LIVING WITH MCL

I received some interesting criticism the other day for my stance on alternative therapies. I ......... cannot for the life of me understand why you would not use supplementation and then use an over the counter poisonous liquid which has proven liver toxicity. Especially while taking a statin. She was referring to the use of an over the counter cough medication, I have been taking to help ease the symptoms of my upper respiratory infection. I did this once and vow to never use it again! I have gotten off Lipitor by using Nicotinic Acid and getting much better results but still use COQ10 to protect Liver as you must do while taking Statins. If you are not using CoQ10, I urge you to research this issue. MCL reduces your D3 and should be taken everyday! I use 5000mgs a day. I was sorta taken aback. She was partially correct. I'm against taking supplements, but when necessary I don't have a problem taking over the counter medication, when my ailments finally get the better of me. ...

Not even a weekend of eating and drinking wine in the Santa Rita Hills wine country, could alleviate all of the anguish I've experienced since the start of this month, but it did help. So to keep whatever momentum I've started going, I thought I'd switch focus to something else that has been bugging me for some time now. The concept of complementary treatment ! It appears the bad name alternative treatments have been receiving is finally taking its toll. Why else would advocates of alternative treatments be trying to steer clear of the term alternative . A term often met with skeptism by medical experts, in addition to carrying the much deserved stigma of being unproven, risky and dangerous at best. So now, in order to remove that stigma, the industry is taking a new approach. In order to create legitimacy, where only skepticism existed before, the industry is promoting the concept of complementary therapy, that is alternative treatment(s) combined with conventional treatm...

Glenn Sabin , a reported 21 year Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia (CLL) survivor, who, other than having had a splenectomy soon after diagnosis, has not received any conventional chemotherapy treatment. This is even after ......experiencing the full force and effect of his leukemia [in 2003]. A low grade fever and night sweats persisted for months. Glenn’s hematocrit dipped to 22 as severe hemolytic anemia set in....... Believable? Well yeah, sorta, kinda, maybe. Certainly surviving 21 years with CLL is believable (even without treatment). There's lots of evidence of that. Even surviving a splenectomy for that long is believable, despite the fact after a splenectomy, not only do the other organs take over the functions of the spleen, they typically also take over the leukemia/lymphoma. I just have a problem with everything else. I especially have a problem with after having a full blown attack of CLL, i.e. low hematocrit, night sweats etc. he was able to obtain a complete remission wit...

I'm stuck lying around the house with a bad back [again]. (Fortunately there is a golf tournament to occupy me somewhat.) Don't know what I did to deserve it, but I've found that often to be the case. So since it's been over a week since I've posted anything, I thought I'd take this opportunity to just 'ramble' about a few things that come to mind. Edie is still on Velcade + Dex maintenance therapy. She switched to every other week, because every week was just getting to be too much, and also started subcutaneous injections of the Velcade instead of the standard infusion. While the research seems to indicate there is no difference between subcutaneous injections and infusions, I'm not so confident. Especially now that her counts have started to rise slightly. That of course could be the result of going to every other week therapy rather than every week. She gets another blood test on Monday, and has an appointment with her oncologist and another Velc...

As most of you [should] know, I'm not a fan of vitamins, supplements or anything supposedly designed to boost your immune system. I think they're a scam (and I know about scams), but even if you could boost your immune system, why would you want to? An over active immune system can cause just as much harm as one that is malfunctioning. Even more simply put, an over active (boosted) immune system is a malfunctioning immune system . Still just my saying so, hasn't stopped [no matter how hard I try] the plethora of products on the market (with new ones coming every day), nor the people naive enough, IMO, to use them. Here's an example of a post, from a member of the NHL message board, I found today of particular note. It even includes a new remedy I hadn't heard of before. I have followed a mainly macrobiotic or raw food diet, always organic, for over 20 years.  I rarely had a mere sniffle during that time, so I do believe diet is protective of our health (but darn i...

At least some of you know I'm not a fan of alternative treatments, or supplements of any kind. Few if any None have shown to be effective by any legitimate clinical research. In my opinion they are just scams designed to separate gullible and desperate individuals from their hard earned money. But I've also never criticized anyone for trying them. Ok, so maybe I have criticized the lengths some people will go in their use of alternatives treatments . I can certainly understand the desperation of some people, but when I read a post such as the one below, from one of the many lymphoma/leukemia message boards I subscribed to, I can't help but be reinforced in my belief of the lunacy and the futility of it all, as well as the potential danger. Dear List Members, I receive[d] my shipment of Essiac tea and made my first batch. The taste is like bad coffee--not too bad. With this particular formula, you consume the grounds along with the tea. Since the teas is pulverized into fi...

It's hard for me to be critical of the measures that some will take in seeking a cure for their disease, since I have my own alternative medicine regimens and beliefs , but sometimes a post comes across my computer that just seems so over the top, I have to say something. Recently a member of the mantle cell lymphoma (MCL) e-mail group I subscribe to, posted the following to the group about an alternative treatment plan he is undertaking. [NOTE]I considered posting a response on this subject to the MCL group, but decided against it. Since my diagnosis, I have believed it was all the vitamins, supplements and other unnatural-natural things that my wife and I took for a long time , which caused, or at least contributed to our illnesses. So rather than post to the e-mail group, where emotions can run high sometimes, I decided to post only here. While my intent is not always to spark controversy, it is always meant to promote thought.[/note] Presently my NMD [Doctor of Naturopathic M...