natural meds

[medowmuffin]

Anyone ever hear of essiac herbal tea? I have a friend who was just diagnosed with mds. I also just received info about essiac and wondered if anyone has tried it.

[patti]

We do lots of natural stuff and I’ve never heard of it. Have you tried researching it on the web to find out what’s in it, how it’s supposed to work, etc. etc? That would be my best suggestion.

Patti

[Suzanne]

I am all for the natural stuff but I sure would coordinate it with the Dr. treating him and a reliable nutritionist-not just info on the internet. Combinations even of natural substances can cause problems

[riley]

Has anyone heard of glyconutrients by a company called Mannatech? I have two friends who are giving me the sales pitch to try it for my father because it’s worked for other MDS/leukemia patients. I ran it by dad’s doctor, and he said it’s not worth trying. Are any of you familiar with it?

Thanks,
Nicole

[John in GR]

Hi Meadowmuffin,

Essiac tea was formulated by a lady whose last name was Caisse; Some have had success w it, but I certainly wouldn’t hang my hat on that alone. Check what is out there. A great starting point for me was a Ralph Moss report re available remedies for MDS. I am currently following a program which is similar to what is presented at http://www.geocities.com/marlakins/index.html I do not use Essiac tea because of mixed reviews, although I am unaware of any harm it might cause.

John

[patti]

I’ve got to throw two more cents worth in here. I talked to mom’s doctor once about natural stuff and will NEVER do it again. I don’t care how good a doctor is in terms of treating this disease, I truly believe most will tell you you’re wasting your time when it comes to treating things naturally. Yes, there can be some reactions to mixing certain things but I think if you do your research and check with a good cancer naturepath or someone in that realm that you are better off (and safer) then ever asking your doctor about natural anything.

After what my husband and I have watched over the past year with my MIL and several friends and family members we have determined that people go to doctors to die, not to get cured. Stuff that’s supposed to be good for you won’t make you throw up and lose your hair (ie. chemo). Just my honest opinion. I’ve seen too much success with people doing the natural to believe that the medical is worth the risks.

Patti

[John in GR]

Strong medicine Patti. Preach it girl. Tah, are you out there?? are you listening??? Are you reading??? Well, I’m afraid Tah is off reviewing the latest from Quackwatch, or perhaps figuring out how to get Hillary elected in 08, or maybe he is following up on my suggestion re obtaining medical advice from his shoemaker. On the other hand, he could be off to Washington or Oregon throwing himself in front of a lumber truck, doing his part to save the spotted owl.

John

[Neil]

Hi Nicole,
I was on 5 annatech supplements for a year. Nothing changed except my billfold. Cost was about $800.00 a month.
Mannatech is a multi level marketing company. Huge commissions are paid to the people who got in earlier. Much like a chain letter.
In this area they have monthly meetings where they rally their dealers and criticize doctors.
Many people claim some extraordinary benefits from their products. They did not help me.
Go to http://www.mannatech.com for more info and their price list
Neil

[Terri]

Patti, I agree the Doctors really don’t want to hear about the natural approach. Bob is doing both the conventional Vidaza which seems to be controlling the blast and we Did contact a Nutritionist and follow his suggestions on the vitamins and supplements and I believe they are truly helping. A lot is similar to John in GR. However I did not trust myself to do my own research so I contacted the Nutritionist that helped my niece with her counts when she was going through the Chemo etc for her Breast cancer.

[uno grasshopper]

Hello Medowmuffin:

My father, who has multiple myeloma, has been using Essiac Tea for almost a year now. He’s in his 70s and originally took the most conservative of the conventional treatment choices–pulsed decadron. It nearly killed him. He was supposed to do the protocol for 6 months, but had to stop at 5 months. Each pulsed session brought him to his knees and an ER visit. When he started to lose coherency and developed damage to his cranial nerve III, we decided it was enough. I found a few people on a multiple myeloma list who were claiming good results with Essiac. (Just like on this list, those who chose a natural approach are few and far between, so you really have to keep your eye out for them). So I suggested it to my dad, and he tried it. He has been stable for about a year now. Prior to taking the Essiac, his IgG numbers were creeping up again. After the Essiac, his numbers fluctuated up and down, but relatively stable. More recently he’s again on an upward climb(not a good thing for IgG to go up with myeloma patients), and I asked him about the Essiac. His reply to me was “he forgets to take it all the time.” (Instead of twice a day, he had been only taking ot once a day). Overall, we feel that the Essiac has been beneficial for him. He’s had a good year(at diagnosis he was in excrutiating pain, then came the drugs. . .) He’s still okay, but he needs to buckle down again and get serious. The down side I see with the Essiac is it doesn’t seem to be a cure, only something to hold or slow down his disease. The Essiac has done nothing for the bone damage that was already incurred at diagnosis, but the pain and rouge plasma cells have been relatively under control.

Essiac comes in different forms–i.e. capsules/tablets or teas. We chose the teas. I picked them up at my local herb store which only sells wild-crafted herbs. The herbs supply last a long time–probably about 4 months or 5 months or more and only cost me about $40 or $45 for that supply. In the past year I’ve only had to buy it twice for him cuz it last so long. So that amounts to a total of about $80/$85 or so. Hardly a dent in the pocket book. The tablets are likely another thing. Any time someone else tries to pre-package something, it’ll likely start costing more.

Please note that my dad has multiple myeloma, not MDS.

Take care,

Marla

[medowmuffin]

Hi marla thanks for the feed back! I have given my friend the first batch of tea to brew. It was given to me by my chinese herbal DR. She said it could really help. Where did you hear of it?

Medowmuffin

[medowmuffin]

Terri and Patti, Thanks for every word. In think my friend is reading these posts and she needs to hear what you said! thanks

[uno grasshopper]

Hello Medowmuffin:

Whenever you do a search for natural therapies for things like cancers, you’re bound to run into information on Essiac Tea. So I had read about it quite a while back when doing research for my aplastic anemia in 1999. However, when my dad was diagnosed with multiple myeloma about 2 years ago, I joined a couple MM groups to help get a better understanding of his condition. It was from one of those MM groups that I read of about 3 or 4 members who were using Essiac with some success for their myeloma. I was encouraged to try it because they were specifically myeloma patients and from reading their posts, it was clear they were intimately familiar with MM. They were not just peddling products as a cure-all, but seriously using it to control/manage their own MM.

I hope your friend sees some improvement soon! Please keep us updated on her condition and also if the Essiac appears to be working for her. I hope so.

Take care,

Marla

[Author]

Posts