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Conventional Oncology has Little to Offer the Pancreatic Cancer Patient. Think Outside the Box and Consider Conventional Therapies combined with Evidence-based Integrative, and Complementary Therapies.
I am a long-term survivor of an “incurable cancer”who pursued conventional “standard-of-care” therapies when I was first diagnosed only to experience remission, relapse, remission and, after four short years, my oncologist telling me that “there is nothing more we can do for you.” I live with a host of permanent side effects from those aggressive toxic conventional therapies.
So it is difficult for me to write about aggressive cancers such as pancreatic cancer without sounding histrionic.
If conventional oncology is your sole option, aggressive chemotherapy and radiation may result in side effects which limit the pancreatic cancer patient’s quality of life rather than increasing his/her length of life.
Conventional oncology has little to offer the later stage PC patient. Consider thinking outside the box with lower dose chemo combined with those nutraceuticals and complementary therapies such as those discussed in the studies linked below this article. To learn more about these complementary therapies:
To Learn More about non-conventional pancreatic cancer therapies please read the posts linked below-
Most importantly, your pancreatic tumor may shrink enough to then undergo Whipple surgery for your cancer.
I am both a long-term cancer survivor and cancer coach. Do you have PC? What stage? Scroll down the page, post a question or comment and I will reply to you ASAP.
“A growing body of evidence supports the idea that curcumin is a promising anticancer drug. Curcumin has anticancer effects, both alone and in combination with other anticancer drugs, through the modulation of a variety of molecular targets in preclinical models..”
“A small Phase I clinical trial in the U.S. has just shown that adding IV (intravenous) vitamin C to a common chemo drug for pancreatic cancer extended patients’ average survival time to 12 months, compared to historical survival times of 5.65 months for such patients. More remarkable is that three of the patients were still alive at the end of the trial (two at 15 months, one at 29 months survival time) which means overall survival could further increase…”
“In this first reported clinical case, exercise led to improvements in a variety of patient outcomes during adjuvant therapy for pancreatic cancer. This initial evidence has important clinical implications, indicating that exercise may be an effective adjunct therapy for the management of pancreatic cancer…”
The Most BioAvailable Curcumin Formulas
“Based on a review of these studies, it is evident that better bioavailability of formulated curcumin (CU) products is mostly attributed to improved solubility, stability, and possibly low first-pass metabolism”
A search of the Pubmed database for the word curcumin yields 601 studies spaning health topics from multiple myeloma and colorectal cancer, to chemotherapies that synergizes with CU, to Alzheimer’s Disease, arthritis and more. Based on years of reading studies and personal accounts, I think it is safe to say that CU supplementation is safe and relatively inexpensive.
I have read about myeloma patients taking daily doses of CU from 400 milligrams to 8 grams (1000 milligrams = 1 gram). By almost any measure, CU is a safe, inexpensive wonder drug.
The only challenge is that CU is famously difficult to absorb in the body. In other words, a person has to mix curcumin with some sort of fat (coconut oil, chocolate, etc.) or take a brand of curcumin capsule that is already formulated to be more “bioavailable” in order to derive the full benefit of CU.
The study linked and exerpted below reviews different formulations of CU. The study itself lists the three most bioavailable formulation/brand of CU and I’ve added an excerpt from a further review from Consumerlab.com that lists four additional bioavailable brands of CU.
“Curcumin is a widely studied natural compound which has shown tremendous in vitro therapeutic potential. Despite that, the clinical efficacy of the native CU is weak due to its low bioavailability and high metabolism in the gastrointestinal tract. During the last decade, researchers have come up with different formulations with a focus on improving the bioavailability of curcumin. As a result, a significant number of bioavailable curcumin-based formulations were introduced with the varying range of enhanced bioavailability.
The purpose of this review is to collate the published clinical studies of CU products with improved bioavailability over conventional (unformulated) CU. Based on the literature search, 11 curcumin formulations with available human bioavailability and pharmacokinetics data were included in this review. Further, the data on clinical study design, analytical method, pharmacokinetic parameters and other relevant details of each formulation were extracted.
Based on a review of these studies, it is evident that better bioavailability of formulated curcumin products is mostly attributed to improved solubility, stability, and possibly low first-pass metabolism. The review hopes to provide a quick reference guide for anyone looking information on these bioavailable curcumin formulations.
exhibited over 100-fold higher bioavailability relative to reference unformulated CU. Suggested mechanisms accounting for improved bioavailability of the formulations and details on the bioanalysis methods are also discussed.”
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[…] To Learn More about Complementary, Integrative and Non-conventional Pancreatic Therapies- click now I am a cancer survivor and cancer coach. Please consider integrating conventional and non-conventional therapies in advanced pancreatic cancer. I supplement with Life Extension Super Bio-Curcumin and Life Extension Super Omega-3 Fatty Acids. […]
[…] support” is the same as what you are asking for, a phone consultation. You can choose either. To Learn More about Complementary, Integrative and Non-conventional Pancreatic Therapies- click now Let me know if you have any questions. Hang in there- David […]
Congratulations!! So glad you’re doing well and helping others!
i am having a hard time finding a doctor to help with integrative therapy for pancreatic cancer. Any ideas? We live in Ohio an NW PA.
I’ve searched some cancer websites but no luck.
I think it is rare for an integrative oncologist to specialize in one specific cancer such as pancreatic cancer. I am a cancer survivor and cancer coach. I have worked with pancreatic cancer patients to provide a therapy plan that includes 1) conventional (FDA approved) therapies 2) evidence-based pancreatic cancer integrative therapies as well as non-conventional therapies such as diet, supplements, etc. 3) Side issues such as financial toxicity issues and more.
The link below will take you to a search page for integrative cancer and Eric PA. I thought you might be close to Erie.
