A certain spot on my upper lip started tingling one morning last week. For me, that’s usually a sign that a cold sore is developing. So I grabbed my tube of cold sore ointment and applied it immediately. Normally, if you do this before a blister forms, you should be able to nip the cold sore in the bud. To my consternation, the blister formed within the next couple of hours.

Now, if you’ve ever suffered from cold sores, you know that they are not a pretty sight. They can spread quickly all over the mouth, which is a very embarrassing as well as painful condition to be in. Once they are established, they can linger for seven to 10 days on average. I had meetings scheduled for the week ahead, and I was desperate to get rid of the blisters. I don’t know why, but I decided to try dabbing apple cider vinegar on the sores. I hadn’t heard about that being a natural remedy for cold sores but, somehow, I just felt it would help.

The vinegar was certainly soothing. I kelp applying it to my lips for the next few hours, using a cotton bud. Before I went to bed, I applied the apple cider vinegar again.

To my amazement, when I woke up the next morning, the cold sore had dried up and flattened out. It no longer hurt. Wow! That took less than 24 hours, the fastest healing time ever for a cold sore. No medicine has ever achieved that before for me.  Yay for another natural cure!

Posted: May 10th, 2010 under Alternative Remedies, pain relief.
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There’s a lot of controversy about consuming phytoestrogens like flaxseed and soya when you have estrogen-dominant breast cancer. Some say you should avoid them as they mimic estrogen and may aggravate the breast cancer. Others reason that phytoestrogens are a weak and harmless form of estrogen, so it is better for them to occupy the estrogen-receptor sites in the body which feed the cancer, rather than have those sites occupied by harmful estrogens like estradiol and estrone. By competing to fill the estrogen-receptors, phytoestrogens are actually cancer-fighting, or so the logic goes.

After following the Budwig protocol for 14 months and consuming large quantities of flaxseed oil combined with cottage cheese daily, as well as ground flax – an essential part of the program – I’ve come to the conclusion that flaxseed is harmful for my estrogen-sensitive breast cancer. Tumors as large as oranges developed during that time and covered my breast, bleeding profusely. That was a horrifying period. No more flaxseed for me!

Soy, on the other hand, seems to have helped keep the cancer under control for several years since I was first diagnosed. I drank soy milk daily and used it in my cereal until my husband and I sold our house and moved in with his folks for almost a year while we were looking for a new home. During that interval, we could not use the kitchen freely, so we did not buy groceries or prepare our own meals and beverages then. Not only did I stop consuming soy milk daily, I even stopped my daily juicing routine. Whether it was due to these changes in my diet or to the stress of living with the in-laws, the cancer started getting active and the small tumor I had then bled for the first time ever. Shortly after moving into our new home, I started on the Budwig protocol and the breast cancer grew exponentially thereafter.

I’m back to consuming soy daily now. I love drinking fresh soya milk every day, the natural, clean-tasting type which Asians have been drinking for generations, not the additives-loaded fake substitute for dairy milk sold in the West. I also enjoy cooking with soy products like tofu and tempeh, a fermented pressed soy cake. Interestingly, my oncologist suggested I consume more soy products to counter the side-effects of Femara (Letrozole), an estrogen inhibitor. I blend my own fresh vegetable and fruit juices daily too. I even make sauerkraut regularly and eat it daily for its cancer-fighting and estrogen-regulating properties. When I can find space in my fridge, I also make a big batch of coleslaw, one of my favorite salads which also happens to have cancer-fighting properties.

I know what flaxseed did to my body and I also remember how soy protected me against breast cancer so, as phytoestrogens go, my vote is for soy.

Posted: May 3rd, 2010 under Alternative Remedies, Cancer, Healing Foods.
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Green cabbage was very cheap at the supermarket nearby a few days ago so I bought two – one to make sauerkraut and the other for general eating (coleslaw, sauté, soup etc). I would have bought more had my fridge had the space. I couldn’t resist buying a nice head of purple cabbage too. I’ll use that as well as some green cabbage to make coleslaw. That night, we enjoyed a big plate of braised cabbage with onions and dried prawns. The vegetables had been cooked slowly to coax out the sweet flavors. Absolutely delicious!

It’s a good thing I like cabbage and other cruciferous vegetables, as phytochemicals such as indole-3-carbinol (I3C) and sulforaphane are components of cruciferous vegetables which exhibit antitumorigenic activity. In the digestive tract, indole-3-carbinol produces a metabolite (product of metabolism) called diindolylmethane (DIM), a new class of antiestrogens that inhibit breast cancer growth. DIM also encourages cells that are abnormally multiplying to stop reproducing and die.

Research shows that it is possible for the stronger and more dangerous form of estrogen (estradiol) to be converted into the weaker form (estriol) without using drugs. As all women who have had breast cancer know, estradiol fuels breast cancer. For this reason, aromatase inhibitor drugs (Ais) were invented to block the production of estrogen. Unfortunately, like most drugs, aromatase inhibitor drugs have serious side effects. Also, not all kinds of all estrogen are harmful. Estriol is a weaker and relatively harmless form of estrogen. Being less active than estradiol, it is desirable for it to occupy the estrogen receptor as, by doing so, it effectively blocks estradiol’s strong “grow” signals.

In 1997, researchers at Strang Cancer Research Laboratory at Rockefeller University discovered that diindolylmethane or DIM can change “strong” estrogen to “weak” estrogen and, when this happens, it stops human cancer cells from growing and provokes the cells to self-destruct, a process known as apoptosis. Subsequent studies done at the University of California at Berkeley show that DIM inhibits some human breast cancer cells from growing by as much as 90% in culture.

Apparently, DIM is the most active phytochemical in promoting the synthesis of protective hydroxylated estrogen (2OHE). Also known as 2-hydroxyestrone, 2OHE and 16-alpha-hydroxyestrone (16OHE) are metabolites of estrogens. 2OHE is biologically inactive, while 16OHE is biologically active meaning that, like estradiol, it can send “grow” signals. In cases of breast cancer, the ‘bad’ 16OHE is often elevated and the ‘good’ 2OHE is decreased. Studies show that people who take DIM not only have beneficial increases in estriol, they also have beneficial increases in 2OHE. Low levels of the 2OHE have been linked to breast cancer (in both women and men), uterine cancer, cervical cancer and lupus.

If you’ve had breast cancer, regular consumption of cruciferous vegetables like broccoli, cauliflower, Brussels sprouts, turnips, kale, green cabbage, collard greens and mustard greens is a very good idea. While cooking such vegetables, creating mild acidic conditions by adding some lemon juice or vinegar helps convert indole-3-carbinol (I3C) to the active cancer-fighting substance DIM. No wonder fermented vegetables like sauerkraut and kimchi are recommended cancer-fighting foods. Go ahead and indulge in these vegetables!

Posted: April 23rd, 2010 under Alternative Remedies, Cancer, Diet, Healing Foods, Hormone Health.
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