Stopping Chemo Decision

Hi, Oldbear. I can't share any personal experience, but for most it seems to come down to "what benefit is chemo providing" vs "what havoc is chemo and/or the cancer itself wreaking?" It's a very personal decision. I'm sorry you appear to be faced with it.
 
Thanks for your thoughts.

Its tough because family members want the chemo to be a cure, which it is not.

The chemo benefit is not readily apparent. New tumors in existing and new locations, existing tumors getting bigger. They cant say with any certainty this will improve. There are other chemo drugs available. These are known to have more side effects and cause more damage to the body. They cant say it will work any better.

Side effects have been manageable. They have lots of companion drugs which help minimize the nausea, and all the other fun things that can happen. Note minimize is far from zero. The one inescapable aspect is extreme fatigue. They know , and endorse, the cannabis therapy aspect of overall treatment.

Currently taking a a 30 mg thc, 35 mg cbd per ml and ive worked my way up to about 10 ml per day. I need to at least double that.

There is lots of information and misinformation about life expectancy. Meds are better (they claim) than in past decades, so the stats are skewed by the old numbers. Im in a 5% survive 5 years category. What is complicating things is they dont know long its been there. I need to find out when that clock starts - 5 years after treatment starts or 5 years when you first have detectable cancer.

My situation is colon cancer primary now spread to lymph nodes, liver and lungs. Found all of this in Sept 2017. Most recent update is that it has now spread in to my sternum. Its in the bone not just on the bone. That has meant a course of 5 radiation treatments. Purpose here is to reduce the pain

Posture break .....
 
Chemo, radiation, and immunotherapy have their limits. Unfortunately with current technology and knowledge they are at times palliative and don't always do well at that.

It may be a good idea to talk with your family or one trusted family member or friend to discuss this honestly and fully. Maybe your provider or a counselor if you are more comfortable with that. It sounds like you need someone to listen to you or that you need to get out what you are really feeling. If we are the best you have then fire away, but I hope you have better. In any case we'll be here to "listen".

You have to do what is best for you - that's the bottom line. I would encourage you to talk to a professional about whether this is depression, which is normal, or whether it's something else before making any decision.
 
The only thing I can offer you is that I have personaly seen oil work and people close to me have witnessed it on other people that have had prostate cancer. you need to be taking close to a gram of oil a day . when I mean oil im not talking about a dilution im talking pure oil made as described by rick simpson .I recommend an indica so that its puts you to sleep as that's when the body repairs itself . I know its a lot and all you can do is to continue to work up to the dose .
Also based on things that I have read and lectures I have watched the oil will make any medication you are taking work more efficiently.

Im sure you are run down due to chemo treatments ..I have never met anyone who it did not wear on . @Alafornia gave some very sound advice ..reach out to those closest to you ..anyone going through chemo needs some kind of support staff.

if you are in the states and have access to Netflix and would like to see some inspirational things in regards to cancer and cannabis watch "weed the people" it was a good documentary .
 
Big thanks to you both.

Im blessed to have an effective support team. Family friends neighbors in addition to a good medical team.

Ive started this conversation with all of them. Here in Ontario Canada we have a program Called Medical Assistance in Dying. There is a companion Dying with Dignity program. With these, you first describe the end of life scenarios that are unacceptable to the individual and when that situation is close, you can ask to be put to sleep. Just like the old family dog.

All the key people get engaged in the discussion and when the time comes, there is no misunderstanding about what is to happen.

The when to stop chemo decision, if ever made, ties in to this.

Its a quality of life at end of life debate. Me Id rather have 6 good months to enjoy rather than 8 months full of make you sick treatments . Said the other way, Id just as soon skip all the treatments and side effects if its only adding a couple weeks.

Its very helpful writing this - it helps organize my thoughts for this analysis.

I have Netflix Canada version so ill check for that title.
 
Thanks for sharing, Oldbear. Glad you have good supports.
 
Oldbear said:
Thanks and I hope you do too.

Whats happening with your son? Can possibly get some help if you want to share the situation.
Click to expand...

My son has autism. We went through a rough couple of years of a teenage boy with autism having trouble with all that. Depression, rage, and all the rest. Began using CBD along with all the medications. It all worked to a degree but not nearly enough so we got his medical card and added THC. Then it began getting much better. I now have a kid that occasionally struggles to regulate his emotions and behaviors instead of one that is struggling with it constantly.

As a side benefit his older brother takes the 1:1 a few times a week and it's helped his chronic pain and anxiety and depression. He has autism as well.

I appreciate you asking about my situation even as you deal with your own.
 
Good to hear that cannabis therapy is helping. The drugs are pretty nasty.

Could I ask why hard pills or mints? Is there a problem with pill size or the taste of other methods?

Finally what is the dose and frequency of cannabinoid treatments? Ant reason to consider changing that? Sounds like things are under control.
 
