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Turmeric as possible natural remedy

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User

Posted 28 Feb 2017 at 20:34

I'm 77 year old male, and generally in a good health. In the past, I only went once to test PSA and that was in 2008. At that time, my PSA was 6,0 but after ultrasound and some other examinations, I was told not to worry. Yes, you have an enlarged prostate, but everything looks fine. As I did not have any problems whatsoever during the night, I condider myself a lucky one.

At the end of 2015, I've noticed a dull pain in my testis and decided to see a specialist. Before the visit, I decided to take another PSA. The result was 10,0.

After the exam, the doctor suggested 20 days on Ciprobay and the return visit. After another PSA, the result was 10,2.

My doc suggested a biopsy that I flatly refused. I decided to educate myself and to see what could be done to stop this PSA progress. One information I found was that TURMERIC may act as a natural help. I embarked on it and after 35 days of rather heavy doses of a preparation (the paste preparation process is at the end of the post), I went for another PSA test. PSA read 6,1!

Encouraged, my doctor suggested that I now start with AVODART and OMNIC combo. Trying to be a good patient, I decided to abandon turmeric paste and to concentrate on the drugs. After the treatment of 90 days, my PSA went up: 8.2.

I immediately went back to turmeric and decided to keep Avodarts as a BPS solution, but to use it every second day. I completely abandoned use of Omnic as I did not like its contraindications.

Measuring PSA every thirty days on this regime, my PSA was going down. In June 2016, it went to 4,93, in July 5,11, August 4,80. After that, I did not test myself every month but every two, and the results were about 5,0: more or less. The last test i took at the end of January 2017, and it was 4,44. And no pain in testis.

The variations in results are probably because I was trying to find out the best daily dosage. Now, I'm taking Avodart every second day, and turmeric paste 4 times a day.

HOT TO MAKE THE PASTE
- One cup of turmeric powder
- 10 g of finely ground pepper (increases the power of turmeric some 200 times)
- 1,5 dcl of olive oil
- About 2-3 dcl of hot water

In a pot, mix pepper and turmeric with hot water. Put on a low heat and constatly mix adding water as needed so that the paste feels like very soft Nutella spread. Add half of the oil and mix on the heat for about 5-6 minutes. At the end of cooking, add the rest of olive oil.
Find small glass jars and fill them. One keep in your fridge for daily use, and other(s) put into freezer. Use the paste within 7 days, and when used, replenish it with the one from the freezer.

IF YOU HAVE HIGH PSA, of course, keep doing whatever your doctor is telling you. I suggest that you use a full teaspoon of the paste SIX times a day. If your PSA is higher than was mine (10) or you were told that you have a cancer, take it every two hours.

My experience is telling me that the best way to take the paste with or after meals, as otherwise, pepper my slightly iritate your stomach. Even better, take a full spoon of sour cream in the mouth. Don't swallow. Take a spoon of the paste, put in your mouth and swallow both without chewing. You may finish with some extra sour cream again. Turmeric has some strange taste, but with sour cream, you should swallow it much easier. Furthermore, for a better absorption of turmeric, fat is needed (hence, olive oil), so sour cream will ad some extra fat.
If you initially get feeling of indigestion, DO NOT use commercialy anti-acidity tablets. Use small quantity od baking soda with water, or maybe a sip of cola.

User

Posted 02 Mar 2017 at 00:08

Hi Guys,

There was a bit about turmeric on that Dr Michael Mosely television programme a few weeks ago.

I cannot remember the exact details, but it involved groups of volunteers taking food supplements for a few weeks and having their blood tested.

Their findings were that to get the best out of turmeric it needs to be fried in oil before you eat it, this causes the correct breakdown of molecules to allow your body to absorb it better.

I guess any preparation which mixes it with an oil or fat is better than taking it dry or mixed with water.

Personally I like it fried in oil, with onions and garlic as the allium is good for us, add chilli another cancer fighting food, and some green leaf veg and a few beans, before you know it you have cooked a curry.

Dave

User

Posted 01 Mar 2017 at 07:52

I think I will stick to sprinkling turmeric in my shepherds pie and chilli!

