Supplements for the (Finally!) Surrendered

I am sure a lot of the guys have a lot to say on this subject.

Let me start with the worst threats to your immune system... as your immune system is your best defense against metastasized cells that are in foreign locations, and the immune system recognizes them as such, and can take action against a foreign body, in this case a cancerous cell that has traveled away from its origin where it is harder to recognize, and is now in foreign tissue where it is easier to recognize... for example, a cancerous prostate cell leaves prostate tissue where it is not easily recognized, and travels by bloodstream to other tissue, where it lives among other different cells, like another organ. The immune system then recognizes it as a foreign invader into that tissue and takes action against it.

Once the body recognizes the foreign proteins, it produces phagocytes that will engulf the foreign cell... but the phagocyte requires Vitamin C in larger doses than normally supplied in the blood stream... some 50 times more, in order to engulf the foreign invader cell.

The problem arises when blood sugar rises because of excessive carb and sugar consumption, if the body has not produced sufficient insulin to handle ever increasing amounts of simple carbs and sugars, so that the sugar levels are increasing in the blood stream. The body needs some carbs and sugars to burn for energy, any excess is handled by insulin... unless insulin production is too low, or sugar levels are far too high.

The other side to this drama, the phagocytes mistake the sugars in the blood stream and use them instead of the Vitamin C and other necessary components it requires... and the sugars in the bloodstream actually reduce its action against invaders and even debilitates the action of the phagocytes.

So the more simple carbohydrates and sugars are consumed, the more debilitated the phagocytes are, and the less effective your immune system becomes. And your immune system is the defense that can recognize the difference between a cancerous  cell and a healthy cell.

Simple carbs and sugars are in most pasta, bread, cakes, muffins, fruit juice, processed foods, etc. Yes, most of our food addictions are carbs and sugars. Simple carbs should be replaced with complex carbs that won't flood the bloodstream with sugars, such as  whole grains, fresh vegetables, whole fruits... and diets should include more Omega 3 fatty acids and protein rich foods, especially fish and nuts.

Ok, this is a start to boosting your immune system... reduce simple carbs and sugars. Increase complex carbs, Omega 3s, and proteins.

There are other ways to cripple your immune system... stress being a huge one

More to come...

This is my opinion, the way I understand how the immune system works... you should not take this as medical advice.

While he is receiving radiation he should not be taking any powerful antioxidants... megadoses of vitamin E, selenium, betacarotene, alpha lipoic acid, resveratol, you name it.  Antioxidants counteract the effect of radiation.  Antioxidants neutralize free radicals, which normally is a good thing.  But it is the free radicals that cause the cancer cells to die.

Cancer cells are our own body cells that have gone crazy. Normal cells grow at a certain rate then eventually die off, to be replaced by new normal cells.  Cancer cells grow rapidly and have forgotten how to die.  However they are unable to repair themselves if damaged.  Radiation damages all cells, but normal healthy cells can repair themselves overnight between treatments.  But the cancer cells are fatally damaged and eventually die after radiation, but it takes a long time time... months.

What lighterwood said above is true, and we were told so by an oncologist.  All cells use sugar, but cancer cells consume more of it than normal cells... fortunately, that's how we have the PET scan to locate fast growing tumors. Attempting to starve the cancer cells will starve the healthy cells first, making the patient weaker and less able to fight the cancer.

Of course, if your spouse is diabetic he would not be consuming a lot of sugar anyway.  But the diet cancer myths are promoted by opportunists to sell books and harmful diets.  Believeing that our cancers were caused by what we eat and that changing what we eat can cure cancer is nothing more than desparate peoples' desire to feel that they can control this disease.  It is normal to feel helpless when you have cancer and want to blame it on something.  That doesn't help anything.  Just look at the wealthy people who spent fortunes on alternative cures, yet ended up dying anyway. It is futility.

Here is an interesting factoid about High Fructose Corn Syrup:

This is corn syrup that has added chemical processes. It contains more calories than raw sugar or even regular sugar. It's an ingredient to avoid because it causes more of a spike in blood sugar levels. It is used to avoid the import taxes of regular sugar.

