I'm just back from an excellent visit to the Schacter Center in New York.
I met Dr. Michael Schacter at the Complementary and Alternative Medicine conference this January, and I was impressed with his approach and his enthusiastic, ecumenical research into different alternative cancer treatments. I also had a chance to speak with him personally, and he not only knew about the kind of treatments I was getting in Germany, but offered some great additional suggestions that were specific to my situation.
So I went back for the whole enchilada. His staff interviewed me extensively, put me through a battery of tests, and gave me some nutritional counseling (it turns out I'm already pretty much on track with the diet I'm following for the enzyme therapy.)
The Bad News
On the second day, I had a private consultation with Dr. Schacter, and we reviewed some of the results from the tests I'd taken the previous day. My PSA was 11.4 -- yow! That's almost double the 5.8 figure that it was 3 weeks ago - and the 5.8 was more than double the 2.6 reading of the previous month. Doubling my PSA two months in a row is *not* a good situation, so I definitely need to keep on the ball with my treatments.
The Good News
That's it for the bad news -- the rest of the visit was a really wonderful education about treatments that I can fit into my own regimen. I received all of the following:
• supplement review
Fortunately it looks like I'm already taking most of what Dr. Schacter would recommend. Both he and Pamela highly recommend the ProstaSol and Avemar. I'm also going to start on Pao V FM (one of the Beljanski remedies that helped keep President Mitterand of France alive for years when he was secretly battling metastatic prostate cancer.) Also I'll be starting to take iodine and iodides -- the Japanese diet has an average dose of iodine that is 12,000 times our recommended daily dose…and they have almost no breast cancer!
I'm also going to be taking amygdalin tablets (laetrile), and I'll be checking out the supplements in Dr. Chi's Cancer Program -- Dr. Schacter is very enthusiastic about the effect of both of these supplement regimens on prostate cancer.
• treatment review
The big question for me this week was: how should I modify my treatment -- if at all?? I've been having awful depression and energy problems with Pamela's version of the enzyme therapy, and put this to Dr. Schacter for his opinion. He was marvelously impartial, and really put the decision back to me, with the assurance that everything I've already been doing is right on track. (I'll write more about the treatment choice in a later post.)
• Vitamin C infusions
This is a mainstay at the Schacter Center -- and Dr. Thaller in Germany used them too. The basic principle is that you lure in the cancer cells with glucose (they love it!), and then explode them from the inside out with megadoses of Vitamin C (they hate it!) I got infusions for four days here, and I'll be continuing them in Austin.
• Colorpuncture
This treatment uses a series of colored penlights (as well as traditional needles) on acupuncture points relevant to my condition. It piggybacks on recent developments that show how direct application of light to tumors has a healing effect. Instead of routing fiber optic tubes directly to the tumors as in those experiments, colorpuncture achieves similar results by treating the acupuncture points that correspond to the tumor area.
I also got a Heart Rate Variability test, which measures how quickly and effectively my system responds to stress. The doctor liked the result I got -- he said it shows that there's a lot of "oomph" left in my system to combat the disease. According to this test, at this point the cancer isn't anything more than an annoyance to my system -- it isn't like it's lumbering along underneath an impossible weight.
• Mind-Body Therapy
Serendipity sent me to the most interesting part of visit to the Center. While I was getting a Vitamin C infusion, I was talking about my treatment history with one of the nurses. "Oh my God," she gasped, " you haven't seen Dr. Reznik? Our mind-body guy?? Hang on, I'll see if he has any time available this afternoon!"
Dr. Reznik uses a combination of guided imagery, dreamwork, and other mental trainings to help visualize a positive outcome. I ended up taking an all-day seminar with him on Sunday, and came home with an extensive set of tools to work with -- I am noticing a marked change in my attitude already! I'll be meeting with Dr. Reznik via Skype next week and am looking forward to it!
Showing posts with label Prostasol. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Prostasol. Show all posts
Friday, April 4, 2008
Tuesday, November 20, 2007
Researching the Next Step
OK, now that the last visit to the PraxisKlinik is under my belt, I can turn to the question at hand: what's the best way to continue my treatment going forward?
