Learning To Cope

You would have noticed that of late, I have not been posting regularly. The main reason is that I have been getting lot of pain and hence could not concentrate so much and spent much of my time resting. Actually, I am not as strong as some of you put me to be. I am not accomplished spiritually nor am I a psychoanalyst. I am just an ordinary person learning to deal with my new condition as and when it happens. What I know is all from personal experiences.

At the moment, I am facing two main challenges, namely pain and appetite/indigestion. Since March 2012, I experienced much elevated pain levels at my abdominal area. I also realised that different doctors have different pain management regime. Last Thursday, I visited my urologist and he started me on a completely new pain management regime. I don't quite agree to his regime (after reading documentation from pain management specialists' sites) but decided to give it a try. I regretted my decision because I was suffering from severe pain for the whole of Thursday evening and also on Friday. My urologist put me on an opioid analgesic regimen but I think the problem is that he started me on a low dosage so much so it is not effective. Of course, I can increase the dosage but that would make me nauseated and cloud my mind. In the end, I decided to go back to my old pain management regiment.

Last Friday afternoon, my nurse from Hospis Malaysia visited me for the first time. I gave her an update about my disease and my condition. She wanted to know what was my intention of contacting Hospis. I told her I have two objectives. The first is that I hope to learn more about pain management and hope to find an easier way to get my regular supply of painkillers. Currently, I will have to see my specialist doctor just to get a prescription. It takes a lot of time. The second objective is in the event my condition deteriorates, I would require palliative care from Hospis. We spent sometime talking about my current pain management regime and she suggested that I stopped taking the painkillers that was prescribed by my urologist. She said she will bring her doctor and meet me on Monday and start me on a different pain management regime.

Making Your Own Sodium Ascorbate Solution
I have been thinking about John's suggestion on making my own ascorbate solution but using Sodium ascorbate instead of Calcium ascorbate. As usual, I can't seems to find a supplier to buy Sodium ascorbates crystals locally. Readers from Singapore, if you know of a supplier, please do let me know. Thanks. So after checking online, I managed to find a few suppliers. 1.7kg of Sodium ascorbates sells for US$79 or about US$4.65 per 100gm excluding shipping costs. Shipping is going be expensive but I believe it's still worth the effort.

Since I intent to do IV vitamin C on a long term basis, it make sense to make my own solution. This way, I not only save on costs but I hope other cancer patients who currently cannot get hold of this solution can make their own and also benefit from taking this therapy. My doctor told me that some patients found it expensive and hence could not afford to take this therapy. I understand my doctor gets  his supply from a third party. I will follow the instruction from Preparation of Sodium Ascorbate (non acidic vitamin C) for IV and IM Use by Robert F. Cathcart III, M.D. You can download the guide here. You can also see a video instruction here.

I plan to import 1.7kg for my trial and this will translate into about 34 bags of 50gm 500ml Sodium ascorbate solution. It will last about 17 weeks at 100gms per week.

Intravenous Dosage Guidelines
One gram per kilogram of body weight is a general guideline, which would be about 20 to 25 grams for a 50-pound child and 100 grams for a 220 pound-adult. However, according to vitamin C experts, just giving most adults 50 grams at a time for most conditions works out well.

Rate of infusion can range anywhere from 30 minutes to 3 hours, depending upon comfort of the IV, the amount being administered, and the condition being treated (toxins, more rapid, infections, cancer, etc., less rapid). The more rapid infusions will often be associated with hypoglycemia, which can usually be easily addressed with a little fruit juice or even a candy bar. But it is best if the added glucose/sugar can be avoided.

Dosage is always empirical, as in give more if the clinical response, especially in infections or poisonings, is not adequate. Note: Ascorbic acid should never be used intravenously and can damage veins. The sodium content of sodium ascorbate (113 mg per gram of C) may be of concern to those with hypertension or water retention problems. Interestingly, sodium ascorbate is used in intravenous drips where dozens of grams/day of sodium injected directly into the blood stream doesn't seem to be a problem. Recent research indicates that only highly refined sodium chloride (table salt) may be the real problem for heart patients. Sodium ascorbate is also routinely used as a sugar-free, additive-free, substitute for toothpaste (brush and swallow).