Avoid import taxes? well now we know!

I can't give you much in the way of suggestion. 

I have been dealing with immune response issues since I was 50, and I have a cabinet full of naturopathic supplements... Cloves, Black Walnut extract, Oregano Oil, Echinacea, Garlic tablets, Pomegranate capsules, Coloidal Silver, Uva Ursi, Marshmallow, etc etc etc.

Did anything help? Not really. Some of it has some value in particular instances. 

But as far as immune system support, your best supplements are a complete Vitamin and Mineral supplement. And find a reliable brand that uses mostly naturally occurring minerals rather than lab synthesized.

As far as diabetes goes, I will tell you what my mother's doctor told me a long time ago when she was blinded by macular degeneration... if she had been taking Chromium as a mineral supplement her whole life, she would not have suffered the diabetes.

Diabetes runs in my family, but I took his advice to heart and I have always had normal blood sugar levels. But this is anecdotal, and I cannot explain the mechanism behind it, so take it with a grain of salt.

And if anyone thinks my posts get quite long... just don't read them.

Problem solved.

And as always, this is just my experience... not medical advice. There may be supplements that can boost your husband's immune system besides vitamins and minerals. I have not found any myself.

 Good luck to you both.

One more caveat if I may...

If you buy supplements off of Amazon and you look at the ratings and reviews, watch for any reviews that will say near the end "This is my honest and unbiased review for which I received a free product or discount."

 That means they are part of a "shoppers" group. Sellers will submit their products to these groups to get quick 5 star ratings and improve their trending. 

I am surprised Amazon allows it, and it cheapens the review process. Also, I am now reluctant to buy any product with that tagline in their reviews... and what happens when they quit adding that tagline once we catch on?

Anymore, I check the reviewers history to see if they look like regular people or professional shopper/reviewers before buying supplements off Amazon.

I agree certainly that sugar does not "cause" cancer, nor "feeds" mutated cancer cells. But I have to disagree with everyone about the general effect of excessive sugar in the bloodstream.

When we talk about sugar in the diet versus sugar as glucose that the body uses, a distinction has to be made between the use of the term.

Sugar in the diet is the glucose, sucrose, fructose, and any "ose" that will be converted to glucose and used in the body. Insulin is produced that converts it to a useable form.

If not enough insulin is produced, or if too much sugar is consumed, sugar will enter the blood stream and affect organ function and your immune system.

By affecting those things, it will also hamper your own body's ability to respond to cancerous cells.

What kind of foods will cause that in most cases? Any simple carb and added refined sugar...

Cake, pastries, candies, sugary deserts, soda, alcoholic drinks, even some breads and pasta, or any food that combines processed simple carbs with refined sugar... 

Like the worst of all... doughnuts.

More anecdote... my brother was also diabetic, and he would have to test his blood sugar before every meal and was having problems with sores on his feet that would not heal. One day we unexpectedly found him dead, his body frozen in a position that looked like he was trying to reach the phone. His doctor suggested it was a diabetes related heart attack. We asked around and discovered a disturbing note about my brother... His boss said that every day Tony would start by eating doughnuts thay were brought into the office, and not just one, several. Then we discovered a punch card to the Dunkin Doughnuts near his apartment in his wallet.

You don't have to be Sherlock Holmes to figure that out.

As we get older, our pancreas and other organs don't function at peak efficiency anymore, and then add genetic tendencies, and we have to face this sad fact... you wont be able to process simple carbs and sugars like you did when you were a teenager. Especially when you put the two together as many of our processed foods have done to make everything taste irresistable and addictive.

No, you don't have to become a monk in a cloistered monastery eating twigs and bark... but yes, it does mean you should avoid foods that have that combination of simple carbs, like processed  bleached wheat, and refined added sugar... and not just occasionally cheat by having a doughnut here and there either... when that doughnut hits your system, it will release a torrent of carbs and sugars... again think of adding a log here and there to your fireplace versus dumping a bucket of gasoline on it.

Again, just my opinion, but I'm pretty sure I'm backed by medical research on this...

Unless Krispy Kreme has financed new research that says different...