Essiac Tea

[Mary Jo]

Hello everyone......

Any information on this tea would be appreicated. I received a link from a friend who has breast cancer (er/pr pos. her2 neg) and another link to where they order it. Here is the link:

www.healthfreedom.info/cancer%20essiac.htm (http://www.healthfreedom.info/cancer%20essiac.htm)


I'd appreciate any information you can share.

Love to all,

Mary Jo

[Faith in Him]

Hi Mary Jo

My cousin gave me some of that tea just last week. I am afraid to take it right now since I am on chemo. I really do not know that much about it but she also gave me a book called Essiac, A Native Herbal Cancer Remedy by Cynthia Olsen.

I plan on trying it once I finish chemo. I hope someone else can come along and give you more info.

Wishing you a wonderful weekend.

Tonya

[lexigirl]

Hey MareJo and Tanya,

My inlaws gave me some Essiac tea to try. I too was on my chemo txs and didn't feel comfortable trying it. A friend of theirs has been using it for some time after battling either a brain tumor or a tumor behind his eye. I am sorry, I'm drawing a blank on what they told me his diagnosis was. However, his doctors are pretty amazed at how well he has been doing and has healed.

I did try the tea after my txs and it tasted a bit like I'd imagine bark water to taste. Not really awful, just not tasty. I know that it should be made to a specific recipe and also stored in a specific way.

I'm sorry I don't have more to share. I never really tried to follow the up with it.

I'm curious for more replies, too.

Lexi

[Jackie07]

Here's an article published in 2007 about Essiac.

Zick SM (http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/sites/entrez?Db=pubmed&Cmd=Search&Term=%22Zick%20SM%22%5BAuthor%5D&itool=EntrezSystem2.PEntrez.Pubmed.Pubmed_ResultsP anel.Pubmed_DiscoveryPanel.Pubmed_RVAbstractPlus), Sen A (http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/sites/entrez?Db=pubmed&Cmd=Search&Term=%22Sen%20A%22%5BAuthor%5D&itool=EntrezSystem2.PEntrez.Pubmed.Pubmed_ResultsP anel.Pubmed_DiscoveryPanel.Pubmed_RVAbstractPlus), Feng Y (http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/sites/entrez?Db=pubmed&Cmd=Search&Term=%22Feng%20Y%22%5BAuthor%5D&itool=EntrezSystem2.PEntrez.Pubmed.Pubmed_ResultsP anel.Pubmed_DiscoveryPanel.Pubmed_RVAbstractPlus), Green J (http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/sites/entrez?Db=pubmed&Cmd=Search&Term=%22Green%20J%22%5BAuthor%5D&itool=EntrezSystem2.PEntrez.Pubmed.Pubmed_ResultsP anel.Pubmed_DiscoveryPanel.Pubmed_RVAbstractPlus), Olatunde S (http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/sites/entrez?Db=pubmed&Cmd=Search&Term=%22Olatunde%20S%22%5BAuthor%5D&itool=EntrezSystem2.PEntrez.Pubmed.Pubmed_ResultsP anel.Pubmed_DiscoveryPanel.Pubmed_RVAbstractPlus), Boon H (http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/sites/entrez?Db=pubmed&Cmd=Search&Term=%22Boon%20H%22%5BAuthor%5D&itool=EntrezSystem2.PEntrez.Pubmed.Pubmed_ResultsP anel.Pubmed_DiscoveryPanel.Pubmed_RVAbstractPlus).
Integrative Medicine, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI 48104-1555, USA. szick@umich.edu

BACKGROUND: Breast cancer is a major cause of morbidity, mortality, and medical expenditures among women in Canada. Essiac (Resperin Canada Limited, Waterloo, Ontario, Canada), a blend of at least four herbs (burdock root [Arctium lappa], Indian rhubarb [Rheum palmatum], sheep sorrel [Rumex acetosella], and the inner bark of slippery elm [Ulmus fulva or U. rubra]), has become one of the more popular herbal remedies for breast-cancer treatment, secondary prevention, improving quality of life, and controlling negative side-effects of conventional breast-cancer treatment. OBJECTIVES: Our primary objective was to determine the difference in health-related quality of life (HR-QOL), as assessed by the Functional Assessment of Cancer Therapy Breast Cancer Version, between women who are new Essiac users (since breast cancer diagnosis) and those who have never used Essiac. Secondary endpoints included differences in depression, anxiety, fatigue, rate of adverse events, and prevalence of complications or benefits associated with Essiac during standard breast-cancer treatment. Additionally, we described the pattern of use of Essiac in this cohort of women. METHODS: We performed a retrospective cohort study in 510 women, randomly chosen from the Ontario Cancer Tumour Registry, with a diagnosis of primary breast cancer in 2003. RESULTS: With the exception changes in a Physical well-being subscale and a relationship with doctor subscale, Essiac did not have a significant effect on HR-QOL or mood states. Even for Physical well-being and relationship with doctor, Essiac seemed to have a negative effect, with Essiac users doing worse than the non-Essiac users. This might be attributed to the fact that the group of users comprised younger women with more advanced stages of breast cancer, and both of these subgroups of patients have been shown to be at a significantly increased risk for negative mood states and/or a decreased sense of well-being. The women were taking low doses (total daily dose 43.6 +/- 30.8 mL) of Essiac that corresponded to the label directions found on most Essiac products. Friends were the most common source of information, and most women were taking Essiac to boost their immune systems or increase their chances of survival. Only 2 women reported minor adverse events, whereas numerous women reported beneficial effects of Essiac. CONCLUSIONS: Essiac does not appear to improve HR-QOL or mood states. Future studies are needed to determine whether other clinical outcomes, such as cancer reoccurrence, are affected by Essiac.

