Heaven and hell…

March 5, 2008 / / 2 Comments

While walking down the street one day a U.S. senator is hit by a bus and dies. His soul arrives in heaven and is met by St. Peter at the entrance.

"Welcome to heaven," says St. Peter. "Before you settle in, it seems there is a problem. We seldom see a high official around these parts, you see, so we’re not sure what to do with you."

"No problem, just let me in," says the man.

"Well, I’d like to, but I have orders from higher up. What we’ll do is have you spend one day in hell and one in heaven. Then you can choose where to spend eternity."

"Really, I’ve made up my mind. I want to be in heaven," the senator protests.

"I’m sorry, but we have our rules."

And with that, St. Peter escorts him to the elevator and he goes down, down, down to hell. The doors open and he finds himself in the middle of a green golf course. In the distance is a clubhouse and standing in front of it are all his friends and other politicians who had worked with him.

Everyone is very happy and in evening dress. They run to greet him, shake his hand, and reminisce about the good times they had while getting rich at the expense of the people. They play a friendly game of golf and then dine on lobster, caviar and champagne.

Also present is the devil, who really is a very friendly guy who has a good time dancing and telling jokes. They are having such a good time that before he realizes it, it is time to go. Everyone gives him a hearty farewell and waves while the elevator rises…The elevator goes up, up, up and the door reopens on heaven where St. Peter is waiting for him.

"Now it’s time to visit heaven."

So, 24 hours pass with the senator joining a group of contented souls moving from cloud to cloud, playing the harp and singing. They have a good time and, before he realizes it, the 24 hours have gone by, and St. Peter returns.

"Well, then, you’ve spent a day in hell and another in heaven. Now choose your eternity."

The senator reflects for a minute, then he answers: "Well, I would never have said it before, I mean heaven has been delightful, but I think I would be better off in hell."

So St. Peter escorts him to the elevator and he goes down, down, down to hell. Now the doors of the elevator open and he’s in the middle of a barren land covered with waste and garbage. He sees all his friends, dressed in rags, picking up the trash and putting it in black bags as more trash falls from above.

The devil comes over to him and puts his arm around his shoulder. "I don’t understand," stammers the senator. "Yesterday I was here and there was a golf course and clubhouse, and we ate lobster and caviar, drank champagne, and danced and had a great time. Now there’s just a wasteland full of garbage and my friends look miserable. What happened?"

The devil looks at him, smiles and says, "Yesterday we were campaigning. Today you voted."

Avastin: a tale of appalling approval

March 4, 2008 / / 3 Comments

I love the idea of starving a tumour to death by cutting off its blood supply. That is what anti-angiogenic drugs are supposed to do. But first, what exactly is angiogenesis? I have mentioned this process here and there but don’t think I really have dealt with it in much depth. So yesterday and then today, after getting home from work, I looked it up.

From a previous post we know that tumours cannot grow beyond a certain size (the size of a sesame seed, I read!) because of a lack of oxygen and nutrients. But, unfortunately for us, tumours are very adaptable, so instead of kicking the bucket they start secreting a horde of growth factors (e.g., the infamous VEGF, or vascular endothelial growth factor) which induce angiogenesis, or blood vessel growth. The tumour is thus able to receive a constant supply of nutrients and can grow inside of us like a nasty weed. Without the process of angiogenesis, tumours wouldn’t be able to grow or spread.

In 2004, an anti-angiogenic drug called bevacizumab (trade name: Avastin) was approved by the FDA “for use in combination with standard chemotherapy in the treatment of metastatic colon cancer and most forms of metastatic non-small cell lung cancer. In 2008, it was approved by the FDA for use in breast cancer, against the advice of its advisory panel.” (source: Wikipedia) Say WHAT??? Against the advice of its own advisory panel???

How could something so bizarre happen? I went to read the February 22 2008 New York Times article (http://tinyurl.com/yu3xx5) dealing with this subject (notice that it’s printed in the “Business” section of the paper…this will make sense as you read on…). An excerpt: “FDA approval for late-stage cancer treatments is usually contingent upon data showing a drug extended, or improved the quality of, patients’ lives. Avastin showed neither in a study, according to Genentech’s application.” NEITHER? Ehhhh?

