We're not really sure." Then there was the disheartening pathology that showed the cells were ER-/PR-/HER2+++.

Mom's age being 81, the oncologist was reluctant (properly so) in ordering any sort of traditional chemotherapy. Additionally, Herceptin was not prescribed at the time, as it was still being used in an adjuvant setting only in clinical trials, though I did request it. Thus, when some eight months had passed, and I found another enlarged axillary node, her node biopsy revealed additional ER-/PR-/HER2+++ malignancy in her axilla. A full 12 of the 20 nodes removed during the subsequent LEVEL II axillary dissection were positive as well, and showed evidence of extra-vesicular invasion. That bit of information was like getting a sharp stick in my eye. The oncologist and radiation oncologist both agreed that this cancer was there from the beginning, but went undiscovered. I am still trying to defuse my anger at the whole staging debacle. Subsequent bone scans and MRIs seemed to indicate no further substantial metastatic disease immediately prior to the second surgery. She will have a PET scan as soon as the required healing from the surgery and radiation therapy is complete. She began receiving Herceptin weekly even before her radiation treatments had been completed, as she then met the new protocol criteria for it's use.

With regards to the flaxseed and some of Mom's other supplements, I will tell you that I give her 1 TBS of flaxseed oil daily that is manufactured by "Health from the Sun" in Canada. The flaxseed oil is cold-expeller pressed and contains rosemary extract, mixed tocopherols (natural vitamin Es), and ascorbyl palmitate (vitamin C). It provides 7,700 mg of alpha-linolenic acid (Omega-3), 2,100 mg of linoleic (Omega-6), and 2,800 mg of oleic acid (Omega-9). Flaxseed oil of other brands can be found in many stores now, even Walmart. It should be refrigerated to keep it fresh. A small note of interest: Flaxseed oil is also known as linseed oil. I found it amusing that I am having Mom drink the same oil that I use downstairs in the woodshop as a finish on the 18th century furniture reproductions I make. YUCK ! It does smell funny, but it may be working miracles. God surely did have a sense of humor when he was making all these fascinating things for use in our daily lives.

The flaxseed I give Mom is ground organic flaxseed from a company called Spectrum Essentials, and is available from www.VitaminShoppe.com , which has many retail stores as well. I chose this particular brand as it is processed using a unique method that slices the seed rather than crushing it, which prevents the loss of nutrients due to excess oxidation. Two TBS of this flaxseed contains 2.5 grams of alpha-linolenic acid, 0.5 grams of linoleic acid, 1 gram of oleic acid, and 250 mg of lignans. I must confess that I sneek it into or onto almost everything that I give Mom to eat. I sprinkle it in her oatmeal, mashed sweet potatoes, cold cereal, any steamed vegetables, tuna or chicken salad, and even on her fresh spinach salads. Hey, so it's like eating Purina Canary Chow, no big deal. You hardly know it's there. Like the flaxseed oil, it too should be kept refrigerated to maintain maximum potency.

The green tea extract that I am always flapping my gums about on this site, is ordered from a well known company called Life Extension, at www.lef.org. It is decaffeinated, and each capsule contains 246.5 mg of EGCG, which is the most important polyphenol in green tea. They also contain 427.75 mg of various other polyphenols. Of course, Mom also gets buckets of freshly brewed decaffeinated green tea force-fed to her through a rubber hose, like a French goose in the making of "fois gras"...lol. I'm kidding of course, as Mom loves green tea served cold or hot. Don't forget that the EGCG in green tea has been shown to be a powerful natural tyrosine kinase inhibitor, that helps block the nasty cell signalling that is part of the diabolical HER2/neu overexpression process.

And finally to you Mamacze. This fight is too hard to wage without a little treat now and then. I wouldn't give a second thought to those brownies. As a matter of fact, I'm gonna take a page from some of the Marijuana aficionados from my high school days, and bake some flaxseed right into my next batch. Better to be high on oleic acid and lignans, than nothing at all.

A note of thanks to all who were so kind in complimenting my personal photo is in order. That was taken a few years ago by a friend, when I was working as a commercial photographer. I will say only one thing about it...Lighting is everything, if you know what I mean. I have since put a few years and a few more boxes of See's candies under my belt. Oh, if only See's had a dark chocolate flaxseed product in their bag of tricks. I can always dream, can't I?

Good night,
and may God be watching over all of you

Dear Tom- What an amazing son you are! Do you remember an inspiring post you wrote on here about a month ago-it made all of us cry. Well, my mother carries it with her in her purse and shows all her friends, her sisters, etc. They too become very emotional when they read your beautiful thoughts and words.You are a blessing to your wonderful mom and to all of us.May God Bless and Keep Both of You! Cathy

[Sandy H]

Flaxseed meal needs to be refrigerated. If you find it in the health food store (the only place it can be found) and its on the shelf outside of the frig. don't get it. It does need to be ground. It is great stuff. I have been using it for couple of years now. I love the flaxseed orange muffins. hugs, Sandy

[cmn]

You might think I'm nuts but I do both flax oil (Barleans) and ground flax seed. I grind flax seeds to last a few days and freeze the rest. This stuff goes rancid quickly. I figure I get the added benefit of fiber in the ground flax. Regards, Carol

[MCS]

Thank you Tom. Will be calling around to get this. i'll start before herceptin- won't hurt

i know what we mean about er-. forgotten lot. your mom has been blessed by having you.

another response talked about Barleans' 800 number. will try to find what this is.

have been using olive oil or ext virgin olive oil since my husband had a heart attack two years ago. dietitian at hospital said it was good. anyway it makes everything taste great

MCS

[StephN]

Tom,
Let me say that you are a true artist!
You make furniture reproductions, which does not surprise me in light of the way you so lovingly and faithfully take care of your lucky mother. You artfully do all you can for her, feeding and supplementing her as if you were creating a painting. Your "color palette" has many variations and they are all put to use.

Great to see this maximal type of approach to taking care of a stoke-affflicted senior that the surgeon barely gave a second thought to. (This person would have had a complaint to their superiors were I in you position.) We expect to be informed properly and have the right procedures from our medical care takers. I assume you do not live in some backwater where the local vet does the surgery.

Thanks for the complete and informative posts - will pray the Mom's next scans do not show any more progression. They say that the disease is slow moving in the elderly even if it is HER2 positive.

P.S. I used to use Linseed oil on my violin when I played many years ago. Made it shine and gleam. It could probably use a little now!

Maybe it is because I am a child of the 60s but I think a recipe for flax seed brownies is the best Idea I have heard of in along time. Rich, dark chocolate maybe with nuts, and flax seed ?????? Are you getting off on this this idea as much as I am? We have all had A high price to pay maybe this one small thing for us???

Sue

[StephN]

Who here is good at coming up with recipes??
I am not. I hardly bake, but this sounds like it would be worth it.
Maybe Christine, our Fearless Leader, could concoct something ...