Does Anyone Remember Starbug???

Ah, thanks jchu! I'll ask the doc about it. So far his hick-ups are gone, but if they return I now know how to stop them. *wonders if starbug could use it too when she gets occasional hick-ups...LOL*

 

You don't have to own a Prius to be active here, you know, Angela. This chat board is for anyone who is obsessed by, or even interested in, the Prius. You are obviously obsessed by it, if you pretend that your car is one. But, hey, I used to pretend that my kitty was a Bengal tiger, so I guess you can pretend that your RSX is a Prius. (Sometimes I pretended that he was a crocodile or a rhinocerous, but that required considerably more imagination.)

 

Oh good, somebody answered your Baclofen question, I did sign off right after I sent that. It worked wonders. I'm so glad that your dad's stopped on their own. That's a good sign, and if you're like me you look for all the good signs you can. Also glad to hear he's taking advantage of the chemo as well as homeopathy. It sounds like he has a fighting spirit and that goes a long way too.

Hope and Prayers,

B.

 

As I see it can't hurt. True homeopathic medications are at a low enough dose not to be harmful, but beware of non provider distributors who give you a "homeopathic" medication that is pharmacologic. Check in with galaxee she could be an independent source for you. I am however a committed allopathic physician. I will tell you I had a patient with functional bladder problems who got a "homeopathic" medication from a local herbal store that caused a lot of side effect that were easily reconcilable as pharmacologic side effects. Remember all of my allopathic stuff often started out in the pouch of a herbal healer all we did is extracted it, purified it, synthesized it, and of course made it much better. B) All I can say is "we be fast and they be slow" This is a very tough time. Attitude really is everything.

 

hdrygas sent me a PM mentioning that i may be of help to someone here.

first. starbug, i'm so sorry to hear about your dad. when my mom was diagnosed with cancer i was very young and don't recall much about all the surgeries she had to go through to remove everything they could find... but i can only imagine how difficult this is for you and your family. i wish for you all to find some comfort in each other during this difficult time.

i'm always happy to help anyone who wants/needs it. i'm a phd student in pharmacology so if there's anything you have a question about, even if i don't know it, i can look it up and translate from science jargon to english. my area of expertise is drugs of abuse and their effects on the brain during and after development... rather unrelated to cancer but i do have the classical pharma training in kinetics and dynamics and all that technical stuff. i'm also surrounded by prominent cancer researchers who i could ask, being that my department is called "pharmacology and cancer biology"

my stance on homeopathy is that as long as it's not interfering with the drugs that are working to slow cell division or stop the pain or control the other side effects and make your dad more comfortable, i don't see a reason not to.

some things can interfere with the metabolism of drugs, which would increase the level of active drug in the body. (you've probably heard of grapefruit doing this) it can lead to high levels of toxic side effects, especially with the antiproliferative drugs, i would imagine. those are usually quite harsh to begin with. painkillers can also cause many problems when excessive levels are attained in the bloodstream.

there are also homeopathic medicines that could compete with the drugs for their site of action (receptor, soluble protein, whatever) and decrease the visible effect of the drug despite taking a normally effective dose.

there are other unpredictable interactions that can occur, so be careful with what you choose. just keep an eye on how your dad is feeling, if he seems to be worsening after starting up a new herb, you know what to do. it's also a good idea to check with your pharmacist before trying something new, their job is to know drug interactions and things that could be potentially harmful.

here's an interesting article i just ran across on the FDA website- they address supplements/herbs toward the middle and provide links to a couple of well respected pharmacology sources to investigate more thoroughly if you're so inclined. Article

feel free to PM me if there's anything i can do to help. best wishes to you and your family.

 

I'm going to forward this to my mother, as she's the one that desided to try homeopathy in addition to conventional medcines. I'm not familiar enough with homeopathy to even object or praise her for it. But thank you (Henry and Galaxee both) so much for the warnings and info. We've got soooo much to try to obsorb; it's pretty overwhelming!

 

Hahahaha.... :lol: I always imagined my first orange tabby (see avatar) to be a tiger. He was striped and swirled. My new orange tabby is spotted, so is more like a fat hyper-active leopard. He weighs 15 pounds. My labrador is afraid of him.

As for the signature....well... I do admit to being obsessed with Prii, so no argument there! I drive my RSX like a Prius for two reasons: gas is far too expensive to be waisted with speeding around, and I don't feel the need to challenge every sports car I come across. As a result, I fill up my tank once every 2-3 weeks, depending upon how much driving I do. The weekend I had a Rent-a-Prius taught me how to drive for max MPG, so I applied that to my new car. I adore my car, but I sitll wish I hadn't been screwed out of affording a Prius. Oh well. One day I shall have one. In the meantime, should anyone find me drooling over their Prius, just start driving....I"ll eventually fall off. LOL

 

Sweet!!!

 

Hang in Starbug!! Our thoughts are with you!

(Ps. Still waiting for an RC Prius- grin)..

