Category: Supplements and Pills

Liposomal Vitamin C and CLL

Chronic lymphocytic leukemia and lyposomal vitamin C.
Lyposomal Vitamin C and CLL — Works for Some

Question:
Have you heard of vitamin C treatment for CLL?

Answer:
I have suggestions for you as I’ve recently come across another product that just might help you. It’s liposomal vitamin C. So far, I’ve just started it myself and have no data to share with you as yet (although I have “herxed”with bone and joint pain, ironically encouraging : )   I’ve been intending to post about it, but I think I’ve been waiting till I have my own results.  But here is why I’m encouraged:

One farmer in New Zealand had H1N1 AND HCL (hairy cell leukemia). He was treated in the hospital with vitamin C IV and this saved him death (they’d been ready to pull him off life support). After the IVs became less available, he started taking the liposomal C.  Not only did he fully recover from the H1N1, he now has zero sign of the HCL. Here is the video about this man and his story:(the first is a full version, the second link is to a shortened version)

 A new practitioner I started seeing late last year has suggested that I take liposomal Vit C.  She suggested taking 1 packet for 3 days, and then to work myself up to 15 packets a day and hold for two weeks. I think that may be too many.  I may top out at 5 or 6.  While I was ruminating on this, I received an email, like yours, from a man asking about LDN for his father who has CLL.  This man told me that his father was doing pretty well taking Life Force green drink and liposomal C.  Okay, I now felt like I was getting messages from the universe. : )

So I communicated with Todd who later told me that his father’s WBC dropped from 70 (70,000) to 9 (9,000) from the protocol of the Life Force and the Liposomal C.  Now there are two people with a chronic leukemia who’ve benefited from liposomal C.  So I’ve started this protocol for myself.  Here is a link to the company that makes this product.

CLL Low Neutrophils ~ An Alternative that Works!

peakimmune1

I’ve been using Peak Immune off and on now since 2011 and I have to tell you that it works! Yes, I still carry the CLL diagnosis, but… if your neutrophils dip into dangerous territory, which mine do without the help of Peak Immune, then you are a prime case for starting conventional therapy. A low neutrophil count can be fatal.  So this is a very important blood marker.  In some ways, it’s like I’ve done a double blind on myself. What happened is this:

In May 2011 my hematologist told me that my neutrophils were dangerously low, at just about the .5 mark. The normal range for neutrophils is 1.96 – 9.72. We’re talking the ‘absolute’ neutrophil count, not the percentage. Don’t worry about the percentage! If you have a CLL diagnosis, that number will be well below normal and you can be functioning just fine. My hematologist (who I like) wanted me to try Rituxan, and some Neupogen. She knows that I’m a researcher, so we decided to wait for the next visit. At the first revisit, the count had gone back up on its own. At the two-month revisit I hadn’t taken anything as yet, and the neutrophil count dropped dangerously low–down to .59.

My doctor was genuinely worried about me. A person with a very low neutrophil count is susceptible to disease and illness and has little to fight it off. However, I was NOT interested in either of her choices. Rituxan is a monoclonal antibody that has worked in conjunction with chemo. I saw it as a gateway drug to hell. Neupogen is NOT a chemo. However, it is a drug for life, as once you take it, your body stops producing its own neutrophils and you become dependent upon it. Add to that that Neupogen is self-injected into the abdomen, and I was thinking—and saying—“no thank you!”

So back in 2011, at this time I took the Peak Immune product, as it was recommended by a Chinese herbalist, and because on the bottle it says that these pills increases NK (natural killer) cell activity. I thought that would have to be good enough and it was definitely worth a try. But it turns out that Peak Immune increased my neutrophil count. At the next blood test, my absolute neutrophil numbers went out of the danger territory and my percentage went up as well. After I finished a bottle or two, I figured that I was out of the woods and didn’t need the product any longer. After all, I was taking UBI (ultra-violet blood irradiation treatments) and keeping up with an extraordinarily healthy diet and lifestyle.

