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Non-invasive Test
This question is awkward and scary, I'm sorry. My cousin was diagnosed with ILC, and scheduled for mastectomy, chemo, radiation. No - she did not talk about her stage or share any details about the diagnosis. This was last fall.
She bailed-out and embraced an "alternative" approach -- some kind of insulin potentiation therapy with a Dr. Garcia in Florida. Some of us are scared to death of this, but she is 100% sold on Dr. Garcia and has gone to him for several months for many thousands of $$ of treatments.
Good news: the doctor has proclaimed that she is "cured." Bad news: this seems to be based on some kind of urine test that gets sent to the Philippines for diagnosis ... and some undefined blood test that shows she is cancer-free.
The clock is ticking. She thinks she is cured. She rejects "standard" medicine -- but I think she might be willing to get a quick 'second opinion' on the status of her "cure." She will be adamantly opposed to a biopsy or any invasive test.
Is there ANY test that might give her a realistic appraisal of her condition. I know we cannot get a high percentage accuracy this way -- I just hope for something that might shake her unquestioning faith in this quack, and perhaps begin an intervention that may save her BEFORE IT IS TOO LATE. Aargh -- this is so awful .... feeling so helpless and so desperate to find a way to help. ANY kind of advice would be gratefully received. Thank you.
She bailed-out and embraced an "alternative" approach -- some kind of insulin potentiation therapy with a Dr. Garcia in Florida. Some of us are scared to death of this, but she is 100% sold on Dr. Garcia and has gone to him for several months for many thousands of $$ of treatments.
Good news: the doctor has proclaimed that she is "cured." Bad news: this seems to be based on some kind of urine test that gets sent to the Philippines for diagnosis ... and some undefined blood test that shows she is cancer-free.
The clock is ticking. She thinks she is cured. She rejects "standard" medicine -- but I think she might be willing to get a quick 'second opinion' on the status of her "cure." She will be adamantly opposed to a biopsy or any invasive test.
Is there ANY test that might give her a realistic appraisal of her condition. I know we cannot get a high percentage accuracy this way -- I just hope for something that might shake her unquestioning faith in this quack, and perhaps begin an intervention that may save her BEFORE IT IS TOO LATE. Aargh -- this is so awful .... feeling so helpless and so desperate to find a way to help. ANY kind of advice would be gratefully received. Thank you.
Best Answer
Hi, I just looked some of this stuff up, and it sounds very bad.
Your cousin, with this approach, is actually getting conventional chemotherapy treatment, but in much lower doses, and along with insulin, the purpose being to raise the effectiveness of the chemo by lowering her blood sugar.
To me, the use of insulin sounds similar to the effects that were hoped to be achieved with insulin therapy and treatment of psychotics. it's very much like 'shock therapy' and supposedly cures depression as well.
The lowering of the blood sugar causes sweating, great discomfort, mental changes, and also a change in cell activity. (it may open up your veins)
I know this because I have had many very low blood sugars as an insulin dependent diabetic, and this feels horrible, and to the general observer one generally sounds and acts drunk. There is a faint line between being in this twighlight state and losing consciousness, which I have also experienced more than once, but the latter is not painful as you are out.
The whole thing sounds awful, and supposedly it was the current Dr. Garcias grandfather who was the founder of this therapy that has never undergone serious research.
KATRIN
http://www.google.com/search?client=safari&rls=en&q=Dr.+Garcia+and+insulin+potentiation+for+breast+cancer+treatment+in+Florida&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8
Your cousin, with this approach, is actually getting conventional chemotherapy treatment, but in much lower doses, and along with insulin, the purpose being to raise the effectiveness of the chemo by lowering her blood sugar.
To me, the use of insulin sounds similar to the effects that were hoped to be achieved with insulin therapy and treatment of psychotics. it's very much like 'shock therapy' and supposedly cures depression as well.
The lowering of the blood sugar causes sweating, great discomfort, mental changes, and also a change in cell activity. (it may open up your veins)
I know this because I have had many very low blood sugars as an insulin dependent diabetic, and this feels horrible, and to the general observer one generally sounds and acts drunk. There is a faint line between being in this twighlight state and losing consciousness, which I have also experienced more than once, but the latter is not painful as you are out.
The whole thing sounds awful, and supposedly it was the current Dr. Garcias grandfather who was the founder of this therapy that has never undergone serious research.
KATRIN
http://www.google.com/search?client=safari&rls=en&q=Dr.+Garcia+and+insulin+potentiation+for+breast+cancer+treatment+in+Florida&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8
I am very sorry to hear that your cousin went that route, and that you had to stand by helplessly watching!
If her ILC was definitively diagnosed by biopsy, it is unlikely it has "gone away." In my opinion, she has needlessly wasted both money and precious time. There is no blood or urine test that can pronounce anyone "cured" of breast cancer.
I have no knowledge of her doctor, but will just comment that there are a lot of scam artists out there, preying on frightened and vulnerable people. Last week on a TV show, I believe it was 60 minutes, there was an expose on a Texas doctor who conned people with MS and ALS (a progressive, fatal disease), into spending as much as $50,000 -$100,000, by promising complete cures through "treatments" he and another doctor provided across the border in Mexico. None of the patients improved; they all got worse.
Regarding non-invasive tests, if your cousin's ILC originally showed up on mammogram or MRI, comparison images taken now should show the current status of the lesion(s). If it only was detected through biopsy, another biopsy would no doubt be needed.
IF nothing should show up now, I still wouldn't believe it was due to the "alternative treatment," I would consider it a miracle! (But that's just one person's view...)
Best wishes...
If her ILC was definitively diagnosed by biopsy, it is unlikely it has "gone away." In my opinion, she has needlessly wasted both money and precious time. There is no blood or urine test that can pronounce anyone "cured" of breast cancer.
I have no knowledge of her doctor, but will just comment that there are a lot of scam artists out there, preying on frightened and vulnerable people. Last week on a TV show, I believe it was 60 minutes, there was an expose on a Texas doctor who conned people with MS and ALS (a progressive, fatal disease), into spending as much as $50,000 -$100,000, by promising complete cures through "treatments" he and another doctor provided across the border in Mexico. None of the patients improved; they all got worse.
Regarding non-invasive tests, if your cousin's ILC originally showed up on mammogram or MRI, comparison images taken now should show the current status of the lesion(s). If it only was detected through biopsy, another biopsy would no doubt be needed.
IF nothing should show up now, I still wouldn't believe it was due to the "alternative treatment," I would consider it a miracle! (But that's just one person's view...)
Best wishes...
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Alternative medicine
By Mayo Clinic staff
No alternative medicine treatments can cure breast cancer.
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Non invasive testing for ILC would be mammography (which tends to not image ILC since it's camera shy), ultrasonography (if the operator is really good at what they do and finds the right area) and MRI (which is what showed my cancer to be huge).
Invasive lobular carcinoma is a relatively rare cancer that contributes 5 to 10% of all cancers found. It tends to go bilateral (both breasts).
I had ILC and I have to say it grew to 10 cm which is a very very large mass even with regular screenings.
I would never have chosen what she chose, alternative medicine. I'm hopeful that even with bilateral mastectomies, chemotherapy, radiation and hormone therapies that I won't get a metastatic recurrence.
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Best wishes.