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#53616 07-11-2005 02:27 PM
Joined: Jun 2005
Posts: 25
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Joined: Jun 2005
Posts: 25
This may be of interest -- almost 2 years ago I was diagnosed with prostate cancer, which eventually turned out (after tests at Hopkins) to fall into the "insignificant" indolent form common in older men (it has been found that 40-50% of men in their 60s and up to 80 % of men in their 80s have some cancer in their prostates, based on autopsy studies, but in most cases they never know and it never progresses). I am currently enrolled in a study at Hopkins which is monitoring us for any progression over time, the goal tbeing to develop better predictors for aggressive vs. indolent disease.

I am also under the care of a medical oncologist who specializes in PC and who closely follows the literature on emerging adjunctive therapies since diet and lifestyle play such a large role in PC (and other cancers). One research finding is that suppression of COX-2 is linked to a slowing or halting of PC proliferation and recurrence (there is quite a bit of literature on this). Consequently this oncologist prescribes Celebrex to his PC patients who are able to tolerate the drug and who have no cardiac issues. I take 200 mg/dy although 400 mg/dy is often recommended.

My PC is really a non-issue now, my last two follow-up biopsies were unable to find any cancer and according to the PI, based on 10 years' of study data, I have less than a 5% chance of any progression.

However I was diagnosed with HNC three weeks ago and the doctors at Hopkins and Sloan both compared CT scans taken in October (when it was misdiagnosed as a neck abscess) to those taken last week and say there has been minimal progression in 8 months (however it was already stage IV in October, alas!). I wonder if the Celebrex plus the other anti-prostate-cancer measures I have taken in past two years have had some small impact on the (much more serious) SCC disease as well.

I intend to continue to take the Celebrex as long as I can swallow the capsules!

Barry Cooper

#53617 12-30-2005 01:38 PM
Joined: Feb 2005
Posts: 2,019
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Joined: Feb 2005
Posts: 2,019
Phoooey! I just went to my local health food store, which always SEEMS to have every herb, tincture, mineral, vitamin and extract under the sun and looked for circumin. Couldn't find it (I forgot it was in turmeric so maybe they did have that and I didn't see it) and the young woman I talked to had never heard of it (but she was just a shelf-stocker so that doesn't mean too much--in fact this store is a coop and so she may only work there a couple of hours a week for all I know).

It seems that with all the recent news about this it should be somehting a health food store has in stock. Anyway, they will try to order it for me. I hope it's not a softgel since I've yet to figure out how to get those down when I can't swallow pills.


SCC(T2N0M0) part.glossectomy & neck dissect 2/9/05 & 2/25/05.33 IMRT(66 Gy),2 Cisplatin ended 06/03/05.Stage I breast cancer treated 2/05-11/05.Surgery to remove esophageal stricture 07/06, still having dilatations to keep esophagus open.Dysphagia. "When you're going through hell, keep going"
#53618 01-01-2006 02:28 PM
Joined: Mar 2005
Posts: 109
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Joined: Mar 2005
Posts: 109
Hi Nelie, first time I've checked in for weeks now. After all we went through with my husband in 2005, I was diagnosed with an early stage breast cancer in early November (via a routine screening mammogram) and have been too caught up in my own treatment. Glad I came back as the news articles are pertinent to many kinds of cancer. At any rate, we bought New Chapter's TurmericForce at our local health food store. You can buy it online from Vitamin Shoppe or elsewhere, if you can't find it in a store. Also, check out the 12/22/05 aricle called "Sabinsa's Curcumin C3 Complex Ingredient Preferred by M.D. Anderson Cancer Center". I think we'll order this brand next time around. You might also check up on Zyflamend from New Chapter which is said to act as a natural COX-2 Inhibitor. I've seen the recent articles on melatonin and Vitamin D as well. We have been working on a anti-cancer diet/supplementation program - especially now that cancer has affected both our lives. Hope things are well with you. Jerry is doing pretty well. Still getting acupuncture. His saliva keeps returning. He is eating just about everything now, even breads. He still considers it a chore and tiring, but I can really see the improvements. A month ago, it took him 30 minutes longer than me to eat less food at dinner, and now he keeps up pretty well. It has been a year now since his diagnosis and almost eight months since the end of radiation.
Connie


Wife of Jerry - Dx. Jan '05. SCC BOT T1N2BM0 + Uvula T0N0M0. Stg IV, Surg on BOT and Uvula + Mod Rad Neck Diss.(15 rmvd, 4 w/cancer), IMRT 33x. Cmpltd 5/9/05.
#53619 01-02-2006 04:51 AM
Joined: Feb 2005
Posts: 2,019
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Hey Connie, it's good to see you here!

I'm sorry to hear you've been fighting your own breast cancer battle. My breast cancer was also caught very early and thanks only to a routine mammogram (too small and deep to be felt in a breast exam). Thank goodness for early detection there, huh?

I read the article about Sabinsa here and in the request form I filled out at our local co-op I requested the Sabinsa brand. But I actually went later and found Sabinsa's website and it isn't really clear to me that they put out a brand that can be ordered wholesale by our co-op -- it looks like they may make stuff more on demand for medical trials. The person who I spoke to there had never heard of Sabinsa and she gave me the impression she'd heard of most brands.

I actually have a bottle of Zyflamend softgels and the problmem I have is they are softgels. BIG softgels. And I can't swallow them right now! I think I'd prefer to get soemthing that's just circumin, or pretty much just circumin, anyway, and is standardized which some of the turmeric supplements are not. I found that "Source Naturals" puts out a brand like this--and it also has something else in it that's supposed to help the body absorb the turmeric. And supposedly they carry it at the co-op where I just put in a request (I wish I had thought to say "tumeric" and not "circumin"). Anyway, I'm planning on going back there today to look.

I'm planning on trying out acupuncture for the new year--anything that will help! I'm hoping maybe it could help with the swallowing too. I'm glad Jerry's doing so well. I hope I'll get to where he is eventually.

Take care of yourself, and feel free to send a private message if you need any support on the breast cancer front (but there is so much more support available for that, I've found, isn't there?)

Nelie


SCC(T2N0M0) part.glossectomy & neck dissect 2/9/05 & 2/25/05.33 IMRT(66 Gy),2 Cisplatin ended 06/03/05.Stage I breast cancer treated 2/05-11/05.Surgery to remove esophageal stricture 07/06, still having dilatations to keep esophagus open.Dysphagia. "When you're going through hell, keep going"
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