Has anyone used Graviola

Hi!
Just wondered if anyone is taking Graviola capsules to prevent recurrence or spread of BC. Huge claims for it on the Net if you Google it.

It does sound good, expensive but worth a try. One of the articles I read said not to use it for more than 30 days and to drink plenty of water whilst taking it. The recommended dose would seem to be to take them for 30 days every 6 months. Don’t get the N-Tense version though because that is contraindicated for people with oestrogen based cancers. I’ll certainly give it a go.

There is no evidence whatsover that graviola capsules prevent recurrence or spread of breast cancer…or any other kind of cancer. There is an excellent chapter in a recently published book by Rose Shapiro…the book is called Suckers; How alternative medicine makes fools of all of us… and the chapter is called Cancer: when it really matters that allternative medicine doesn’t work.

There are a lot of unscruplous people making a fast profit from spurious cancer remedies…I feel really annoyed when I see this kind of rubbish being touted.

Jane

Amen to the comment on unscruplous people taking advantage of suckers.

Another wonderful unobjective book title though you gotta love these publishers, my fave so far is “alkalize or die”, I totally dismissed this book because of it’s title but it’s apparently really informative (more about general health than a cancer book).

There’s very few books written by people who are both informed and objective about both alternative and mainstream medicine. In fact so far I haven’t come across a single one that meets my scientific critera. This doesn’t sound like it’s the book I’m after either. I live in hope.

Try Trick or Treatment by Simon Singh and Edzard Ernst…

Jane

My cousın took Gravıola .Her bc had been mısdıagnosed for 18months and her tumour was enormous.She wouldnt have a mastectomy and they only got 1mm clearance.She never told me about lymph nodes but I suspect they were ınvolved.One day she rang me(long before my dx)to tell me about Graviola.She spent so much money and swore ıt was doıng her good keepıng the cancer at bay.In 2005,5years after orıgınal dx Beverley dıed aged 55.Her bc was ın her braın,her lıver and her bones.If she had not relıed on Gravıola she may have lıved to enjoy the granddaughters born sınce her death.Surely ıf alternatıve medıcınes worked we would all be offered them.

A really sad story horace…I am so sorry. I have heard too many stories like this to be anything than angry and direct about people who tout these useless products. We often talk about ‘patient choice’ but sometimes we need the courage to say: ‘What a stupid ‘choice’ that was.’

Jane

Was she not having any other form of treatment too?

I’m sick to death of having to explain to my health care providers that not all people who provide alternatives are anti normal medicines, none of the people who have been treating me have ever said don’t do chemo or don’t listen to your onc etc so I too get angry when I hear about the few cases where people have relied solely on alternative remedies. I can tell you for certain that the school of homeopathy my Mum trained in does not advocate such a line of thinking at all, it is downright dangerous.

However on the flip side if traditional medicine has nothing to offer a patient they don’t have the right to tell a patient not to look elsewhere for answers that’s an individual’s right.

vertangıe,post surgery she had 25 rads and was on Tamoxıfen.Beverley declıned chemo and I could say she was just beıng bl***y mınded but she had seen her mother and her younger sıster dıe despıte chemo(both ovarıan not bc) and dıd not want her qualıty of lıfe destroyed by chemo etc.She lıved lıfe to the full and had a pılots lıcence as well as beıng a keen bıker.There ıs a lot about her on theır websıte I know I,m not allowed to gıve detaıls here.She seızed on Gravıola havıng found ıt on the ınternet and hoped ıt would be the mıracle so many of us wısh for.Vertangıe I was only respondıng to a specıfıc query about a specıfıc product of whıch I had some personal knowledge ıt was not a tırade agaınst alternatıve medıcıne ın general.

Sorry horace, I didn’t mean to sound like I thought it was a slight against alternative medicine, quite the opposite. I know that there are a few people out there who do actively encourage people to turn down traditional medicines, and that’s scary. I’m glad that wasn’t the case for your cousin.

