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Had a CT scan on August 1st and received the results today. Wonderful news as the results showed stability and no significant increase in tumor sizes or any new metastases.

LDN has apparently stopped the largest tumor growth plus all the smaller ones that were noted in the previous scan on June 13th.

Recalculating the doubling time of the largest tumor over the 49 days since previous scan has now resulted in a doubling time of 232 days versus 70 days from the previous scan on June 13th, and the scary 33 day doubling before I started LDN on February 12th.

Since Dr. Bihari had found in his studies that 6 months is the point where LDN has been known to show positive benefits, I’m glad that I fit the typical profile, which means that maybe the next scan in November will continue following Dr. Bihari’s experience and the nodules begin to decrease in size.

Now that would be a great Thanksgiving that I’ll be looking forward to.

Dee

Received the results of my CT scan taken June 13, 2007 and results were ambiguous.

The largest nodule increased from 13 mm to 20 mm compared to scan on taken Feb 3, 2007, which translates to a doubling rate of 70 days versus 33 days in previous scans. Click here for calculator to determine the doubling rate.

Looking for the silver lining, there were also NO NEW metastases found.

The largest nodule was doubling in size every 33 days based on my last PET scan taken Jan 29, 2007 so the largest nodule should now be 32 mm in size, versus the measured size of 20 mm, if I had done no intervention. The doubling rate is based on the growth of the nodule between two scan dates, but I started taking LDN on Feb 12th, 9 days after my last CT scan.

Dr. Bihari’s clinical studies show that LDN needs around 6 months to begin seriously impacting the growth of many cancers so I think the fact that the largest nodule was only 20 mm instead of the expected 32 mm over the 4 months, represents a 50% reduction in the doubling time (from 33 days to 70 days).

So if LDN started slowing the growth, then it would be a gradual effect as we’re dealing with human tissue and immune systems not poisons, so it won’t happen overnight. Taking this reality into account and assuming that any reduction must be gradual, I have created a model of what probably happened and the resulting effect it would have on the expected doubling rate.

From my model, based on the actual beginning and end points of the nodule growth, the largest nodule growth slowed or stopped.

If LDN has limited the nodule growth, when I take a follow-up scan in Aug 2007 (before I go on summer holiday, curious to know if slowing is real), I would expect the doubling rate will then have increased to greater than 230 days based on my model, if the same nodule growth increases by only 1 mm. I’m not expecting a reduction in the tumor size, but if that occurs, all the better.

Dee

Trying to contact my oncologist for a updated scan and he finally replied questioning “Which region do you want scanned?” I have metastasis to my lungs duh??? I requested in my email a CT scan but he thinks since I have had no treatment in 4 months the cancer must be all over the place.

Now I am not “counting my chickens” here but just goes to show that Oncologist don’t care about alternative medicine even though I have sent him all the LDN literature and published paper by “his peers”… They only want to give chemo knowing it won’t do any good.

I will see today if he responds back with my request for a “thorax CT scan” and get on with it. Will be posting the results shortly thereafter. But in the meantime, I am feeling good.

Dee

May 12, 2007: Now the 3rd month since I’ve been on LDN exclusively for my metastatic lung cancer. I have experienced no changes to my overall well-being and have not been curtailing any of my usual life activities (fine dining, fine wines, travel).

I will wait one more month before scheduling a CT scan to measure the changes in the lung nodules that were identified in my last CT scan on February 6th.

Dee

April 12, 2007 was the second month that I’ve now been on LDN. By this time, my oncologist was certain that I would be experiencing serious effects from the rapidly growing cervical cancer metastasis to my lungs. PET scans taken prior to beginning LDN showed a doubling in size of the lung nodules about every 4 weeks. I’m delaying a follow-up scan until I’ve been on LDN for at least 3 months, since reality is that if LDN isn’t working, there are no alternatives anyway. The 2nd line protocol would be taxol/carboplatin which has zero record of success for my cell type.

My previous LDN prescribing doctor, Dr. Bernard Bihari (discoverer of the benefits of low dose naltrexone), has retired from his medical practice and I’ve now moved to one of his referrals, Dr. Martin Ehrlich in New York. I had telephone consultation with him on March 30th when he accepted me as his patient. I’ve now gotten the first prescription from him for my next 6-month supply.

Today is the 28th day since I started taking LDN. I’m still feeling good and going regularly to the gym and doing vigorous workouts on Cross trainer.

No trouble sleeping and appetite is good. Keeping my original lifestyle which involved regular dinners out and drinking wines (red & white) and champagne. My LDN prescribing Doctor, said no need to curtail normal life activity.

By this date, my oncologist had expected my medical situation to have taken a turn for the worse and to consider beginning chemotherapy as a last effort to slow down the growth of the metastatic cancer.

Chemotherapy has no track record of success in treating cervical cancer metastatic to the lungs, so going that route is an admission of defeat. I’ve chosen to use LDN exclusively for the moment, because chemotherapy will not work and will destroy my existing immune system while doing nothing against the existing cancer.

Will be posting again in 2 weeks, when I’ve been on LDN for 6 weeks, and getting closer to the time when I will begin to find out whether LDN is working because if it isn’t, symptoms of the metastasis will become noticeable.

Dee

This is my personal blog of my experience with LDN in the hopes of controlling my cervical cancer (adenosquamous) which has metastasized to my lungs. On my last CT scan (January 29, 2007) my Oncologist confirmed metastatic cancer with 13 nodes in the lungs, Stage 4B.

There is virtually no hope of long-term survival using conventional regimen which will involve carboplatin/taxol chemotherapy. I’ve already been through RT/Chemo(cisplatin) completing that regimen on January 9, 2006 and the PET Scan after that treatment was clear.

It’s for this reason I’ve searched for an alternative treatment as I’m not currently experiencing any serious effects from the lung nodules at this time, and found out about LDN from my friend in Florida.

I contacted Dr. Bernard Bihari, who discovered the benefits of LDN for MS cancer patients and had experienced some success in applying LDN to ovarian cancer patients, in the hope that my rare form of cervical cancer might also be responsive.

I got a prescription for LDN from Dr. Bihari and ordered a 90 day supply of 4.5 mg Naltrexone (LDN) pills from Skip’s Pharmacy in Boca Raton, Florida and started the regimen on February 12, 2007 taking one 4.5 mg LDN pill between 10-11 PM each night. As of this writing, I’ve now been on the regimen 21 days and will wait for at least another month before taking another CT scan to see if the regimen has had any effect on my lung nodules.

Dee