Genentech, the pharmaceutical company that produces Avastin, showed that this drug “slowed tumor growth, without actually increasing life expectancy.” Contrary to what we read in this particular New York Times article, however, the FDA decision has a lot of breast cancer advocates and organizations very worried. And with good reason. Take a look at this February 16 2008 Science Daily article: http://tinyurl.com/2a33u7 Fatal seizures? Brain swelling? If you aren’t convinced yet, read this NY Times August 24 2007 article: http://tinyurl.com/yvuozf The news is sobering indeed. I wouldn’t go anywhere near Avastin.

Why am I suddenly interested in this drug? Well, I became concerned after reading a few Science Daily articles about it. It is also being discussed by myeloma patients right now. So today I checked to see if there were any clinical trials, and yes, there are currently seven trials testing bevacizumab on myeloma patients (relapsed and refractory…), mostly in combination with other drugs (bortezomib and so on). And there are 96 breast cancer and Avastin clinical trials. 96? Oh yes, I admit to being concerned, not for myself but for all the patients who are in clinical trials testing drugs with unknown side effects in the long run. And the short-term side effects are scary enough, as we have learned from the Science Daily articles.

A recent Ralph Moss report focused on the Avastin issue: http://tinyurl.com/2edftu An excerpt (but please go read the full report, it’s excellent on many MANY levels): “On Friday, Feb. 22, 2008, top administrators of the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved the drug Avastin for the treatment of advanced breast cancer. Avastin, which has already been approved for colon and lung cancer, is controversial because it has never been shown to extend overall survival (OS) in breast cancer patients. It has been shown to improve disease-free survival (DFS) by as much as 5.5 months, but disease-free survival is not by any means the same thing as overall survival. A patient receiving Avastin may have a 5.5 month improvement in disease-free survival yet still die at approximately the same time as someone who did not receive the drug.”

Need I mention that Genentech’s stock, which had been declining, according to a February 23 2008 New York Times article (http://tinyurl.com/26zts4), after the FDA approval…all of a sudden rose more than 8 percent? Money, profit, and more money…but who CARES about the patients??? Certainly not the CEOs whose pockets are being lined with blood money.

Ralph Moss ends his report attacking the FDA’s double standards: on the one hand, this agency is always ready to squash any promising CAM (complementary and alternative medicine) treatments, on the other, it gives a “free pass” to a big pharma company “for a drug that has yet to be proven to do anything significant for breast cancer patients.”

In Moss’ words, the “FDA has once again significantly lowered its standards for drug approval. If it proposed doing so across the board, including taking a more even-handed approach to CAM treatment, that would be the basis for an interesting discussion. But what FDA is doing is permitting a lower standard for the expensive products of Big Pharma, while remaining wary of all non-toxic or non-patentable agents. So, whatever happened to the level playing field that a former director of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) promised the CAM movement back in 1992? Gone with the wind.”

But wait, it isn’t all doom and gloom out there. Curcumin inhibits angiogenesis. No kidding. There are 85 studies in PubMed dealing with this topic. Not one. Eighty-five. I have read a few of them, myself. Oh, and so does resveratrol. But this is material for at least another post. I will leave it at that…for now.

Concluding thought: do we really need to strangle a tumour with drugs that are toxic, potentially fatal (some women have already died from Avastin) and outrageously expensive?

Need an excuse to drink coffee?

March 2, 2008 / / 5 Comments

Thanks to Sherlock, who sent me the full study that I will be discussing today, and to a Grouppe Kurosawa mailing, I found out something that I had not previously known about coffee. As it did for yours truly, the following should put a smile on the faces of coffee drinkers. This was meant to be a simple brief discussion of a study on caffeine, but it turned into a huge time-consuming bit of research. One thing led to another…I did my best not to go overboard!

An Italian study (see abstract: http://tinyurl.com/3862f5) published in May 2007 in “Molecular Pharmacology” states that caffeine inhibits VEGF and IL-8 (interleukin-8) in human colon cancer cells. Specifically, it inhibits HIF-1 alpha, or “hypoxia-inducible factor alpha.” Let’s take a closer look at HIF-1 alpha before proceeding.

