6 ms·

I get a 20 minute drip of Pembrolizumab every three weeks. I had it done two days ago. 28K per infusion. The cancer has spread since I have been taking it. But

I get a 20 minute drip of Pembrolizumab every three weeks. I had it done two days ago. 28K per infusion. The cancer has spread since I have been taking it. But I don't know if the cancer is spreading slower with taking it or not. I'm 1.5 million deep in medical bills from the last year. I no longer open my mail or answer my phone. I am just waiting for the day I go in for treatment and they turn me away.

agumonkey 7y ago
Good luck. Just throwing this in case it can give you some hints: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3410650/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3410650/ (McAllister/Desprez team) endocannabinoids can affect regulation of cell proliferation which seems to slow the growth of tumors and spread of metastases In some talk, Pr Desprez showed scanned of a stage 4 woman (lung+mets) where the spread had stopped (no knowledge of her fate since, I'm not claiming miracles) If I was to fight cancer and was able to get my hands on cbd concentrates I'd try it. It's not very expensive and may help (it also improves appetite and nausea IIRC)
stevespang 7y ago
Hope that you put your home and all your assets in a trust for your kids before you got treatments. You can declare bankruptcy in Texas or Florida and still keep your house, but I guess that only works if you are still alive . . . after you die the medical community just files suit to steal all your assets.
lambdaba 7y ago
I've heard about great successes with animal based ketogenic diets, and fasting. There's a clinic in Hungary that treats and (tries to, despite apparent censorship), publish research: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/331812176_PALEOLITHIC_KETOGENIC_DIET_PKD_AS_A_STAND-ALONE_THERAPY_IN_CANCER_CASE_STUDIES https://www.researchgate.net/publication/331812176_PALEOLITH... Hope you'll find something that works, even if only augmenting your current treatment
- swiley 7y ago
  What’s the argument for this exactly? Most of what I’ve heard about keto diets involves leaving blood sugar levels dangerously low for long periods of time by forcing your body into its weird starvation mode. That maybe sounds like something that could help with cancer because of its relationship with metabolism but the whole thing sounds like a stretch to me. On the other hand those are all feelings and I’m not trained in medicine.
  - DougWebb 7y ago
    Most of what I’ve heard about keto diets involves leaving blood sugar levels dangerously low for long periods of time by forcing your body into its weird starvation mode. That's a gross mis-characterization of keto diets, at least when done properly[1]. Up to 20g of net-carbs (ie: non-fiber) per day. The intention is to moderate your insulin response, which impacts other hormones and, for weight loss, switches your fat cells to be able to release fat for energy instead of storing fat. That level of carbs are more than adequate to maintain necessary blood sugar levels for your body's needs. There's no "weird starvation mode". Lowering your carb intake and moderating your insulin response causes your body to stop the "easy" burning of carbs for energy, and to switch to burning fat (from your food first, fat cells second) for energy. A big misconception about keto is that you have to eat a lot of fat; if you're trying to lose weight that's not true. You need to consume enough fat to keep your calorie intake from being too low (otherwise you do get into a starvation mode which lowers your metabolism), but low enough so that your body needs to get fat from your fat cells to make up its energy needs. All that said, I have no idea if keto helps with cancer at all. It almost certainly has no direct affect. If there's any benefit, I would guess that it's related to the hormonal and metabolic impacts of fat-burning rather than carb-burning, or the reduction of systemic inflammation that most people on extended keto diets experience. [1] https://www.reddit.com/r/keto/wiki/faq https://www.reddit.com/r/keto/wiki/faq
  - lambdaba 7y ago
    I'm not a professional researcher on this topic, just an passionate observer and n=1 having healed an "Incurable" autoimmune condition using a carnivore (ketogenic) diet. The rationale to put it shortly is that cancer (amongst other modern disease epidemics) is a mitochondrial disease, that most cancers have damaged mitochondria and can't process ketone bodies. Ketogenic metabolism is perfectly healthy and most probably the default state for human biology. I won't go into details in this reply, but my personal experience and that of thousands of others attests to this. The rationale for an animal (and animal fat) based diet is more complex, but it revolves around the fact that all plants contain compounds that damage the intestinal lining to varying degrees. This leads to a cascade of events in which the immune system devolves into a diseased state that leads to the wide array of chronic illnesses that we see today. Chronic inflammation disturbs the whole system, often includes neuroinflammation, which itself causes depression and exacerbates stress, worsening the condition further.
deleted 7y ago
[deleted]
xiphias2 7y ago
I'm so sorry for you, US healthcare research is amazing and US healthcare availability is really bad at the same time. My girlfriend in Hungary got all her cancer treatment for free, even if it's a quite poor country compared to the US.
- daniel-cussen 7y ago
  You're confusing things. Healthcare sometimes has a perverse supply curve, meaning the more expensive it is, the lower the quality. This is true of many drugs: there are generics whose side effects are well understood and have stood the test of time. They're so good that they are still being demanded and prescribed despite newer alternatives with incredible marketing and doctor incentives, glamorous salespersons, all-expense paid conventions in paradisiacal locales, and prestigious studies that show it's for sure at least 1% more effective which makes it a game changer. And even then it's for insurance to cover. Really cheap healthcare is really hard to get because other reasonable economic factors still play a role. People want more of it because it's cheap and it still costs real money to provide so there's only so much budget for it. But if you manage to get it you will be way ahead. The big factor is that cheap healthcare weeds out practitioners who value your money more than your humanity. Maybe you'll also weed out a great doctor who charges a lot because he's so good, though.

