Reversal of stage IV breast cancer

[Jac-genova]

Has anyone themselves or heard of anyone who has reversed their metastatic cancer? How about with bone only mets?

[Beryl71]

The nurse told me that even if there's no evidence in tests it will still be there! And given that mine lurked for 26 years before reemerging with no signs, I've decided to be realistic but celebrate how I feel! After all anyone can have an accident, catch Covid, whatever, best to stop worrying about later. If you're well, be pleased!

[Barbteeth]

I agree with Beryl...mine came back after 24 years...it’ll never go away as stage 4 is considered terminal

Harsh but true

Barb xx

[Hidden]

Hi,

With metastatic cancer it is generally considered to be irreversible. Early stages (1-3) can often be successfully treated, but some ladies on here started out with early stage cancer, only to be diagnosed with metastatic breast cancer years down the line. So in those cases I don't believe that the cancer ever really went away. It was probably still there, but it was in remission for years before it was diagnosed again later on.

I have heard about some people diagnosed with metastatic disease who appear to have reversed their disease, or at least kept it stable. Jane McLelland is one such example, and so is Kris Carr. Kris Carr was diagnosed with metastatic cancer in 2003, and although she admits that her cancer will not be cured, she has been able to improve her health and remain stable for many years. The last time she saw her oncologist for a check-up she was told to return in a few years! Then there is Judy Perkins who does appear to have been cured of metastatic breast cancer. You can Google her to find out more about her story. There's also Dr Ruth Heidrich, an athlete who has also been diagnosed metastatic breast cancer, but is doing very well.

So there is hope out there with stories of real people who have beaten the odds, and are still alive following a metastatic cancer diagnosis. I am hopeful that newer and better treatments will come out that will cure us of this disease. But in the meantime, I am taking an integrative approach and trying to attack the disease from every angle to keep myself alive, stable and improve my health for many more years to come.

Sophie

[Jac-genova in reply to Hidden]

What does your integrative approach entail?

[Hidden in reply to Jac-genova]

It varies for different people. As well as taking standard of care treatment (letrozole, zoladex, zometa) I also take supplements and off-label drugs. I also watch my diet, exercise, and try to get plenty of rest. There are other things I also want to incorporate too, but I haven't got round to it yet.

[Casual in reply to Hidden]

May I ask what off label things you have tried. I’m interested.

[Hidden in reply to Casual]

I'll send you a private message.

[Rego-park in reply to Hidden]

Please for me too

[Jac-genova in reply to Hidden]

What supplements are you taking?

[Hidden in reply to Jac-genova]

I'll private message you a list of the supplements I am taking.

[Rego-park in reply to Hidden]

Me too please

[Hidden in reply to Rego-park]

OK, I'll send you a private message too.

[bowlofcherries in reply to Hidden]

Hi SophSP

I have recently been diagnosed with MBC, am based in London UK. I am thinking about the COC approach, but would really appreciate knowing more about your integrative approach and what supplements you are taking.

[Hidden in reply to bowlofcherries]

Hi,

I’ll send you a private message.

Sophie

[bowlofcherries in reply to Hidden]

Thank you Sophie.

I am not starting chemo until second week in September. So i wanted to make a start on some things to do for myself. Very nervous about my breast cancer mets to the lungs as they are now saying it could be a seperate cancer. Got to stay strong

[Hidden in reply to bowlofcherries]

Hi,

I sent you a private message yesterday. I wish you well as you prepare to start chemotherapy. Will you need to have a biopsy to check on the status of your lungs? I’m not familiar with how doctors treat two primary cancers at once. Feel free to reach out to me anytime. I’ll send you my email address if you want to get in touch.

Sophie

[Crazycocker in reply to Hidden]

Hi I have been on this forum for a little while now and find it very helpful. I haven't really commented much and have only just found this feed. Reading it 2 years on I am very interested how everyone is? I was diagnosed in March 2020 with Stage 4 Lobular ER+ MBC, in both breasts, involving bone & peritoneal cavity. I am on Palbociclib, Letrozole, Denosumab and Zoladex and would also be very interested in the off label meds and supplements and how they have worked for people?

[KimberlyB40 in reply to Hidden]

Hi!! I'm new here and I'm not sure how long I'm allowed to post but I'd be VERY interested in a list of the off label meds and supplements you currently take as well if you don't mind.

[Klamato]

I was told that 4th stage breast cancer is not curable, but treatable! It seems in many of these cases, this cancer becomes a chronic disease. We just need to concentrate on keep this disease at bay! New info and treatment especially for metastatic breast cancer is on the horizon. We need to keep the faith! God bless us all!❤️👍

[Jac-genova in reply to Klamato]

Yes it does! God heals!!

[mariootsi]

Sophie brought up some good examples.

I have a friend in Washington state who is starting the Gerson protocol. She has spoken to 2 women who committed 2 years to this program and each have been cancer free for 5-7 years.

Very costly...you need a consultant and must juice 9 times a day...only fresh organics bought daily.

Initially blood is taken and analyzed for number of cancer cells, cancer subtypes and certain foods and vegetables that should not be eaten and or eaten.

Very intense. She has had to purchase equipment and had people sign up for 2 hour stints all day to come to her house to juice for her.

Also, she will be taking 30 supplements a day.

Her onc is not pleased she is going this route. But she doesn't care.