"Life can only be understood backwards; but it must be lived forwards." Soren Kierkegaard

User

Posted 01 Mar 2017 at 11:22

likota39 states ''I’m living with prostate cancer'' appears not to be, as prescribed with Ciprobay, which is for prostatitis and urinary tract infections, wish I had that ! He would also have an oncologist, not a urologist.

My view is that the turmeric cure is an old wife's tale.

I was stupid enough to spend over £100 on the useless powder called POMI-T

Total waste of money, no effect on PSA at all.

Use turmeric, with a good handful of fresh coriander to give your curry an authentic feel.

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User

Posted 01 Mar 2017 at 02:25

Hi Likota39 and welcome to this forum.

Turmeric and it's use has been discussed previously and some members take it but your post is interesting.

You say that you refused a biopsy in 2008 but if you have not had one since, how do you know that you have Prostate Cancer (PCa) notwithstanding you show on your profile that you are someone living with Prostate cancer? Avodart is prescribed for men with Benign Prostatic Hyperplasia and an enlarged Prostate can produce raised PSA levels and it has been suggested that Avodart can possibly increase the risk of getting Prostate Cancer. https://www.drugs.com/avodart.html

Edited by member 01 Mar 2017 at 02:31 | Reason: Not specified

Barry

User

Posted 01 Mar 2017 at 07:05

Barry, you are right. And I did not say that I had PC.

I started with turmeric because the more I learned from exploring this issue, the more confused I was. As I mentioned, I went to see a specialist mainly because there was testis pain (it started about 4-5 months before the visit), plus an uneasy feeling on two locations in my lower stomach. All of that disappeared after only two months of turmeric therapy.

The pain and uneasines may have been a signal that things are not developing well. At the same time, Avodart did not produce results as expected: as I wrote in the post, by taking it with Omnic for three months and without turmeric, my PSA went from 6,1 to 8,2. Hence my conclusion that I don't have a simple case of BPH.

My urologist told me he had cases where PSA went into a 40+ levels while PC was not detected. It seems that prostate plays the most complicated game in our bodies. So, we all have to take steps that we consider prudent. The best thing about turmeric is that it will not be on a collision course with a prescribed medical treatment.

User

Posted 01 Mar 2017 at 07:52

I think I will stick to sprinkling turmeric in my shepherds pie and chilli!

"Life can only be understood backwards; but it must be lived forwards." Soren Kierkegaard

User

Posted 01 Mar 2017 at 09:53

LynEyre, keep sprinkling turmeric and some ginger on your food. See what Dr Carol Anderson MD, wrote in her blog:

East Indian Cuisine Could Save Your Life
November 29th, 2011

East Indians Have Significantly Lower Rates of Cancer
As I was researching the literature on cancer prevention and treatment there was one statistic that struck me as really interesting. East Indians are much less likely to develop cancer. In fact the numbers are staggering. Indians have one fifth as many breast cancers as North Americans of the same age, one eighth as many lung cancers, one ninth as many colon cancers and one fiftieth our rate of prostate cancer. And given the fact that Indians are probably exposed to even more carcinogens in their environment than we are in the West this is even more staggering. What could cause such a difference in cancer rates?

It is mainly due to the wonder spice Turmeric. Turmeric is the yellow powder that is one of the components of yellow curry. Its anti-inflammatory properties are incredibly powerful. In fact no other food ingredient is more effective at decreasing inflammation in the body. The molecule in turmeric responsible for this effect is curcumin. Recent studies reveal that curcumin inhibits the growth of many cancers such as colon, prostate, ovarian, breast, and brain. It also inhibits angiogenesis (the growth of new blood vessels to feed the tumor). And in an experiment done with mice where they exposed the mice to a variety of chemical carcinogens, curcumin prevented the development of a number of cancers.

Science Ignores a Folk Remedy
Turmeric has been used in India, China and the Middle east for 2000 years. A brilliant researcher by the name of Professor Bharat Aggarwal, PhD at the the M.D. Anderson Cancer center in Houston, Texas was the first to show that curcumin is very active against cancer in cell cultures. Later in 2005 he was able to prove the incredible effects of this compound on breast cancer tumors grafted onto mice, even when these tumors that were no longer responding to chemotherapy. In these mice, administering just a regular dietary dose of curcumin reduced the spread of metastasis significantly.