Source: http://www.vitamincfoundation.org

Cancer Saviour - Vitamin C

Yesterday, I visited my urologist with a view of treating my abdominal pain. I  took along my previous CT scans which I took while in China. He could not recognised me and after I reminded him that I visited him in 2009, he took a look at the past records. He then calculated that I last met him 30 months ago and said my immune system was strong to keep me alive for so long. Anyway, after seeing the CT scans, he then said two things to me. The first was about my disease, there is no change in my prognosis. There is no cure and recommended that I consider taking the targeted drug therapy Sunitinib which will cost RM18K (US$5.6K) per month. I can ask for financial assistance and the drug company will check my financial background to determine availability. In any case, my urologist reminded me that this therapy does not cure, only to prevent the growth of the disease. The other thing my urologist said to me is my pain. After I told him my current painkillers that I am taking, he recommended a different regime. He put me on Morphine Sulfate as the baseline painkiller, taking two 10mg tablets a day, one in the morning and one in the evening. I can increase the dosage to 30mg each time when required. If breakthrough pain comes, I am to take painkillers like Ultracet or other codeine based painkillers on need basis. I started taking the 10mg Morphine Sulfate yesterday but it was not sufficient to manage the pain from my abdominal area. I will have to increase the dosage to 20mg and see. The pain on my abdominal area can be painful at times.

I also discussed with my urologist about internal bleeding. I told him that I am taking the drug cyclophosphamide (CTX) and he said that this drug causes bleeding in the bladder. He also reminded me that kidney cancer is immune to chemotherapy and CTX would not help. I told my doctor that I am aware of this and that in trials involving CTX, the patients showed a better response with this drug even when chemotherapy failed to treat. As for me, I found out that my nerve pain and also my pain on my pelvic area improved when I started taking CTX. However, in view of the bleeding that can be caused by CTX, I think I will stopped taking it for a moment and monitor the blood in urine failing which I will have to do a cystoscopy on the bladder. My doctor in New York commented that only mega doses of CTX causes bleeding in the bladder. He suggested I do a urine analysis to determine the amount of blood present in the urine because the blood loss according to my blood test results are quite substantial. I am mildly anemic now.

Vitamin C
I received a comment from John and he suggested using calcium ascorbate for IV vitamin C therapy which is rather cheap at A$10 per 100gm. I spoke to my doctor and he told me that I am taking sodium ascorbates (with potassium added).

Mineral salts of ascorbic acid (mineral ascorbates) are buffered and therefore less acidic. The most two common types of mineral ascorbates are sodium ascorbates and calcium ascorbates. Sodium ascorbate: 1,000 mg of sodium ascorbate contains 889 mg of ascorbic acid and 111 mg of sodium. Individuals following low-sodium diets (e.g., for high blood pressure) are generally advised to keep their total dietary sodium intake to less than 2,500 mg/day. Megadoses of sodium ascorbate could significantly increase sodium intake. Calcium ascorbate: 1,000 mg of calcium ascorbate generally provides 890-910 mg of ascorbic acid and 90-110 mg of calcium. Calcium in this form appears to be reasonably well absorbed. The recommended dietary calcium intake for adults is 1,000 to 1,200 mg/day. Total calcium intake should not exceed the tolerable upper intake level of 2,500 mg/day.

