Question:

Hi, I belong to a group similar to this for the support of Crohns Disease and Ulcerative Collitis. The reason I am posting here is because a friend of my family was diagnosed with breast cancer about a year to two years ago.  She has had both her breasts removed and has had considerable radiotherapy and I think chemo. She went back to her doctor last week and found out that she has cancer in her spine as well as a spot on her lung.  She is completely at her wits end. She is really into alternative medicine and I was wondering if anyone here had tried or is using something along the alternative lines that they have found to be beneficial or knows of any web sites containing alternative treatment for cancer. Please email me personally at my address below. Thanks all so much.

Response:

Kiri, I understand why you have posted to the cancer support newsgroup looking for information about alternative therapy for you friend, who is suffering from this disease.  We would all like to think that there is some wonderful alternative to chemo and radiation. I don’t have anything to offer other than a bit of advice.  You’ve probably just opened the floodgate to your email box from every quack that’s trying to sell his/her "miracle cure."  They love to feed on the sick and desparate so please keep this in mind when assessing information that you will receive. Beware of ganoderma spores, agaricus mushrooms, the various diet formulas, and basically anyone who wants your money for something that is unproven and may even be harmful, such as laetrile. Perhaps your friend can get involved in a clinical trial somewhere.  I have a friend who has mets all over her body from a breast cancer primary.  She was give 6 months over a year and a half ago.  She keeps signing up for clinical trials and has extended her life far beyond what was expected.  She’s currently in one at Dana Farber in Boston for herceptin and has been deemed in remission. In addition, if she’d like to eat a few rasberries or injest some extra grapes, it certainly won’t hurt her.  But, I’d be very wary of most alternative medicine practitioners. You might want to ask this question over at alt.support.cancer.breast, too, just for more viewpoints.  I wish her the best of luck with whatever treatment regime she selects.  You’re a good friend to be concerned and I’m sure that she’ll need your love and support in her fight against this nasty disease. Take care. …lisa

Response:

… In addition, if she’d like to eat a few rasberries or injest some extra grapes, it certainly won’t hurt her.

Actually, it should be noted that current thinking among some researcers who are studying resveratrol, thought to be the main active ingredient in grapes, is that it is chemically similar to estrogen.  That means that it can stimulate the "estrogen receptor" in human tissue that has that receptor.  If the particular kind of tumor in the patient has those receptors, the tumor is said to be "estorgen responsive" or "ER-positive". Current thinking is that for ER-positive tumors, the use of grapes may be inadvisable or dangerous. My reading of the historical reports on grape therapy has not revealed any indications of sudden tumor growth when using a grape diet.  But that could be because enthusiasts for the method simply ignored such cases as baffling exceptions.  Or, it could possibly indicate that there are one or more chemicals besides resveratrol present in grapes that tend to block the estorgen receptor, or otherwise protect against any estrogen-like behavior from resveratrol. In any case, I would advise ANYBODY who tries grape therapy (or who uses estrogen replacement therapy, for that matter) to be on the alert for any sign of sudden growth of either a known tumor or a "lump". There could for example be an ER-positive tumor present that has not been detected, EVEN IF a biopsy on a known tumor shows it to be ER-negative. Anyway, if due care is taken about this issue, then yes, it shouldn’t hurt to experiment with grape therapy. So far, I have not heard of any similar "gotchas" about raspberries. -John S.

Response:

Actually, it should be noted that current thinking among some researcers who are studying resveratrol, thought to be the main active ingredient in grapes, is that it is chemically similar to estrogen.  That means that it can stimulate the "estrogen receptor" in human tissue that has that receptor.  If the particular kind of tumor in the patient has those receptors, the tumor is said to be "estorgen responsive" or "ER-positive".

Wow.  Thanks for that, John.  I guess I’ll remove grapes from the list.  You know, it’s amazing that we live at all based on what is actually in what we consume…guess there’s real validity in moderation in everything. …lisa

Response:

Actually, it should be noted that current thinking among some researcers who are studying resveratrol, thought to be the main active ingredient in grapes, is that it is chemically similar to estrogen.  That means that it can stimulate the "estrogen receptor" in human tissue that has that receptor.  If the particular kind of tumor in the patient has those receptors, the tumor is said to be "estorgen responsive" or "ER-positive". Wow.  Thanks for that, John.  I guess I’ll remove grapes from the list.  You know, it’s amazing that we live at all based on what is actually in what we consume…guess there’s real validity in moderation in everything. …lisa

I didn’t mean to shoot down grapes generally.  I don’t think they are any more dangerous than estrogen replacement therapy.  The main danger, if any, is to patients with known ER-positive tumors. For patients who know their tumors are ER-negative, the historical accounts in for example Johanna Brandt’s book "The Grape Cure" are pretty astonishing and seem to offer an excellent risk/benefit tradeoff. I.e. try the "all-grape diet" for a couple of weeks and see what happens. If it’s like what Brandt found, it might lead to a quick remission.  If it’s nonsense, so, what’s the downside of eating a lot of grapes for a few weeks?  Grapes are delicious! -John S.

Response:

Try searching our website at http://www.cancer-info.com/search.cgi — Cancer Information and Support International A Volunteer Driven Information and Support Organization Website URL: http://www.cancer-info.com

– Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – Hi, I belong to a group similar to this for the support of Crohns Disease and Ulcerative Collitis. The reason I am posting here is because a friend of my family was diagnosed with breast cancer about a year to two years ago.  She has had both her breasts removed and has had considerable radiotherapy and I think chemo. She went back to her doctor last week and found out that she has cancer in her spine as well as a spot on her lung.  She is completely at her wits end. She is really into alternative medicine and I was wondering if anyone here had tried or is using something along the alternative lines that they have found to be beneficial or knows of any web sites containing alternative treatment for cancer. Please email me personally at my address below. Thanks all so much.

Response:

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