Essiac

[tellme]

Has anyone heard of this - Essiac, and if so, of anyone who has had results from it?

[Barney22]

Bet you're glad you've finished!  Sorry you had a difficult time - have the drugs managed to get your CA125 down reasonably?  The prospect of more surgery must be a bit nasty given your experience last time, but it could be a real help.  I discovered that Gemzar has not been given a licence in the UK from my oncologist this week which was a bit of a shock - only being used for clinical trials at the moment.  My oncol was obviously not happy about that.  I went on a clinical trial of an oral medication after my last lot of chemo (finished June) to try to prevent recurrence, but it was either just full of rice powder as a placebo or it didn't work for me.  My last CT scan 3 weeks ago showed progression and my CA125 is rising soooooo... it's back to more chemo in just under 2 weeks - Caelyx this time.  None of these drugs  seem to hold it for very long after the first time unless you are very lucky.  I'm feeling pretty well most of the time but do have some symptoms so will be glad in a way to get started.  Caelyx is a bit notorious for taking time to have an effect (if it works at all of course) so I'll be sweating on the results each month.  Are you going back to work (or already done so)?   I feel my life just revolves around my cancer these days as I'm trying to follow my naturopathic programme as well and it's hard work!  I've now become a shopper at Planet Organic - quite an eye opener for a hick from the shires like me!  There's one near the hospital so we go for lunch (very good) as well as buying lots of expensive organic products.  No idea if it's making much difference but it keeps me occupied!  Keep in touch, love Jenny

[tellme]

Hi Jenny,
have been keeping my head down during the chemo. Had the 'last one' for now on tuesday. The doctor mentioned that they might have to operate to remove the rest of the tumour based on what the ct and mri scans say. Went through a bit of a rough time with the taxol and was switched to carbo+gemcidabine.Had a couple of blood transfusions on that and also gcsf injections. Feel very good at the moment but I am not counting my chickens just yet.
How are things with you? I kept away from this site because it actually made me feel sick/nausea when I logged in. I couldn't bear to read or hear about things. But I feel over that now.
So until the next phase!

[Barney22]

Yes, I came across it some 18 months ago through a relative and looking it all up on the net.  It's been around quite a long time apparently.  I sent for the herbs (in the UK) and made up the tea, but found my stomach couldn't handle it after a time - felt like a lead weight after a few hours.  Maybe it would be better now I'm at a different stage.  The evidence is debateable but it's worth looking up and you can get it pretty cheaply from the outfit I bought from.  How are you?  Not heard from you in some time.  Love Jenny