Boosting Your Immune System - share your ideas

[Andrea Barnett Budin]

vitamin E 400 WITH TOCOPHEROLS (I use Vital Nutrient brand) ( 1AM + 2 PM)

Sorry. Must have been past my bedtime...


Yes, keeping an eye on our D and B is important.

Want not to overdo or not do enough.

You are good.

B12 has many wondrous benefits -- energy and mental acuity

E -- for skin but lots more too

[Andrea Barnett Budin]

Vitamin E -- heart healthy, helpful in oxidation in lungs, protects white and red blood cells, helps body's immune system. boosts stamina, protects from free radicals, and good for skin health and firmness.

[v-ness]

i take D3 - 10,000 daily, vitamin E and C and B12, turmeric, echinacea and matcha green tea. also, i exercise vigorously 5 days a week.
yeah 6 remission.

[Andrea Barnett Budin]

YAY -- 6...!!!!!!

I consider staying on my feet most of the day exercise.

Just not my thing, but another YAY for you...

[Andrea Barnett Budin]

Just read your bio. Crap has been coming your way wayyy too long.

Enough. Tell cancer to take a flying leap. Get out of my house. Out of my life!

And yet -- you shine, V. You are awesome.

[Juls]

Just finished reading pdf! A lot of good info.
Thanks Andi

[Andrea Barnett Budin]

Did you take notes?

Please share good info...

Always helps to get a refresher course...

[Juls]

Yes - I did.

Just need to decipher. Have filled a notebook in past few days!

[agness]

How about some astragalus?

"Astragalus boosts the immune system; but at the same time it seems to possess the ability to ´light up´ the rogue cells so that the immune osystem can ´see´ them better and attack more of them. Possibly for this reason, MD Anderson concluded in research with patients on radiotherapy treatment, that it could double survival rates. It may also benefit liver function, seems to reduce side-effects of chemotherapy, reduces metastic spread and increases survival times."

http://m.canceractive.com/cancer-act...ink.aspx?n=536

[Juls]

Read about Astragalus last week - but forgot to note where I read it!

The article said
It is a potent cancer fighter
A powerful immune booster that increases your body's production of T cells, macrophages & natural killer cells.
In 1 study astragalus was able to restore immune function of 90% of the cancer patients studied.
In other studies patients had twice the survival rate of those who received standard therapy.

Also on canceractive.com last week & read section on Vit D - worth a read!

[Juls]

Just ordered some vitamins :-
Calcium with Mag & Vit K
Selenium
&
B12

to add to B6 & Vit D (1000IU) that I am already taking.
It's a start!!

[chrismosley]

hi I am new here. I was reading over these post and I came across someone named juls that said she was triple positive. I was wondering if you ever figured out which supplements to take.

I was dx in aug 2015 with Inavasive dcis stage 2a. It was her2(3+) ER+(95%) PR(1%). Mastectomy with node negative. As of now I am on Herceptin until Sept 2016 and tamoxifen for 5 years. I was premenopause prior to chemo,(ended in Dec 2015) but now I am not sure neither is my onc.

Any thoughts and /advice would be helpful.

Christine

[VDC]

I take Astragalus but combined with Glossy Privet. Glossy Privet is the common name for Ligustrum. These are in addition to other agents known to fight cancer. I decided to do research on supplements/herbs that may have some anti cancer properties. After researching them, these are the ones that I chose to add to my repertoire of supplements. I chose them NOT for their immune system building ability but instead for their anticancer properties:

Astragalus
Glossy Privet
flax seed oil
grapeseed extract
primrose oil
Curcumin (Tumeric extract)
Green tea extract
cranberry extract
SDG lignan (flaxseed lignans)
Trans resveratrol
Melatonin

Where possible I take the dosages that were used in the original clinical trials which is usually more than what is stated on the bottles.

I also take the following herbs, but these are for lowering of glucose: (The Berberine seems to be the most effective for me)

Cinnamon
Berberine
White Kidney Bean

I also take the following prescriptions for other reasons:
Atorvastatin (high cholesterol)
cyclobenzaprine (muscle pain)
levothyroxine (low thyroid)
combipatch (was for hormone replacement)



These are the incidentals:

Vit D,
coenzyme Q,
plant phytosterols.

I also consume the following EVERY day because some research indicates these two may help fight cancer:

2 tablespoons flaxseed
1 oz pecans (and I HATE pecans)

[Juls]

Hi Christine
I'm triple positive juls!
Her2+ (3+), ER+(7) & PR+ (5). I wasn't told how strong ER/PR+ I was until recently.

I am still trying to work out which supplements best for me to take. Some anti- oxidants may not be good for me. Have found a lot of info that is good if ER/PR- but not so much for positive. So far I am taking Vit D (since Aug 15) which was mainly because I read a report on Femara and it was recommended that you take Vit D. Since then further research suggests VIT D a must! Now added in Calcium with Vit K. Should have been taking Calcium sooner because Calcium was low in blood reports. Stupidly I didn't "join the dots". Apparently Femara also affects calcium levels. Have just bought Vit B12, Selenium and AHCC (mushroom compound). Just started taking B6 last week.

I am reluctant at times to adding anything else in so still researching. Looking at turmeric and astralagus next. I know this is really silly when you allow chemo into your body but question vitamins!!
Juls


Any suggestions from other triple positive & taking vitamin supplements welcome!!

[StephN]

Finally got a chance to catch up with this thread. So many good ideas for helping our bodies along during and after chemo.

I was clearing out old tax information and found all the prescriptions that I had to take for the side effects of adriamycin and taxanes. What a nightmare to revisit all that!

Folic acid was one thing I took all through my treatments. My med onc insisted. Now you can get it over the counter, but maybe it was the dose and assurance of purity that was the reason I got it from my pharmacist (over 15 years ago).