I did pretty well with my neutrophils after that, taking regular blood tests to keep track. However, in February of 2013 the count was right back down to .51. I panicked. I hadn’t given the Peak Immune the credit it deserved for keeping up the neutrophil count. But for some reason, I looked it up on iherb.com to see if anyone else had mentioned neutrophil counts in the reviews. There was only one review and it was very positive on this very subject! I was so excited. I thought it sounded familiar and I saw that the reviewer was from Michigan. Then in a complete airhead moment, I realized that that one reviewer was me! I had given credit to Peak Immune for helping with my neutrophil count, and posted it online. But I had forgotten this for myself!

Needless to say, I’ve been taking this product ever since, and thankfully my neutrophil count is in the safe target zone still. This is obviously not a cure, but it is a health and life-preserver. I give this pill my ultimate personal endorsement. And please keep in mind that I sell absolutely nothing on this site and get nothing from any company. Feel free to comparison shop on amazon and any other outlet.

Oh, and please write and let me know if it works for you!

CLL Green Tea and Neem

It’s been a long time since I last posted.  There have been a lot of bumps on the road, and I haven’t felt much like it.  I’m still dealing with those bumps, that came in the form first of dangerously low neutrophils, (they’re still low, but not “dangerously”) and now, at my last visit, my WBC happily dropped 13.6 points to 34.2 (yay), but so did my RBC (3.3 to 2.88 – boo) and my HGB  went from a healthy 12.3 to a very concerning 10.4.  Yikes.  That’s been the way it’s been for me.  The white and red counts always go in the same direction — and they’re supposed to go in opposites.  Oh well.

Good News In CLL Land
That said, there is still good news out in CLL land and I haven’t been reporting on it.  First, I’ve found another person who’s doing well with Green Tea and Neem.  Here is a link to his testimony. I’ve been trying to contact him directly, as is my custom, and so far, no luck.  But isn’t his information exciting?  For those of you who prefer not to click, (I LOVE clicking myself), here is his info:

QUOTE: “I was diagnosed with Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia (CLL) seven years ago. Even though I was still in the watch and wait stage, I was getting more and more infections requiring frequent doctors visits and even hospitalizations. My off-the-scale blood abnormalities confirmed that I was circling the drain.

But now my whole world has changed. I feel good again. No more infections. I have been free of all symptoms for many months now and I am no longer skeptical about the changes. At Roswell Park Cancer Institute they told me that my that last few blood tests were “perfect”.

I am not doing anything weird or taking anything that is not already being investigated by major cancer centers with promising results for treating CLL. All I am doing is taking higher doses of herbs than what one would normally take. While Green Tea is supposed to kill cancer cells in a test tube I had no illusions that simply drinking a few cups green tea would be enough to stop my downward spiral.

I read about the research at the Mayo Clinic and other places that show promising results with higher doses of ECGC (Green Tea Extract). However, medical research normally takes many years and with herbs even longer. I decided that I could not wait that long and started my own treatment based on reports from these various research efforts. This is what I have been taking per day:

Neem Leaf – 400mg Capsules: 4 capsules – three times a day

EGCG – 500 mg Capsules: 3 capsules in the morning on an empty stomach – it is best absorbed in a fasting condition (w/o Vitamin C)

2 capsules with 1000mg Vitamin C during day

2 capsules with 1000mg Vitamin C at bed time.

During the day I also drink 3 to 4 large cups of green tea using two tea bags and adding 200 mg of Vitamin C per cup.

The Vitamin C changes the stomach acidity which helps to absorb the green tea. I buy Vitamin C tablets and crush them in a pill crusher before dissolving them in hot water or green tea. (PharmAssure brand Vitamin C seems to have the fewest additives which may neutralize the acidity.) I buy the EGCG and the Neem Leaf Capsules in larger quantities over the internet. It comes to about $2.50 per day.