What is interesting, is that his research was initially given no merit by his oncology peers at the M.D. Anderson Cancer Centre. When he approached them with his findings he was brushed off. They felt experiments based on using some folk remedy from traditional ayurvedic medicine had no merit. Yet the science was more than compelling. When he presented his research again but referred to curcumin as the “new pharmaceutical” agent his colleagues took notice. They were amazed and all wanted to know more about this “wonder drug”.

Clinical Trials of Turmeric
Because of such compelling evidence that turmeric has some incredible cancer fighting properties, his colleagues were convinced and many clinical trials have since been launched. The first trial concerns the blood cancer multiple myeloma, the second involves one of the most aggressive and deadliest cancers, the one my Mom had, pancreatic cancer, and the third investigates the possibility of preventing lung cancer in high risk subjects with the active ingredient in Turmeric (curcumin). These human studies are now in progress and the results are not yet known although there is already a huge body of evidence to support the incredible effects of this compound on animals in the lab.

So it seems that Turmeric is a powerful anti-inflammatory that helps stimulate the death of cancer cells and also inhibits the growth of blood vessels to supply a cancerous tumor. In the lab it also enhances the effect of chemotherapy (7) and reduces tumor growth. It seems we should all be eating this but how and how often?

http://carolynandersonmd.com/blog/east-indian-cuisine-could-save-your-life

Edited by member 01 Mar 2017 at 09:54 | Reason: Not specified

User

Posted 01 Mar 2017 at 10:05

I must say, I am very intrigued by turmeric. Somewhere in the wobbly parts of my brain I seem to have picked up that it is a 'good' thing to take. As such, I am having a turmeric capsule (500mg) daily as I don't believe it can do any harm at all, and may have some benefits. Any thoughts on that level of dosage would be most appreciated.

cheers
G

User

Posted 01 Mar 2017 at 10:37

I am against turmeric capsules. They are based on extracted curcumin which is a compound of turmeric. In one Indian website, I found a suggestion to take those OTC capsules for 8 weeks only.

I've been taking the paste for about 8 months, and have no body indication whatsoever that it has some negative effect.

User

Posted 01 Mar 2017 at 11:21

OK, you've given me enough food for thought to give this a try - flavour tolerance permitting! Thanks for that. I did find an interesting source of information which looks pretty in depth, and the main side effects of 'over dosing' seem to be a risk of diarrhoea and flatulence. Might be worth checking out https://examine.com/supplements/curcumin/ It's a big piece of information, and relevance to prostate cancer is much lower down the page (section 12.3).

cheers
G

User

Posted 01 Mar 2017 at 11:22

My view is that the turmeric cure is an old wife's tale.

I was stupid enough to spend over £100 on the useless powder called POMI-T

Total waste of money, no effect on PSA at all.

Use turmeric, with a good handful of fresh coriander to give your curry an authentic feel.

User

Posted 01 Mar 2017 at 12:08

Les777, I know what you mean! The wives tales theories abound - I looked at cannabis oil options, and after maybe too much research I concluded that for any possible anti-carcinogenic effect I would need to insert THC suppositories. There are limits! However, the ingredients for the above turmeric potion cost less than £2 in the local shops so worth a punt. And it may encourage me to eat more curries!

cheers
G

User

Posted 01 Mar 2017 at 12:13

Originally Posted by: Online Community Member

My view is that the turmeric cure is an old wife's tale.

I was stupid enough to spend over £100 on the useless powder called POMI-T

Total waste of money, no effect on PSA at all.

Use turmeric, with a good handful of fresh coriander to give your curry an authentic feel.

Well, there is nowhere I wrote ''I’m living with prostate cancer'.'

My doctor is a university professor and a surgeon. Not an oncoligist. Ciprobay was given probably to check if my 10,0 PSA resulted from an infection. Why I declined his suggestion for a biopsy is that at my age (77), I consider it useless and unnecessary. The outcome may not be favourable and it may bring some other complications. Please read this:

http://www.consumerreports.org/cro/magazine/2013/03/the-cancer-tests-you-need-and-those-you-don-t/index.htm?EXTKEY=Y310CANCERTESTS1013

I don't know what this POMI-T powder is. I know what powdered root of turmeric can do for me. Cheaply and effectively.

