I start 38 days of salvage radiation tomorrow. It was suggested to me by one of our esteemed members, whom I have great respect for his knowledge, that I take BIRM during my radiation treatments to help with side effects. BIRM is an anti-oxidant and everything I have read is to not take anti-oxidant supplements during radiation such as Vit E, C, selenium, etc. Although I just read an article that said it might not be a bad thing.
Anyone out there that has taken BIRM during radiation and or has an opinion? I know you guys have lots of opinions!
Any thoughts would be appreciated!
Written by
keepinon
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Do not take any antioxidants during radiation. I don't know who told you that and why you respect such an outlandish opinion, but it is the opposite of what you are trying to achieve. Make sure you tell your RO about all self-medication.
That is kind of what I was thinking. It is why I made this post. Although I respect this individual's knowledge on a lot of subjects, I was having doubts on this one. I will follow your advice because I respect your vast knowledge even more. Thank you!
I encourage you to talk openly with your radiation oncologist.
Something is not right here, but we do not have enough facts to see clearly where the truth ends and the BS starts. But my 4 years in the Cancer Money Machine has taught me that much of the stuff in the "Manual" is either seriously outdated or plain suspect. This talk about "Anti-Oxidants" is on the BS side. You need to take Vit C for your recovery, but leave out the E as the artificial version has joined the list of cancer-causing agents.
Onco's who believe in combinations of treatments so fractional doses can be given also radically cut down radiation doses and give IV Sodium Ascorbate to both increase the effect of the radiation and decrease the side effects and healing time.
The problem I have with radiation is the usual reason for doing it - "We cut out most of it, now we are going to try and kill any that got away. Sorry about the permanent side effects and collateral damage!" This assumes that the cancer "behaves", but in truth the cancer has already spread throughout the body (the manual says this is Stage IV but they are too small to be seen) and you need to cut out the whole body followed by full body radiation if you follow this flawed "Cut and Burn" logic!
For most Pca victims, the initial ADT treatment will soon drop the PSA down to low levels for quite some time. The body then has time to deal with the very much slowed cancer growth in the prostate and surrounding areas. The cancer in the soft tissues (if they have not been cut out) will be turned into scar tissue and give no further problems. Usually normal bladder functions will return and no nappies will be needed. The cancer already in the bones then becomes the problem area, as the body has a much more difficult job getting at the cancer hiding in the bone matrix.
Good luck on your journey - you have friends. But do ask some questions and get a better answer than "It's in the Manual. We make more money doing things this way!"
I've posted this before so to those people who have already seen this please forgive me.
I had 8 weeks of salvage radiation to "the bed". 5 days a week (not weekends) for 8 weeks minus 1 day for a total of 39 sessions. The actual radiation was like getting an x-ray by my dentist. I never had any side effects during the whole 39 sessions. However 2 years later my left urinary tract was "fried" as per my urologist (or from passing prior kidney stones he was not sure). So I had to have a urinary stent placed up my urinary tract (through my willy which is really nothing - sounds terrible but it's nothing) to aid in passing my urine (which was never a problem anyway). So I had stents in and out every three months for many years and now I'm stent free, However today 15% of urine from left kidney and 85% from right kidney, but not a problem. So make sure you get a good radiologist. Also I don't know if this would apply to you but guys here recommend "A PADDLE" to be inserted for protection of parts of your body. Make sure you ask your R.O. about the paddle and make sure you ask here on this forum before getting fried.
Hey j-o-h-n . I went through the same RT schedule . Also the stints . Taking the final stint out was such a blessing . You’re like a Timex .. Keep on tickin my man . Take care ...
Thank God Johnny ! I saw one 80 year old lady during my year visiting the cath lab that just couldn’t take it anymore and was done with it all and saying good bye to the staff .. It was very sad . It’s a grueling business with tubes and foley s . I’m grateful to be over that hill . You’re a Rolex ... u da man ..
I actually never had an issue when my doctor put one in or took one out. The worst part was placing my feet in those stirrups like I was going to have a Papp smear test..... Humiliating..
Did you know that Rolex is owned by Swatch.... and that quartz watches run more accurately than windup ones?... (BTW Swatch makes all the expensive watches).
Anyway, time to go to sleep and dream of money LOL...
I dreamt of money last night . But as m6 eyes opened the money faded away into the wind . Nice to have dreams ... we both have love at home . More important than cash ..
