06.25.08
Essiac Tea and Pau d’arco for Multiple Myeloma
While overall things have been going pretty well in my family, for several years now the health of my parents have been up and down. It’s become a joke around here that visiting the hospitals and doctor’s offices have become their recreational past time. In between those, they’ll try to get away on a trip. Well recently they had to cancel a UK cruise due to my mom’s health condition. They would have left on the 30th of this month, but had to cancel last week. I think my parents are both bummed about that, BUT amongst the down side, there was some good news! And that involved my dad. This is what has prompted me to blog today.
My dad was diagnosed with multiple myeloma about 6 years ago. It was discovered around the summer of 2002 when he suddenly experienced some excruciating back pain. At ER we found that he had fractured a vertebra, but since he had done nothing to warrant a fracture, the docs got suspicious and ran more tests. It turned out that he had multiple myeloma, which is a blood plasma cancer. Amongst other things, bone destruction is common, and that is what caused the fracture. My dad was in a lot of pain, and he chose the mildest treatment option that he was offered for his condition. It basically involved pulsed Decadron, and a few other meds like bisphosphonate to help the bones and another med to help protect his tummy from the steroids. He was supposed to continue on the course for 6 months, but by 5 months had to stop because the side effects of the meds were taking too big a toll on his body and mind. He was losing short term memory, passing out at each pulse which required an ER visit to hydrate him each time, he could barely feed himself, and even getting into the passenger side of the car was confusing to him. Well, to make a long story short, our family pow wow concluded that he had to stop the meds. Fortunately, during his pulsed Decadron treatment his IgGs came down nicely to “almost” normal levels–about 1,900. Normal should be below 1,500. Anyway, even though his doc was concerned that he was stopping treatment prematurely, she respected his decision. The concern at this point is that multiple myeloma is commonly quite virulent, returning quickly after treatment. Being that my dad still had abnormal IgG readings, it was expected that his MM would rebound in no time. And so that was the possible expectancy after making the decision to stop the treatments. During this time I had learned from other MMers who were interested in natural methods to manage their MM that some were experiencing positive results with Essiac Tea. They admitted that it did not cure their MM, but it did appear to control it. So I asked my dad if he was willing to try it (this also in light of the fact that I know my dad could never adhere to a strict diet like I had done). He was willing and so we started on the Essiac. To our delight, my dad’s IgG remained stable for more than a year (I’m too lazy to dig for the exact length of time, but it was a good stretch). His doc was amazed that his IgG didn’t expand like crazy. But with the stability, my dad got a bit lax with his Essiac and started to “forget” to take it. Sure enough, the myeloma started to rear it’s ugly head and his IgGs started to rise again. He quickly got back on the Essiac, but still each month his IgGs continued to rise about 100 points each month. This was very disturbing to us, but his doc assured us that his rise was slow in comparison to others. We were told that commonly once the IgGs are out of control, they rise in the thousands each month. So she was comfortable to wait and watch.
My dad continued on with the Essiac, but it seemed that he had lost some momentum with it. Although relatively slow, his IgG continued to rise even while back on the Essiac. By the beginning of this year 2008 he was already well into the 5000s. At diagnoses when he broke a vertebra he was over 8000. So imagine how anxious we are getting. I just don’t ever want to see my dad in pain like that again. It was terrible. Being that I know my parents like to travel and eat out a lot and go to parties, I hesitate to play the “food police” with them. I do try to keep them aware of better food choices when I can, but I don’t hound them. But in light of his increasing myeloma, I asked if he were willing to try anything else. I had read about Pau ‘d arco tea and thought it would be good to try. He was hesitant, but even so when Andrew and I went to the Philippines with them last January, I took some Pau d’arco with us. I left it there for them when Andrew and I left. My parents stayed in the Philippines for another 3 months after we left. But during that time, my parents decided to try the Pau d’arco that I left. . . When they returned to the states, my dad went to his hematology appt. We were all surprised to find that this time his IgG didn’t go up, but rather went down about 80 points! That means that his IgG was stable and didn’t go up 100 points each month for 3 months! Not only that, but it had even “reduced” 80 points! The next month’s appt showed another reduction of about 80 pts! Then my dad ran out of the Pau d’arco and asked me for more. The normal herb shop I pick up at was out, so I had to wait a bit. Soon my dad’s IgG was moving back up again, I think about 200 points. You can imagine the emotional roller coaster. I ordered some Pau d’arco over the net and my dad started back up on it. Last week, we got the incredible news that his IgG went down “400″ points! This would mean that his IgG has remained fairly stable all this year 2008. I am now extremely “cautiously” hopeful. My dad and I think it may be the “combination” of the Essiac Tea and the Pau d’arco tea that may be helping to reduce his IgGs.
So while my mom’s health problem is a bit disconcerting for the moment, my dad’s is showing some promise. My mom is scheduled for surgery on the 17th of July, but in the meantime she feels okay, she tells me. But mostly the reason why I’ve blogged about this is for anyone out there interested in using teas for their multiple myeloma. My dad seems to be benefiting from the “combination” of Essiac Tea and Pau d’arco. If anyone else finds benefit with this combination, I’d love to hear about it!