Roughly 5mg/5mg THC/CBD three times a day. It is a tablet. We did dry capsules previously (CW out of Colorado).

Taste/texture are huge things in autism. What might be mildly unpleasurable to you or I is overwhelming to the autistic mind and is not easily overcome so I have to have a texture that is tolerated with, preferably, no to little taste. That makes tinctures undesirable for our purposes. He likes mints, so that would likely work, but if I can make a mint I can make a tablet as they aren't that different. Capsules, wet or dry, would also work. My biggest concern there is shelf life so a natural preservative would be needed. I don't want to bother my pharmacist friend yet with that part as he's had recent health issues and is recovering. I'll still have time to ask him as we haven't begun the first grow and he should be back and operational before we get near the end of the grow.

One medication he takes is a 2nd generation antipsychotic that promotes weight gain and other metabolic disturbances. He has gained a fair amount of weight. He started another that is less prone to cause that. We want to first taper off the first then if tolerated off the 2nd and finally off the antidepressant if he tolerates that well. He's already come off two anxiolytics (Buspar and a benzo) that did not help anyway. He will continue vitamins and fish oil. If at any point we need to go back on and/or increase the dose of conventional medications we are prepared to do that. Summertime is the perfect time to experiment to try to get this right.

I plan to keep his dose between 5 and 7.5mg THC and CBD when we make our own. Nothing has done as well as the cannabis. Not even close. It's not unusual to explore coming off other medications or reducing them in these cases. I started a thread about an Israeli study that was completed this year and many were able to reduce other medications though some were not able. We'll have to play that by ear.

I intend to grow because dispensaries are both far away (3 hours) and expensive.
 
Alafornia said:
Roughly 5mg/5mg THC/CBD three times a day. It is a tablet. We did dry capsules previously (CW out of Colorado).

Taste/texture are huge things in autism. What might be mildly unpleasurable to you or I is overwhelming to the autistic mind and is not easily overcome so I have to have a texture that is tolerated with, preferably, no to little taste. That makes tinctures undesirable for our purposes. He likes mints, so that would likely work, but if I can make a mint I can make a tablet as they aren't that different. Capsules, wet or dry, would also work. My biggest concern there is shelf life so a natural preservative would be needed. I don't want to bother my pharmacist friend yet with that part as he's had recent health issues and is recovering. I'll still have time to ask him as we haven't begun the first grow and he should be back and operational before we get near the end of the grow.

One medication he takes is a 2nd generation antipsychotic that promotes weight gain and other metabolic disturbances. He has gained a fair amount of weight. He started another that is less prone to cause that. We want to first taper off the first then if tolerated off the 2nd and finally off the antidepressant if he tolerates that well. He's already come off two anxiolytics (Buspar and a benzo) that did not help anyway. He will continue vitamins and fish oil. If at any point we need to go back on and/or increase the dose of conventional medications we are prepared to do that. Summertime is the perfect time to experiment to try to get this right.

I plan to keep his dose between 5 and 7.5mg THC and CBD when we make our own. Nothing has done as well as the cannabis. Not even close. It's not unusual to explore coming off other medications or reducing them in these cases. I started a thread about an Israeli study that was completed this year and many were able to reduce other medications though some were not able. We'll have to play that by ear.

I intend to grow because dispensaries are both far away (3 hours) and expensive.
Click to expand...

glad to hear that you have found something that works for son. I'm sure you are already on this road but I will mention it anyway . For that small of dose I would suggest buying flower from a dispensary and making your own oil as depending on what you are paying for the tablets it may be less expensive and can easily be placed on food or in a very small gelatin capsule a 5mg dose is about 2mm long out of a syringe to weigh it you can get a small scale used for weighing gun power they are about $25.00 . I have come up with a way to make it without it having any chlorophyll in it what so ever and you can make small batches . Since you are giving a 1:1 ratio I would see if you cant find some hemp seed so you can produce pure cbd oil along with the thc oil from your grow or look into a strain that has a 1:1 ratio . Oil is the easiest to regulate dosage and it will keep . You could look into making hard candies if you aren't afraid of sugar and they will have a good shelf life ( I would keep them in the freezer) . Just some food for thought.
 
@No Pain , Thanks. I am also growing for two other medical users in the house: my older autistic son who has pain, depression, and anxiety and takes 2-3x/week; and my wife who has her issues. It will all go to use. The right types of flowers are difficult to find. I plan on gettings scales for measuring. I am growing a few strains to mix including a 1:1, a high CBD, and another with high THC to increase the cannabinoid profile. I'm not afraid of sugar at all (he's autistic so eating anything is a victory some days - I'm thrilled he recently began eating fried chicken and bacon cheeseburgers because that increases by about 1/3 the real foods he will eat), We may end up doing oil capsules. We'll see. Any help appreciated. And since chlorophyll can be harsh on the stomach and autistic folk have stomach issues I'll happily incorporate that info as well.

@Oldbear , didn't mean to hijack your post.
 

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