How my liver mets went away on their own

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  • sigma9r
    sigma9r Member Posts: 9
    edited April 2016 #22
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    Don't wait for a trial to end to get on metformin

    Anna,

    I am well aware of all the trials going on with metformin.  I initially enrolled in a trial that added Metformin to my Taxol/Carboplatin chemotherapy. 
    Once I learned more about the drug, my own oncologist put me on the real drug and I removed myself from the trial (not the top cancer hospital
    doing the trial).  I was told I had 4-6 mos to live- the trial I was in ends in 2019. I could have died if I hadn't gotten on the real drug. You can look
    up the trial at clinicaltrials.gov. Putting Stage IV cancer patients in a  trial  for a drug that has been around about 60 years and costs about $10
    for a two month supply is irresponsible, but they will give you more chemotherapy that they know doesn't work.  This isn't a "new" drug that
    is untested and costs $100,000.  They can do trials if they want but if the patient in front of them is dying, do you think they should not be telling
    you about this drug as an option for you?

    They wouldn't be doing trials on the drug if they weren't already aware of its anti-cancer properties.  It has more anti-cancer
    properties than anti-diabetic properties. Many, many trials have already been done in the past. Why keep doing trials and not just
    prescribe the drug if they think it might help you?

    Over 100 million people take metformin. It was approved in Europe and Canada in 1958, in the US in 1995.  Think of how many people
    might have been helped, or lived longer if they had been given this drug?  This drug put me in remission and I remain cancer free from metastasis.

    If you have metastatic cancer, which we are all told is incurable, the only way you will save your life is to take control of your health.
    I wasn't going to die waiting for a trial with a well known drug to end.  I have no side effects from this drug, unlike the many deadly side
    effects that can abe caused by chemo.

    As I mentioned, any doctor can prescribe this drug "off label."  Prescribing drugs off label is common.  Chemo drugs are prescribed off label
    all the time.

    Takingcontrol58

     

     

    My new mantra

    I will never again skip metformin, i will never again skip metformin!

  • peterz54
    peterz54 Member Posts: 341
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    Very important post

    I think this post on metformin is more important than many may realize.  

    The mechanism of action fits with other work unrelated to use of metformin - inhbiting the insulin/IGF-1 pathway.   Some studies are inhibiting this pathway by short term fasting or fasting mimicing diets just before or during each bout of standard theraapy   This reduces serum glucose a bit but more importanly removes glucose spikes which elevate insuiln which in turn stimulates IGF-1.  

      In any case, plenty of papers at PubMed disuss insulin/IGF-1 and cancer as well as metformin and cancer.  

    If the insuiln/IGF-1 pathway is so important, as many researchers hypothesis, then staying away from simple carbs and excess protein is vital.   This is something that can be done without drugs - just takes willpower.

    To me, its criminal that oncologists are not monitoring patient's insulin and HbA1c levels and helping patients keep these markers at the low ends of the reference ranges.

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

  • sigma9r
    sigma9r Member Posts: 9
    edited May 2016 #24
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    Sue_2015 said:

    Metformin sounds interesting

    Thanks for bringing this to our attention.  I'm always looking for more information.  I'll mention it to my Oncs to see what they say.  (I'm thinking my docs won't prescribe anything "off label" but I'll keep the info in the back of my mind.)  Heck, when I was having a horrible time during chemo infusions and asked about the now allowed use of Medical Marijuana in my state, none of my doctors will sign me up for it.  They say there not enough research that edible medical mj helps with sleep, pain and nausea.  (To which I say, then why is it being approved in more states all the time...it must be helping a lot of people!) Not enough money in it for the Doc perhaps, as opposed to the money they make off treating us for colon cancer with mets.

    Best wishes and stay NED!

     

     

    Sounds interesting

    After reading about Metformin here, I took the question to my oncologist.  I am already on Metformin for diabetes and have been for a number of years.  The doctor did say that Metformin had some "cancer preventitive properties" but the jury was still out as a cancer treatment.

    That word, properties, stuck with me.  Kind of like a "yeah, maybe".  That being said, since I've been on Metformin, I have had CC twice and liver mets once.  I've been through better than 6 rounds of chemo (before my last surgery) and 4 after my second colon surgery.  I'm not convinced that Metformin has that much of an effect on tumors but, as I said earlier in this thread, I'm not discounting anything!  I take my Metformin!!!

    Wiley