I read that solid tumours are unable to grow beyond a certain size because of hypoxia, which means "insufficient oxygen." What happens is that, as tumours grow, they need more and more nutrients and oxygen. At a certain point, though. the tumour microenvironment just can’t deal with this constant demand (if I got that right…) and becomes hypoxic. Under hypoxic conditions (less than 6% oxygen, I read), HIF-1 alpha, a transcription factor, becomes activated, and it in turn activates genes, dozens of them!, that keep tumours alive and well, via angiogenesis, glucose transport and whatnot. So tumour progression goes hand in hand with the increased activity of HIF-1 alpha.

Is this bothersome transcription factor present in myeloma, I wondered for just a split second? I really didn’t need to do a search to answer that question.

But I did do a search, and, quelle surprise!, it turns out that HIF-1 alpha is involved in myeloma angiogenesis as well. See this Italian study: http://tinyurl.com/36eywf. And see also this very colourful PDF presentation prepared by an Italian team for the 10^th International Myeloma Workshop (Sydney, 2005): http://tinyurl.com/ytwej8 It also shows the involvement of HIF-1 alpha in myeloma angiogenesis.

Back to the Italian study on caffeine (see abstract): “Pretreatment of cells with caffeine significantly reduces adenosine-induced VEGF promoter activity and VEGF and IL-8 expression.” (Wait…adenosine? Uffa, another thing to look up…) Here we go: simply put, adenosine is a natural chemical, a neurotransmitter, released by brain cells to make us sleepy. The more we stay awake, the more adenosine gets released. But I should point out that adenosine is present also in all cells of the body, and, aha!, has the function of protecting cells from damage under conditions of hypoxia. And it protects solid tumours from the attacks of NK cells and T-lymphocytes, as can be seen in this abstract (“International Journal of Oncology,” March 2008): http://tinyurl.com/yu7o72. It seems to be involved in a lot of mischief! Well, ok, not all the time!, for instance it mediates the damage caused by strokes…

Enough. You can read more about the importance of adenosine on the Grouppe Kurosawa public blog (February 29 post): http://tinyurl.com/23fbgo. The main thing we need to know is that, when adenosine is released, HIF-1 alpha and VEGF, the very best friends of cancer cells, are activated.

I started going through the Italian caffeine study with my usual (exaggerated!) attention to detail, then I decided that that didn’t make any sense. Do we really care that much about how this all works? Naaah. The important thing is the study’s clear message (well, to me, a morning coffee drinker, at least!): DRINK COFFEE! (yes, yes, YES…!).

Okay, just a few points (can’t help it, sorry!

Hypoxic tumour cells are resistant to chemotherapy and radiotherapy. Eh!
Hypoxia stimulates IL-8, which is involved with cancer progression (including myeloma progression, as we know from a previous post).
HIF-1 “contributes to tumor progression and metastasis.”

This, according to the authors, “is the first report examining the in vitro effect of caffeine on hypoxic cancer cells.” Their “data suggest three potential chemopreventive targets for caffeine: 1) HIF; 2) VEGF and IL-8; and 3) cell migration.” They add: “our results indicate that, in tumor colon hypoxic cells, adenosine increases VEGF promoter activity via the HIF-1 pathway and that caffeine is able to block this effect.”

Now, while the cancer cells studied here were not myeloma ones, there is quite a bit of common ground, as we have seen (VEGF, IL-8 etc.). So I will be interested to read future studies on this topic. In the meantime, I will enjoy my usual morning homemade cappuccino with much more gusto!

Oh, I just can’t resist adding this lovely titbit at the end.

Guess what other substance inhibits HIF-1 alpha? Any ideas? Yes! CURCUMIN! (I always check…). See this abstract, published in “Oncology Reports” in 2006: http://tinyurl.com/2aooud It suggests that “curcumin may play pivotal roles in tumor suppression via the inhibition of HIF-1 alpha-mediated angiogenesis.” And a “Molecular Pharmacology” 2006 study (full text: http://tinyurl.com/27q93o) also suggests that curcumin inhibits tumour growth by targeting this transcription factor.

