Hello,
I was recently diagnosed with a low grade (grade 2) diffuse, infiltrating astrocytoma. I am probably in the best situation possible (male <35 years of age), the tumor was in my right frontal lobe and not near anything critical, the neurosurgeon was able to achieve a total general resection with no deficits or complications after surgery.
However, after reading through some literature I became intrigued by this paper on herbal therapies for patients with poor prognosis brain tumors: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/
I was curious to know if anyone on the forum has come across this paper or tried similar herbal remedies? My main concerns are:
Thanks! and of course, wishing you health and happiness.
I was recently diagnosed with a low grade (grade 2) diffuse, infiltrating astrocytoma. I am probably in the best situation possible (male <35 years of age), the tumor was in my right frontal lobe and not near anything critical, the neurosurgeon was able to achieve a total general resection with no deficits or complications after surgery.
However, after reading through some literature I became intrigued by this paper on herbal therapies for patients with poor prognosis brain tumors: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/
I was curious to know if anyone on the forum has come across this paper or tried similar herbal remedies? My main concerns are:
- I don't know how to evaluate whether or not the authors are reputable or qualified for this kind of research, does anyone have any insight on how to do so? I know the study is not meeting the standard for a true medical trial since there is no control group, etc. but I'm willing to give it a try if at least the authors/source of information is somewhat reputable.
- Getting the herbal remedy right, I did reach out to the author and they are willing to ship their herbal remedies to the US for a fee and they recommend taking the treatment continuously for ~1 year based on their ongoing research.
- I'm not sure if anyone has tried similar herbal remedies with any success?
If you could answer any of my questions it would be great. Please do reply to this post if you can.
Thanks! and of course, wishing you health and happiness.
Hi Sanjay,
ReplyDeleteI cannot speak to experience with herbal remedies, but I follow the research around maintaining brain tumors with a ketogenic diet.
I can recommend looking up:
Thomas Seyfried
Dominic D'Agostino
Angela Poff
Search any of those names with "ketogenic diet" and "brain cancer" or "brain tumor" and you should return some helpful research on that topic.
Sorry, I know that's not what you originally asked for, but if you're looking for natural remedies you also might be interested in a dietary/metabolic treatment approach.
You can also look up Andrew Scarborough (http://mybraincancerstory.blogspot.com/) and review some of his older posts for how he began treating himself with a nutritional approach.
Hope that helps some!
Hello Sanjay,
ReplyDeletedirectly related to you first question - authors of the study are employed by the company selling mentioned herbs. Nothing wrong with that, but worth to keep this "conflict of interest" in mind.
I think achievable concentrations of active compounds in blood/brain after tea ingestion are a bit questionable. Like you, I was also diagnosed with low grade glioma and want to stay proactive after surgery. Stephen keeps a list of supplements and over the counter medicine in Google drive, ranked according to available evidence of being beneficial. That being said, I think your best bet is to check those supplements first, as evidence for herbal tea is probably very poor.
Hello Matjaz,
DeleteI am new to this forum. How can I access Stephen's list on Google drive?
Thank you and kind regards,
Uwe
Hello,
DeleteI think first Stephen has to add to you some kind of list.
I tried copying the direct link to Brain tumor library:
https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B5NygvEcCgmyfllMMWdPZ1BKWHExTkFGV0NvUlhzd3VkaXB4TzdSMTliT2c0em5sSHdNaG8
If it doesn't work message Stephen to add you.
Check out the User Information page (at the top of the blog). My contact email is in there. I need to add your email to the Library folder before you can access anything there.
DeleteDear Sanjay,
ReplyDeletemy first impression after reading the paper was that their results are so great and promising. But I also see some strange things. All the authors have the same name and are not affiliated by any research nor medical unit, rather than their own family company. The journal has a relatively low impact factor ~2. They want to see the medical records (also MRI scans), as described http://www.dren-trogrlic.com/index.php/brain-tumors
I contacted Dragan Trogllic by e-mail.
ReplyDeleteThe price of herbs for 1 month is 150 Euro. This is without shipping cost!
My 11 year-old daughter was diagnosed of GBM June 2017. Soon after the standard radiation and chemo treatments, I took her back to china to see a herbal doctor. The dr made a list of more than 30 herbs for her daily taking. Along with 10 rounds of chemo and a cocktail, she has been doing good. I really can't say which help the most, I guess everything helps. As I discussed with her herbal dr we came to agree on the strategy: the std treatment cures the tumor and the herbs cure the patient. The herbs help fixing her metabolism problems and help making std treatment works. I am hoping that the herbs can eliminate the context of a recurrence too by improving her circulation her organs functions that kind of thing. Of course a good diet and exercise is necessary. So I would say it is absolutely not a bad idea to add herbs to your std treatment. But my only question is (as my herbal dr told me no two patients have the same problem even with the same disease and there's no same list of herbs) would this 5 items recipe fits all the cooking?
ReplyDeleteHi River Draws. Hope your daughter is doing well. My brother has recurrent astrocytoma. We would like to try herbal treatment. Could you please let me know the name of the doctor and clinic who treated you daughter? I would be very grateful. Thanks you
DeleteWe're not saying that herbs can't help :) the problem is that patients & families are willing to try anything that might help and some people just exploit this by selling stuff with all kinds of promises and for really high prices.
ReplyDeleteThanks all, in case it's helpful I looked up all the herbs in this cocktail which you can make yourself fairly inexpensively: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1QpHFZNMlJv8w_eLhnNhqpKNMvgYlBMDVyV10kcOGegE/edit#gid=1864453703
ReplyDeleteHi Sanjay.I am new to this forum.I hope my comment would be useful for u.I have used herbal medicines for 6 months.They are just for your overall health and they do not help your tumor to be shrinked or sth else!They cure your symptoms not your actual problem.Wish u the best.
ReplyDelete