Tea and Cancer and Giant Snowballs

It was recommended to me to drink a tea brewed from red clover (see image at left if confused at Red Clover) to aid my cancer recovery. Red Clover is a pre-chemotherapy if you will, and according to Dioscorides, one of the most important figures in the history of Roman medicine, a plant called red clover may have been used in the treatment of certain forms of cancer. Red clover can aid the body to break down and to use—that is, to metabolize—certain proteins, and thus have a medical benefit. Over 33 cultures to this day use it as a cancer fighting agent. So I got the tea, brewed it, and started drinking it.

Just the other day I decided to do a bit more research and found this: Women being treated for breast cancer with the drug tamoxifen should avoid red clover because tamoxifen prevents estrogen from reaching a tumor, and phytoestrogenic compounds in red clover could undermine that action. In this case, it's possible red clover could feed, not starve, an estrogen-dependent breast tumor.

Oh shit. Was I feeding my tumor instead of starving it?

Upon re-reading it I realized I hadn't done myself harm, because the pathology of my tumor showed that its is NOT fed by estrogen or progesterone (hence the Er-Pr- of my diagnosis). However, I realized that no matter how alternative the remedy, I really need to do my research before I ingest.

Just to reiterate: Red Clover is NOT okay for 75% of breast cancers that are estrogen-receptor-positive or progesterone-receptor-positive. But it IS okay for me.

Yesterday I went to Central Market (which is like Whole Foods, but way BIGGER and Badder-ass), and I picked up some green tea. I know about the whole anti-oxidant thing, but my question was, how does green tea react with my type of chemotherapy? Again, I did my research, and I found an interesting study from School of Pharmaceutical Sciences, University of Shizuoka, Japan. FYI, Doxorubicin is the generic name of Adryimcin, the A in my Chemo Cocktail.

Biochemical modulation has played an important role in the development of cancer chemotherapy. We have directed our attention to the intake of common beverages and investigated the effects of green tea and tea components on the antitumor activity of doxorubicin. We carried out the combined treatment of toxorubicin and green tea on Ehrlich ascites carcinoma tumor-bearing mice. The oral administration of green tea enhanced 2.5-fold the inhibitory effects of doxorubicin on tumor growth. The Doxorubicin concentration in the tumor was increased by the combination of green tea with doxorubicin. In contrast, the increase in doxorubicin concentration was not observed in normal tissues after green tea combination. Furthermore, the enhancement of antitumor activity of doxorubicin induced by green tea was observed in M5076 ovarian sarcoma, which has low sensitivity to doxorubicin. These results suggest that drinking green tea can encourage cancer chemotherapy and may improve the quality of life of clinical patients.

Basically, Green Tea makes Adriamycin work 250% better, even in tumors that have a low sensitivity to it.

But then I wondered, will that make me sicker? If it makes the chemotherapy more effective in destroying quickly dividing cells, will it also kill the "good" quickly dividing cells 250% as well? From what I understand, the answer is no. When the cut the mice up to study the tissue, the concentration of the chemo therapy was not noted in normal tissue, just the tumor. I don't know if the specifically studied the normal tissue of hair follicles, but I am going to keep on researching.

Okay, away from the heavy stuff.

What am I reading? Yesterday I started An Arsonist's Guide to Writers' Homes in New England, and I am loving it! I am trying to read books that make me laugh and keep my mood light.

Amazon says: the quirkiest title for a book since Special Topics in Calamity Physics, Brock Clarke lights up the page with the chronicle of a man who, as a teenager, accidentally burned down the Emily Dickinson House in Amherst, Massachusetts, killing two people. ("It's probably enough to say that in the Massachusetts Mt. Rushmore of big gruesome tragedy, there are the Kennedys, and Lizzie Borden and her ax, and the burning witches at Salem, and then there's me.") After serving ten years in prison for the crime, Sam Pulsifer moves on with his life, but the emergence of a copycat who's turning New England's literary landmarks to ash puts Sam back in the spotlight and on a quest for the truth.

It's hysterical. I am really enjoying it, and it is very intellectually sophisticated, so not exactly mindless reading.

What am I watching? Giant Snowballs. I'll leave you with this. Enjoy.