 

Starbug and Galaxee,

I am an allopathic physician (MD) specifically Board Certified Family Practice. My understanding is that as opposed to Naturopathic Medicine where significant quantities of herb / supplements are used; Homeopathic Medicine relies on "chemical memory" where the homeopathic preparation relies on multiple dilutions 1:10,000, 1:100,000 and greater. Usually done with water. So the active amouts of "stuff" in a homeopathic preparation should have little if any inhibitory effect on standard chemo.

There are many schools/models of medicine:
Allopathic = MD type; (that's me, hydragas, efusco etc.)

Osteopathic = DO type; very similar and often practice in the same hospitals but also do manual manipulative treatments as well.

Chiropractice = Definitely useful for musculoskelatal stuff but some feel that they can also manage things like gallbladder disease and asthma?!?

Naturopathic = herbs, supplements, chelation, etc.

Homeopathic = extreme dilutions of stuff.

Accupunture = enough said

Ayruvidic (?sp?) = American Indian based medicine

Other = probably too many flavors to count!!!

My personal view as an MD is that we allopaths do not have all the answers and that some answers lie in other schools. However, we have the most rigorous testing. Tradition and testimonials are no subsitute for a well designed clinical trail (prospective, double-blind, placebo controlled...)

 

Well done I should have made myself clear. True Homeopathic medications are unlikely to be a problem as above. Naturopathic is high dose and could be see galaxee's post on interactions. The patient I was referencing was told she was getting a homeopathic medication but clearly it was Naturopathic (ie high dose). It was in fact tincture of belladonna. Fixed the leaky bladder but her mouth was so dry and her eyes blurry, etc. Be careful out there!

 

there's a lot of confusion between homeopathy and naturalopathy, jchu is right in saying that one is much less problematic than the other. but there have been cases, like hdrygas just mentioned, where people think they're going homeopathic and are actually getting naturalopathic treatment. in either case, it's best to use caution and really do your background research.

 

I called in the store dispensing the medication. They are not licensed they just hand out the stuff and fly under the radar. Called the Pharmacy board and the Natureopathy board. Seattle is a hot bed of Naturopathy so I would suspect that what your mother is talking about is likely Naturopathy so just be aware and careful. I am totally wedded to randomized, double blinded, crossover studies with long term follow up. Talk to me about the WHI hormone study one day.
My wife informs me I am a idiot. She is an oncology nurse and a hospice nurse. She says you should look here; http://www.seattlecca.org/ . The Seattle Cancer Care Alliance. She was a nurse at Fred Hutchinson during the very very days of bone marrow transplant. This is a group that you may need to look into for help.

 

The theory behind homeopathy makes no sense: that in vanishingly small doses, chemicals have the opposite effects from those they would have in measurable doses. However, since they are essentially pure water (or sugar, if in pill form) they probably have no effect at all.

Note, however, that the placebo effect can be positive or negative. If the patient thinks he is getting something beneficial it may help. But if a third person convinces him to take something he thinks will really harm him, the effect may be negative.

I know many advocates of naturopathic medicine who insist that "natural" remedies cannot have negative side effects. But cobra venom is 100% natural. Proper clinical studies (as Henry is talking about) are necessary to determine if the positive effects outweigh the negatives ones. When a natural remedy passes such trials, it is adopted by allopathic doctors. And once allopathic doctors begin using something, the naturopaths conclude it must be harmful.

But, Angela, it sounds like you are out of the decision-making loop, and all you can do is be there for your dad and comfort him. But that's a lot, and certainly does him much good. All our thoughts and best wishes are with you.

And if you make it down to Lacy for the Alternative Fuel Fair, I'm sure we'd all be delighted to give you rides in our Priuses.

 

Except of course immunizations that may be construed as homeopathy, a little bit of cowpox to prevent small pox.

 

Oh....wow.... I had no idea there were different types of homeopathic-like medicines. :blink: I have no idea now, which he is going to be taking. I think it's homeopathic... *brain goes on overload*

Re: Alternative Fuel Fair... Weeee, Prius rides!! When is it? I haven't looked it up yet. My only day off is on Sundays, so that would be my only chance to go. So if anyone plans to go on a Sunday, I wanna come too! I totally need a Prius fix. I parked next to one when I ran a quick errand to the UPS Store today. Somebody's Prius has Starbug drool on it now.... LOL j/k :lol:

 

I would not characterize immunizations as homeopathy, since they contain a measurable amount of an active substance. It is a small amount, but not vanishingly small.

Angela - The Alternative Fuel Fair is Saturday, May 6. There's a thread here in the Washington State forum. It sure would be nice if you could somehow manage the day off.

 

Arrrggghhhh..... everything is on a Sat except my day off! LOL. Unfortunately I can't ask for a Sat off since that's the busiest day of the week, so the shop needs all the help it can get on that day. I can't abandon Stan on a Sat.




Random train of thought...... I'm sitting here eating peanut M&M's, and it suddenly occured to me that a Prius might look really cool in M&M Blue. Especially if it's a metalic.

*starbug adores shiney objects and the color blue...especially if it's blue AND shiney together*


Mmmmm....Sobe...... *more randomness*