HAH! Now I have TWO good reasons to be happy today!

Making bread

March 1, 2008 / / 6 Comments

I made my first bread yesterday. Italian bread, what else?

Well, to tell the truth, years ago, when I was in my early 20s, I did occasionally make a sort of Wonder Bread…without the chemicals (see cartoon on the left), but the bread I made yesterday was entirely different: it wasn’t put in a mould of any shape or size but shaped by (my) hand and placed on a cookie sheet.

I followed a recipe, and, about halfway through, thought I had made a crucial mistake at each step: the dough ended up being too sticky, more like cake batter than pliable dough; I had to add about 200 extra (!) grams of flour to get it to the kneading point; the dough didn’t rise because my kitchen (so I thought) was too cold; enfin, the dough looked nothing like the photo in the book (I have one of those gorgeous step-by-step recipe books with colour illustrations).

Okay, Margaret, don’t panic. It’s only BREAD. No big deal.

But panic I did. I called one of my best friends, a fabulous cook and also a bread-making goddess. Horrified, she exclaimed, “You tried making WHAT? Have you lost your mind? It’s extremely difficult to make that kind of bread, blablabla. For one thing, you need a wood-burning oven! Why didn’t you just try making loaf bread?” (Well, what she really said was: hai fatto COSA? Ma che ti sei impazzita? Ma chi te l’ha detto di fare quel pane lì? Il pane normale è difficilissimo da fare, eppoi va cotto in un forno a legna, blablabla. Ma perché non hai fatto il pane in cassetta, che è facilissimo, invece?)

I looked around my kitchen: no wood-burning oven in sight, just my electric one. I thanked her and hung up. Sob!

I began to tremble. It wasn’t bad enough that my sticky dough wasn’t rising properly, now I didn’t have the right kind of oven. Urgh. I called Stefano at work to let him know that he’d better stop at the supermarket on his way home to buy some proper bread. Mine, I told him, was going to be a terrible-tasting tooth-breaking flat focaccia, at best. (For the record: he actually did buy some bread…hmmm, could this be considered grounds for divorce? ).

The misshapen hand-shaped dough that I managed, eventually, to pop in my preheated oven didn’t look anything like the photo in the bread book. Sigh.

I have vowed NEVER EVER to buy another step-by-step cookbook with colour illustrations, things like that just make you feel totally inept. Because guess WHAT?

My bread turned out to be the best bread we have ever tasted! The best bread in the entire WORLD! Stefano pronounced it “delicious!” (which, I am quick to point out, he almost never does, except when I make NY cheesecake or apple pie). He said I should start selling it. This morning, first thing, before even having his usual cup of espresso, the man who never ever eats breakfast (ever!) made himself two salami sandwiches with my bread! Hah! Triumph! Well, I may not be the bread-making goddess, but I am definitely (now) the bread-making QUEEN!

This photo shows all that is left this morning of my, as it turned out, gorgeous bread, crunchy on the outside, soft and moist on the inside!

Hack hack!, a flare-up and the new protocol

February 29, 2008 / / 6 Comments

The dreaded cough is back, after a welcome absence of months. Since by now I know that whenever I get even the slightest cold it goes right into my chest and turns into bronchitis, I pay attention to the signals. On Wednesday evening, the signals told me to begin taking an antibiotic. In the nick of time! Luckily, I don’t have any English classes until next Tuesday, so I have plenty of time to get over this thing. I feel fine but have an occasional annoying cavernous cough. No biggie. The antibiotic will zap it.

More importantly, Sherlock and I have a new protocol. After our Biocurcumax experiment ended on Tuesday (when we had our blood and urine tests done), we went back on the C3 Complex curcumin (Doctor’s Best), eight grams a day (no change in quantity).

New item: we have added 500 mg of EGCG, which we will increase to one gram next week. We are testing the synergistic effect of curcumin and the green tea extract, in other words. For a couple of months, as usual.

