Why me

cww71964 said:

medications
I just started taking glucosamine maybe 6 months before mine was found. Dr. said mine was there for maybe 3 years. I have taken aspirin on occasion but nothing daily. I never smoked either. Not sure why I got it myself, just happy it is out and plan on doing whatever I can to keep it out.

Health and happiness,
Wayne

More study needed
From everything I have read there is a real lack of knowledge as to what causes Kidney Cancer.
Almost everything I have read is that smoking increases the risk of Kidney Cancer as well as being a male between 50 and 70 increses the risk. The problem is that doctors or others do not do in depth interviews. I think that the Kidney Cancer Association or American Cancer society or one of the universitys on the cutting edge of kidney cancer should do a statistically relevant sample of kidney cancer survivors (like 1000 or more with RCC and the same number without RCC) and do in depth interviews as to their health, ailments, medications, enviornmental exposures etc to try and identify other information more common among kidney cancer survivors. Just a thought.


Icemantoo

Texas_wedge said:

More study needed
That's precisely why I asked you for your thoughts on the topic iceman - in the last post on the thread "Future Options".

more study
Right on Icemantoo. So far I am male. 59. Had gall bladder removed. Have taken glucosamine for about 15 years. Don't smoke. Heres the big one. I GOLF!

Gluosamine
I used to take my daily Gluosamine as well. I stopped taking any vitamins and/or supplements after my recurrence surgery in 2010. Now I’m “pill” free and do my best to avoid process food as possible.

Jon

Texas_wedge said:

"Pill free"
Jon, I think you're doing yourself an inestimable favour by avoiding processed food (especially processed meats) but I'm intrigued to know why you've stopped taking vitamins and supplements, which doesn't sound like such a good idea to me. May I ask what is your reason?

In the last year or so I've taken Glucosamine Sulphate on a sporadic basis. I've stopped doing so since reading research which convinced me that there is no significant benefit to me in taking it. I've not heard of any suggestion that it does anybody any harm - has anyone heard of any evidence that it can?

Vitamin supplements
We should be able to get all the vitamins from all sorts of variety of food, and I simply enjoy eating real food instead of taking pills as food. After two years, I have not found it making any difference yet by stop taking vitamin supplements.

Jon

lawmanmike said:

It's funny you posted this today because I have been wondering the same thing. I have been on daily aspirin therapy since 2004 and wondered if there was any connection. I just read about a study suggested a link between long term use of acetaminophen and the development of kidney cancer and also long term use of some non-aspirin NSAIDS and developement of kidney cancer, but they concluded there was no such link to aspirin. The study was supposedly conducted by Eunyoung Cho, M.D. of Harvard and Brigham Young but I haven't been able to find the actual study - just articles discussing it and they are full of caveats... for what it's worth, here is a link to an article discussing it... http://aacrnews.wordpress.com/2011/10/24/analgesics-use-associated-with-increased-risk-for-renal-cell-carcinoma/

"Study" on analgesics
Mike, thanks for the link (which leads to lots of other interesting items, such as the one on coffee). As a lawyer you've instantly picked up the caution with which the story has been greeted in more sophisticated circles. It wasn't a 'study' in the usual sense but a meta-analysis, i.e. entirely derivative in terms of data. There's an important role for such analyses but it's also an opportunity for those in quest of an easy publication (and publicity) to grab a cheap headline - it can be money for old rope. I hope the headline-catching 'conclusion' attracted the opprobrium it merits.

"The results are kind of surprising," Eunyoung Cho told MedPage Today, which is understandable in view of her misinterpretation of their 'findings'. In Abstract B87 she stated "we investigated the association between analgesic use and RCC risk" which is not what they were actually doing. Their 'conclusion' that "we found that use of acetaminophen and non-aspirin NSAIDs was associated with a significant increased risk of developing RCC" is correspondingly illegitimate. The investigation was in order but the inference of causality they have drawn from the apparent correlation isn't.

One obvious alternative explanation of what they found is that people who have RCC, which is typically asymptomatic for many years (as most of us have learnt to our cost), are not unlikely to take analgesics for such things as flank pain and may well have other chronic conditions for which they seek relief.

Any suggestion that they may have found one possible cause of RCC is risible. Their illicit conclusion won't cut any ice with the huge number of people who benefit from the drugs in question in reducing the problems of arthritis, Alzheimer's, colo-rectal cancer, heart disease etc. etc. and won't, I hope, command much attention from the likes of us either.

That's not to say that we shouldn't weigh the risks of routinely taking Ibuprofen which is known to be contra-indicated in respect of CV events and hypertension - see e.g. http://www.drugs.com/pro/ibuprofen.html but that's a different matter entirely.

lawmanmike said:

It's funny you posted this today because I have been wondering the same thing. I have been on daily aspirin therapy since 2004 and wondered if there was any connection. I just read about a study suggested a link between long term use of acetaminophen and the development of kidney cancer and also long term use of some non-aspirin NSAIDS and developement of kidney cancer, but they concluded there was no such link to aspirin. The study was supposedly conducted by Eunyoung Cho, M.D. of Harvard and Brigham Young but I haven't been able to find the actual study - just articles discussing it and they are full of caveats... for what it's worth, here is a link to an article discussing it... http://aacrnews.wordpress.com/2011/10/24/analgesics-use-associated-with-increased-risk-for-renal-cell-carcinoma/

"Study" on analgesics
Mike, thanks for the link (which leads to lots of other interesting items, such as the one on coffee). As a lawyer you've instantly picked up the caution with which the story has been greeted in more sophisticated circles. It wasn't a 'study' in the usual sense but a meta-analysis, i.e. entirely derivative in terms of data. There's an important role for such analyses but it's also an opportunity for those in quest of an easy publication (and publicity) to grab a cheap headline - it can be money for old rope. I hope the headline-catching 'conclusion' attracted the opprobrium it merits.