agumonkey 7y ago

Good luck. Just throwing this in case it can give you some hints: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3410650/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3410650/ (McAllister/Desprez team) endocannabinoids can affect regulation of cell proliferation which seems to slow the growth of tumors and spread of metastases In some talk, Pr Desprez showed scanned of a stage 4 woman (lung+mets) where the spread had stopped (no knowledge of her fate since, I'm not claiming miracles) If I was to fight cancer and was able to get my hands on cbd concentrates I'd try it. It's not very expensive and may help (it also improves appetite and nausea IIRC)

stevespang 7y ago

Hope that you put your home and all your assets in a trust for your kids before you got treatments. You can declare bankruptcy in Texas or Florida and still keep your house, but I guess that only works if you are still alive . . . after you die the medical community just files suit to steal all your assets.

lambdaba 7y ago

I've heard about great successes with animal based ketogenic diets, and fasting. There's a clinic in Hungary that treats and (tries to, despite apparent censorship), publish research: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/331812176_PALEOLITHIC_KETOGENIC_DIET_PKD_AS_A_STAND-ALONE_THERAPY_IN_CANCER_CASE_STUDIES https://www.researchgate.net/publication/331812176_PALEOLITH... Hope you'll find something that works, even if only augmenting your current treatment

swiley 7y ago
What’s the argument for this exactly? Most of what I’ve heard about keto diets involves leaving blood sugar levels dangerously low for long periods of time by forcing your body into its weird starvation mode. That maybe sounds like something that could help with cancer because of its relationship with metabolism but the whole thing sounds like a stretch to me. On the other hand those are all feelings and I’m not trained in medicine.
- DougWebb 7y ago
  Most of what I’ve heard about keto diets involves leaving blood sugar levels dangerously low for long periods of time by forcing your body into its weird starvation mode. That's a gross mis-characterization of keto diets, at least when done properly[1]. Up to 20g of net-carbs (ie: non-fiber) per day. The intention is to moderate your insulin response, which impacts other hormones and, for weight loss, switches your fat cells to be able to release fat for energy instead of storing fat. That level of carbs are more than adequate to maintain necessary blood sugar levels for your body's needs. There's no "weird starvation mode". Lowering your carb intake and moderating your insulin response causes your body to stop the "easy" burning of carbs for energy, and to switch to burning fat (from your food first, fat cells second) for energy. A big misconception about keto is that you have to eat a lot of fat; if you're trying to lose weight that's not true. You need to consume enough fat to keep your calorie intake from being too low (otherwise you do get into a starvation mode which lowers your metabolism), but low enough so that your body needs to get fat from your fat cells to make up its energy needs. All that said, I have no idea if keto helps with cancer at all. It almost certainly has no direct affect. If there's any benefit, I would guess that it's related to the hormonal and metabolic impacts of fat-burning rather than carb-burning, or the reduction of systemic inflammation that most people on extended keto diets experience. [1] https://www.reddit.com/r/keto/wiki/faq https://www.reddit.com/r/keto/wiki/faq
- lambdaba 7y ago
  I'm not a professional researcher on this topic, just an passionate observer and n=1 having healed an "Incurable" autoimmune condition using a carnivore (ketogenic) diet. The rationale to put it shortly is that cancer (amongst other modern disease epidemics) is a mitochondrial disease, that most cancers have damaged mitochondria and can't process ketone bodies. Ketogenic metabolism is perfectly healthy and most probably the default state for human biology. I won't go into details in this reply, but my personal experience and that of thousands of others attests to this. The rationale for an animal (and animal fat) based diet is more complex, but it revolves around the fact that all plants contain compounds that damage the intestinal lining to varying degrees. This leads to a cascade of events in which the immune system devolves into a diseased state that leads to the wide array of chronic illnesses that we see today. Chronic inflammation disturbs the whole system, often includes neuroinflammation, which itself causes depression and exacerbates stress, worsening the condition further.

deleted 7y ago

[deleted]

xiphias2 7y ago

I'm so sorry for you, US healthcare research is amazing and US healthcare availability is really bad at the same time. My girlfriend in Hungary got all her cancer treatment for free, even if it's a quite poor country compared to the US.

daniel-cussen 7y ago
You're confusing things. Healthcare sometimes has a perverse supply curve, meaning the more expensive it is, the lower the quality. This is true of many drugs: there are generics whose side effects are well understood and have stood the test of time. They're so good that they are still being demanded and prescribed despite newer alternatives with incredible marketing and doctor incentives, glamorous salespersons, all-expense paid conventions in paradisiacal locales, and prestigious studies that show it's for sure at least 1% more effective which makes it a game changer. And even then it's for insurance to cover. Really cheap healthcare is really hard to get because other reasonable economic factors still play a role. People want more of it because it's cheap and it still costs real money to provide so there's only so much budget for it. But if you manage to get it you will be way ahead. The big factor is that cheap healthcare weeds out practitioners who value your money more than your humanity. Maybe you'll also weed out a great doctor who charges a lot because he's so good, though.