A few questions?  Looks like a book of questions.

This is a continuation of the thread on the previous page.
http://curezone.com/forums/fm.asp?i=1895871#i

Copied, updated, and consolidated from the link above, as of 1/29/2011:

I will have her continue taking the aloe vera and will recommend against the Zometa, then. We also replaced the O3 ELITE with an identical unit, and it produces a smell. It seems to be of good quality in every other regard; not sure why there is sometimes no ozone smell at all with the other one. Sometimes the smell it is slight, sometimes there seems to be none, but at first it was definitely stronger. The company said it could be a problem with one of the cells. Anyway, they replaced it right away.

Besides seaweeds, what other herbs, minerals, etc. do you recommend for inflammation? She's taking a few things now, including nova scotia dulse. Or do you think that the inflammation cannot really be helped until the uric acid levels drop and the lymphatic passageways start clearing?

The inflammation can still be addressed.  Some of the strongest herbs for inflammation are yucca root and licorice root.  Both are also excellent immune stimulants and yucca root also helps destroy cancer cells due to the high sterol content.

About the pain -- do you think that the irritation is that much more painful because of the nature of my mom's cancer, the fact that she has inflammation in the cancer-affected region? I'm asking because I have not really come across any people stating that their ozone treatments brought them such strong pain, maybe because none of the patients were suffering from inflammatory breast cancer. Her oncologist has also said that she has never seen such a level of pain with any of her patients, including those with IBC. When her pain was at the lowest, so was her inflammation. Or maybe it's simply as you say: the more uric acid (and pain), the more inflammation, and that's the connection.

The fact that the area was so inflamed to begin with is going to play a major role in the pain.  It is like if you touch our finger tip it will not hurt.  But if you had a lot of inflammation from an infection or injury then even the lightest touch can be very painful.

There are other factors as well though such as the use of pain meds, which reduces the pain threshold.  And the person's natural levels of dopamine.

I grinded some nettle leaf and put it into capsules to make sure that she's getting enough of a dose. She is taking nettle leaf, quercetin, devil's claw, burdock, juniper berries, malic acid, and tart cherry extract (and maybe some others) to help her deal with the uric acid, but I don't think that it is having an effect.

The quercetin, Devil's claw and burdock are not going to help with the uric acid.  These are primarily anti-inflammatories.  The quercetin is also antiviral and anti-cancer and the burdock a white blood cell stimulant.

She took the nettle leaf in capsules, devil's claw, burdock, quercetin, and tart cherry extract for several weeks now (instead of simply malic acid, nettle leaf tea, and juniper berries for months before) without any improvement in pain. Is it possible that something else is to blame for the pain other than uric acid?

Yes, there are a number of things such as those I mentioned above.  And the contraction of scar tissue can also cause pain.

It is concentrated in the affected breast, once appeared in the rib area, and used to appear in her right, puffy arm, but now only seldom does. She does not drink more than half a gallon a day of water, but probably even less than that. It may very well be related to that, I think.

More water will help keep uric acid down.

Due to her pain, we will decrease the ozone dose to 36-37 ug/mL, around the same levels that she was doing since October 8th up until early December when her pain was at the lowest since starting ozone back in June. But first we are having her take a break from ozone for one week or two altogether to have her pain improve before we continue treatment. Since the ozone seems to have been working well for her, we'd like to keep it at these levels if it means decreasing pain and inflammation and having her in a positive and good mood.

Pain is a form of stress, which weakens the adrenals anyway.  Among other things weak adrenals will increase inflammation.  So that is a good idea anyway.

After about a week without administering ozone, her pain has not improved. Comparing this to late September, she did not do ozone for a week and on the first day her pain improved tremendously. She sometimes drank baking soda when the pain was especially bad, and it helped quite a bit, but this past month it does not seem to help at all, which may have something to say about whether or not it is uric acid that is causing the pain.

Again there are several possibilities.  But scar tissue is a very likely cause.  Does it feel like it is tight or pulling in the area?

She will resume ozone at the 36-37 ug/mL level in several days, or maybe in another week (maybe her pain will become more controlled). Just last night, she says that she felt some kind of liquid coming out of her other breast and thinks that it may have been milk, like before. No milk has come out since mid to late November, so this seems a bit strange to us.