[goops]

I am a big believer in natural cures - I was planning to use this tea but then I found a study which made it almost sound like it made breast cancer worse - of course it might be lies the drug companies put on the web. I will see if I can find the link again.

I found the link - this is part of what it says:

We made progress in both aims as follows:
Specific Aim 1: This aim has been successfully completed. Female rats were given water or a 3% or 6% solution of Flor-Essence® Herbal Tonic for 23 weeks beginning at one day of age. They were given a single oral dose of DMBA (40 mg/kg body weight) at 7 weeks of age to induce mammary tumors. At the end of the study 82% of the Flor-Essence® treated rats had palpable tumors compared to 71% in the control group. Pysiologically relevant concentraions of Flor-Essence® did not inhibit mammary tumor development but instead appeared to promote it.
Specific Aim 2: The animal work for this aim has been completed. (MMTV)c-neu transgenic mice were treated with 3% Flor-Essence® in utero, from birth to weaning, over their lifetime, or not at all to determine if timing of Flor-Essence® exposure had an effect on mammary tumor development in this model. Although the data have not been analyzed for statistical significance, preliminary results suggest that the mice consuming lifetime Flor-Essence® had fewer tumors than the other groups. However the overall survivability of this group suggests that the Flor-Essence® had a negative impact on their health.For the rest of the info go here:

http://www.cbcrp.org/RESEARCH/PageGrant.asp?grant_id=2101

There are several brands of this tea but Flor-Essence was the one which the nurse at our health food store recommended to me.

[dory]

Marejo,
I did stop taking it since I started chemo, but planning to continue after. It makes you sleep better too.
The lady that got me on it has a couple of sisters who did not drink it and got breast cancer and she has not been plaged by it. She and her husband both have been drinking it for quite some time. The peron that got her on it ellected to do the self cure with it and is alive today.(going to the Free Church).
Food for thought.
God Bless, Evie

[Paty]

Girls,

For what I read from your posts essiac and flor-essence is just the same thing. I took flor-essence after my third doses of chemo, you won't believe how well I felt after the 4th, 5th and 6th dosis. I felt not as tired and nausated. I felt very very good. I never had any bad side effect. I would take it again if I would go to have any other kind of chemo again. It is supposed that you should continue taking it to improve and keep your immune system levels. I did not take it any longer because it is quite expensive here in Mexico, it is supposed to be imported from Canada.

[Mary Jo]

Thanks everyone for your sharing what you know about this tea. I read how it should be brewed and stored and OH MY GOSH what a process that sounds like. I kind of gave up being domesticated the older I get. LOL!http://her2support.org/vbulletin/images/icons/icon7.gif

Love & Peace...

Mary Jo

[goops]

Marejo - there are different types of this tea you can buy - as far as the Flor-essence brand they have the type you need to brew and the type that is as easy as just mixing a liquid with hot water. If it is something you are interested in using you can get the type that is easy to make.

[Mary Jo]

Thanks again everyone and welcome Evie to her2support. It's too bad you had to find us by receiving a breast cancer diagnosis, but this is a great site for support, encouragement, some fun and lots of knowledge.

R.B. has some great threads on diet and there are many other good "pointers."

Welcome..........................

Mary Jo

[Ruth]

Hi Mary Jo ~

I drank Essiac the whole time during chemo and about for a year after. We brewed it ourselves. It tastes like old bark and not very yummy but I never needed support shots for low blood counts or anything like that and had all my scheduled chemo's. It is time consuming to make and extremely specific on brewing methods. I tried different things to compliment my normal treatments. My Oncologist was open minded and didn't think it would hurt to try it.

Hugs ~ Ruth

[dory]

Hi all,

Again I say, you must be very specif with the kind you are taking. I would not do the Floa-essence one. The original essiac tea with the 4 original herbs is the right one I think. I get mine from a large repudable herb store.
Mountain rose herbs. www.mountainroseherbs.com (http://www.mountainroseherbs.com)

Blessings on this beautiful Sunday.....Evie