And yes, recently I've been adding a spoon or two of ginger powder in the paste, so now it tastes better.

User

Posted 01 Mar 2017 at 12:15

Now you mention it Graham, I didn't want to !
There is a way to eliminate the pain, but not on subscription.
I am lucky enough to have come across someone who grows a little green for his MS pain relief, and gave it a try.
Smoked half of a ciggy sized one he made, with 2 glasses or was it 3, of red wine, job done, pain free, and didnt give a toss about anyhing.
As for trying it again, yes I would, and any long term effects, not my problem, I dont need to look far into the future now !
Around half of US states have legalised this sell this over the counter, may move there or Holland !!!

User

Posted 01 Mar 2017 at 12:18

Sorry sir,

But check your own profile status, which we all have to choose from the dropdown box when registering on here

It clearly says ''I’m living with prostate cancer'.'

User

Posted 01 Mar 2017 at 13:20

Originally Posted by: Online Community Member

Sorry sir,

But check your own profile status, which we all have to choose from the dropdown box when registering on here

It clearly says ''I’m living with prostate cancer'.'

Well, when you embark for the first time on a new site, some things are not so familiar One can overlook something or the steps may lead a novice somewhere he has no control over.

To repeat: I never WROTE the above phrase. Maybe there was or is a such sub-forum, but I obviously did not see it.

Edited by member 01 Mar 2017 at 13:21 | Reason: Not specified

User

Posted 01 Mar 2017 at 22:38

Hi Likota39,

When a new person joins or we want to recap on where a person stands before making a reply, many of us look at the poster's profile. My post was the first response to your original one and I did mention that your profile showed you were living with Prostate Cancer but seemed not to have had a biopsy, (there was no mention of any treatment also). It therefore appeared that your PCa as according to PSA was responding only to Turmeric. You have now made the situation clear. Furthermore, if you had to tick a box which was not appropriate, this is something that the moderators should change because it has obviously led to confusion. http://community.prostatecanceruk.org/default.aspx?g=profile&u=20522

Anyway, now that has been cleared up, I would like to thank you for posting how Turmeric has worked for you. I will give it a try.

Edited by member 01 Mar 2017 at 22:41 | Reason: Not specified

Barry

User

Posted 01 Mar 2017 at 23:17

Whoa, two brand new members at each other already!!!

Please note that Likota apparently lives in Bosnia & so may have missed something in the translation.

Likota, it is important to allow for the fact that Avodart reduces PSA levels by about 50%, creating a false low.

Les, I think British science is fairly well persuaded that turmeric has an impact on PSA and may slow the progression of PCa. See Prostate Cancer Research Foundation and/or Cancer Research UK for more information. Also, a significant number of members here use Pomi-T so although you feel you wasted your money, others would disagree with you (including the Prostate Cancer Research Foundation and PCUK, I think?).

In the UK men are usually under the care of a urologist if they are having RP or active surveillance, and an oncologist only if they are having radiotherapy, brachy, chemo and/or hormone therapy. So although Likota has clarified that he has BPH, it is not unimaginable that in Bosnia, a man with PCa would be under a urologist.

Edited by member 01 Mar 2017 at 23:20 | Reason: Not specified

"Life can only be understood backwards; but it must be lived forwards." Soren Kierkegaard

User

Posted 02 Mar 2017 at 00:08

Hi Guys,

There was a bit about turmeric on that Dr Michael Mosely television programme a few weeks ago.

I cannot remember the exact details, but it involved groups of volunteers taking food supplements for a few weeks and having their blood tested.

Their findings were that to get the best out of turmeric it needs to be fried in oil before you eat it, this causes the correct breakdown of molecules to allow your body to absorb it better.

I guess any preparation which mixes it with an oil or fat is better than taking it dry or mixed with water.

Dave

User

Posted 02 Mar 2017 at 06:49

I appreciate all your comments and suggestions. Newbie...

Dave, you are right. The suggestion of mixing turmeric with oil (and do NOT forget pepper :-) ) is for a reason: turmeric needs a 'vehicle' to be transported where needed and that is fat. Besides oil in the recipe, I feel that use of sour cream I practice helps as well.

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