Bottom Line: We implemented a cocktail:
- Celecoxib (Celebrex), 200 mg/2x
- Chloroquine Phosphate, 250 mg, 1x a day,
- Metformin, 850 mg, 2x a day,
- Disulfiram, 500 mg, 1x a day
- Valproic Acid, 500-1500 mg, 3 x a day, only got to 1000 mg dosage
However, more seriously one weekend, in addition to sleeping 22 hours a day he had suicidal feelings, also paranoid, thinking someone wanted him to kill himself, being afraid to be by himself and also somewhat hallucinating, at times thinking he was in heaven.
During the week we also had added .3 g of DCA 3x a day.
In the previous weeks, even before the cocktail he had been taking Jayden's Juice, a 28:1, CBD to THC cannabis oil tincture, 2-3x a day plus occasional capsules of 10 mg of THC to 10 mg of CBD with no adverse effects.
However the night before the suicidal episode he had taken a capsule of 50 mg of THC. He woke up earlier than usual, feeling the most alert and least nauseous that he had felt in weeks so that morning he had a 10 mg THC to 10 mg CBD capsule and later that morning everything went wrong.
He was also taking these supplements:
- 1 multi vitamin
- D3-10,000 mg
- Melatonin, 20 mg
- CRONaxal, 100 mg oxaloacetate and 150 mg ascorbic acid, 3x
- B1, 100 mg, to help with DCA
- Digestive Enzymes, 3 x/day
- Omega-3 Fish Oil, 500 EPA, 250 DHA-3 x/day
- Boswellia, 400 mg, 3x
- Adaptocrine (100 mg Vit C/ ginseng 200 mg/Ashwaganda 200 mg/Holy Basil 100 mg/Rhodiola 75 mg/Eleuthero 50 mg, Pantethine 78 mg) 2x
- Curcumin 400 mg plus ALA 150 mg-3 x
- Acetyl L Carnitine-500 mg-3x, to help with DCA
- Maitake Full Spectrum Extract-300 mg 3 x
- Coriolus Super Strength-500 mg, 3x
- Serotone Apex Energetics(Vit B6 10 mg/ Niacin 50 mg/Folate 200 mcg/Vit B12 1000mcg/magnesium 10 mg/St John’s Wort 200 mg/5-HTP 75 mg/SAMe 60 mg) 2x
- Selenium drops, not using now
- Probiotic, 20 billion
His RO thought it was extremely unusual that he was so tired and had his THS and free t3 and free t4 tested. The TSH and free t3 came back low which was unusual in that it points more to the pituitary than to the thyroid. He has also been extremely cold especially his arms. At this point I told the RO all what he was taking and agreed to stop the off-label drugs until we could figure things out.
We stopped all off-label drugs 3 weeks ago and we stopped the cannabis oil for a week but for the past two weeks have been trying different ratios and strains of full extract cannabis oil as well as different methods of ingesting.
He was put on Dex, 2 mg for a couple of weeks but is now off it. Overall he has felt much better, energy varies, has an appetite most of the time and nausea occasionally. He's been having some really great days full of energy mostly when a lot of people are around but otherwise just wants to sleep.
He finishes his 6 weeks of RT tomorrow. I am trying to figure out what to do about the off-label drugs. The little research I have done points to the chloroquine causing the most extreme adverse effects, paranoia, hallucinations...
Has anyone else had this experience? Any of these side effects? Know what causes them? A combo of drugs?
Do I re-introduce? If so, what? when? What role do these drugs play after the initial SofC? How do they work with the adjuvant TMZ? We did not use Celebrex very long because it is an NSAID and he had a spine surgery and for bone fusion they advised waiting 3 months. We also have a prescription for minocycline but have not used it yet.
Back Story:
My husband is 45 and above average healthy until his grand mal on 2/16/17 where he dislocated his shoulder and had a 75% compression fracture of his T-8. He was subsequently diagnosed with a GBM and had a complete resection on 3/3/17. His tumor was in his left temporal lobe and he had his hippocampus and amygdala removed as well as part of his occipital lobe and parietal lobe. He is functioning quite well, better than expected despite these deficits.
Thanks for any insights.
Hi Dianne,
ReplyDeleteSorry to hear about the complications your husband is going thru. I am sure people here can help with ideas on what to try.
Couple thoughts that I have looking at your list:
1) Metformin reduces/modifies liver glucose functions, so combined with having trouble eating from nausea and its likely he may be having glucose crashes. May also relate to feeling cold since it could be causing significant metabolism suppression. Would think you should get a home glucose meter and test strips to track if using metformin.
2) I lived in kenya when I was a kid and chlorquine was the drug of choice for malaria. Fortunately we only had to use it when we went to the coastal areas because for some it can cause nightmares and mild hallucinations, sort of in the half awake state.
2) A mild OD of marijuana can cause paranoia, but seems to more often be related to doing it when already in a stressful state.
3) Valproic acid has some studies showing it is beneficial during radiation. Keppra is more linked to benefits during chemo (mgmt inhibitor). He is both getting RT and chemo at the moment, but maybe VPA alone and then later Keppra alone would isolate if one is causing a problem.
4) For the D3 it probably makes sense to track it with blood tests. In some people that is enough to induce hypercalcemia which can cause nausea, exhaustion,etc. Also D3 during RT or chemo is a bit controversial vs later.
5) Disulfiram is reported to have some risk of mental side effects.
6) Most of the other herbals are generally well tolerated.
Overall though look at it from picking the most beneficial ones and first using those and getting stable then slowly adding others.
Good luck!
Bryan
Thanks Bryan, yes we do have a home glucose meter although he does not like to be pricked and his fasting glucose is generally high 80s. I did not see much change the short time he was on Metformin. Right now I am banking on cannabis oil but he does not like how he feels on it and is not yet developing a tolerance.
ReplyDeleteUnfortunately to check glucose behavior and Metformin for problems you do have to go thru lots of tests, at least for a few days. On the order of a dozen tests a day. For non-diabetics metformin doesn't change fasting glucose that much, but it does reduce glucose uptake from food and raise insulin sensitivity which can trigger low glucose in particular if he is not eating enough. Simplest though is to get stable with a smaller drug regimen and then add things in carefully.
DeleteI don't have much to offer in terms of drug interactions. I did want to share the Celebrex is not your typical NSAID. It is a COX-2 inhibitor and does not have blood thinning effects as other NSAIDs.
ReplyDelete