The protocol also includes (no change from previous protocol): omega-3 oil capsules (I take flaxseed, she takes fish oil), one gram a day. Also, vitamin D and, for me, an occasional multivitamin (B vitamins, mainly). We are still following the “atomic bomb” theory. That is, we take all this stuff once a day (early evening).

Now, as my faithful blog readers may recall, I suffer from rosacea, an inflammatory (inflammation-cancer connection…?) condition of the facial skin, which I inherited from my father, instead of his lovely green-gray eyes! This means that I have occasional flare-ups. Usually they aren’t too bad, I merely look a bit flushed. While I was taking Biocurcumax, though, I noticed (hard not to! This is what I looked like: ) that my flare-ups were absolutely…dreadful. I wore cover-up to work, but that didn’t disguise it completely. Well, today is my fourth day without Biocurcumax, and my facial flare-up has already died down a bit. Hmmm.

So my questions are: was the flare-up (as I have suspected all along) related to my Biocurcumax intake? Could it be seen as a good or bad sign? For obvious reasons, I hope it was a GOOD sign, a sign, that is, that my immune system was kicked into high gear to attack the myeloma. Wishful thinking, eh. We will have no way of knowing until we get our test results next month.

Foods that fight cancer

February 28, 2008 / / 3 Comments

Today’s post is about two books that I will add to my Recommended Readings page. Ah, I would like to thank Sherlock publicly for having found these books. Bravissima!

1. The first is titled “Foods to fight cancer,” by Richard Béliveau and Denis Gingras. Fascinating book, I must say. I haven’t studied all of it (yet), but it’s extremely well done, easy to follow, and has heaps of examples, great charts and colourful photos. First-rate job. If you have just been diagnosed with any sort of cancer, buy this book. Actually, eh, just buy this book, period!

Okay, we have all heard that bad diets are…bad for us, right? I myself have been guilty of following a terrible diet in the past, particularly when I was in college and grad school. My diet is still not perfect, but it’s a LOT better than it used to be. Ah, but read this: according to Béliveau and Gingras, your poor dietary habits give you a 30% chance of developing cancer. THIRTY PERCENT? I should have eaten more broccoli and Brussel sprouts when I was younger! Drat. But the shocking part for me is that 30% is also the risk factor percentage assigned to smokers (I have never smoked, by the way)! So if you smoke AND have a poor diet….yikes! Hereditary factors, which most folks believe are high risk factors for cancer, amount only to 15%.

In Part One, the researchers explain what cancer is, how to prevent cancer growth, indeed how to prevent cancer itself. How?

With FOOD. Consider this: even at a one part per thousand dilution, garlic is very toxic to medulloblastoma cells, a very aggressive type of brain tumour. Garlic, one of my favourite foods.

Part Two is devoted to nutraceuticals, that is, foods with anti-cancer potential. Members of the cabbage family, garlic and onions, soy, turmeric, green tea, berries, omega-3, tomatoes, some fruit, resveratrol and (saved the best for last!) chocolate (!) all have separate chapters. My favourite chapter title: “Cancer hates cabbage.” Hehe.

Toward the end, there is also a chapter on supplements. Béliveau and Gingras rightly point out that it’s easier for us to take a vitamin pill than modify pre-existing unhealthy eating habits. These are short-cuts, they write. We would do better (and they explain WHY, of course) by leading a healthier lifestyle. Okay, I agree that we cannot "just eat anything and then get off the hook by taking a pill," but I must point out that, in order to obtain my daily eight grams of curcumin, I would have to consume an enormous amount of turmeric, the spice from which it is extracted. Turmeric contains only 5-8 % of curcumin. I don’t need to whip out my calculator to figure out how much turmeric I would have to consume in my food. I can tell that it would simply not be possible. I do agree, though, that, for instance, we should eat broccoli and garlic and not take broccoli and garlic-based supplements.

2. The second book, by the same authors, is titled “Cooking with foods that fight cancer.” I haven’t yet really examined the first part, which is an introduction to cancer, but I have tried a couple of the recipes: the broccoli soup and the tomato and apple soup. I would suggest adding less water to both recipes, unless you like watery soup. I also always add more turmeric than the amounts listed. Eh!