So the problem with taking mega doses of sodium or calcium ascorbates say at 150gms per session (300gms per week) would mean the body would be getting excessive sodium or calcium in the blood levels. The clinicians at the Emerson Health and Wellness Centre suggest when vitamin C is used, it does not contain calcium ascorbate. They believe that within a few years there will be a backlash against regular high dose calcium supplementation because it appears to be going everywhere (especially arterial walls) except bones. Most of the scientific literature supports the belief that most of the older population is massively overdosed on calcium and suffering from calcium toxicity (that’s why all the new scans for heart disease involve determining how much calcium has been deposited in arterial walls). Excess calcium in arterial walls is directly correlated to increased risk of heart disease, chronic degenerative disease and all-cause mortality.

The Mathias Rath's and Linus Pauling's research on the usage and correct dosages of Vitamin C which broke so much new ground - this research consequently gave birth to the well-known Orthomolecular Medicine movement, whose approach was to use natural nutritive methods at correct dosages discovered through intensive research in order to alleviate and cure disease. They both went on to discover the usefulness of high dose Vitamin C (as Ascorbate) and high dose Lysine - a simple amino acid protein pre-cursor -- as a very simple cure and preventative for heart disease, arteriosclerosis, high blood pressure etc. It was found that Vitamin C simply acted to remove the actual arterial plaque blockages while the Lysine removed the Lipoprotein(a) or Lp(a) from the blood in order to stop the plaque reforming again. In talking about arteriosclerosis, Pauling always liked to refer to this problem simply as "arterial scurvy" in order to drive his point home about the importance of correct dosages of Vitamin C in the human diet.

And, when natural epigallocatechins (green tea tannins) were added to the vitamin C and Lysine protocol, this treatment would stop cancer tumor growth, prevent angiogenesis, and also help to prevent metastasis. Few people know about the Pauling-Rath research because the drug industry has done its utmost to suppress or spoil this vital research information for years.

Previously, a report in the March 2006 edition of the Canadian Medical Journal reported on 3 terminal cancer cases with unexpected positive outcomes after the administration of high dose intravenous vitamin C. Patient 1 was a 51 year old woman who had metastatic kidney cancer and was treated with 65 grams of intravenous vitamin C twice a week for 10 months. Patient 2 was a 49 year old man with advanced bladder cancer who received 30 grams of intravenous vitamin C twice a week for 3 months then 30 grams monthly for 4 years. Patient 3 had B cell lymphoma and underwent radiation but declined chemotherapy. Instead she had 15 grams of intravenous vitamin C twice a week for 2 months then weekly for 7 months and then every second month for a year. All took additional nutritional supplements. Several years later, all remained in remission.

Is Vitamin C Harmful to Cancer Patients?
In a recent presentation at the American Cancer Society meeting, Dr. David Golde of Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center speculated that supplemental vitamin C may be harmful to cancer patients. Dr. Golde had previously shown how vitamin C gets into and accumulates in cancer cells. Golde and others are concerned that the extra vitamin C in cancer cells may enhance their growth or protect them from the cell-killing free radicals produced by radiation and some chemotherapeutic drugs.

While different cancer cells may respond differently to vitamin C, it is important to view these concerns in the context of the experimental cell culture, small animal, and human clinical studies. In some cell culture and small animal studies, vitamin C has enhanced cancer cell growth. Dr. Chan Park has found that the growth of leukemic cells from some leukemia patients put into culture was enhanced by vitamin C. The growth of cells taken from other leukemia patients was either inhibited or unaffected by vitamin C. It is unknown whether similar effects would have been observed in the same patients taking supplemental vitamin C. Dr. Joel Schwartz of the National Institutes of Health has published studies in which supplemental vitamin C enhanced the growth of tumors induced in hamsters by a chemical carcinogen. Interestingly, the growth of tumors was significantly inhibited by supplemental vitamin E and by a mixture of antioxidants, including beta-carotene, vitamin E, and vitamin C.

