http://alternativecancer.us - Has anyone ever used any of this stuff?

[MGordon]

...but Lisa was ALL about treating this disease "holistically" - combining Western Meds with Eastern, using our Chinese Herbalist and accupuncturist with chemo and rads.

She even was able to get our onc (GREAT GUY) to host a meeting at his office (he even brought coffee, donuts, and bagels) with our Chinese herbalist, guided image therapist, surgeon, accupuncturaist, physical therapist, healing touch therapist, message therapist - I know I am forgetting some - and in the end our Chinese Herbal and Accupuntucture theapist even ending getting hospital privledges (gotta love Boulder Colorado). Altogether the TEAM helped determine her treatment strategy and worked together for this battle.

I also have a very close friend whom initially battled her b/c with ozone therapy, colonics, etc.

Lisa would say to use every weapon in your arsenal, BUT, first and foremost - assemble a healing team that you love and trust and ENSURE they are all communicating. For instance your onc may have very specific reason NOT to want you on Milk Thistle extract and your herbalist needs to know this.

As you research this let us all know what you find, OK?

Love and Light
Mel

[MJo]

I got accupuncture every two weeks during chemo and radiation. Now I get it once a month. I think of it as combining eastern and western medicine. My accupuncturist is also an RN.

[Carolyns]

Hi,

I have never heard of that site, I just took a quick look. I am lucky that my doctor's office has a Chinese herbalist on staff. They consult with each other so that there is no problem in the use of herbs / vitamins / essential oils and my treatment. Recently they told me that I should add calcium with D to my routine. I take a few different things as recommended.

I don't think that I would buy anything with just one source of the Internet.

Have a great weekend!

Carolyns

[heblaj01]

Julierene,
One lady in my family tried MG-3 the mushroom extract because there was some lab data regarding its mode of action.
It did not appear to help based on blood markers but it did cause a bout of psiorasis possibly by overstimulating the immune system (my speculation).
Later on, Life Extension Org which was one of the reputable firms distributing it,stopped doing so stating there were doubts about its effectiveness.

In general I look with suspicion about any unproved supplement or other treatment when the promoters fail to make public some data on the percentage of patients that are helped.
My reasoning is that if a treatment was effective the promoter would be eager to keep a detailed log of his successes & seek a Nobel prize.
Failure to provide such data is not a good signal especially if the product or the treatment have been around for a long time.

[janet/FL]

I have read about this wonder product where it seems many studies have been done to see if it works to help those with cancer. There are many studies in Pubmed.com as well as it has it's own webpage. Avemar.com. Some of the studies were reportedly supported by Univ. of Calif.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/q...arch&DB=pubmed

I first heard about it from a neighbor in an alternative news letter by Dr. David Wilson. It is expensive but is said to really help chemotherapy work much more effectively.
So I am posting this to see what Lani, Hebla and others might say about this product just in case it is an alternative theapy that might be useful to us.

[heblaj01]

Janet,
It is difficult to draw conclusions about the merits of Avemar in cancer treatment due to the small scale of the few clinical trials using this product. One positive point is that it appears to be non toxic & in the lab does not affect the mode of action of several chemo drugs on cancer cells.
Regarding the specific case of breast cancer the only detailed info I could find was this extract:
http://www.avemarresearch.com/pdf/05_Avemar.pdf
QUALITY OF LIFE
Breast Cancer
A multicentric clinical study of Avemar in breast cancer is still ongoing. However, a QOL study involving Avemar use in breast cancer patients has been completed.31 A total of 55 patients were enrolled in the study at Szeged Unversity Clinic of Surgery, and gauging of QOL and changes in it were based on the EORTC QLQ-C30 questionnaire. Main baseline characteristics included: mean age: 55 years; UICC stage: I: 8, II: 19, III: 15, and IV: 13; concurrent therapies: chemoradiotherapy: 10, chemotherapy only: 9, radiotherapy only: 2, and none in 34 cases. The mean observation period was 32 months. Several components of QOL showed significant improvement due to supportive therapy with Avemar. Significant improvements were achieved in physical functions (P < .05), emotional functions (P < .001), global state of health (P < .01), fatigue (P <.01), nausea, vomiting (P < .01), insomnia (P < .01),and constipation (P < .01). Effects were manifested after 3 months of treatment and remained stable throughout the entire length of the study.

So pending the results of the trial, we can only conclude that Avemar may improve QOL.
Since its mode of action is likely to be slow it probably will need to be used as an adjunct to a faster acting drug.
One lab study of Avemar in conjunction with vitamin C showed different results depending on the type of cancer & sequence of the supplements. So it is possible that Avemar's action may be affected by food intake.
Overall the impression left I got from the readings is positive but not yet convincing.
Since it has been in use for 8 years in Hungary, there may be interesting anecdotic cases to learn about. But I am not fluent in the Magyar language, Maybe there are Hungarian speaking members of the Forum who can search the web.