introducing myself and a question

[greenwom]

hi there.  i was diagnosed with stage 3 (in the u.s., stage 4 in mexico) ovarian cancer at the end of january.  i had debulking surgery and then decided to go to tijuana to the san diego clinic rather than be part of a trial at ucsf.  now i'm staying with my daughter and doing nutritional support etc treatments up in northern cal.

the main problem i have is with ascites.  i saw there was a post with a pdf about that (i was searching on the web for a support group about ascites when i found ye) but couldn't access it.  i'd appreciate any info folks can give me about alternatives to paracentesis.

and i look forward to sharing information with other people going through this.  all best, gabrielle

[greenwom]

Reading back over old ascites posts, i see that someone talked about using cat's claw, a south american herb, to keep ascites at bay.  does anyone know anything about that?  i've been trying castor oil and aloe wraps with heat, but i don't think it's done much.  i had my fifth paracentesis today--a great relief.

at the tijuana clinic (which is amazing--they use anything and everything that they've found will work--i was given interferon through the port in my belly), they do use standard chemos, but they use them in low doses and insulin potentiated, which means they lower your blood sugar with insulin and then jam in a low dose of chemo loaded with sugar so the cancer cells take in the sugar and the chemo with it.  they figure out what chemos (and other healing things) are particularly good for you and your cancer by sending a blood sample to a lab in greece, which cultures it with different modalities, both pharmaceutical and natural.

i was diagnosed at the end of january this year--because of the ascites.

thanks for your responses.  i hope someone knows about the cat's claw.  all best and feeling hopeful today, gabe

[hopeshell]

Hi Gabrielle,

Welcome to this forum!  I am sorry to hear you are having trouble with ascites!  I was early staged and so I don't have personal experience to offer.  I have heard of intraperitoneal chemo being used to control ascites instead of parcentesis.  I had a roommate during my hospital visit who was struggling with severe ascites.  That is the only thing I have heard of.

Bumping this post up to the top of the board so hopefully others can answer.  I hope you get some relief soon!

Shelly

[marie3B]

At the Tijuana clinic did you have any standard chemo?  How long ago was the diagnosis?