It’s been long enough now and I am no longer skeptical that my newly found good health is just a fluke. Other than taking all these supplements, my life is back to normal. I am a 70 year old male and I started running two miles a day. I am also taking normal doses of other vitamins and I don’t drink or smoke. I am not a doctor or a scientist. I am only giving a testimonial about my self-prescribed treatment and my personal results. Compared to chemo it has been a cake-walk. However, we are all different and everybody should go very slow with upping to these dosages and should always check with their doctor before taking anything new. ”

Posted on DailyStrength.org 08/26/11, 12:31 pm (go to link above to go to that web site) UNQUOTE
Reading his post caused me to look up new items — both Neem and Carnivora.  And I didn’t even tell you about what I’ve done since March — both Chinese Herbs and UVBI (ultraviolet blood irradiation).  But these all deserve a different post on a different day.  One thing that I’m convinced of, is despite the difficulties with the FDA, which seems intent on stopping anything helpful AND harmless, there always appears to be more out there that can help us get well from CLL!  As always, do research on your own, and try these pills carefully.  I already gave myself a twenty-four hour belly ache from downing too many green tea pills to start.  Now I have to start all over.  So read, review, and proceed with caution.

 

 

 

Apricot Seeds and CLL Leukemia

Apricot Seeds
My shrink-wrapped apricot seeds, coffee grinder and the pills I made from them.

Like Wayne, an Oklahoman I met via the Internet, I have have both CLL leukemia AND diverticulosis.  I’ve never been officially diagnosed with diverticulosis, but every time I eat nuts or seeds whole, I suffer.  Sometimes for days.

It’s not the chemical composition of the nuts and seeds.  I know this because when I grind them into dust (flaxseeds) or buy them already ground into paste (almond butter) I can eat them with wild abandon — and no after effects.

Part of my good health program started in 2007 when I started taking amygdalin pills from Mexico, along with enzymes and other supplements.  I was advised to also eat the apricot seeds — in addition to the pills.  I tried this twice early on in 2007 and 2008.  Both times I suffered severe stomach upset.  For days.

But after speaking to Wayne in Oklahoma for the third time, my husband encouraged me to buy a pill making device and grind my own apricot seeds in our coffee grinder (Mr Coffee brand, available everywhere).  I’ve been doing this for just a few months.  My last doctor visit showed  a marked improvement in my WBC (from 32 down to 23… yay!)  But those numbers do tend to bounce around.  I will report back after my next visit.

The general way to take amygdalin, B-17, laetrile (all pretty much the same thing) is: if you have cancer of any kind, it is generally recommended to work your way up to three 500mg tablets/day, one at each meal — in addition to eating the apricot seeds.  Once again, it is recommended to take one seed for every ten pounds of weight, each day.  I personally grind my seeds and then put them into capsules with the help of a pillmaker I found online, but many people are able to eat the seeds whole. (The taste of the seeds is not great — another incentive to grind and make into pills!)

Please note that I am not a doctor — and that I am giving information about what works for me, personally. If this intrigues you, first go to WorldWithoutCancer.uk.org and learn all you can about it.   I wholly recommend that you research and try things for yourself — carefully and safely.  Not to mention seeking out the advice of a health care practitioner who is familiar with vitamin B17.  I found my doctor on cancure.org.  He isn’t local — but I think it was well worth the trip!

CLL and Green Tea

Green Tea for CLL
You can drink green tea for health benefits, but therapeutic use requires a green tea extract, taken as a supplement.

There is a lot of literature out there about CLL leukemia and green tea.  Go ahead and Google “CLL green tea” and you will come up with pages of references.  Green tea is supposed to halt the progression of CLL and, in some cases, improve symptoms.  That’s wonderful.  The good part of this is that it’s a food item (when taken as tea) and a food extract when taken as a supplement.  If you’re interested in a good quality, green tea extract, go to Life Extension.

Do I use it?  Yes and no.  I do drink green tea, practically every day. But not in therapeutic doses.  That’s because, in my case, my platelet count dropped noticeably each time I tried it at recommended levels.  Worse yet, there was no discernible benefit.  The studies I’ve looked up indicate that green tea does, in fact, affect the “aggregation” or clumping together of platelets — a good thing for people with heart disease.  While I can find no literature to back up my experience, it is what it is.  I do reserve the right to try green tea in therapeutic doses (beverage AND supplements) in the future.  But for now, I’m sticking to my already very-full and somewhat complicated program for good health.