I will leave you with a couple of fascinating titbits from book 1:

1. “Turmeric was already featured in the list of over two hundred and fifty medicinal plants mentioned in a series of medical treatises dating from 3000 BC, written in cuneiform on stone tablets, collected by King Assurbanipal (669-627 BC)…”

2. “Turmeric content in mustard is about 50 milligrams per 100 grams; a North American or British adult would have to eat four kilograms (about nine pounds) of mustard per day to have a turmeric intake similar to that of an Indian!”

Sicko

February 27, 2008 / / 2 Comments

My English classes were cancelled today. I found out just as I was about to leave the house. Just as well, since I still feel a bit under the weather. So I decided to take the day off. Well, okay, not entirely off, since I had housework to do, but after lunch I lay down with the cats and watched one of my Xmas presents to Stefano, a dvd we hadn’t watched yet: “Sicko,” the Michael Moore documentary on U.S. healthcare.

I went through a gamut of emotions. I cried (buckets). I was angry. I was…sickened. Sicko is shocking. I am still in shock. I thought I knew, but I really didn’t. Until today. Sicko made me realize how lucky, how privileged I am to live in Italy, the second country, after France, with the best healthcare system in the world.

A few personal stories. During one of my parents’ recent visits to Italy, my father needed to see a doctor. This happened on a Sunday in August, while my family doctor was on holiday. So my parents had to go to the emergency room at Careggi hospital (the same hospital where I have my blood tests and see my haematologist). Since Dad wasn’t an emergency case, my parents had to wait for a while, I don’t recall how long, perhaps an hour or so. No longer. Then Dad was seen by a doctor and treated for what turned out to be a large and painful abscess (sorry, Dad!). After treating him, the doctor told him to call the out-patient surgical clinic at Careggi hospital on Monday. That’s what he did; he was given an appointment for the very next day. He was also given follow-up appointments for each of the four subsequent visits (so he wouldn’t have to wait each time). After the…condition had finally cleared up, my parents asked the doctors how much they owed the hospital. A lot of head-scratching. Finally, my parents were told “you owe us nothing.” All that healthcare…for free.

Would the same thing have happened to foreigners with no health insurance in the U.S.? I think we all know the answer.

Another story. Before my condition turned malignant (in December 2005), like every healthy Italian I had to pay what is called a “ticket” for hospital lab tests and visits. A small fee, in other words, oh but nothing like the thousands of dollars that uninsured folks, and even insured folks!, pay in the U.S.

This situation changed in January 2006. I took my mieloma multiplo test results to the local healthcare office and officially became a “cancer patient.” And do you know how much I pay now for ALL of my healthcare, even unrelated to the cancer? Nothing. Absolutely nothing (of course, if I wanted to have private healthcare, that would be a different matter). I have blood and urine tests run every two months, heaps of tests, and I pay: zero. If I had chemo, that’s what I would pay. Zero.

I would like to point out that I am not an Italian citizen. I am a U.S. citizen, a permanent resident of Italy married to an Italian. The only privilege I don’t have over here is being able to vote in the Italian political elections. (Although I was able to vote in a recent referendum on an issue involving the municipality of Florence.).

Back to us. Is it fair that people with cancer or other health problems have to worry ALSO about paying their hospital or doctors’ bills? Is it fair that people with cancer (etc.) lose their jobs and go bankrupt?

I echo Michael Moore’s question: what is WRONG with us?

I remember when I went to the hospital near my parents’ house in the U.S. when I came down with a simple urinary tract infection many years ago. I had just gotten out of college, as I recall. When I checked in at the hospital, the first thing I had to do was produce my health insurance card. I was lucky. I had insurance at the time (for which I paid a pretty penny). Then I had to wait until the administration folks checked me out to make sure I was covered. Financially, I mean. Some time passed, then I was taken into the emergency ward where I went through a battery of tests. Even a pregnancy one (guess they didn’t believe me when I told them I was NOT pregnant!). I still have the forms and test result sheets somewhere in my files. Anyway, all I remember was that I was run through a series of unnecessary tests. I tried to tell the staff that I believed it was a urinary tract infection. At a certain point, though, I gave up arguing, and had all the tests. In the end, I was proven right. I had a urinary tract infection. Hello?