I am glad you mentioned that because there is a good clue.  Milk production is regulated by prolactin.  Higher prolactin levels will increase milk, but suppresses the body's natural pain killer dopamine.

Also, why would the pus increase with a ~48 ug/mL dose if the fungal infection seems to have been finally under control just two months ago when she was doing ~36 ug/mL? Doesn't it follow that a stronger ozone concentration will eradicate the infection more quickly and give it less of a chance to come back?

Pus is not simply from fighting pathogens.  Keep in mind that dead cells are also dealt with by the immune system like a pathogen.

You have said that you don't think that the cancer has metastasized to the bones. What do you think the "soft tissue component" on the right 11th rib could be? She complained a few weeks ago about a very sharp pain in her right ribs that has been worse than the pain in her breast; it lasted only two days or so. It would hurt when she moved.

That sounds like scar tissue.  When she moves contracted scar tissue will pull causing the sharp pain.  Bone metastases would hurt more chronically from the pressure of the mass, not just when she moves.

Can it be a malignant tumor whose destruction is causing the release of uric acid in the rib area, causing her pain, much like what is happening in her right breast?

Still sounds like scar tissue.

Can she have uric acid in the rib area without it being metastasized cancer?

She shouldn't.  But if she is limiting mobility on the one side then she would be overusing the other side to compensate.

Also, a pain similar to what she had in her ribs came back a few days ago, but she says it’s a bit different from the last time. It was sharp, it hurt when she moved, but it was also hurting when she breathed. And she was also experiencing quite a bit of pain in areas adjacent to her affected breast, even a bit higher and lower, including towards her throat, where there is no inflammation and the skin looks normal. She says that it is a very similar pain to where it is most concentrated in her breast, so maybe it is uric acid. She has additional pain in her chest when she breathes, hiccups, coughs, etc., and you mentioned earlier that pleural can cause that. You said that she is probably getting the pleural effusion from her inflammation -- what is the connection there?

Possible, but it still sounds more like contracted scar tissue since the pain is when she is moving the muscles in the area.

Also, she has pericardial effusion, obviously on the left side of her chest, the unaffected area, according to the last scan. Is this dangerous?

Yes, it can be quite serious.

I read that if left untreated, it can be fatal. What can be causing this? And why do you think there is effusion on both sides of her chest? I know that metastasis is often the cause in both pleural and pericardial effusion, so I am pretty concerned about this.

There is actually a number of things that can cause this including infection, medications, hypothyroidism, autoimmunity, etc.  And in some cases it can occur without any known cause.

Her bone pain kept declining throughout December until she barely felt it at the end of last month. But suddenly, right before the new year, her bone pain came back, though not exactly as strongly as before, but still pretty strongly. It has been on and off for the past month, but mostly on. The pain is in "all" of her bones, she says, which is probably not entirely accurate, but she does have bone pain in her hands, feet and soles, ribs, neck, joints, and other parts, so it is pretty widespread. As of a week or so ago, most of the bone pain left again. She also says that she feels a sunburn-like sensation all over her skin, a pain that she describes almost like having the flu and feeling off throughout every part of your body. She also describes the flesh pain as sometimes feeling like a bruise, which probably means that it is sometimes tender to the touch. What does this sound like to you?

I can think of a couple of possibilities.  One is that she is also dealing with an autoimmune condition.  The other is that her immune system is all revved up.  Many of those symptoms can be from increases in the body's immune cytokines.  Although the pain would be more in the muscle, not the actual bone.  But people often have a difficult time differentiating between the two.

For the bones, should we add anything beyond the Bone and Joint Formula and the Rife Machine therapy? I know that it takes a while to rebuild bone, but I'm wondering if there is anything else that can accelerate the process and alleviate some of the symptoms, whatever it is that may be causing them. (It doesn't sound like cancer, as it affects her whole body, is on and off, and I know that it is not jumping from her breast to the soles of her feet.)

This could also be a form of neuropathy.  If it is then lecithin granules, B₁₂ and fish oil would be particularly helpful.  But they are slow to work.

An acquaintance recently suggested to try boiling dried habanero peppers and drinking the water from them for the capsaicin for its anti-tumor properties. He also mentioned that it will help with the pain by way of an endorphin rush. Should she pursue this for pain or its cancer-fighting properties?