No one has mentioned either milk thistle or alpha lipoic acid so far. I have been taking those for many years.

Biotin is another thing I have taken in combo supps. Right now the Alpha lipoic that I take has biotin.

Just more "food" for thought.

Oh, and I forgot to mention that I drink organic ginger tea, which is great for digestion and against inflammation.

[StephN]

I did notice ASTRAGALUS mentioned above. I also take a capsule of this almost every day.

Figure my immune system is what has to carry me now that I have been off good old Vitamin H for so long.

[Juls]

Just re-read this post & realise still not added much to my vits and supplements. Still researching!!
Now taking B6, B12, Calcium and Vit D3.
Should be taking Vit K2 and magnesium when taking Calcium and Vit D3 - so will look into this.
Just read
The Vitamin D solution - Dr Michael Holick
Defend your life - Susan Rex Ryan
&
The miraculous results of extremely high doses of the sunshine hormone Vit D3 - Jeff T Bowles. (available as an E-book & it is updated frequently)
A lot of interesting info!
I'm amazed at the connections and importance of this Vitamin which is really a hormone. Maybe name should be changed to reflect how important it actually is!!
Juls

[donocco]

There was a Danish study way back in the early 1990s. A few patients who had previously received chemo were given Q10 at a dosage of 390mg daily. In a bout 4 patients the mets of stage 4 breast cancer disappeared. You would think this would be front page news, but few know about this. Anybody with a computer can look it up.

With supplements what I really about is the FDA. They have been trying to get Vitamins and supplements off the market for decades. The reasons are legion. Maybe it has less to do with kissing big pharma's behind and more to do with the fact that they cant control supplements. It may be an ego thing.

Whatever the reason, they made a big try in 1994. They wanted to make 1000mg Vitamin C and 400mg Vitamin E prescription drugs along with banning other OTC supplements. There was a public outcry and Congress was threatened, probably with non reelection and Congress forced the FDA to back down. I'm sure they will try again.

What I am going to say I have to say with some care. There seems to be a phenomenon with all canxcers where blood levels show excess copper compared to the zinc level. When you make a ratio of copper level vs zinc level in cancer patients the ratio favors the copper. The more advanced and aggressive a cancer is the higher the copper to zinc ratio. A normal copper/zinc ratio may be 0.8. A patient actually dying of cancer may have a ration pf 2.2. Its amazing. You could have 900 women patients in a room. 300=no abnormal lump, 300 a benign lump and 300 a malignant lump.Lets say you do a copper/zinc ratio of all 900 women. The no lump women might have a ratio averaging 0.9. The benign lump women a ratio of 1.2. The women with cancer might be 1.5 and higher. It would be foolish to do this, but you could probably diagnose 92% of the malignancies just by the copper/zinc ratio.

I'm sorry this is so long. Hopefully it will be interesting to a few. Anyway I wonder if zinc supplementation orally would aid in cancer treatment. I cant say. Yet it makes logical sense. So a patient goes to CVS and buys zinc tablets today 9/15/2016. The tablets will say on the bottle expires 6/2019. That is a legality but the reality is that the zinc tablets will probably be effective if kept away from light and heat when your great grandchildren are alive. Most of these expiration dates are political not chemical. This was proven by the Veterans administration years ago. They tracked the efficacy of expired prescription drugs five, ten years after the expiration date and found little loss of potency. This can be easily checked on with some computer research. The VA begged the FDA to let them use these "expired" but chemically active drugs. The FDA gave a flat no!.

People are going to have to read between the lines. You have to weigh to facts. There is the possibility of many of the supplements you feel are helping being taken off the market by the FDA. You also have to consider that the supposed expiration date put on the bottle of Matake mushroom capsules (for example ) may be more apparent than real.

Paul

PS For those interested, look up that Danish 390mg Coenzyme Q-10, liver mets disappearing study. It may be wise to increase the dosage of Q10 to 400mg a day. Just a suggestion. Of course you should discuss this with your doctor. Please forgive the length of this post and any misspelings

[Juls]

Hi Paul

I hoped you would reply!
I think you would find a lot of info in these books interesting although I'm sure you already know most of them.
Big Pharma mentioned quite a bit especially in "The miraculous results.." book.

With regard to Vit D the author in the above book mentions that no patent on Vit D and therefore no money to be made. So no major study being done on the benefits of Vit D.
He also mentions 3 cancer drugs that are made of high doses of Vit D!

The book is more of a conversation with the author and his thoughts. He does say that he has looked at various studies, particularly on pub med & analysed statistics.
Unless I'm totally losing it!! A lot of the info seemed to tie - up and make a lot of sense.

Once I get my head round the info & if anybody interested! - I will post some of the findings.

Regards
Julie

[Andrea Barnett Budin]

On my way out and caught this. Hi all.

I never touch vitamin A or K. Too much bad stuff associated with it. And you know how many dozens of supplements I take daily (since 1998).

I take D becuase as we age (and maybe when on chemo) our organs demand more D3.

I ask to have my D3 tested w/ev 6 mnth bld tests. Doc includes in the list with tumor markers and all else. I also request B for B12.

Turns out for me D3 is normal but way low.

So I now take 10,000 daily.

At once time they recommended 50,00 a wk and had a pill made of that mg. I always decline to take large dosages. Better to spread them out, according to my integrative oncologist.

i.e. I take 150 mg co enzyme q10 -- 2 x a day vs 300 all at once.

ALWAYS KEEP WELL HYDRATED ! ALWAYS , ALWAYS , ALWAYS.

8-10 glasses of water a day. Soda doesn't count.

BE WELL...

Love,
Andi