If you want more information, you might take a look at the Mayo Clinic study in progress till March 2011.

 

CLL Alternative Protocol

Here is the list of what I take and what I do, at this time in my life (it has changed many times) to be well and get well.  My goal is, and had been, since July 2005, to become cancer-free.  Others have done it and so can I.  (By implication, you can too!) There is no one path.  Unfortunately, we all have to find our own formula.  While that sounds daunting, to me it’s a heck of a lot better than counting on one professional who will give you fifteen minutes of his or her time, each visit.  You can give yourself as much time as you need!  Be your own health care advocate, and you can spend an hour or more EVERY DAY on yourself.  There isn’t a doctor alive — conventional or alternative — who can do that for you.  You can only do that for yourself.

Between Meals
(before breakfast, mid-afternoon, before bed)

  • Univase Forte enzymes, 6 total,  2 pills/3X a day
  • Apricot Seed pills (grind and make myself) 4 pills, 3X/day btw. meals
  • Natural Thyroid 60mg, 1X, 1/2hour prior to breakfast
  • Wheatgrass Juice (I grow and juice my own) 4-5 ounces, every morning 1/2 hour before breakfast
  • Low Dose Naltrexone 4.5mg, before bedtime

Breakfast

 

  • Actifolate 800 mcg
  • Magnesium 200mg
  • B Complex 1 pill
  • Black Currant Seed Oil 1000mg total – 2softgel
  • B-17 Laetrile 500mg
  • Vit C 1000mg
  • Bioflavinoid 1000 mg
  • Vit E 200 IU softgel
  • D3 1000 IU softgel
  • CoQ10 50 mg ubiquinol (not ubiquinone)
  • Primrose Oil 1300 mg softgel
  • Calcium 250 mg
  • Probiotic 1 gram 20 bill organisms, 12 strains
  • Broccoprotect 1
  • Regenemax (5mg silicon) 1
  • Reduced Glutathione 300 mg
  • Iron Pill (Iron Glycinate) 29mg, 4X/WEEK (every other day)

Lunch

  • Vit D3 1600 to 2000 IU dry (Twinlabs Allergy D)
  • Potassium 99mg
  • CoQ10 50 mg unbiquinol (not ubiquinone)
  • Zinc Asporotate 15mg
  • Iodoral 25mg
  • B-17 Laetrile 500mg
  • Selenium 200 mcg
  • Grapeseed Extract (every day @ lunch, one month on, one month off)

 

Dinner

 

  • Magnesium 200 mg
  • B-17 Laetrile 500 mg
  • Fish Oil 1000 mg (Omega 3,5,6,7,9)
  • Curcumin 665mg
  • CoQ10 50mg unbiquinol (not ubiquinone)
  • Vit D3 1000 IU softgel
  • Primrose Oil 1300 mg
  • Calcium 250 mg
  • Joint Ease (glucosamine 250mg, chondroitin 250mg, queritin 250mg, taurine 250mg)
  • Vit K2 100 mcg (bone health)

 

Immune-Boosting Butter
1tablespoon/day (more if I want an extra immune boost)
Recipe:

  • 1 stick room temp organic butter
  • 1/2 cup organic cold-pressed virgin olive oil
  • 10 capsules probiotic
  • 10 capsules colostrum
  • 6 capsules l glutamine
  • 1 tablespoon raw honey (local)

Empty capsules into a bowl.  Add olive oil, butter and honey.  Blend with immersion blender (that’s what I use).  Cover and refrigerate.

D’Mannose
I use this, as needed for UTIs (urinary tract infections).  This has been, quite possibly, a life saver.  While I still carry a prescription for antibiotic in my wallet, I rarely, if ever, use it.  This deserves a page of its own.

