Has anyone used or heard Aloe Juice? Friends recommend it to us saying the aloe juice can help the healing process and enhance the immune system. I checked the internet. Though there are some postings about the aloe effect on cancers. But the study smaples were not for ENT cancer patients and were done years ago. I'd like to get some first-hand info. Thank you.

i drank some while having radiation but couldn't stand the taste, so i can't say if regular use would help much.

I tried it, it burned so bad I could not tolerate the pain...
Darrell

Contrary to the two previous posts, I drank aloe juice mixed with white grapefruit juice, I believe it was 1 part aloe 2 parts white grape juice , over crushed ice it was very refreshing, I think they called it a " california Cocktail" it relly helped with soreness and dry mouth. I would give this mixture a try, what have you got to lose that maybe you don't like it, but maybe you will and I found it very refreshing served this way.
lenny

i agree that when mixed it was more tolerable. you also need to start right away and not weeks into radiation when the mouth is already feeling painful.

No, but it makes a great laxative - could come in handy once those narcotics starting causing constipation. As far as the immune system - lots a luck. Great for those radiation burns topically.

See: http://www.quackwatch.org/search/webglimpse.cgi?ID=1&query=aloe

Barry used cold 100% (edible) aloe from GNC throughout treatment -- right after coming out of radiation he would swish with cold water and then go into bathroom and gargle with the aloe juice. He would also gargle with it 2-3x a day. He picked this up from a listserv for people with laryngeal cancer -- many said it was the only thing that made the burning (during radiation treatment) go away.You have to use the 100% food-grade juice, which comes in a brown glass bottle, unflavored is best. The laxative property of this juice (really, more of a gel) has been removed in the processing, so you can ingest it but Barry didn't.

He got through his chemoradiation with his mouth in better condition than 95% of others according to his RO, whether this was just chance or due to his being especially diligent about mouth care (aloe was only one part) no one is sure. However, the RO asked him to write out all he had done to try and protect his mouth and skin and the nurse is suggesting a number of these to other patients.

Gail

Well not to sound skeptical but my MO recommended colloidial silver with is also listed on Quackwatch. Not only expensive but I would have turned grey (permanently- skin that is) in the process. Proving 2 things -it's still an Art rather than a Science and we all respond differently to treatment.

That was supposedly something that would lessen the burns and mouth sores - totally BS.

http://www.quackwatch.org/01QuackeryRelatedTopics/suppsherbs.html

Here's a link to a Cure article on supplements:

http://www.curetoday.com/currentissue/departments/food/index.html

Here's another site you should probably look at:

http://vm.cfsan.fda.gov/~dms/ds-ill.html

Gary --

The Quackwatch material on aloe vera noted it has been found to be effective for "minor burns." Most of the QW material was a warning on aloe products containing other ingredients, esp. colloidal silver, which as Gary notes is a no-no. Aloe vera gel is the major ingredient (80-90%) in most of the creams and gels prescribed by physicians for radiation burns, it seems unlikely that use in the mouth as a swish or rinse would be detrimental -- I am not recommending one consume it. There are, however, aloe "products" at health-food stores with stuff in them like the colloidal silver which should be avoided.

Anyway, in my book worth trying based on experience.

Also, I don't really agree with the notion that "everyone responds to treatment differently" -- if this were true then this forum would not be very useful as no one's advice would hold for another person. But as you read the many posts it appears that those with basically similar treatments face a similar suite of problems and are often aided by similar approaches -- thius the usefulness of this and similar lists.

Our oncology nurses feel that they can get an idea of who will do well (that is, make it through treatment with fewest side effects, not who will respond best re cancer control) and who won't based as much on attitude and compliance with self-care recommendations as on initial stage. Patients who take this on as a challenge and who do everything they can to help themselves seem to do best. Their experience matches well several studies showing optimistic and "involved" HNC patients doing better than pessimists.

Even if aloe (or similar minor therapies) are medically ineffective, the act of doing something proactive which the patient *thinks* may help can itself have a beneficial effect. Even if it is a placebo effect, placebo effects are real.

Gail

Gail,
You don't have to agree, and we can agree to disagree, but this information is based both on fact, from some persons here who had relatively minor responses to treatment (like Danny Boy for instance) and clinical data offered by the manufacturers of IMRT equipment "Some patients actually gained weight during treatment..." (source Siemens Medical Labs). Some here drove themselves to treatment every day and continued to work. Many with postive experiences don't like to share them as to not offend or make others feel bad. If Barry got through in the 95 percentile bracket of positive experience then I really don't understand your point about challenging my statement about "all respond differently to treatment".

I had no neck burns, for instance (a mild sunburn was it), my taste buds are perfectly normal and my swallowing is normal, I can eat anything, have normal salivary function, etc. Kept all my teeth, etc. I had an advanced stage cancer and no surgery. There have been many here who have been on PEG tubes for years, have issues with trimus, swallowing, taste buds, esophogeal dilations, etc. The postings here definitely lean toward the worst case scenario and it doesn't serve the general community at large, especially the newcomers or lurkers to scare the crap out of them before they even start treatment. Our entire group here represents only .06% of just the patients in a single years time in the US.

Placebo effects are fine as long as the patient doesn't substitute unproven "cures" for known ones. There are enough pariahs out there already shamelessly taking advantage of the fear of cancer patients, with bogus (and usually expensive) so-called immune system fortifiers, antioxidents, Noni Juice, etc., etc. that have no scientific basis except for testimonials and multilayer marketing schemes.

GNC is guilty of bilking people with illegal medical claims for supplements and had many regulatory actions/fines/FDA warning letters, etc., taken against them. They are not exactly a paragon of integrity. See:

http://www.quackwatch.org/search/webglimpse.cgi?ID=1&query=GNC

We live in a devious world. It is my personal mission to debunk and prevent that whenever possible. It is the mission of OCF to try to provide as factual information as we can. Many here are desparate or want an easier way out (who DOESN'T want an easier way out - the treatment SUCKED!). I would hate to think that my advice caused someone to delay treatment because of some unproven treatment, herb or supplement. I also try to balance out the dark and grim posts with positive facts - that's why I started the "Survivor Check-in" Topic. Newcomers can see for themselves that many of us not only survive but even prosper and are transformed in a positive way from the cancer experience. I try my very best not to make this stuff up. My whole life has been wrapped in Quality Assurance, Regulatory Affairs and Science (which is synonymous for "search for the truth")for medical products in general.

I didn't realize that aloe was used with colloidial silver but why not?!?! Another interesting site about colloidial silver and it's side effects (I am still stunned that my otherwise fabulous, head of department, MO almost made me literally turn grey with a bogus "cure" for mouth sores and radiation burns). You really can't trust anybody and that's why we promote self advocacy, second opinions, CCC's and CC's, proper and complete diagnostic workups, etc.
http://homepages.together.net/~rjstan/

It sends chills up my spine that your JH doctor and oncology nurses might actually recommend an alternative or supplemental treatment based on your testimonial when you yourself state "...no one is sure".

The "Radiacare" product I used had aloe in it. I don't have anything against aloe but some of the claims made for it cross the line. You might as well scare up a bottle of Lydia Pinkhams Elixure (of course it had opium in it at least you would get some kind of benefit) even if it didn't actually cure anything. I wasn't challenging the efficacy of it for topical application for burns.


There is a great article in this months "Cure" magazine about patient feelings and what we actually "think". I couldn't have said it better...