One option is to continue the visits to Dr. Thaller every 6 weeks or so. The three treatments I'll continue with would be the fevertherapy, the Newcastle Disease Virus injections, and the Dendritic Cell injections. (Alongside these there are the additional treatments of vitamin C and ozone infusions, and local hyperthermia).
Liz and I have 20 vials of the virus with us here in the States, so the injections with those will continue through January in any case.
A second option is to work with Dr. Pfeifer at the Aeskulap Klinik in Switzerland. He has a very interesting-sounding protocol for prostate cancer, which consists of high dosages of four different supplements. (I've already started taking one of these -- ProstaSol -- and my PSA went down by over 50% in one month! )
The third option is to go with the enzyme therapy that Dr. Gonzalez is known for. This is an intensive self-care program consisting of supplements (mainly pancreas enzymes), a strict diet, and detoxification procedures. I'm strangely drawn to this path, as it is a way that 1) I can take responsibility for controlling my own health, and 2) is something that I can maintain over the long term, as I manage this cancer as a chronic condition. (I don't imagine that there will be a sudden cure for what I have, and the costs of Thaller's treatment -- around $15,000 a visit -- make it extremely hard to envision continuing to do it over the long term!)
In any case, I'm going to be getting some help in sorting these issues out -- I'll be doing another phone consultation next week with Dr. Ralph Moss, the über-researcher that keeps his finger on the pulse of all the new cancer therapies that are being tried.
One option is to continue the visits to Dr. Thaller every 6 weeks or so. The three treatments I'll continue with would be the fevertherapy, the Newcastle Disease Virus injections, and the Dendritic Cell injections. (Alongside these there are the additional treatments of vitamin C and ozone infusions, and local hyperthermia).
Liz and I have 20 vials of the virus with us here in the States, so the injections with those will continue through January in any case.
A second option is to work with Dr. Pfeifer at the Aeskulap Klinik in Switzerland. He has a very interesting-sounding protocol for prostate cancer, which consists of high dosages of four different supplements. (I've already started taking one of these -- ProstaSol -- and my PSA went down by over 50% in one month! )
The third option is to go with the enzyme therapy that Dr. Gonzalez is known for. This is an intensive self-care program consisting of supplements (mainly pancreas enzymes), a strict diet, and detoxification procedures. I'm strangely drawn to this path, as it is a way that 1) I can take responsibility for controlling my own health, and 2) is something that I can maintain over the long term, as I manage this cancer as a chronic condition. (I don't imagine that there will be a sudden cure for what I have, and the costs of Thaller's treatment -- around $15,000 a visit -- make it extremely hard to envision continuing to do it over the long term!)
In any case, I'm going to be getting some help in sorting these issues out -- I'll be doing another phone consultation next week with Dr. Ralph Moss, the über-researcher that keeps his finger on the pulse of all the new cancer therapies that are being tried.
Friday, November 9, 2007
PSA down
Good news today when I retrieved my PSA score -- it was down to 2.2 on October 30th. (compared to 4.2 on October 5th).
This is really good news for a couple of reasons. Most obviously and simply -- the PSA is down, which is always the goal. This is actually the lowest it's been since I was diagnosed in July.
The other bit of good news is that the only change in my therapy between October 5th and October 30th was that I started taking ProstaSol. (In fact, my hormone blockage therapy was wearing off between those two dates, and I didn't get my next shot until October 31st. So I wouldn't have been surprised if my PSA had gone *up* instead!)
This means that I can pretty clearly attribute an almost 50% drop in my PSA to the ProstaSol. For now, it is *definitely* staying on my supplement list -- even though I have to order it from the Netherlands!
This is really good news for a couple of reasons. Most obviously and simply -- the PSA is down, which is always the goal. This is actually the lowest it's been since I was diagnosed in July.
The other bit of good news is that the only change in my therapy between October 5th and October 30th was that I started taking ProstaSol. (In fact, my hormone blockage therapy was wearing off between those two dates, and I didn't get my next shot until October 31st. So I wouldn't have been surprised if my PSA had gone *up* instead!)
This means that I can pretty clearly attribute an almost 50% drop in my PSA to the ProstaSol. For now, it is *definitely* staying on my supplement list -- even though I have to order it from the Netherlands!
Wednesday, October 31, 2007
Back on the Balance Beam
One of the advantages of putting together my own health care plan is that there are so many options to choose from.