Diet

  • NO sugar
  • NO gluten
  • NO white bread
  • NO refined salt
  • NO processed foods
  • NO store-bought baked goods
  • NO nuts or seeds (unless powder-fine or smooth paste

What I DO eat:

  • YES Organic greens
  • YES Organic vegetables
  • YES Organic fruit (small amount/day)
  • YES Organic grass fed beef
  • YES Organic poultry
  • YES Organic free-range eggs
  • YES Wild-caught salmon and other fish
  • YES Organic olive oils and other oils
  • YES Sprouted lentils, grains
  • YES Almond butter
  • YES Rice Cakes
  • YES Oatmeal
  • YES Organic butter
  • YES Raw milk yogurt
  • YES Greens/Fruit Juice in my Vitamix

It IS hard to eat out, but I manage.  I mostly try to limit eating out of the home to two times a week (total, includes lunch AND dinner).

Exercise
I walk my dogs every day. I exercise for 15 minutes 3X/week on our elliptical trainer.  I lift weights 3X/week for my osteoporosis and heart health.  I can now run up a flight or two of steps without getting overly winded.  Couldn’t do that 10 years ago.  It pays to exercise!

Sleep
My goal is to be in bed by 10pm, and to get at least 8 hours of sleep each night.  I feel wonderful when I achieve this goal.  I’ve read again and again that the sleep before midnight is the best healing sleep. It makes sense.  Try this.  It is one of the best things you can do for your immune system and your health.  It’s free -  and you can feel the results literally overnight.

Mindset
Don’t worry.  Be happy. I know they have studies to prove it, but who need studies?  We all know we feel like crap when we stress out and worry.  Racing pulse.  Palpitations.  Bile in mouth.  How good can that be for you?  The experts tell us to meditate.  I’ve tried it, and it always feels weird to me.  I prefer writing in my journal or reading something relaxing.  Either one gets me away from myself, and helps me to relax and stop stressing.

That’s it for now.  I think that you can see that it takes a lot of time, effort, not to mention cash, to take care of yourself.  Whatever I’m doing is infinitely less expensive than chemo treatments.  None of it has side effects.  And I feel great.  Please write with any questions.

Due to an unreasonable amount of SPAM, I suggest that you email me at info(at)cllalternatives.com if you can’t seem to get a comment posted.

CLL Leukemia Longevity and Vitamin D

Vitamin D
Vitamin D

I’ve been taking vitamin D for several years now for my CLL.  But it wasn’t until very recently that it has gained “official” acceptance in the medical world as an important supplement for all those with cancer and specially for those with chronic lymphocytic leukemia.  Here is one article and another on this very topic.

My experience. I would like to share my own experience with this wonderful supplement.  It is one of the few that I’ve taken that I can rave about.  I felt a difference when i first started taking vitamin D3.  Take a look at the bottle on this page.  This was the brand that first made a difference.  My alternative doc told me to take it because I tested low (19!).  Prior to taking it, I believe I took about 1600 IU (international units) a day.  Now, at doctor’s advice, I’m taking 4000 units a day.  I obediently added this to my regimen without a clue of how it would affect my health.

Vitamin D for pain.  Prior to taking vitamin D3, I really thought I had undiagnosed fibromyalgia.  I was always in pain.  Something always hurt.  My arm, my neck, my back, my tailbone.  When one ache disappeared, another would take its place.  I thought perhaps I needed a shrink.  Well shrink be gone, as after about a week on these pills (just 1600 IU), the pain went away!!!!  Just before the pills, my tailbone had been acting up from an accident I’d had a few years back, a trip down cement steps on my backside.  I remember thinking that I was too young to have to hold onto the arms of a chair or onto a table in order to get up and sit down without pain.  But that pain went away — and was never replaced by any other.  Think of the money I’ve saved on therapy. : )  There are several articles about vitamin D and pain.  Google it and you will see even more.