Well, today I wonder: what would have happened to me if I hadn’t had any health insurance? Wait, I am not sure I want to know the answer to that question.

Blood tests, more on cyclopamine and…Cancer Vixen

February 26, 2008 / / 2 Comments

Blood tests. Last night I decided that a silly little fever wasn’t going to stop me from taking these tests. So this morning I got up at the crack of dawn, made sure I had no fever (the little coward vanished overnight, hah!), and set off for the hospital, where I met up with Sherlock. We were tested together and were out by 8 a.m. She had work to do so she headed home, while I went to another part of the hospital to have a breath test…ah, no, not what YOU are thinking, no siree! This test will determine if I am infected with Helicobacter pylori. In case you don’t know what I am babbling about, check out my page on Helicobacter pylori and MGUS. In a nutshell: it’s a bacterium that infects the stomach and can cause us a lot of grief, A LOT!, ranging from peptic ulcers to cancer.

A slight aside. Wikipedia provides a fascinating account about how H. pylori was discovered, or rather, rediscovered in the early 1980s more or less, by two Australian scientists, Warren and Marshall, who were the first to successfully culture it. They believed that most stomach ulcers and gastritis were the result of an infection caused by this bacterium and not by stress or spicy foods as had been previously assumed. To prove their point, Marshall drank a Petri dish of H. pylori and developed gastritis. A man after my own heart! Gutsy! You can read the full story on Wikipedia.

Anyway, this was an interesting test. First, using a plastic straw, I had to blow some air into two vials, enough to steam them up. Then I had to drink something that tasted like very bitter lemonade (urea) and wait for a half hour. I then blew into two different vials. That was it. For details on how the H. pylori breath test works, see http://tinyurl.com/33nvay

I will have all my test results back in about three weeks. Probably a few of my values will be altered due to the cold I have been fighting (successfully, so far!!!), but I am hoping they won’t be TOO off. No worries.

A few words on cyclopamine. Yesterday I wrote to CT, asking the question posed by one of my blog readers (see my recent cyclopamine post) concerning water solubility. CT replied: I took cyclopamine tartarate which Logan labs claims is somewhat water soluble. Mice at UTMS took the regular cyclopamine orally for basal cell CA and it worked, so it must be getting absorbed. I note that is does mix well in water. In any event, my M-marker did go down. I will know more when I retest.

Cancer Vixen. While I was waiting to have my breath re-tested this morning, I began reading a book that Sherlock gave to me (grazie!), titled "Cancer Vixen," by Marisa Acocella Marchetto, a cartoonist for the New Yorker (etc.). At one point I almost laughed out loud. I wonder what the other patients sitting in the waiting room thought of me: a grown woman reading and chuckling over what looks like a…comic book! (Not that I cared one whit, mind you!). Hehe.

Anyway, since you already know (if you have been reading my blog for a while) that I have a wacky sense of humour, you won’t be surprised to read that the part that thus far has amused me the most, and I am only on page 20!, is when she is told that she has an "abnormality" (referring to a breast tumour). Oh yeah, that’s a bit of really hilarious news, ujú ja ja ja ja ja jaaaaaa…ñaca-ñaca (that’s an "evil laugh" in Spanish, no kidding; you can find the most peculiar items in Wikipedia…), but I assure you that the cartoons are quite amusing, IF you have a warped sense of humour, that is!

Well, I haven’t read any cartoons since I was in my teens, so this is fun, even though the subject itself (cancer!) isn’t that much…fun, admittedly! Oh, wait, another funny cartoon is the one depicting "possible cancer cells" in a petri dish, "magnified 3 gazillion times." Marisa makes them look like evil little green buggers sticking out their tongues and giving us the…finger. Good job, Marisa, so far. I will keep reading.

Fabulous news!

