Supplements – Buyer beware!

 General Health, My MCL  2 Responses »
Jan 212012
 

After a recent email, and several exchanges on a few of the message boards I frequent, I felt is was imperative of me to reiterate my stance on the use of vitamins, supplements and herbal remedies.

As long time readers of my blog may already know, I am against the taking of all vitamins, supplements and herbal remedies. But I wasn’t always that way. Prior to my diagnosis I truly believed the taking of Vitamin C, E, Calcium, fish oil (and a few other items) were essential for good health. Obviously that didn’t work, and now I’m even of the opinion it was that belief which led to my diagnosis of MCL.

That’s not to say all of the hype is a complete fabrication. After all, I am a firm believer in the efficacy of EGCG, a by product of green tea. Nor am I saying maintaining proper nutrition isn’t important, because it definitely is. What I am saying is, if you can’t get it naturally, it’s probably not worth getting. And that’s a policy I adhere to religiously, taking no artificially produced vitamins, supplements or herbal remedies.

There have been no clinical studies authenticating or substantiating any of the claims made for the numerous supplements sold on the market. In my opinion, all the hype about many [most, all] of these products is simply a scam by the pharmaceutical and supplement industries to instill fear into the minds of consumers, and separate them from their money.

Worst of all, the supplement industry is not regulated. So buyer beware. Even if the claims were substantiated, there is no guarantee you’re getting what you expect when you purchase any of those products online or at the market.

Even Dr Oz, who I consider the biggest shill for the pharmaceutical and supplement industries, warned about this on a recent show.

So even if you don’t want to take my word for it, at least take Dr. Oz’s.

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 Posted by Marc at 6:57 am  Tagged with: , , , ,

Green tea working too good?

 My MCL  2 Responses »
Oct 312011
 

It’s seems ironic that shortly after blogging about how green tea has shown some efficacy with Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia (CLL) my lymphocyte count would drop about 30%.

After hovering around 70 to 90 thou/mcL for the past 2 years, my absolute lymphocyte count dropped to 46 thou/mcL today. Normally I would be delighted with those results, if it weren’t for the fact my platelets also dropped to 128 thou/mcL (ref range 130-400) after ranging between 150 to 170 thou/mcL over the same time frame.

I did experience a similar drop in platelet count last year, to 112 thou/mcL, after returning from the Aureole Wine Weekend in Vegas. It did rebound the following month, and since Edie and I attended a wine tasting of Howell Mountain [mostly] Cabernet Sauvignon’s yesterday (which BTW were above average good), I’m going to assume that was the reason for the drop, and it will rebound next month.

Not sure why the lymphocytes dropped. I have increased my green tea intake to between 7 and 8 cups a day from 5 to 6 cups, so maybe that had something to do with it, but I think the most likely scenario is the lab just screwed up, and it was a bad test. I’d like to think maybe after 9+ years, my body has finally figured out what ails me, and has found the right defense, although I doubt that to be the case.

Time will tell!

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 Posted by Marc at 5:31 pm  Tagged with: , , ,

Angiogenisis [and green tea]

 General Health, My MCL  6 Responses »
Oct 242011
 

I know this topic may not sound that enticing, but bear with me. You might find it of some value.

A couple of weeks ago, while sitting at the coffee shop, one of the old[er] timers, who we used to ride with, stopped by. We hadn’t seen him in awhile, and were surprised to learn he was recovering from bypass surgery. He had a heart attack.

WOW! A heart attack. That’s not something I think about a lot, or at all for that matter. Why should I? I have Mantle Cell Lymphoma, and I’ve planned my life around that. Not having a heart attack.

I was more interested to find out he didn’t realize it at the time. It was only after he went to the doctor, because he wasn’t feeling so good, and had a blood test, did he learn he had a heart attack. I’ve heard that before, but it never dawned on me it actually happens.

The explanation he was given for the mildness of the heart attack was while he had [I think it was] 2 blocked arteries, because he was in such good physical condition the body compensated for that by producing additional blood vessels around the blocked arteries to allow for blood flow to and from the heart. A process known as angiogenisis.

I’ve known about angiogenisis. It’s the process by which cancers (hard tumor cancers) metastasize, and stopping it is a major consideration in the treatment of cancer. What I didn’t know is it’s also the body’s natural response to healing, including blocked arteries, and while I couldn’t find any studies disputing the correlation between physical condition and angiogenisis, it’s doubtful, at least in my opinion, that was the case.

Coincidentally, there has been some discussion on one of my message boards relating to angiogenisis, where I learned it’s the result of the body releasing a cytokine known as Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor (VEGF). I also learned, based on a Phase I study performed at the Mayo Clinic, it is believed the use of epigallocatechin gallate (EGCG), the major component of green tea, can inhibit the VEGF cytokine, and result in the reduction of the number of leukemia cells in patients with CLL. Something I have direct knowledge of.

Since starting to drink large quantities of green tea (6 to 8 cups a day), I have seen a marked decrease of 25% in my absolute lymphocyte count, with all other counts remaining stable, except for a drop in my platelet count (although still above normal), another direct result of the green tea.

So at least for me, my embrace of green tea has been vindicating, but it may not be for everyone. Nothing is without consequence. You always have to take some bad with the good. If you’re worried about a heart attack, green tea might not be for you, but if you have CLL [or MCL] you might want to consider it.

It’s true I don’t have CLL, and while I have been cautioned by at least one expert, not to correlate my MCL with CLL, I do it anyways, since I have the leukemic phase of MCL, and my gut tells me otherwise. Remember, medicine is not an exact science.

