Interesting concept

Max Former Hodgkins Stage 3

ShadyGuy said:

Thanks Max and PBL

I now have an anti inflammatory that is helping the cough a lot. Today was Rituxan. I had demerol, benadryl, acetaminophen and Rituxan. Went very well with no ill effects so far. That was my 28th R infusion since I was diagnosed. For the next 3 days I get Kytril, Fludarabine and Cytoxan each day over 3 hours. Those are the bad boys. You guys have gone through so much more than I have. Thanks for not laughing at me!

Hopefully

The anti-inflammatory will hopefully help with cough reduction, since chemo-induced lung toxicity is neither bacterial nor viral, just "inflammatory."   I had inflammation of the prostate on-and-off for 31 years, before having it cut out due to PCa cancer developing. 

Prostatitis, although often attacked by urologists as a UTI, is in fact 95% of the time inflammatory but without viral or bacterial involvement, a fact gleaned from biopsies, post-prostectomy pathology studies, and autopsies.  Lung toxicity is often similiar. 

My point is that doctors tend to soak patients in antibiotics when there is no bacteria present.  I went into inpatient care for three days after my first infusion due to neutropenia.  The whole time they had me on antibiotic IV, and tested me for every infection known to medicine. I kept telling them (although I was on an Oncology Floor) that "It is probably from low WBC."  At the end, they  said, "You have no infections; it was neutropenia."  I had received so much antibiotic that I developed Red Man Syndrom, and looked scaled from the collarbone to my feet.  I recall the old adage given to doctors: "If you listen to the patient long enough, they will tell you what is wrong with them."

Prednisone also, if you are getting it, is a powerful anti-inflamatory.  IF the cause is gastric gases, the inflammatory will help some, but only a PPI (Nexium, etc) is curative in that case.

 

max

Evarista

Max Former Hodgkins Stage 3 said:

Cough

Shady I don't recall what drugs you are now taking for salvage therapy, but be aware that some chemo agents cause severe respriatory reactions.    I'm pretty sure you are not receiving Bleomycin, but it is among the worst, even causing fibrosis after severe lung toxicity.

Obviously something your oncologist should have already thought of.  But you may want to go through chemocare.com with every drug you are on, looking for possible causal agents (the common and uncommon side-effects for every FDA approved chemo drug are listed there).  It wouldn't take over around ten minutes, time well spent.

I coughed without stopping through chemo and for a few years thereafter.  I was nicknamed there and at work as "that coughing guy."  Mine was dry, hacking; what doctors call "non-productive."  There was never mucus or fluid.

Also know that stomach acids can cause precisely this as well.  Just tossing stuff out at random here, since I've been there/done that.

max

Chemo helped my cough

Hi Shady.  I had an extremely violent cough preceding my diagnosis. X-rays and LFT's showed no causation. I was coughing so violently that I could not keep food down.  The chemo actually resolved the cough when nothing else had helped.  Presumably, that was the Prednisone in EPOCH.  Good luck with the comng round.

ShadyGuy

Evarista said:

Chemo helped my cough

Hi Shady.  I had an extremely violent cough preceding my diagnosis. X-rays and LFT's showed no causation. I was coughing so violently that I could not keep food down.  The chemo actually resolved the cough when nothing else had helped.  Presumably, that was the Prednisone in EPOCH.  Good luck with the comng round.

Good to know

except mine got much worse after first round. It has calmed down a lot in the last 2 days. Also doc has prescribed prophylaxis doses of sulfamethoxazole and acyclovir in case its caused by germs. My neutropenia is still there so I have to be very careful about exposures to sick people and tainted foods. No salads for now. Coughing is a known side effect of Fludarabine. Good news is my tiny palpable nodes in my underarms and on my chin are gone. Additional infusions today and tomorrow then 3 weeks off with a scan before the next round. I have great faith in my oncologist.

lindary

PBL said:

"No such group"

Hello Linda,

Just a quick reply to your remark:

I believe one of Dr Longo's sources of inspiration is just one such group of people - those with Laron Syndrome, whom he has visited and studied (if I remember correctly) in Ecuador. This syndrome causes a form of dwarfism as these people do not produce or respond to growth hormone. It also seems to make them literally immune to cancer, despite unhealthy lifestyle choices.

Hence the link between IGF1 and cancer, and the notion that perhaps reducing the IGF level through some targeted form of fasting would - among other benefits - help fend off or contain the cancer.

PBL

causes

PBL,

I understand and agree with what you have said. There do seem to be a set of conditions that could keep cancer away, or at leasst certain types of cancer. 

It's like the link between smoking and small-cell lung cancer. Most people that smoke do not get small-cell lung cancer. Of the people that do get small-cell lung cancer 80-90% are smokers. But there are so many types that causes are unknown. 

It could be something as dumb as our immunity system sleeping on the job.