Studies published by Linus Pauling Institute (LPI) scientists since the 1970s have demonstrated that supplemental vitamin C delayed the onset of tumors in mice that developed spontaneous mammary tumors, in mice exposed to ultraviolet radiation, and in guinea pigs implanted with liver cancer cells. In these experiments, vitamin C did not appreciably affect the growth rate of tumors once they formed. Other studies published by Dr. Constance Tsao and her colleagues at LPI showed that supplemental vitamin C (sometimes combined with oxidation products of vitamin C) inhibited the growth of human colon, lung, and mammary tumors implanted into mice. LPI investigations also demonstrated that vitamin C and its derivatives have anticancer effects against a number of cancer cell lines in culture.

What about clinical studies on vitamin C in cancer patients? Dr. Pauling and his medical collaborator, Dr. Ewan Cameron, former Chief of Surgery at Vale of Leven Hospital in Scotland, published numerous papers on the response of cancer patients given large doses of supplemental vitamin C as an adjunct to the appropriate conventional treatment for cancer. In their book Cancer and Vitamin C, they concluded that supplemental vitamin C is of benefit to most cancer patients. The benefit ranged from an increased sense of well-being to a prolongation of survival time in terminal patients to rare complete regressions. However, two clinical studies carried out by Drs. Edward Creagan and Charles Moertel of the Mayo Clinic and published in 1979 and 1985 showed no benefit from supplemental vitamin C on survival time. As Drs. Cameron and Pauling pointed out, however, the patients in the first Mayo Clinic study had undergone extensive chemotherapy that damaged their immune systems prior to the use of vitamin C. In the second study supplemental vitamin C was abruptly stopped after only about two months. There was also evidence that some of the patients in the placebo group were taking extra vitamin C, thus muddying the differences between groups.

When Cancer and Vitamin C was first published in 1979, Drs. Cameron and Pauling noted that little information was available on the interaction between vitamin C and chemotherapeutic drugs. They cautioned that patients undergoing aggressive chemotherapy expected to be curative should refrain from taking large doses of vitamin C at the same time in case the vitamin interfered with the drug action.

In the early 1990s, Dr. Pauling published two papers with Dr. Abram Hoffer, who developed a regimen for use in cancer patients that includes B vitamins, vitamin E, large doses of vitamin C, beta-carotene, selenium, zinc, and other substances. The statistical analysis of their data revealed that about 40% of the cancer patients survived five years or more after the initiation of the regimen. (A new book by Dr. Hoffer, Vitamin C & Cancer, features major contributions by Linus Pauling and further discussion of these results.) Only about 10% of the patients treated by Dr. Cameron in Scotland with vitamin C alone survived as long, although all of the Scottish study patients had terminal cancer. These studies, as well as Dr. Cameron's studies in Scotland, were not designed as placebo- controlled, randomized, double-blind trials because of ethical concerns and practical problems concerning appropriate placebos.

A Finnish non-randomized clinical study published in Anticancer Research in 1992 by Dr. Jaakkola and colleagues showed that the provision of B vitamins, large doses of vitamins C and E, beta-carotene, fatty acids, and minerals in combination with chemotherapy and radiation to patients with small-cell lung cancer resulted in significantly prolonged survival, especially when started early. These patients were compared to patients in other studies who were treated only with chemotherapy and radiation. Another clinical study by Dr. Emmanuel Cheraskin published in 1968 showed that the response to radiation among women with cervical carcinoma was enhanced by daily supplements of 750 mg of vitamin C given during radiation.

Source: Linus Pauling Institute

How To Make Your Own Vitamin C  
YOU CAN MAKE YOUR OWN VITAMIN C POWDER!!!! Do this at home and you will know you are taking a high quality supplement straight from the source. Organic citrus fruits have all the good stuff in their pulp and peel.

Cut the peels into thin strips and lay them out on cheesecloth, or use a dehydrator to dry out the peels. After a few days, or when fully dry, put the dried peels into a coffee grinder to make into a powder. One spoonfull is said to be all you need for a whole day. Add the powder to your food or drinks, store in an airtight container.