I can totally understand the quality of life debate she must have had, it took me several days of cramming information and sleepless nights just to decide to do the adjuvant chemo and even now I wonder if it was the right call, I think so but you don’t know what long term damage this stuff does to you nor if it was necessary in the first place. I’d make the same decision again though.

As for wishing for miracles, I wish too but live by the moto that if something seems too good to be true it usually is. For ever hopeful though, but not niave :slight_smile:

Thanks for that vertangıe Ive never been tempted to use alternatıve therapies myself.Just hope the others have worked!

I do understand what you are all saying re alternatives, BUT I can’t take either arimidex of tamoxifen because they both make me so nauseous (I’m er+/her2+). I did try them both for a few months before deciding life just wasn’t worth living if it meant feeling so awful. If my bc does recur and I’m offered chemo then I’ll take it but in the meantime I want to do what I can to prevent that happening. Trouble is that the Graviola also makes me feel very nauseous after just 2 tablets. Oh joy!!! So it’s back to the drawing-board.

Val

Hi Valanne!

Graviola made me feel ill and I stopped using it. After lots of internet research I’m taking Vitamin D3 (lots of BC patients are very low in Vit D). Also taking Turmeric tablets and Green Tea tablets. I couldn’t stand the taste of the tea, so the tablets are all the goodness with none of the taste! There’s a good article by Dr David Servan-Schreiber on the net about foods to eat ( he had a brain tumour ) and he mentions some of the above - which I happened to be taking anyway. I can’t take Tamoxifen because I’m ER/PR negative and I wanted to try and find something to help myself.

Hi redders.

I’ve come to the same conclusion re Vitamin D, but I’ve also concluded that in order to work properly we need to make sure we’re not deficient in any of the ACDE group and also selenium. ACE and selenium are all pretty easy to get dietarily but it seems vit D is best produced by getting a little sun everyday from what I’ve read, so I’m taking a high quality supplement for now.

Of course I’m still swatting up on my facts etc but I see no harm in having a healthy system :slight_smile:

Hi Redders

With regard to the green tea - it does taste horrible but I put a large teaspoon of honey into it. I think the tea gets into the system better than the tablets and honey is good for you too. I didn’t realise it was possible to get turmeric tablets, does Holland & Barrett sell them? As for vitamin D, I prefer to sit out in the garden and soak up the sun but that was not a possibility this year - I’m also well past the age when I could lie out in a bikini!! Roll on next summer. I do quite a bit of walking so hopefully get some sun that way.

Trouble is so many things are recommended to help the immune system and to help fight off the recurrence of cancer it’s a case of doing your own pick and mix. I’m taking a very good mineral supplement, modified citrus pectin, and a low dosage aspirin which I take every other day.

It’s really useful reading what other people are doing. When I first got the diagnosis and then discovered that I couldn’t take the tablets I felt so helpless. Unfortunately, my experience with docs - even the nice ones - is that they believe in the drugs and nothing else. They certainly never suggest building up my immune system or taking supplements.

Val

Hi Valanne

I get my Turmeric tablets (& all my supplements) from Healthspan which I order by free phone from Guernsey, and you can order on line. I think they are a really good company and often cheaper than Holland & Barrett. They also send you a very helpful magazine as well.

i don’t think there’s any harm in trying all alternatives when the mainstream isn’t working. If governments or somebody would spend some money actually testing these alternative medicines we might find out once and for all if they work. Unfortunately all the money goes to drug companies (who already have plenty) to trial their drugs (you can’t patent or make money out of a natural substance). So who’s trialing the alternatives?

Also, i can’t help being suspicious when alternative treatments are rubbished - since drug companies have billions of dollars at stake on this issue; and clearly a vested interest in giving chemo to people.

I just thought I would put in my 2 cents here. My mom was diagnosed with breast cancer, and after doing a bunch of research myself, realized there was a treatment for some kinds of breast cancer – herceptin (I didn’t see it mentioned in here, so thought I’d mention it). It works very well against a specific kind of breast cancer.

Her doctor did not order the test for this kind of cancer (her2/neu test) until I specifically requested it. We changed doctors shortly thereafter, and it just occured to me that some other people might be in the same boat (never having had that test run).