[Hidden in reply to mariootsi]

Hi Marianne,

That does sound very intense, but when your life is on the line there is every reason to work hard to achieve such good results! I have fallen off the juicing wagon lately, but plan to get back on it again. Even then, I only juice about 1 pint a day. I also take a lot of supplements each day, which can make me feel a bit queasy at times, but a dose of slippery elm helps with that. But on the weekend, my integrative doctor has me take a break from my supplements. The only ones I keep taking continuously are my Adcal D3, and vitamin D3+ k2 spray for my bones, berberine, and melatonin.

If I was your friend I would carry on with the protocol too, with the goal of achieving remission. I respect my oncologist and like her a lot, but she is not supportive of my integrative approach either. But at the end of the day, our lives are at stake. So if we want to do something in addition to standard of care treatment (I would never voluntarily stop the treatment my oncologist has put me on) to help prolong, and possibly even save our lives, then that is up to us. I will not leave it all up to my oncologist, as I know much more is needed to achieve the results I am after.

Sophie

[mariootsi in reply to Hidden]

I agree with you Sophie.

[Pbsoup]

I am reading an excellent new book called Cured by Jeffery Reideger, a Harvard doctor who spent 17 years researching spontaneous remission of all sorts of conditions including cancer.

What I like is he does not claim to have the secret to curing us all. On the contrary. He says many people try but do not succeed . He also says right up front that he doesn’t promote a specific diet other than its best to avoid sugars, simple carbs and eat as much nutrient dense, plant based food as possible. Everyone he studied did something different.

My sense is he is writing out of a deep curiosity about spontaneous healing, not because he is hawking one approach or another.

What is interesting is his non woo woo, research and science based discussion of the immune system and inflammation, and how that effects disease. He talks about how keeping the immune system strong includes more than diet. It’s also stress reduction, lifestyle etc.

He included case studies of people who do have miraculous recoveries, but these aren’t presented as “do what they do” it’s more his curiosity about what they do and don’t have in common. He admits that research in this area is in its infancy so there is so much we don’t know. And that it’s hard to do proper double blind studies.

Bottom line is I am reading it with interest and will discuss with my doctor and nutritionist. I am not expecting a miracle, but want to maintain quality of life as long as possible and think it is absolutely logical that caring for my body, immune system and managing stress will have a positive influence on that.

[Jac-genova in reply to Pbsoup]

Thank you for sharing! Please keep me updated!

[mariootsi in reply to Pbsoup]

Yes.

[mariootsi in reply to Pbsoup]

That is a different approach than to push a certain protocol.

[Lynn-in-California]

RARE cases, sometimes in the non-scientific or historic literature, are sometimes reported where a stage 4 cancer patient might seem to be "completed cured." Usually, this is a case where 1) the person was not accurately diagnosed to start with, or 2) the patient had been told they are NED (no evidence of disease) and they or someone else jumped to the erroneous conclusion that this means they were "cured," or 3) MAYBE there was indeed a random complete remission. (Who am I to say that it is not possible somewhere, somehow?) Honestly, though, I think that patients WANT so badly for a cure to be possible for stage 4 breast cancer that it INVITES magical thinking and sad hopes for alternative treatments and cynical and looney conspiracy theories about, for example, how evil big pharma companies have the cure but are hiding it and WANT people to have cancer and buy their meds. I am Jewish and even have a secret creepy attitude of abhorrence about intercessory prayer and how so many very sweet, well-intentioned friends feel the need to say, "I am praying for you." I smile and say, "Thank you,"---but if you read the research that has been done on intercessory prayer, it actually shows that it does NOTHING except make the person praying feel better. Furthermore, people who are TOLD that they are being prayed over, according to the research, actually do LESS WELL than people who don't know that they are being prayed for. This is possibly because the prayed over person thinks, "Wow. This must be extra bad and serious enough that it's making people think they should pray over me." So telling someone that you are praying for them, from a scientific point of view, is paradoxically not a nice thing to say. To me, it is obvious that God, however you might imagine such a thing, WANTS people to die of cancer, stavation, car crashes, etc. Bad things obviously happen equally to people who are prayed for and people who are not. The best prayer is, "Grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference." I have heard it said that the only way to beat stage 4 cancer is to figure out how to die of something else first. I am into radical acceptance and radical gratitude. (I abhor magical thinking.) Practicing radical acceptance and radical gratitude really helps me.

[PJBinMI]

Several years ago, a major cancer center in Jacksonville FL was claiming that they had "cured" quite a few stage IV cancer patients who had just a few (up to four, I think) bone mets with one of the very focused radiation treatments. I have no idea if they are still "advertising" that, but I think it's possible that a few of us with just a few spots of bone mets and an E + cancer that responds well to treatment may do well for long periods of time. I have "extensive" bone mets, but no other mets, and have done well for over 16 years and am only third line treatment. I've done standard treatment and at the suggestion of my primary care doctor, have used turmeric (aka curcumin), fish oil, tart cherry juice and glucosamine/chondroitin (sp?), to reduce inflammation. At the last two or three BC conferences I attended, several of the speakers (bc oncologists) have mentioned cancer b eing an inflammatory process. I also learned that tomatoes, bell peppers and egg plant tend to increase inflammaion, so are good to avoid. As a life long pasta lover, I have a hard time avoiding tomatoes! But I have cut back. None of my doctors have objected to those things.. The first year to 3 years, I avoided alcohol, not that I'd ever been even an average drinker but then I realized that I missed having a glass of red wine with pasta or a beer with Mexican food, so I don't avoid alcohol any more but drink less than two glasses a month.