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 Posted by Marc at 7:28 am  Tagged with: , , , , ,

Japanese green tea: Some facts to consider

 Food & Wine, My MCL  4 Responses »
Jun 232011
 

If you’re as devout a [green] tea drinker as myself, you’re no doubt concerned and somewhat conflicted about the news coming out of Japan. Specifically that up to 679 becquerels per kilogram of Cesium have been discovered in Shizuoka Prefecture, the largest green tea growing region (42%) in Japan. 500 becquerels per kilogram is the permitted max in Japan [and Europe].

I should note, the maximum allowable amount of Cesium is 1200 becquerels per kilogram in the United States.

In this case, I’m going to stick with the Japanese and European limits. First off, they have a lot more experience dealing with nuclear power, plus with the influence big business holds over our elected representatives, there’s no doubt in my mind where their loyalties lie.

There is, however, more to consider before jumping to conclusions or panicking should you have or accidentally purchase some of this tea.

The processing of green tea starts with picking, steaming, drying and rolling the green tea (removing nearly all the moisture) into what is known as Aracha, and is where the high levels of Cesium were reported. This process concentrates the levels of Cesium up to 5 times, but when the tea is infused (when you make tea), the concentration of Cesium is reduced by from 10 to 40 times (The two articles referenced previously gave two different numbers, one much greater than the other.)

So the question arises, and is a point of some contention between farmers and government officials, when should the levels of Cesium be measured? The farmers obviously wanted it measured in the fresh leaf, prior to becoming Aracha, but government officials disagreed, and won out, arguing people can ingest raw leaves (some of the leaves always manage to find a way out of the infuser), and some product is ground up, and used in ice cream, latte’s etc.

As for me, I’m not going to risk purchasing any green tea from Shizuoka Prefecture (as hard as that may be), which may some how escape proper inspection, and limit my purchases to areas west of Shizuoka i.e. Kinki, Chugoku, Shikoku and Kyushu areas of Japan.

No amount of Cesium is good (it has a 30 year half life), and if I’m going to err, it is going to be on the side of caution. And who knows for sure, a little Cesium may not be so bad for someone such as myself. I don’t think it can be much worse than infusing my body with any of the deadly chemicals, sometimes referred to as medicine [which is incorrect IMO] and currently used for the treatment of cancer.

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 Posted by Marc at 8:32 am  Tagged with: ,

L’chaim!

 My MCL  2 Responses »
Oct 202010
 

Just got back from my visit with the oncologist, and my platelets are back to normal (198 thou/cumm), which is a wee bit better then the 112 thou/cumm reported on my last test. (It looks like my instincts were correct. It was obviously a bad test.)

Even my ferritin and Vitamin D levels were within the normal range.

Not only that, but the sun is actually shining right now, which is something we haven’t seen a lot of over the past week, but hopefully will be seeing a little bit more of in the coming days.

It’s still so hard for me to fathom my good fortune to have exceeded 8½ years since my diagnosis of MCL, without requiring any treatment.

I’m not sure if there are any others in the world like myself, but I doubt there are many. It could just be I was diagnosed so early, that if there are any others, it’s more likely they just haven’t even been diagnosed yet.

However, I choose to believe it’s the cycling, green tea and red [and white] wine that has managed to keep my MCL at bay, and contributed to my good fortune.

I can’t think of a better reason for a toast.

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 Posted by Marc at 3:48 pm  Tagged with: , ,

Why is everything so complicated?

 My MCL  4 Responses »
May 042010
 

Once upon a time, I was going along fine resigned in the knowledge my time on this earth is some what limited.  Even knowing I was anemic didn’t seem to phase me. Except for some fatigue [possibly more depression related], I was still feeling reasonably well. At least as well as an anemic, 61 (soon to be 62) year old with a terminal illness could feel.

So why in the world did I have to notice the word “hypochromia” on my latest blood test? It was on the two previous tests, and I didn’t notice it. So why now?

If I hadn’t noticed it, I would still be merrily rolling along [pun intended] riding my bike 150 to 200 miles a week, drinking 4 to 5 cups of green tea a day, working 2 days a week, even planning some vacation or what not, with the sole intention of trying not to focus on anything negative.

But now that I have, it’s hard not to focus on the negative. Especially the colonoscopy, and likely endoscopy, needed to help determine the cause of the iron deficiency. I’ve had both procedures before, and neither were the most pleasant to endure, and which will be made even more problematic due to my enlarged spleen. (For all you doctors out there, it extends 4 fingers below my rib cage.)

So while I wait for my colonoscopy consultation (for which I’m not in any hurry), I’ve started taking an iron supplement, in the hope I can reverse the deficiency, knowing full well that any improvement may only be masking the real problem, and that a colonoscopy will still be required. But even that is presenting some issues.

I’ve learned, after doing much reserach, that taking an iron supplement is not such a simple a task. For one thing, the body only absorbs about 10% of the iron it consumes, and that many things can interfere with the absorption, including green tea, chocolate, and even wine, 3 things I partake in quite often, just to name a few. And then there’s vitamin C, something I have avoided (at least in supplement form) since my diagnosis with MCL, which aids in the absorption of iron.

Consequently, I now keep track of when I eat (and drink green tea), so I know when to take the iron (determined to be 1 hour before and 2 hours after eating) to maximize absorption.

Unfortunately that has caused another issue. Like the fact, it’s 10 AM and having just finished a cup of tea, means I can’t take an iron tablet until noon, and can’t eat lunch until 1 PM, but I’m hungry now.

This is when will power really comes in to play. I just hope I can hold out till noon, when I can at least eat the orange I brought with me (remember Vitamin C aids in the absorption of iron) when I take the iron.

Oh well, if nothing else this should at least aid in my quest to lose some more weight.

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 Posted by Marc at 10:15 am  Tagged with: , , , , ,
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