newly diagnosed rectal cancer

I'm sorry to hear about your diagnosis. That was the way it went for me, too. Chemo and radiation to shrink it then surgery. Funny you should mention the baking soda, that just came up on my facebook page tonight and I reposted it saying it was crap and I'm tired of supposed cures being posted. It's based on the acid/alkalai environment and is supposedly helpful to prevent cancer. My friend's husband who is very much into fitness and competes in body building and is into nutrition and designs diets for clients is a fan of it. He told me about it this past summer so I went home and checked it out and it's another cancer cure that doesn't work. Sorry to be negative but you'll get a lot of people who only be too happy to offer useless information that is of no help at all.

Curcumin is one I haven't heard of, though.

Anyway, you've come to the right place. Here you'll get genuine information and real life feedback from people who've been there rather than from doctors who have never had it and are just going by what they've read or what some patients have told them. And we don't share every detail of what it's really like to go through this with our doctors so they don't really know what it's like to live with it.

So welcome to the club.

Jan  

 "A pH of 7 is neutral. The lower the pH, the more acidic the blood. A variety of factors affect blood pH including what is ingested, vomiting, diarrhea, lung function, endocrine function, kidney function, and urinary tract infection. The normal blood pH is tightly regulated between 7.35 and 7.45."
 
 The system REQUIRES a neutral PH and works hard to keep the tolerance perfect. Taking anything to change that number only forces your body to work harder to control it. That equates to stress on one's system.
 
 Baking soda can settle some intestinal acidic conditions, but the intestine and digestive tract needs the acid to dissolve food matter; neutralizing the acid makes digestion more difficult, it does not "improve" any condition "long term".
 
 Plenty of info on the web regarding simple biological issues......
 
 Good health,
 
 John
 
 

it is a very personal fight. There are indeed many 'cures' or 'natural treatments' out there in this wild world. As long as we study up on them and feel they are right for us, that is great. 

We have to do what we feel is right for us, and then, at the end of our days we can say to ourselves 'I did my best'. 

We have had and have many here who have followed paths that have been questionable, outright weird or interesting. Some have passed on, others are still with us, following their chosen path. 

It sounds as thou you have done your homework on this baking soda plan, and if you feel right about it, we are not here to 'tell' you you're wrong.  

I wish you all the best in your personal fight.

SUE

mozart13 said:

Thx Sue,

well said, it is personal fight.

we make own choices, good or bad we have to live with them.

I am at the begining of that war. Wanna win as many batlles as posiblle.

Doing a lot's of research, while waiting, got nothing to loose by trying different things.

It is nice to see there are a lot's of survivors out there.

I wouldn't even know that there is something brewing inside me, did my anual blood work , every thing came normal, wbc, hemoglobin,..., had one event of bleed after, that spooked me, and decided to go for colonoscopy.

It is to bad that body doesn't reckognize cancer as agressor, it could easy remove it on its own.

That's what I also hear is one of the problems with cancer, the body doesn't recognise it as something to fight. My docotr said warts are the same. The treatments don't actually work, they just irritate the wart until the body 'sees' it and then fights it itself. The whole diea with the cancer not recognising it makes me wonder about if it is that detrimental that our immune systems are strong if they're not fighting it anyway. You'll find there are lots of ideas and thoughts about cancer and you'll become an expert at knowing what's true and what isn't. You'll learn far more about it than you ever wanted to know.

As for your CEA, it can be an excellent indicator of how your cancer is doing or not be one at all. Mine has been below one the entire time I've had cancer and now have mets in my lung. For me it's useless. I don't know if it is accurate for most people of half of everyone or if I'm rare that it isn't accurate for me. That's something I've never asked about but would be a good question. My understanding is that it can be as high as in the teens and still be considered normal if the person is a smoker but under ten is more in line for the average person without cancer.

Jan 

I believe all centers biopsy your tumors for genetic testing.  The reason is that different medications work for the various strains of cancer.  They tested mine for KRAS, BRAF, Lynch, MSI, and probably others that I forgot about. (I have KRAS wild type mutation, negative on the BRAF, LYNCH, and MSI).  I don't believe you need to go through any other genetic testing other than testing the biopsy, unless your medical team advises that.

In regards to effects of the alkaline diet: The chemo treatments they give us have that same effect. I read through the disclosure statements on the medications and I believe the Oxaliplatin is one of those that act as an alkalioid in our systems.  So even thought our bodies may fight to maintain a balance, I think there is merit to the idea of the alkaline diet.  I have not studied as extensively as some of the others on this site. 

I  know a few people that had breast cancer and one with bladder cancer that had surgeries and then changed their diet, used dietary or alternative supplements and have not had any recurrences without doing chemo. One woman I know takes baking soda cooked with maple syrup, tumeric, and also uses cannabis oils to treat her thyroid cancer and claims that her tumors are shrinking.  She has gone to an oncologist for followup blood tests and scans, but refused any surgery or chemo.  It is so hard to know whether their diet changes worked or if they are just lucky.

As for me:  I am following the standard chemo recommended; have added a few supplements; modified my diet (but have not totally cut out any food groups yet); and increasing my exercise routine.  I have been on chemo since March, and so far my health has improved since my diagnosis the end of February. I am going to use any weapon available to fight this cancer!  Life is precious and I am not going to rely on any one method when so many options are available. 

I hope yours has not spread and can be cured with the surgery and radiation.  

Good luck,

Joan

He has done alot of research on the topics and has survived for many years.  I believe what he says about the body maintaining its ph balance internally and that the baking soda neutralizes stomach acid - which can help if you have stomach problems as he said.  

I did more research about the alkaline diets and it seems they may appear to fight cancer because people are eating alot of really healthy foods and fresh vegatables, and eliminating all the junk food, processed foods, and those we know are not good for us.  Basically the diet may improve overall health and immune system function while lowering bad cholesterol and blood sugar levels,but probably doesn't increase our blood ph enough to kill cancer cells.  Of course this information is freely available on the internet. 

The alkaline nature of the chemotherapy of course alters our blood ph because it is administered intravenously and is toxic not only to the cancer cells but also to the good cells.      

The people I know who swear by the alkaline diets to help control cancer are as follows:

3 females who were treated surgically for breast cancer (one of them also had radiation and chemo) prior to diet change, two of them have been cancer free for over 10 years, and the other for almost two years.

1 male had conventional medical treatment for bladder cancer prior to changing his diet, and has been cancer free for fifteen years.

1 has thyroid cancer and refused surgery, radiation and chemo, relying on the alternative methods only and claims that her tumors have dramatically shrunk and almost disappeared.  This is the only one who claims to have used the baking soda and maple syrup. She also uses cannabis oils.

None of them had metastasized cancer.

Best of luck to you on your treatment! I look forward to your updates!

Make sure your protein levels are good as that almost did me in after surgery in 2013. Now I do 10,000 steps a day. Live long and prosper!