Posted on 06/10/2012 2:23:00 PM PDT by Orange1998
DALLAS - Walking is just fine with 58-year-old Mary Cecil, who used to be an avid runner.
"I was running and I started feeling pain in my left leg, and it was also tender when I slept on that side," she said. Cecil suspected a shin splint or pulled muscle.
A bone scan, however, revealed a rare and aggressive tumor called dedifferentiated chondrosarcoma. The bone cancer is virtually unstudied. According to limited information, only one in 10 diagnosed with it survive two years. "Very scary," recalled Cecil of how she felt upon learning of the diagnosis.
"The world just turned upside down in one visit here." Cecil had surgery to remove the cancerous part of her femur and replace it with a metal implant, but that wasn't enough. She struggled with powerful chemotherapy medications. "Ms. Cecil's tumor was resistant to every single drug that we were giving her," said Dr. Jorge Casas, an orthopaedic oncologist at Forest Park Medical Center.
"And it was resistant to most of the drugs that we would have given her." Casas said chemo-sensitivity tests were ordered in this case because the cancer is so difficult to treat. In other more common cancers, studied regularly, tests have previously shown what drugs may work best. Based on the sensitivity test, and new research, Forest Park doctors decided to try an unconventional approach, using over-the-counter vitamin D and the common arthritis drug, Celebrex.
Recent studies show vitamin D does more than just reinforce strong bones. "So, the vitamin D can inhibit growth of the cancer cells," Casas explained. "Celebrex has been shown to inhibit a process called angiogenesis, which is the formation of new blood vessels in other unrelated cancers." It worked.
A year after diagnosis, Cecil is considered cancer-free.
(Excerpt) Read more at khou.com ...
Ping to cajungirl.
I wonder if she had low vitamin D before her diagnosis? Seems rather odd for someone who spends a lot of time outdoors running. Maybe it isn’t a matter of what a person’s level is as much as massive doses of D are an effective treatment for cancer. People certainly have to be careful that they don’t run out and OD on D. :-)
I don’t think you can OD on Vit D3.
I think most Americans are probably have vitamin D deficiencies, if for no other reason than we’ve had the hell scared out of us with regard to spending time in the sun.
Great news, but inconclusive. After the battery of treatment, from chemo to surgery, there’s no real way to know which treatment had the effect of curing the disease.-
I’ve read people absorb less vitamin D from the sun as they age.
Any good info source to see how much vitamin D an individual should get?
I take 50K i.u. every week as a prescription. You can have your blood checked for vitamin D deficiency.
I’ve always suspected running causes cancer.
That’s why I avoid it like the plague.
Isn't that a tautological fallacy? The lighter-complexioned ones survived or stayed healthy enough to reproduce, maybe.
Any good info source to see how much vitamin D an individual should get?
Seems to be a lot of controversy concerning recommended D dosages, but it is true that if you get too much you will end up with elevated calcium in the blood, which leads to organ and bone problems. Most people seem comfortable with up to 5,000 IU daily of D3. That's what I take in the winter.
Here’s the connection: if you sweat alot AND do not supplement with a quality magnesium, you WILL be low in Vit. D. Your body can’t absorb it when you’re deficient in mag.
D is a fat soluble vitamin and there are real risks in taking too much. One cannot get too much from sunlight. The body is a marvelous creation. :-)
That’s interesting. There is a delicate balance in our bodies, and I wonder what taking too much of one thing without having enough of another does to our health.
For example, it is not good to have copper and zinc out of whack. Too much of one without the balancing effects of the other can be detrimental.
Is there a recommended dosage for Vitamin D? I take 5000 IUs per day. Age 46 male.
Most drs prescribe once a week pills for 50,000.
A friend who had cancer said the first thing the drs did was check her Vit D levels.
bm
I agree completely.
Magnesium makes approximately 350 other enzymes, aminos, vitamins, etc., click into place. When you’re deficient in mag, and most of us are due to the fact they no longer fertilize with it and we drink too much filtered water, then many other things will not work productively. Vit. D is just one of them. Another is calcium. You MUST have sufficient mag or calcium cannot dissolve. The result is plaque on your arteries, asthma, kidney stones, gall stones, etc.
At one time our daughter was found to be very deficient in D, and she took prescription doses for a while. However, you do have to be careful. People who are prone to developing kidney stones can be affected by large doses of D.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.