Keep in mind that pain will weaken the adrenals.  Peppers are great for vitamin C though.  But they do not have to be hot.  Either cool cayenne or ripe bell peppers would be better.

Is it better to give her cayenne (40,000 Hu vs the ~225,000 of habaneros) capsules instead, since the burning in the throat is pretty severe? Does it have the same effect? Do you need to feel the burn to feel pain relief?

Yes, that will work.

She also takes nattokinase, 2000 Fu per capsule, 3 capsules a day = 6000 Fu a day. I have 450 mg 40,000 HU cayenne capsules. What would be a safe maximum dose of cayenne for her to take since she is on the nattokinase?

1g three times daily is fine.

On this topic, would you recommend against taking ibuprofen

Ibuprofen is very dangerous regardless and I would not recommend taking it at all.

(in addition to oxycodone and Exalgo) if it helps relieve some of her pain?

The problem with oxycodone long term is that it also reduces dopamine, which in turn increases pain when the person tries to come off.  I have never heard of Exalgo.

I know that it is similar to a blood thinner so it may not be a good idea to take it with nattokinase, but I'm just making sure. If it's safe, what would the safest maximum daily dose be?

Listed above.

Several weeks ago the doctor said that she cannot fully compare the May PET to the Nov/Dec PET because they were done in two different facilities. She said that for a brief time in the summer, PET scans were ceased throughout the country as the protocols, etc. were investigated, as the procedure is too nonstandardized. As in, they measure differently, they use different amounts of glucose, etc., depending on the technician and the facility. So a SUV of 7.4 vs 14.8, she says, could simply be attributed to differences in each individual procedure, as can the tumor size. (She is compelled by the tumor marker CA 27.29 being cut in half, however, though you said it's not a very good indicator.) Do you have any comments about this?

I agree about the standardization issue.  This is actually true of a variety of tests.  And even with the same standards there is still the issue of the skills the person reading it has.  Two different people at the same facility could come to different conclusions.  So these tests are a general guide.

We told the doctor exactly why we do not wish for my mom to take Zometa, and she said that the side effects that you stated never occur. I know that this is not accurate, as a simple Google search confirms what you've said.

She has missed a few periods since a few months ago. Since she is about 40 years old, I don't think that it's menopause. You commented on this earlier, but I'd just like to update that she is still experiencing this.

Her stress could also be causing this.  Stress also raises prolactin, which elevates anyway prior to menstruation.  So the elevated prolactin is likely related.

My mom had what may have been a heart attack two or three years ago. An ambulance came by and the technicians did an electrocardiogram test and confirmed it. They said that she should go to a hospital, but she refused, and it has not happened since. (We did not know this until fairly recently, by the way.)

They can see old heart attacks as an elevated S-T segment on the EKG.  If she has has a previous heart attack though then this is even more reason to avoid ibuprofen since ibuprofen decreases circulation and can contribute to heart attacks.

But during two nights over the past few days, she says that she felt what may have been two other heart attacks, or at least the precursors to them, but we're not sure, as they seem to be a little too close to one another. After all, isn't it difficult to tell if it's your heart or something else that's bothering you?

Many things can mimic a heart attack.  These include angina, spasms, gallbladder attacks, lung issues, etc.

And she has been doing ozone for months now, which I know is supposed to help prevent future heart attacks. But she does have the pericardial effusion build-up since before the last scan, which may have something to do with it.

Yes, this can also be all or part of it.

The oncologist also prescribed Ritalin for my mom's sleepiness. She seems to sleep at least 12 hours a day, on and off (never a full 6-8 hours at once, but her sleep cycle has been getting deeper recently), but probably even more than 12 hours a day. I'm pretty sure that it is related to the oxycodone, and maybe even Exalgo, as you mentioned earlier. I know that there are plenty of side effects to Ritalin, including death and addiction, but do you think it is relatively safe to take for a few weeks or months?

Ritalin is a strong stimulant, so it will have the same adverse effects on the adrenals increasing inflammation in the body among other problems.

If not, do you know of any other alternative to combat the sleepiness that she feels from the opioids?

Not that are not CNS stimulants.

Did you receive the PET/CT disc yet? And thank you again for agreeing to take a look at it for us.

Yes, but I have not had a chance to look at it yet.