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I was diagnosed with CML in Sep. 2021.
I was terrified. Starting on Imatinib 400mg/day was working well, until around the one year mark, as I approached MR3. Then, the bcr-abl started to climb, and I was increased to 600mg/day Imatinib. At that dose, I was quite nauseated, and the numbers going forward for the next 2 testing cycles were close to flat.

Here’s the good part… In researching the heck out of this, I came across the article below. In summary, the researchers found that sodium selenite kills leukemic stem cells in CML induced mice. My understanding is that TKIs are generally effective against the cancer, but not very effective against leukemic stem cells. So, I ordered some sodium selenite and hoped for the best. I took 8mg/day, for the following 3 months. Some physicians (mine) feel that is a dangerously high dose, but other articles seem to feel it is a safe dose for many people.

Keep in mind there are many forms of selenium for sale. Other forms may be severely toxic at higher dosages. Sodium selenite is what the researchers used, and that was the choice I made.

What happened… In the following 3 month period, the bcr-abl dropped to below level of detection. So not quite MR3 to MR4.5 on Imatinib plus sodium selenite, in 3 months. I received confirmation on the next 3 month period, still below level of detection. Here is the article…

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4102641/

Please understand that I am not a physician, so do not take this as medical advice. Ask your physician about this.
BTW, I first learned about this article from this forum. Many, many thanks!

Selinium is indeed a potent anti-Leukemic stem cell supplement. I personally take 200 mcg per day - which is about 0.2 mg
But selenium is a metal and can be quite toxic at high doses. 8 mg/day is extremely high.

"Some cases of acute selenium poisoning have been reported after ingestion of large doses of selenium supplements, such as 10,000 to 20,000 mcg in a single dose or 5,000 mcg per day for 10 days https://ods.od.nih.gov/factsheets/Selenium-HealthProfessional/ https://www.merckmanuals.com/professional/nutritional-disorders/mineral-.... These doses are far above the UL and can cause severe gastrointestinal and neurological symptoms, acute respiratory distress syndrome, myocardial infarction, hair loss, muscle tenderness, tremors, lightheadedness, facial flushing, kidney failure, cardiac failure, and, in rare cases, death"

https://www.merckmanuals.com/professional/nutritional-disorders/mineral-...

Perhaps you mis-typed the dose you take. Again 8 mg/day which is 8,000 mcg per day is likely very toxic.

I achieved "undetected" status and was able to stop taking my TKI after taking 200 mcg per day.

Hi Scuba,
It was your discussion of sodium selenite several years ago which led me to the successful resolution of my CML. So, huge thank you!
Yes, there is much confusion regarding the proper dosing of sodium selenite.

There are many different forms of selenium, and some forms are more toxic than others. Below, I post two articles showing that researchers used very high doses of sodium selenite without the subjects experiencing significant side effects.

The first article deals with terminal cancer patients. The researchers noted that 33mg sodium selenite was the upper tolerable limit. That
is why I chose 8mg. Personally, I have not experienced any side effects, but this may vary individually.

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1936523319303365

The second article deals with Adult Non-Hodgkin's Lymphoma patients. The patients did well at 0.2mg/kg. I weight 80kg, so the daily dose
for someone like me in that study would have been 16mg.

https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s12011-007-0029-5

I do plan on tapering the sodium selenite down, but no idea what the minimum dose might be to maintain remission. As I continue this study of one,
I will keep the group advised of my progress.

Remember everyone that I am not a physician, nor should you consider this medical advice. Please run this by your physician before experimenting on yourselves. I am just sharing what sent me from not quite MR3 to MR4.5 in 12 weeks on 500mg Imatinib and 8mg Sodium selenite.
Really, I felt this information was too important not to share.

Some additional information on selenium

https://www.restartmed.com/selenomethionine/

Very interesting advice - thank you! I know one can get selenium naturally in Brazil nuts, but where can one order sodium selenite, please? Will there be issues with importing it to another country? I haven't been able to find it in the pharmacies in South Africa.

Hi Martin,
Sorry I took so long to get back to you.
I found sodium selenite 2 mg tabs at https://norinutraceuticals.com/
I'm not sure about their shipping policies as I could not find anything about shipping on
their site. That said, I would guess that they would ship internationally, as that is more and more common these days.
Best of luck.

Thank you so much for this link. I've written to them to ask if they'll send the product to South Africa but as yet there is no response. In the meantime I was able to find a zinc + selenium complex (which contains 60 mcg selenium) so I'm taking those tablets daily. Will let you know if there is any change in my readings.

Hi Martin,
I don’t know if 60mcg of selenite will give the necessary blood concentration. There are many places online to find 200mcg sodium selenite pills.

I actually started with 1 mg/day with the 200mcg tabs. When I did more reading, I switched to the Nori Nutraceuticals brand and increased the dose.

My understanding is that at "normal" doses selenium is a great prevention against cancer, but it actually protects established cancer cells just as it protects any other cells. Only at super-high doses e.g. 200 mcg per kg it changes from anti-oxidant to pro-oxidant and starts killing cells. SS accumulates in cancer cells significantly more than in healthy cells which is why it's very effective. It also activates P53 anti-tumor (tiger) gene which is the key weapon against cancer. There are some concerns about the long-term risks as explained in the article below.

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/23801390_Exposure_of_Human_Leuk...

In this study, we found that different concentrations of selenite triggered different signal pathways in human leukemia NB4 cells. Low concentrations of selenite elicited mild endo-plasmic reticulum (ER) stress and mediated cell survival by activating unfolded protein response signaling, whereas high concentrations of selenite induced severe ER stress and caused cell death by activation of the pro-apoptotic transcription factors GADD153. In addition, selenite at low concentrations activated other anti-apoptotic pathways, such as AKT and ERK, whereas high concentrations of selenite induced activation of p53 and oxidative stress, which mediated the antitumor activity of selenite by causing mitochondrial dysfunction and caspase activation.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9323677/

Patients that received chemotherapy and adjuvant sodium selenite (0.2 mg/kg/day) for seven days presented increased apoptosis in lymphoma cells, as measured by flow cytometry, relative to the subjects that received only conventional chemotherapy.

Sodium selenite (Na2SeO3) has been shown to reduce the leukemia burden by stimulating p53 to induce apoptotic pathways.

SS is still preferentially studied by some labs because of its demonstrated increased selectivity for exerting a ROS-influenced cytotoxic effect that reduces the cell proliferation in malignant cells when compared to normal cells. However, the greater genotoxicity induced by inorganic SS relative to SLM or MSC could result in possible late toxicities (e.g., myelodysplasia or acute leukemia), an important factor when selecting an agent to work beneficially with DNA-damaging cancer treatments.