You're right love is more important than money... but I sure love money.... I dreamt that I hit the lotto and was giving out $50K to my relatives and friends (including you)... With the only caveat that they never ask me for money in the future. One and they're done....
I had salvation IMRT using Calypso method in 2016 to PG and to the 2 first lymph node mets seen on PsMa scans. I was the first in Oz to have this 31Grey in addition to the initial standard 70Grey of EBRT in 2010. Before beginning the IMRT, I was started on Cosadex added to my ADT that had just failed. I was told by a nurse at radiation ward not to have antioxidants life green tea. No doctors advised me to alter my diet to bad quality food with no antioxidants.
My Psa went from 6 down to nadir at 0.4 between July and December, then slowly rose again and next PsMa scan showed a lot more mets and very little effect at reducing Pca at PG. The total RT to PG was 101Grey, and this is often well below what's needed to kill the Pca at PG, more like 150Grey for some men which may have real bad side effects and may only be delivered safely by brachytherapy, which may cause incontinence much sooner. I have also had Zytiga, then chemo, both failed, then before Lu177 Psa was 25, its now 0.4, so Pca is under control for awhile now. But last PsMa scan showed very low PsMa avidity at PG, and maybe most of my Pca is slowly dying as the Psa goes down, not up.
I doubt anti oxidants in food have much affect on cancer at all. I don't know what trials would back the idea than low antioxidants give a significant boost to EBRT or IMRT. There may be an idea that if you make yourself fairly weak and unhealthy with garbage food, then cancer treatment makes it harder for cancer to grow. But many cancer patients will change diet to mainly vegetable, they will change whole lifestyle to be fitter, stronger, thus fight cancer better. I just don't know if this is true.
I've tried to stay fit and healthy as possible since 2006, and cycled 140,000 km.
If I had remained 20Kg overweight after 2006, sat around doing SFA, eating badly, would I have aided or hindered my Pca? I just don't know.
I hadn't heard the controversy over antioxidants. I'm kind of sporadic about supplements - my plan is to not take anything not prescribed for the duration. Not because I have any biochemistry insight, I just think I should keep everything as base line as possible during this treatment period. Just seems to be good medicine.
I bought some BIRM a couple of months ago. I took a dropper-full daily for about a week. I have to admit, I stopped taking it because it tastes so foul. There is no chance of anyone ever overdosing on this stuff! The gag reflex would save your life! Since it's so unregulated and uninvestigated, I wondered if mine had gone bad. If not, how do you know when it has?!
So TA has given me an excuse to dump it. I'll write off the investment as a learning experience.
Good luck with your radiation. In my case, I'm placing a lot of hopes that mine will be effective.
Thanks GranPaSmurf. I recently became a grandpa myself. She calls me poppa. I also have BIRM sitting on my shelf, but have not had the courage to try it. I have heard it tastes terrible, so my guess your stuff has not gone bad and it is what it is. Supposed to refrigerate after opening.
My RO said absolutely no anti-oxidant supplements, so.... I may start taking after radiation as it is supposed to be a great immune booster. I will see if I can gag it down.
I am off for my 2nd treatment. We should compare side effects as we go. (few I hope)!
Good luck to you both. I’m in week 4 of SRT, so far so good! Hardest thing is making sure bladder is full, and bowl is as empty as possible. After a week I had my routine down for the bladder. My RO said don’t sweat it too much, do the best you can. Individual Radiation dosage relatively low so won’t damage much if you don’t get it right every once in awhile. Hope he’s right! Hope all goes well for you.
Hey guy . I fasted two 500 calorie days per week of 8 wks RT . There is a video on this called “ Fast and live “ .The theory is by weakening your system that the pc cells will be weakened and killed easier by RT or chemo . I went from 230 to 165 at my lowest point . I’m now 195 ..But afterwards I’ve had no visible signs of pc .Thats Not to say I’m not weakened and challenged in all of the side effects of rt and adt . I was told by my Ro and Mo no anti oxidants . I was doing two 50 grams iv’s per week of vitamin c along with a boat load of nutrients prescribed by a naturalpathic oncologist .. I still follow his lead over any western Dr . Now all of my doctors say I’m a miracle and tell me to keep doing whatever it is I’m doing . I believe it’s a blanket western medicine philosophy not to believe in nutrients during their poisoning of our bodies . I say do all of the natural stuff that you can to help your chemistry recover from treatments . Good luck in RT . I pray it does what you need it to do . 🙏
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