To boost the immune system ?

Good Morning Cath;

 "In your case, facing a transplant, perhaps the outlook is different.  Perhaps ALL of the Myeloma will eventually be gone and you will one day be 'normal' again, with no hint of MM but I do know that it is not possible for me. At this point in time medicine won't totally rid me of myeloma."

Thanks for your informative response!  (I'm not certain that my SCT will rid me of all the cancer cells however.) But reading your previous post made me think how ironic it would be to survive MM only to succumb to the common cold.

Take care;

Kevin

Thats why I practice 'defensive living' Kevin~~  In that I schedule the first medical appointment of the day to avoid as many bugs as I can at the doctors office, go shopping early in the morning to avoid crowds of people, choose to go to the movies when fewer people will be there( shades of Outbreak where one person sneezes in a theatre and everyone is exposed to the bugs!), do not visit people who are ill, Bob will not allow anyone with any illness inside our home! - grandchildren included, but they understand why and will telephone to talk with me if they have a cold or the flu!(yes, there are ways around it!), and finally -- I up my intake of odourless garlic tablets if  I feel anything coming on to boost my natural immunity!  I'm a bit paranoid about it, but its worked for the past 4 years and the only times that I have become ill have been when I have broken my own rules and gone to visit someone in hospital or played with a baby with a runny nose!  Stupid perhaps, but there are just some times when one has to take a chance, don't you think???  Those around me know what is happening and protect me fiercely - sometimes too much I feel, but I am grateful for their help.  I just don't want some silly little bug to be the cause of my demise, its as simple as that.    You know what the hardest thing of all to do is??? Its greeting and saying goodbye to people -- because here in Australia the 'norm' is to kiss one another on both cheeks when you meet and when you leave.  If you don't do it, people think that you are 'cold' or aloof or think that that you are 'better' than they are.  Its a hard call to know when, where and how you will do these things and when to draw the line.  So far I think I'm doing fairly well, but there are instances when I question myself. 

Good luck with the chemo over the next few days.  I do hope its not too bad.  Take good care, Cath

Hi Kevin! What we can plan for and what we can't -- I thought I had all possibilities covered and then on Tues. night I suddenly had excruciating pain -- left flank!  After CT scan and x-ray plus blood work the doctors decided that I have a 'large' 2cm (could that possibly be right, maybe they meant 2mm) kidney stone.  I had never considered this happening, but here I am, a day later with a 'stent' in my kidney and now facing some treatment that will 'blast' my stone into hopefully millions of tiny particles!  This myeloma journey is really amazing -- who knows what will happen next?!?  So I'm back on 500mg of Keflex to cover any kidney infection, scheduled to go into hospital again next week --- I really am beginning to feel that I am living a medical life -- two weeks ago it was supposedly osteonecrosis, now its kidney stones, whats next and when does it end???  Oh well, onwards and upwards -- we'll see how the next 'procedure' goes!!

How have the preparations gone for your transplant??  When does the next step take place??  I am looking forward to seeing you as 'cover man' on the Medical Journal as a miracle man extrordinaire -- the man who really investigated and researched all options before making an informed choice about the treatment that would best suit his circumstances, rather than just going with the flow without question or consultation.  Hope to hear from you soon, Cath

In my experience one of the best ways to boost your immune system is beta-1 3-d glucan.  I buy mine from a pharmacist who does compounding because he does not  purchase it from China.   I have tried other beta-1 3d glucan and not knowing where it is bought from - it has not worked well.  My neutrophils were very low and my platelets were in the 90,000 range.  The pharmacist told me it would be 6-9 months before I noticed a change in my blood counts.   It took about 3-4 months.   I take 5-6, 500 mg each day and spead them out over the day.   It is really designed to help the white blood cells.  I am glad I take them, it has changed my wbc count as the neutrophils were getting dangerously low.  Be careful where you buy the beta-1 3-d glucan, some is very pure form and some is junk.

Helen

On 3/23/2008 HelenHi wrote:

In my experience one of the best ways to boost your immune system is beta-1 3-d glucan.  I buy mine from a pharmacist who does compounding because he does not  purchase it from China.   I have tried other beta-1 3d glucan and not knowing where it is bought from - it has not worked well.  My neutrophils were very low and my platelets were in the 90,000 range.  The pharmacist told me it would be 6-9 months before I noticed a change in my blood counts.   It took about 3-4 months.   I take 5-6, 500 mg each day and spead them out over the day.   It is really designed to help the white blood cells.  I am glad I take them, it has changed my wbc count as the neutrophils were getting dangerously low.  Be careful where you buy the beta-1 3-d glucan, some is very pure form and some is junk.

Helen

Thanks Helen

I am finding beta-1 3d glucan difficult to track down. We are in England I don't know if this has anything to do with it, but so far none of our pharmacies seem to know anything about it!

I found a couple of web sights and emailed them but still wait for a reply.

Thanks again, best wishes

Gillian.

Hi,

I'm not sure if I can post a web address for the place where I buy the Beta Glucan I use.  But, you could do a google search with words: NSC and Beta Glucan.  The website mentioned international ordering. 

 I use the extra strength kind.  Generally one a day, but right now my 2 girls have had the flu this last week so I'm using 2-3 a day. I feel the hint of nasal issues the last few days, but I have not gotten sick.  I'll let you know if I bypass this flu.

I've only been using this Beta Glucan since last October, and I'm not sure what did it but this has been my experience.

Last August, my first Bone Marrow Biopsy showed an average of 28% plasma cells.  I continued my very low to no-grain diet and started the Beta-Glucan in Oct.  In Nov. my doctor started me on B12 shots.  Ten in a row, daily, and then one every 3 weeks since.  In January I had a second Bone Marrow Biopsy and my average count of plasma cells was 10%. 

I don't know for sure how the plasma cells dropped, but those are the only two things I've added other than lowering my stress and finally getting enough sleep.  Maybe it's the later; I don't know.  I also use lots of digestive enzymes with my meals and eat no dairy, no corn, no peanuts, practically no grains or soy and very little meat, mostly wild caught salmon and tuna with no soy additives.  I eat lots of raw fresh nuts, lots of vegetables via homemade salads and homemade salad dressings and homemade bean soups and fair amount of fruit. I eat some almond butter and cashew butter too with organic apples or other fruit, but I try not to eat a lot of the nutbutters.  It's my quick snack.  Homemade bean dips with veggies are quick snacks for me too.

I'm not sure if the Beta Glucan helped, but I'm still using it.

My experience for what it's worth,

Karen