Most citrus fruits such as lemons have five very potent/powerful/extremely dangerous pesticides sprayed on them when shipped. You can use organic grapefruit, tangerines, oranges, lemons or limes.

Vitamin C in the form of Ascorbic Acid should be converted to its Ascorbate form because this form is more alkaline, more absorbable and uses up less bicarbonates from your body's digestive system. This means crunching up your Ascorbic acid tablets then adding water and finally adding the baking soda(sodium bicarbonate) -- let it finish fizzing -- then drinking it down. For every 2,000mg of ascorbic acid, add just added 1/4 to 1/2 teasoon of baking soda to it. Please make sure the baking soda is aluminum free.

Do I Know Where I am Going To?

I am beginning to be afraid of the night. No, I am not afraid of the ghosts. I am frightened of the night because I cannot sleep. The nights seems forever as I sit helplessly to wait for morning to break. Should I read a book, surf the net or just watch TV?  It's been more than a month since I have not been sleeping well. I have researched and tried some of the sleeping methods but so far only the sleeping pills works very well. Melatonin supplements seems elusive for the moment and I will pay a visit to my doctor for some prescription. I seems to be losing grips with my life. How am I going to heal when I am not sleeping? It looks like I am beginning to experience more problems on top of what I already have. What am I going to do?

If you think I am sounding desperate, I am. It happened before and will continue to happen. I am not afraid to die but how I die. Many a times, I just  hope I would not to wake up from my sleep. Just taking the easy way out. But wait, I am not giving up! I am releasing some frustrations once in a while but by no means I act destructively. Sometimes I sink into short depression periods. The pain from the cancer are wrecking havoc on my life and confidence.

Vitamin C
I finally did it. I have read about it, thought about it for months now and I finally had my IV Vitamin C (IVC) yesterday. How does it feel? Not much except I have this flu like symptoms. Could not mount a fever so it became uncomfortable. Had a hot bath, drank hot drink to sweat. Did not work and finally took a pain killer. I had a good sleep last night. Apparently, it could because of the IVC.

Dr. Hugh Riordan, a scientist, routinely checked plasma vitamin C levels in chronically ill patients. He found these sick patients to be consistently low in their plasma C levels. Interestingly enough, the cancer patients he was seeing had VERY LOW vitamin C reserves. This matched scientific literature documenting low vitamin C levels in cancer patients. Cancer cells were actively taking up vitamin C in a way that depleted tissue reserves of C.

PET scans are commonly ordered by oncologists to evaluate their cancer patients for metastases (cancer spread to other organs). What is actually injected into the patient at the start of the scan is radioactive glucose. Cancer cells are anaerobic obligates, which means they depend upon glucose as their primary source of metabolic fuel. Cancer cells employ transport mechanisms called glucose transporters to actively pull in glucose.

In the vast majority of animals, vitamin C is synthesized from glucose in only four metabolic steps. Hence, the molecular shape of vitamin C is remarkably similar to glucose. Cancer cells will actively transport vitamin C into themselves, possibly because they mistake it for glucose. Another plausible explanation is that they are using the vitamin C as an antioxidant. Regardless, the vitamin C accumulates in cancer cells.

If large amounts of vitamin C are presented to cancer cells, large amounts will be absorbed. In these unusually large concentrations, the antioxidant vitamin C will start behaving as a pro-oxidant as it interacts with intracellular copper and iron. This chemical interaction produces small amounts of hydrogen peroxide.

Because cancer cells are relatively low in an intracellular anti-oxidant enzyme called catalase, the high dose vitamin C induction of peroxide will continue to build up until it eventually lyses the cancer cell from the inside out! This effectively makes high dose IVC a non-toxic chemotherapeutic agent that can be given in conjunction with conventional cancer treatments. Based on the work of several vitamin C pioneers before him, Dr. Riordan was able to prove that vitamin C was selectively toxic to cancer cells if given intravenously. This research was recently reproduced and published by Dr. Mark Levine at the National Institutes of Health.