Marlakins 
patti said,
June 25, 2008 at 10:04 pm
Wow! I have a friend whose mom has just a few months left because of MM. I WISH she were in better health and would try this stuff! But she’s lost her mind too so there’s pretty much no hope for her. But I find this amazing!
Not much time to post but wanted to respond to this. Glad you’re dad is on the upswing! Will pray your mom’s surgery goes well.
patti
Administrator said,
June 26, 2008 at 9:48 am
Thanks, Patti! I appreciate the prayers and well wishes. My mom’s case is still behaving like a mystery, but about a week after Brian and I got back she was hosptialized again. This time they saw something that looked suspicious on her small intestine. So the surgery is for exploratory purposes and if they do find a mass, they plan to excise it and biopsy it. The surgeon said that was the only way to check what the x-ray was showing. It could be a mass or it could be just the intestine folded up on itself that created the suspicious image. Either way, the little bit I’ve read on abdominal surgery isn’t too comforting. May sound simple when they describe it, but I’m not thrilled with the idea that it’s pretty much guaranteed that she’ll experience ilieus after surgery and according to the doc should take her about 3 weeks to recoup. I have a couple more questions for the surgeon at the pre-surgery appt, but certainly questions won’t change anything, just my comfort level for understanding and anticipating.
Sorry to hear about you friend’s mom. Has she been on a lot of treatment? I just wonder why she lost her mind. I know that some of the treatments are actually the cause for losing memory and coherence. That’s what was happening to my dad. But once the meds were stopped, he recovered his mental faculties. I also know that blood clots can be a problem with MMers. During my dad’s treatment they said he developed a clot in his head where it damaged his cranial nerve III. This caused excruciating headache and the loss of control of one of his eyes, including the eyelid. Then they wanted to give him blood thinners, but we opted for cod liver oil. It took about 3 months for him to regain control of his eye again. There was no guarantee that he would regain control of it. Thank God he did. Until then, he walked around with one eye shut (not to mention his face all swollen from all the steroids, but his legs weak because of it, too). I tell you, it’s very upsetting to see your parent like that!
Anyway, good luck to your friend.
Marla
Administrator said,
July 19, 2008 at 8:29 am
Just an update with my dad’s MM. Last week he had another doc visit and his blood draw showed that his IgG went down another “250 pts!” This is very encouraging! But again, I remain cautiously hopeful. He still has a long way to go, he’s no spring chicken, and as of this date, I’ve never heard of anyone being cured of MM. It appears that good management of MM is acceptable and a reasonable goal, but I still remain cautiously optimistic that he will be able to remain pain-free and enjoy life a bit more.
An update on my mom is that she had her surgery last Thursday. I’ve been with my parents since early Wed AM and got back home last night. The surgeon found a growth in her small intestine the size of a small tangerine. He re-sectioned her small intestine, and the growth has been sent to the lab for examination and identification. We should find the results sometime this week. They say it’s rare to have trouble with the small intestine, hmmm. Strange how my mom and I would develop rare conditions. Course maybe AA isn’t so rare anymore? Anyway, she’s still recovering in the hospital today. If we’re lucky, she might get discharged today, but we’ll see. If not, I’m likely to go back and spend the night with her tonight at the hospital. The surgery itself went well, and her first night after surgery was also pretty good. She developed a very mild temp, but that resolved very quickly w/o intervention. When my sister came to do the changing of the guards, my mom was showing signs that she is regaining strength and healing, but now the pain of surgery is kicking in. Hopefully today will be better.
And that’s all for now. . .
Marlakins
patti said,
August 26, 2008 at 9:15 pm
Marla,
I’m wondering, how is your dad doing with the teas? I just sent this blog page to someone at church. Wondering if there’s been any update on your dad’s counts?
patti
Administrator said,
August 26, 2008 at 10:51 pm
Hi Patti:
Ah, thanks for reminding me to update this thread.
Well, I wish I had better news as an update, but still it’s not too horrible considering the circumstances. Basically, this latest check up last week showed my dad’s IgG went up 500 pts. Grrr. Not sure what happened there, but one thing I do know is that he started a new med recently for his essential tremor. He’s actually had the essential tremor in his right hand for as long as I can remember, but now that he’s older (76) it’s more pronounced, and since he’s older has to get his driving checked more often, the DMV noticed his tremor. So off to the doc he went to get a check and note that he doesn’t have Parkinson’s (that’s what the DMV thought he had when they saw his tremor), so that he could keep his driver’s license. Well, so now they put him on a med for the essential tremor. I’m not sure if it’s affecting his MM or not or what. But looking at the whole picture, even if his IgG went up 500 pts, he’s still lower than he was Dec 2007. So technically, he’s managed to maintain for all of this year. I just hope that his next check doesn’t show another jump in IgG like that.
I’m gonna ask him about that drug again and see if I can get an exact date of when he started taking it. But so far, his hemo is still on the wait and watch mode.
Marla