Vitamin D and Longevity. If you haven’t read the articles in the links above, please take note of this now: vitamin D3 also helps CLL patients live longer.  In case it wasn’t enough that it makes you feel better, scientists/doctors are now saying that deficiency increases mortality. (If you don’t have enough vitamin D in your body, and you have CLL, you are more likely to die.)    Make sure you take D3 and NOT D2 –D2 is synthetic, not what you want!.

Why are we deficient in vitamin D? Vitamin D is manufactured in our skin when we are exposed to direct sunlight without sun block.  Yes, I know.  Dermatologists have been warning us for decades to stay out of the sun.  Maybe that’s helped prevent some skin cancer cases, but the unintended consequences have been terrible.  Vitamin D deficiency is responsible for susceptibility to cancer!  Even melanoma.  (How ironic is that?)  Here is a list from the Vitamin D Council.

Get out in the sun. You’ve heard of safe sex.  Now have some safe sun.  Get out in the sun, every day (when warm enough) for about 15-20 minutes, with as much skin exposed as is legal and practical), and get out before you burn.  Sun burn is NOT healthy.  Sun exposure is very healthy. Remember when people were told to get plenty of fresh air and sunshine?  Both are therapeutic.

Bottom line is check your vitamin D levels regularly, preferably by an alternative practitioner.  Here is the information about what test should be ordered and what the proper level of vitamin D should be.  The test is the 25 (OH)D test.  Your level should be between 50-80 ng/ml, year round.  If you can’t get out into the sun for practical or seasonal reasons, then supplement.  Give it a try.  I hope you have stellar results like I did!

 

Low-Dose Naltrexone for CLL by Prescription Only

Naltrexone is available by prescription only, whether for chronic lymphocytic leukemia or for any other condition.  In its low-dose form, naltrexone is available only from a compounding pharmacy.  It is important that you NOT get naltrexone in its slow-release form.  You want to get all the benefits of your dosage while you sleep.  Here is more information about how to get your prescription low-dose naltrexone.

Getting the prescription. What might be even trickier than finding the right compounding pharmacist is getting the prescription in the first place.  Early in 2008, I made a special appointment with my local conventional M.D. with the express purpose of getting a prescription for LDN (low-dose naltrexone).  I came to the office, armed with pages of info from the LDN web site. But my doctor, open-minded though she may be, told me that she would confer about it with my hematologist.  Fair enough.

Too risky? Weeks later, at my next hematologist visit, this doctor informed me that she and my internist had deemed my request for LDN as too “risky.”  RISKY!!! For whom?  Certainly not for me!  (Or for anyone with CLL leukemia.)  There are virtually no side effects from LDN.  Some people report vivid dreams in the first nights on the pills.  I experienced nothing — no side effects at all.  I figured that the “risk” was to these doctors’ licenses to practice, as I cannot reason why else it would be “risky.”  As compared to what?  Chemotherapy?

Find a good alternative practitioner. My next stop was to confer with my alternative M.D. in New York.  He gladly prescribed the LDN.  I get it from the Hopewell Pharmacy in New Jersey.  I believe that he’d recommended it a year earlier, but I’d hesitated to start it along with all the protocols and regimens he’d advised at the time.  Long story short is that I’ve been on low-dose naltrexone ever since, with no side effect –  and with very stable results.

Has this been my magic bullet? A panacea?  I wish I could say so, but I truly can’t be certain.  I’m not willing to give it up to find out.  Please read more on this site about all the other things I’ve done and that I do to both maintain my health — and to work to achieve cancer-free status.

One more thing.  If you’d like to read more about how Naltrexone came to be used as an off-label drug (for cancers and MS, for example), read the interview with Dr. Bihari, the man who discovered the extra value of this drug in low dose.

 

CLL Leukemia and Low-Dose Naltrexone

low dose naltrexone
Low-dose naltrexone is available only from a compounding pharmacy, by prescription.

I like to keep a file of possible protocols (read: cures) so that I have something to fall back on should there be a less-than-stellar blood test.  Low-dose naltrexone was in that file for more than a year before I was able to use it for chronic lymphocytic leukemia. Continue reading CLL Leukemia and Low-Dose Naltrexone