Has anyone heard of essiac? It’s supposed to be an immune enhanser. Has anyone used it and has it worked?

[Casper3]

Essiac

[Tall_Allen]

" There have been no published clinical trials in conventional medical journals showing that either Essiac tea or Flor Essence helps in the treatment of cancer ... most laboratory studies of Essiac have found it didn’t work against cancer cells, and one reported that Flor Essence increased the growth of breast cancer cells. Available scientific evidence does not support its use for the treatment of cancer in humans. ... Serious side effects are uncommon. Essiac may cause headache, nausea, diarrhea or constipation, vomiting, low blood sugar, liver damage, and kidney damage. Allergic rashes are possible. Rarely, serious allergic reactions have been reported."

Russell J, Rovere A, eds. (2009). "Essiac Tea". American Cancer Society Complete Guide to Complementary and Alternative Cancer Therapies (2nd ed.). American Cancer Society. pp. 342–345. ISBN 9780944235713.

[Jbooml in reply to Tall_Allen]

Friend of ours gave me some in hopes it might help....this stuffs pure snake oil invented by a northern Canadian healthcare worker named Caisse which was typically reworked backwardly to Essiac. Don’t waste your time money or hopes on this witches brew....it can kill you.

[AlanMeyer]

Here is the non-technical patient version of National Cancer Institute's (NCI) cancer treatment web page on Essiac and Flor Essence: cancer.gov/about-cancer/tre.... There is also a technical version linked from it if you want technical details, that has lots of citations to published articles.

NCI is scrupulously fair and even handed in their treatment of "alternative" medicine but they essentially say the same thing as what the American Cancer Society said in the passage quoted by Tall_Allen.

Essiac is one of the perennial quack cures that get picked up and promoted by hundreds of people on the Internet. Some of those people are well intentioned but hopelessly ignorant of cancer biology and have no idea how any of the chemicals in the tea (or any chemicals in general) affect the body. Some are conspiracy theorists like Ty Bollinger, who are committed to believing that all doctors, scientists, and drug companies are hopelessly corrupt and everyone who says they are corrupt is pure and trustworthy. Some are just crooks trying to make a buck from people's fear and pain.

I don't recommend Essiac tea.

Alan

[Hidden]

Just eat a proper balanced diet with zero sugar (wheat) and zero carcinogens and that will work a whole lot better than placing faith in expensive "snake oil" products - of which the Internet abounds. Rather use the money to buy good quality organic foods. There are a few things that should be in that balanced diet, as they seem to help a bit: turmeric, ginger, garlic, broccoli, kale, avocado, Vit D, nuts, berries, fresh fruit (not the juice off the shelf - that is poison). The more raw veggies and salads the better - raw carrots and beet seem to be a good smoothie base (and many a person has claimed living off smoothies has cured their cancer).

[Magnus1964]

I drank essiac tea for years. Did it do any good? Not sure, but back then it was a way of talking back control of my life. I drank essiac tea till I felt that I was not doing any good and moved on other supplements. 27 years later and I am still here.

[RonnyBaby]

It was recommended to me to take Essiac when I got my Dx to 'boost' my fighting back.

It didn't take long to do some research on the 'bigger picture' that due diligence would support.

To summarize, I wouldn't take this product for anything that ails me. There's some possible side effects and lack of evidence to offer proof that this is useful for PCa.

I tend to agree with the others. Find something else to support your efforts.

IF you rally want to boost your immune system, you might consider some mushroom extracts like reichi or chaga. and/or others. From what I've seen, the mushrooms really work.

I've been supplementing with mushroom extracts for months now and my immune system is back to 'normal' after crashing from ADT and Radiation treatments

In fact, all of my blood work is within the normal ranges. All of my supplementation is based on natural herbals and/or highly bio-available substances (such as the best quality curcumin

or ashwaganda, vitamin(s) C D3 K etc ....

I'm about 12 months post treatment and doing well (T3B, G9, but 'undetectable' and have been for about 1 year). I'm watching and waiting, 'in remission'.

My basic advise about supplements - check drug interactions and find PROOF that the supplementation has some medical facts to at least give it a chance to see if it helps. We all have a budget to eyeball and we can't waste our $$$$ on snake oil.

Always keep up with monitoring at least every 3 months, even if you have to pay for it as an extra.

Test PSA, testosterone and complete blood panels to see how your body is responding.

Call it Biofeedback ....

[Hidden]

I as given a few boxes of this by a friend that works for the company . I used it early on and believe in it . It high quality cleansing . Go essiac!

[j-o-h-n]

To monsieur Friendly,

essiac rhymes with easy-quack....

Good Luck, Good Health and Good Humor.

j-o-h-n Thursday 09/26/2019 6:26 PM DST