Metformin, EC, Solid Tumor Panels---oh my!

I haven't posted for awhile but just read your post yesterday.  I just celebrated my seven year anniversay last month,
still cancer free after all these years. No recurrence after my original metastases back in Jan 2015.

There are over 6000 articles on metformin posted at pubmed.gov, on all types of cancers.  It is important to understand that the key to
metformin working is that it lowers the key fuels that are well known to cause cancer (glucose, insulin, IGF-1, lowers estrogen) and
targets many of the key pathways and processes involved in cancer formation (angiognesis, cancer stem cells, autophagy, the PIK pathway, which
controls our metabolism) and many other things. And there are no successful cancer drugs for these processes.  Metformin also lowers
thyroid hormones. Remember, the thyroid controls our metabolism. I have a large thyroid nodule I've been monitoring for seven years that
has never turned cancerous.

Since your A1C is 5.9, I would suggest you test your blood for insulin and IGF--1 (insulin growth factor hormone), which is a key driver of
endometrial cancer. My A1C was over 6.0 when I was first diagnosed with cancer (pre-diabetic), but my glucose was never too high. It was
my insulin and IGF-1 that were too high. And high IGF-1 and loss of PTEN can activate the PIK/akt/mTor  (pick) pathway which leads to
uncontrolled cell growth.  And you have a mutation on the PIK pathway (PIK3CA) and a PTEN mutation.  My mutation was PIK3R1- a sister of your mutation
and loss of PTEN. These can both be caused by high levels of IGF-1 hormone.  It is amazing how the cancer industry does not address the
various types of hormones that can drive cancer- IGF-1 is one of the key ones. Probably because they can only address it with a non-cancer
drug. If your IGF-1 is high, you have to get it in a safe range. Mine dropped in half on metformin. 

The key to preventing cancer is to address the causes of your cancer- it's not a mutation itself that causes cancer, it's some type of toxic
environment in which your cells have to mutate in order to survive. That's how the mutations occur. The problem is oncologists don't
try to diagnose why you develped cancer and if you don't stop the source of the growth, you willl probably have a recurrence. I had all
my metastases form very quickly after surgery, when my body was very toxic (though I did not know it at the time).

Also, to avoid the gastro/diarrhea issues with metformin, it is important you get metformin ER (extended release). I was fortunate never
to have any of these issues and still remain on metformin.

If you have read my posts, you also know that I take two low dose aspirins/day- aspirin lowers your risk of cancer by 25%- best known 
anti-inflammatory, which is a key driver of the cancer environment. Also a key driver of Covid-19.  You should regularly be testing
your ESR SED rate (total body inflammation) and CRP (c-reactive protein) to measure you inflammation levels.

Just remember, metformin wasn't the only thing that I used. Cancer is a systemic issue so no one drug can cure cancer. But you can
heal cancer. I had another toxin in my body called iron- (ferritin)- ferritin is another major driver of cancer yet the oncologists don't
even know this or measure it. People who get multiple blood infusions usually have very high levels of ferritin and often don't make it.
Too much iron is very damaging to the body.

I'd be happy to answer any additional questions that you have.

Takingcontrol58

We have to remember that not all diabetics get cancer, and not all healthy eaters avoid cancer.  A human body has 37 trillion cells.  They copy themselves and sometimes they make a mistake.  Our immune system kills those cells.  But sometimes the mutation fools the immune system.  Eating healthy is wonderful, but I always remember those who did everything right, and they still got cancer.  

Lately, it feels like when someone wants to discuss what they can or are doing to improve their health following frontline treatment they get shut down by someone who doesn’t get their need to vent or learn more about this aspect of what happened to them. It feels like there is this divide between those who’ve had the common form of uterine cancer (hormone sensitive) vs those who’ve had the rarer types (non-hormone driven). They are two very different animals and perhaps it’s a lack of understanding of how our coping needs perhaps differ from each other that’s driving these misunderstandings.

We get enough generalizations and blame the patient from some of our doctors. Generalizations and/or medical advice from someone with no MD should be taken with a BLOCK of salt, especially with our vulnerable population. We all walk a fine line recounting our own experiences, the good, the bad, the ugly, in order to provide an extra resource for those seeking support. Our ACS terms and conditions says that directly advising others on their medical care violates their terms of service. Several posts lately certainly either cross that line or come very close to it, especially when some posts make questionable assertions and reports them as facts, or when we have people coming here to push $2500 magic bubble machines. As many of us have said before, cancer doesn't discriminate, young, old, fat, skinny, good diet, poor diet, fit or couch potato. We all try to mitigate our risks, if possible. I still laugh at Eldri's comment about her eating mint chocolate chip ice cream!

Denise

Thank you for this discussion! I am one of those people who feel empowered with the knowledge of lifestyle changes to reduce the odds of recurrence. Here is to hoping that we will have a chance to discuss these things openly, share strategies and maybe run our own clinical studies Wouldn't that be nice. 

Reminds me of the conversation we had earlier. For many of us having some sort of control over our situation is as important as the medical treatment itself. So I totally get Deb's desire to tweak her lifestyle. I have read a number of books, I.e., Chris Beat Cancer, and they are all about diet and supplements. Because I am still in treatment my doctors discourage any kinds of supplements but I never took more than multi-vitamins anyway. I have not returned to the all plant and veggie diet I embarked on this summer before my unfortunate experience with a small bowel obstruction--I basically starved for 9 days and lost 8 lbs--from 120 to 112. My oncogists first reaction was to fatten me back up. Not sure why exactly since I wasn't yet in any danger of sudden, unexplained weight loss. But my scan 2 weeks after getting out of the hospital was the first one that had any positive response to the dostarlimab. Since then the changes have continued to be mixed but growth rate of large tumors in lungs has slowed dramatically to a few mm every few months. But they are still growing and one in my upper chest--actually on the chest wall in the pleural space is 5cmx3cmx5cm--in a space that's only .5mm wide. So I'm getting persistent pain that we will try to mitigate with SBRT if my insurance company and the treatment center ever get their act together on the referral process!

this past week I "celebrated" a full year battling this thing and if I can find something that helps me take control of tumor growth I will. I'm a great fan of our medical capabilities in this country but it all revolves around medicine and expert opinions. The experiences of regular people are also important. I repeated my starvation diet story of the past summer because I just read a short report on the possible efficacy of monthly 4-5 day fasts that showed fascinating results in tumor growth. I will post the link when I find it again. Deb, I too have dabbled in intermittent fasting but working out in the morning, when I still have energy makes me break the routine too much. So I might have a go at the 4-day fast every month, because at this point, what have I got to lose?

I love that we can have these discussions! And Deb 2 I wish I had your PD-L1 mutation. It's a key indicator, should you ever need it, that your cancer will respond to the immune checkpoint inhibitors like Keytruda and dostarlimab. And my cancer isn't hormone driven--my ER and PR were both 3! I am adding my name to a database being built by a former USAF member who worked in the same Titan II ICBM system I did in the 80s. The levels of toxic chemicals we were "allowed" to be exposed to were 10-100 times more than OSHA permits today. I will post that as well if anyone is interested. Since our cancers are mostly caused by some environmental factor it's an intriguing argument.

we are driving to TX from UT right now--a short 23 hours!--which likely explains the length of my post. It's the start of the holidays and I hope all of you have wonderful plans! Hugs to all!

Deb 1