Down the Primrose Path

I always hint at it but today I’m just going to come out and say it: Mainstream medical logic is just completely baffling.

Baffling and infuriating. And extremely dangerous.

Researchers at the Heart Function Clinic in Toronto say they’ve figured out how to use a breast cancer treatment called Herceptin. This is a drug that’s designed to be used along with chemotherapy and/or radiation to treat a type of breast cancer called HER2. About one in four breast cancers are HER2 positive.

But there are a few problems with Herceptin. And these problems might make a rational person run and hide until she put one or two time zones between herself and Herceptin.

Problem One: I’ll let the Herceptin website do the talking here: “In one study with Herceptin and certain types of chemotherapy, an inadequate blood supply to the heart occurred.” (Quick note: we’re just getting warmed up with the qualified euphemisms.)

Problem Two: Again from the website: “Some patients have had serious infusion reactions and lung problems; fatal infusion reactions have been reported.”

Can you sort of see where this is going? Fair warning: It doesn’t get better.

Problem Three: Again, the website: “Herceptin can cause heart problems including an inability to pump blood effectively, irregular heartbeats, high blood pressure, disabling heart failure, weakening of the heart muscle, and sudden loss of heart function leading to death.”

Dreadful. And to ice the cake, Herceptin causes all these problems in patients with no previous symptoms of heart problems.

Have we hit bottom on the Pretty Grim scale? No. We have not.

Fuzzy language

At a recent Canadian Cardiovascular Congress, the Toronto researchers presented this instruction in the use of Herceptin. And it’s simple. Not simple if you’re a breast cancer patient, but that’s not really the issue here.

Step One: When a patient develops a heart problem, discontinue Herceptin use (provided she’s still alive, of course).

Step Two: Treat the heart condition.

Step Three: Resume treatment with Herceptin.

The Toronto team knows this works because they tried it on 18 breast cancer patients and it worked for 14 of them. No doubt, it was a living nightmare. But it worked.

Well…with a few caveats.

The lead researcher told Ivanhoe Newswire: “After three months of follow-up, the cardiac complications had begun to improve and almost all patients had a near normalization of ejection fraction.” (A dip in ejection fractions indicates heart failure.)

Did you catch the bad news in that sentence? “Near normalization.” You start therapy with a healthy, normal heart and finish up “nearly” normal.

And just how near normal are you? The researcher continues: “Our study shows Herceptin-related toxicity is largely reversible.” Largely? Okay. But just how large is “largely”?

The last sentence of the Ivanhoe article pretty much answers that question: “Researchers are unsure of if Herceptin causes long-term damage to the heart.”

In other words, Ladies, you’re on your own. Best of luck!

Ready for the kicker? Three years ago the FDA approved the use of Herceptin in the U.S.

But here’s the real kicker: Another Canadian study (which we told you about in the April 2009 Members Alert) has shown that a flax seed lignan known as SDG can reduce growth of breast cancer cells, kill about one-third of the cells, and significantly reduce expression of HER2.

And you can be sure that flax seed doesn’t come with a grim list of life-threatening heart problems.

At HSI, patients with heart health risks are never on their own. You can use this link to find out how to beat heart disease without using a single drug.

To Your Good Health,

Jenny Thompson

Source:

“Risky Breast Cancer Drug OK’d by Canadian Cardiologists” Ivanhoe Newswire, 10/28/09, ivanhoe.com

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