"The results are kind of surprising," Eunyoung Cho told MedPage Today, which is understandable in view of her misinterpretation of their 'findings'. In Abstract B87 she stated "we investigated the association between analgesic use and RCC risk" which is not what they were actually doing. Their 'conclusion' that "we found that use of acetaminophen and non-aspirin NSAIDs was associated with a significant increased risk of developing RCC" is correspondingly illegitimate. The investigation was in order but the inference of causality they have drawn from the apparent correlation isn't.

One obvious alternative explanation of what they found is that people who have RCC, which is typically asymptomatic for many years (as most of us have learnt to our cost), are not unlikely to take analgesics for such things as flank pain and may well have other chronic conditions for which they seek relief.

Any suggestion that they may have found one possible cause of RCC is risible. Their illicit conclusion won't cut any ice with the huge number of people who benefit from the drugs in question in reducing the problems of arthritis, Alzheimer's, colo-rectal cancer, heart disease etc. etc. and won't, I hope, command much attention from the likes of us either.

That's not to say that we shouldn't weigh the risks of routinely taking Ibuprofen which is known to be contra-indicated in respect of CV events and hypertension - see e.g. http://www.drugs.com/pro/ibuprofen.html but that's a different matter entirely.

jhsu said:

Vitamin supplements
We should be able to get all the vitamins from all sorts of variety of food, and I simply enjoy eating real food instead of taking pills as food. After two years, I have not found it making any difference yet by stop taking vitamin supplements.

Jon

Vitamins/supplements
Jon, thanks for the explanation. I agree that a good, balanced diet should pretty well get us there. If you find that you don't miss the vits. etc then it makes good sense to lay off them but I bet you do notice the difference - in your wallet!

We all differ and vits/supps are beneficial if one has a deficit, e.g. vitamin D for older folks who don't get enough sunlight exposure (esp. if institutionalised). Playing 4 rounds of golf a week, I have no such problem (sun shines occasionally even in Scotland!) but otherwise I would take it. Also, extra anti-oxidants do no harm when you're battling cancer.

jhsu said:

Enjoy real antioxidants
Yes, balance diet is all the physical body needs, but also each individual is unique with different needs, like I’m doing a lot of daily running the body naturally craves for carbon hydrate. As for antioxidants, I would much prefer indulge my taste buds in eating those fresh greens, fruits and nuts than swallowing those chemical processed stuff.

http://healthland.time.com/2011/03/29/the-supernut-walnuts-pack-a-powerful-dose-of-antioxidants/

Jon

Walnuts and antioxidants
Thanks for the interesting link Jon. We love almond bread and I have a passion for brazil nuts and pistachios which would seem to be a lucky taste to have!
We could have an extended debate about diet supplementation but I reckon we have pretty similar views.
Do you run on the roads? Races? Weekly mileage? There was an interesting prog. on the BBC last night where research had shown that milk is markedly superior to the much hyped "sports drinks" in muscle recovery after serious exercise.

Texas_wedge said:

Walnuts and antioxidants
Thanks for the interesting link Jon. We love almond bread and I have a passion for brazil nuts and pistachios which would seem to be a lucky taste to have!
We could have an extended debate about diet supplementation but I reckon we have pretty similar views.
Do you run on the roads? Races? Weekly mileage? There was an interesting prog. on the BBC last night where research had shown that milk is markedly superior to the much hyped "sports drinks" in muscle recovery after serious exercise.

Amalgam
I log weekly run between 60 Km to 70 Km nowadays and 4 to 5 marathon races per year. I'm not a racer. Long-slow distance running is just the way during which I do meditation.

Also, I’ve replaced all my amalgam fillings since 2008. Still not sure what had caused RCC but keep on adjusting myself for a better self.

Jon

Texas_wedge said:

Amalgam
Have you noticed any improvements in your health since the amalgam replacement? I think the jury's still out but I've long been suspicious about having large amounts of mercury in my mouth.

I envy you the LSD schedule which should enable respectable M times. Are the races all in the same area or do you go all over? Is there a Taipei marathon? I'm now doing 1/2 hr sessions on an elliptical and this week started rowing again, together with upper body workouts with dumbbells. DV I'll run London again sometime - it's one of those important rewards for survival that we need to keep in prospect.

Funny about your meditation remark. I love the freedom of running on the roads, in parks etc and it makes a good break but I find I'm always preoccupied with monitoring my heart rate, my breathing cadence, my time past milestones and calculating my pace and prospective time compared with pb etc - mind too busy to think about anything else! As for the meditation, I'm just arranging for a course in Transcendental Meditation to complement the MAARS program which I'm already into, believing in throwing everything at it in the bid for survival.

marathons
I've done a half dozen marathons including New York and Boston. But those days are gone. Too many knee surgeries. I'm lucky to jog a few miles a week now. but if I was younger....I'd love to do it again.