February 25, 2008 / / 6 Comments

A MMA and Beating Myeloma list friend sent me a fabulous bit of news yesterday morning via e-mail, as follows:

I was diagnosed with MGUS. Feb.06, m-spike 0.03, went up to 0.07, and then I took control, took all your advice and listened to my body. I worked my way to 5 grams of curcumin among other things. Reduced stress, soaked in 104 degree water twice a day. Last test before Dr’s appointment: 0.02. The day of appointment I had another test, just got it back: "NO monoclonal protein detected by the current electrophoresis study.

HURRAY!!!

I asked her for permission to post her story here. She very kindly (thank you!) consented, also providing me with the details of her protocol.

She takes the following: Andrew Weil’s Daily Multivitamin, Daily Antioxidant, Immune System Builders that include ashwaganda, cordyceps, astragalus, Siberian ginseng – the quantities are prepackaged in an AM and PM dose.

She also takes: Life Extension Super Curcumin with Bioperine 800 mg, 3 pills in the morning and 3 in the afternoon. Lysine: 1000 mg, 1/day. Resvera Wine Complex 500 mg, which contains: grapeseed extract, ellagic acid, & resveratrol, 1/day. Guggul Plex 340 mg, 1/day. Zyflamend softgels by New Chapter, 1/day. Yaeyama Chlorella 400 mg., by Yarrow Formulas, 1/day.

She writes: I am anemic if I am not careful and I take Slow FE- 47.5 mg. slow release iron- doesn’t upset my stomach.

Every morning and afternoon, she soaks in a 104 degree hot tub for 35 to 45 minutes and, she adds, there I do nothing but soak- it was hard to learn.

She adds: “I eat lots of veggies, some fruit and meat 2 or 3 times weekly (salmon, or whatever I’m craving, meatloaf last week, buy organic whenever I can). If I crave an old evil food, I eat it- it’s usually not as satisfying as I remember, and it takes care of the craving, although I recently made a German chocolate cake.

Lots of nuts, focusing on walnuts- make my own chocolate bars by roasting walnuts and pouring Ghirardelli’s chocolate (bought at Trader Joe’s) over top, keep it in my freezer for a quick fix.

No coffee, diet anything, fast food. Use real butter (organic) and olive oil- did notice a difference for the better when I gave up Smart Balance. Try to keep all food real—very little pre-prepared. In spring and summer frequent my local farmer’s market. Juice carrots every other day, and buy Green food juice at Trader Joe’s. Drink tons of water.

I have early retired, and I now do projects that used to take 1 day. I now spread them out over 3 or 4 days. If I’m fatigued, I do nothing.

I’m careful to avoid stress, I have started saying no to volunteer situations.

I’m 58, I have neuropathy from the waist down -large areas of no temperature feeling- reflexes not strong below the waist- My doctors are now saying fibromyalgia just because they don’t know. But if I listen to my body I can do anything I want, just slower with planning- I used to be a construction worker and have worn out my spine.

Hope this helps.

Upon rereading this post, I must admit that the list of things that she takes is quite daunting. I don’t take anything except for curcumin, quercetin, flaxseed oil, black cumin oil and an occasional multivitamin (heavy on the B vitamins). That’s my current intake. My list pales in comparison with hers. Hmmm.

At any rate, she will continue to monitor her blood situation every four months for the next year, then will go to every six months. She believes that getting rid of stress has really helped her, as well as ignoring the reports that we shouldn’t build our immune systems. Well, this approach clearly worked in her case! In her own words: I do believe our society demands multi-tasking, major stress, the need to buy more, have more. I think my efforts at doing nothing helped reset my immune system and yes, I ignored those reports that you don’t want to build your immune system.

Speaking of immune systems. Incredible but true: yesterday I began feeling a bit ill. And it just so happens that tomorrow Sherlock and I are supposed to go to the hospital lab to have our Biocurcumax tests done. But this morning I am having chills and, can you believe it?, a low-grade fever. Needless to say, I am quite annoyed! But not too surprised, since all of my students have been ill, with fevers and colds and terrible coughs…SIGH! Che pazienza che ci vuole…Well, unless I get worse, I will go have my tests done anyway. Oh, bother!