I’ve recently been diagnosed with CML and have just started taking imatinib.
I’ve read Dr Hulda Clark’s theories on parasites linking to all cancers. May or may not be fact. I’m thinking of trying it. Nothing to lose, or is there?
I’m also concerned about hair loss which I was having prior to diagnosis. Any helpful advice on this? Did anyone else notice hair shedding prior to diagnosis? I’m female.
The basis for your cancer is a non inherited genetic mutation.
I'm having a hard time seeing how parasites can impact that. I've been told luekemia isn't a cancer as such, and that blood cancers are very very different from tumerous cancers.
Concentrate on taking your TKIs , that is all you need to survive and thrive with this disease.
If you want to take an anti parasitic, simply take a medication , they are pretty cheap, however if you live in a country where food hygiene is strict (ie anywhere Western) the likely impact is zero.
Hair loss, while concerning, is a very mild side effect. And in any case, this early in your recovery nothing is permanent. Many ppl have hair thinning on tkis but don't worry about it at this stage
I looked her up - I really wouldn’t follow anything she said. Her theories were widely discredited (and don’t make any sense). Intriguingly, she died of multiple myeloma, which is a cancer.
As Eva says, TKIs are proven successful therapy for CML and all you should need. Hope all goes well and the side effects reduce over time.
Hi Poppy, I second everything Eva has written in her reply. Just trust those little miracle pills you are taking
Here is a link which will tell you about Dr Hulda Clark, who was nothing but a con merchant. Apparently her "cures" did not help her much, as she herself died of blood cancer.
https://www.mcgill.ca/oss/article/quackery/cure-all-cancers-maybe-not
Hi
I’m not taking the pills, I was looking at possible complementaries.
Shocked at my diagnosis, just four years after having a diagnoses of throat cancer, from which I recovered, I’m looking at lessening the impact of the TKIs and cancer, something I never did with my previous cancer. PD
Poppy, I did not mean to imply that you were taking any sort of dodgy pills, far from it.
The "little miracle pills" I was referring to are called....Imatinib, which you are taking at the moment. Those and the other TKIs (some more little than others) are the miracle pills that keep us all alive and well.
pigeon
Poppy, what treatment did you have for your throat cancer?
I had a testicular tumour when I was 30, and the radiography I had then is likely the root cause of my CML diagnosed when I was 50. (I'm now 65 and my major health issue is that I need a hip replacement which is nothing to do with my CML) . In a way I feel more comfortable with my CML than many people on the forum in that I think I know the cause, rather than thinking "Why me?"
Hi
Thanks for replying. I had two bouts of chemo (few side effects) and daily doses of targeted radiation for six weeks. Although the treatment side effects were debilitating - almost nil by mouth and very painful, tonsil cancer is one of the more curable cancers. It is actually linked to the sexual HPV virus which I had 30 years ago which then manifests itself later in the tonsils.
Whilst my ENT oncologists say my radiation dosage was low and targeted, who knows? One has CT and MRI scans too as part of the process.
PD
Hi Poppy
Not sure whether your radiotherapy might account for it - mine was targeted at an area which included my pelvis where some of the marrow production of white cells happens.
Regardless of that, welcome to the club of those of us who have had two different cancers, neither of which are at all likely to be the cause of our eventual (and long into the future) demise.
Alastair
Hi Poppy, if you want to have a look at what else you can do to help on the CML front, it would be useful to get you vitamin D level checked. There is a lot of correspondence on the forum about Vit D, and many people on here use a supplement.
Hope that's useful
Alastair