And, the major disadvantage of putting together my own health care plan is that there are so many options to choose from!
This week has been pretty confusing, as Liz and I have been weighing the pros and cons of continuing with Dr. Thaller's treatment vs. starting one of the other promising treatment regimens that I've run across.
On Dr. Thaller's side: he's a great guy with a fabulous curing attitude; the four treatments he offers are very highly-regarded*; I'm not even halfway through the series of dendritic cell treatments; and frankly, I want to try *anything* that has a good chance of helping me to heal.
On the other side, it's soooo doggoned expensive. The next treatment series will be $18,000…and there are two other series waiting for us in the next couple of months at the same cost. Since so many people have been so amazingly generous with their contributions, I want to make sure that their money is well-spent.
There's also some doubts about the dendritic cell therapy, which is the core of the next few visit to Dr. Thaller. Ralph Moss (the most competent researcher I've come across) said that many people consider this line of inquiry to be "yesterday's news". (To be fair, there are lots of people praising it to the skies as well.)
In the midst of this confusion, I've been reading about two other therapies that might really help out someone with an advanced cancer like mine.
The first is Dr. Pfeifer's prostate protocol . He's the head of the Aeskulap Clinic in Switzerland, and developed a series of four different supplements for men with *very* advanced prostate cancer (even worse than mine). There's just been an EU-wide study on it that concluded it produces a 50% reduction in PSA in 70% of the patients treated. (PSA decreases if your cancer is decreasing).
The second is the combination supplement-and-diet regimen of Dr. Nick Gonzalez in New York City. He started out at Sloan-Kettering examining a "folk" remedy that had achieved some notoriety back in the 70s (actor Steve McQueen was on it). He found out it had a 93% *cure* rate, quit Sloan-Kettering, and started his own practice administering the regimen.
The case reports are really breath-taking for this treatment. Take a look at them and you'll understand why we're on the fence about what to do next.
--------
* Dr. Thaller's 4 treatments are local deep hyperthermia, Newcastle Disease Virus, Coley's Toxins and dendritic cell vaccine. (there's also Vitamin C and oxygenated blood infusions, but those are just gravy.)
And, the major disadvantage of putting together my own health care plan is that there are so many options to choose from!
This week has been pretty confusing, as Liz and I have been weighing the pros and cons of continuing with Dr. Thaller's treatment vs. starting one of the other promising treatment regimens that I've run across.
On Dr. Thaller's side: he's a great guy with a fabulous curing attitude; the four treatments he offers are very highly-regarded*; I'm not even halfway through the series of dendritic cell treatments; and frankly, I want to try *anything* that has a good chance of helping me to heal.
On the other side, it's soooo doggoned expensive. The next treatment series will be $18,000…and there are two other series waiting for us in the next couple of months at the same cost. Since so many people have been so amazingly generous with their contributions, I want to make sure that their money is well-spent.
There's also some doubts about the dendritic cell therapy, which is the core of the next few visit to Dr. Thaller. Ralph Moss (the most competent researcher I've come across) said that many people consider this line of inquiry to be "yesterday's news". (To be fair, there are lots of people praising it to the skies as well.)
In the midst of this confusion, I've been reading about two other therapies that might really help out someone with an advanced cancer like mine.
The first is Dr. Pfeifer's prostate protocol . He's the head of the Aeskulap Clinic in Switzerland, and developed a series of four different supplements for men with *very* advanced prostate cancer (even worse than mine). There's just been an EU-wide study on it that concluded it produces a 50% reduction in PSA in 70% of the patients treated. (PSA decreases if your cancer is decreasing).
The second is the combination supplement-and-diet regimen of Dr. Nick Gonzalez in New York City. He started out at Sloan-Kettering examining a "folk" remedy that had achieved some notoriety back in the 70s (actor Steve McQueen was on it). He found out it had a 93% *cure* rate, quit Sloan-Kettering, and started his own practice administering the regimen.
The case reports are really breath-taking for this treatment. Take a look at them and you'll understand why we're on the fence about what to do next.
--------
* Dr. Thaller's 4 treatments are local deep hyperthermia, Newcastle Disease Virus, Coley's Toxins and dendritic cell vaccine. (there's also Vitamin C and oxygenated blood infusions, but those are just gravy.)
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