Its been a while since I updated my status wrt Multiple Myeloma. Got the BMA, Electrophoresis and Microglobulin tests done about 10 days ago. The samples are sent to a lab in Mumbai and it takes 7-10 days for the results to be declared.
Went to the counter in the hospital yesterday, where the Reports are to be collected. The person at the counter took almost half an hour to trace my reports. I was already tense for the last 10 days and the tension was mounting. The moment my Reports were found and handed to us , I quickly grabbed the papers and began scanning for the words ‘M Spike’ or ‘M Band’ . Found the words ‘No M Band is seen’ and heaved a sigh of relief. Quickly thanked the Almighty and then proceeded to meet my Oncologist. He took some time to read all the statistics on my reports and exclaimed ‘Wonderful !!” . Told me to meet after 3 months with my CBP,LFT and RFT reports .
What a relief !!
It’s been 5 years since I underwent an Autologous Stem Cell Transplant.
I sent a msg to my Ayurvedic doctor while we (Hubby and Dad) sat in the hospital canteen.
He was happy and congratulated me .He too had been eagerly waiting for my results.
I am off chemo since last 10 months and taking Ayurvedic medication for the last one and half years. All the credit goes to Dr Nitin for treating me and following up closely on my progress. While he feels that my faith in Ayurveda and following the protocol religiously is helping me. Yes ,ultimately it has to work both ways along with God’s grace :))
Its been 6 months since i stopped using Lenangio on the advise of my Oncologist. What a relief that was. Something that i prayed for and was longing for . My Gobulin Serum was normal and MSpike was zero at that time but TLC, Neutrophils were very low and i was beginning to get all infections.
For three months , after stopping Lenangio , my Globulin Serum was in the normal range but for the last three months it has been increasing by .1 every month.
Recently , met my Oncologist with my CBC, LFT and RFT reports and as expected he wanted to start Thalix 50mg. I had this apprehension even before i met my Oncologist. I mentioned the same to my Ayurvedic doctor before i met my Oncologist. My Ayurvedic doctor wanted me to request and take one month time from my Oncologist. He would be giving me another medication which will control those villains in my body.
I expressed the same to my Oncologist and got an extension for one more month. I also told him that my Ayurvedic doctor wanted one month time.
I told my Ayurvedic doctor that i am ready to do anything for stopping Thalix . I also told him that i am ready to go on a fast twice a week. He has now sent me two new medications. One of them to be taken in the form of a decoction.
Keeping my fingers crossed as i have begun the daily ritual of preparing a decoction, from a powder which is a combination several herbs, and consume it before sleeping. The liquid is very very bitter and i have something sweet immediately after gulping the liquid. My ayurvedic doctor tells me that the best way to consume an ayurvedic medication is in the form of a decocotion. Though i would love to pop a pill or capsule any day.
Meanwhile i also came across a lady who is 73 years now and was diagnosed with MM when she was 50yrs. I was curious to know of any tips that she was following and learnt that she meditates a lot.
I have resumed meditation. Have also started going a bit slow at work . I observed that i was getting anxious at home and work. Am now conscious of the speed and intensity of my thoughts.
I am sure that my next results will reflect lower Levels of Globulin serum and i will surprise my Oncologist 🙂 .
My Ayurvedic doctor has now included another herb , Moringa Oleifera , popularly known as Drumstick.I will be using Moringa along with other natural herbs to help me combat Multiple Myeloma.
Drumstick is one of the regular veggies used in South Indian cooking. Frequently used in Sambhar and avial 🙂 . Also made into pickle.Tastes yummy once cooked but has a repulsive odour when raw. The leaves too are used in several recipes.
But not many know the powerful medicinal values of this tree. All parts of the tree including leaves, flowers, fruits, bark, roots, gum have medicinal properties.
There have been several studies to show the effectiveness of Moringa in killing cancer cells.
Here is the write-up that I sent to Dr Nitin, my Ayurvedic doctor. He wanted to share my case with his students and others. It is a chronological summary of my journey with MM.
Age: 46
Gender: Female
Location: Hyderabad
Diagnosis: Diagnosed with Multiple Myeloma in Oct 2011
Jan 2012:Underwent Autologous Stem Cell Transplant (ASCT) at Apollo Hospital, Hyderabad. Started taking Thalix 50mg (Chemo) initially and later increased to 100mg.
Dec 2014:My Plasma Cell count increased to 12%and my Oncologist advised that I should go for another round of Stem cell transplant after three months i.e. in Apr 2015
He also changed my medication to Lenolidamide 10mg (Chemo drug)
I did not want to undergo the second round of SCT. After desperately scouring the Internet I came across a blog by another MM patient , who was living with Smoldering Myeloma and was using Natural supplements to manage her condition successfully for a decade. I then started taking Ayurvedic Medication like Haridra, Ashwagandha, Shigru, Punarnava from ‘Himalaya’ brand . Many other bloggers too recommended Curcumin but because I did not know where to get it I began using Turmeric in the form of Haridra from ‘Himalaya’.
I was experimenting with the above. I also informed my Oncologist that I was taking the above medications and he did not have any objection.
In fact he himself had advised me to take Tinaspora cordifolia ( a herb) , after my transplant for improving my immunity.
In the next three months my blood counts and ESR levels were slowly showing improvement. That was a good sign.
Apr 2015:Was lucky to get introduced to Dr Nitin Kochar , Mumbai by Dr Gayatri ,MM patient from Delhi when I told her that I was using Turmeric. Met her via a social networking group named ‘Yoddhas’. Their website is Yoddhas.com. I Started taking Curcumin and Punarnava and followed diet given by Dr Nitin Kochar along with Lenolidamide. Finally I was in professional hands and it was a great relief.
May 2015: Bone marrow test was cartied out at the end of May 2015 which revealed that MM was in Remission. There was no mention about second time transplant 🙂 . My Oncologist obviously was surprised and happy too.
Oct 2015: Continued taking Curcumin along with Lenolidamide. Bone marrow test was done and my M Spike was zero. Yayyy !!
Feb 2016:My TLC count, neutrophils became very low. The counts were decreasing gradually over the past few months. Started experiencing several infections simultaneously. My Oncologist advised me to stop Lenolidamide. I continued taking Curcumin , Ashwagandha and other herbs and followed the diet as per Dr Nitin’s advise.
May 2016: Bone marrow test revealed MM in remission. I have not been taking Lenolidamide for the last 3 months. No more Allopathy.
Currently taking Curcumin , Ashwagandha, Nimbodi, Bavchi during the last 3 months. Have been fasting once a week and taking diet as per Dr Nitins advice.
My Oncologist told me to take a break from medication for another 3 months.
Yayyyy !!
Hopefully this will be a permanent break 🙂
My experience with Fasting :I had never fasted all my life. I was nervous initially. I currently fast once a week. I am not supposed to eat anything till dinner time. I can take tea/coffee two or three times during the day. Only if my stomach rumbles and feel weak I am permitted to eat a fruit. I can manage with three servings of fruits . Only Luke warm water to be taken throughout the day. For dinner I am allowed to take vegetable soup and kichdi (single pot meal cooked with lentils, rice and veggies) . I eagerly look forward to eat the warm bowl of kichdi in the evening and feel grateful for the food. It is a great feeling . I am enjoying my days of fasting. Makes the body feel light. Makes the food during the rest of the days taste great.
I also did my own research on the Internet on the effect of fasting and read that Fasting makes the cells go into repair mode. This period of rest heals the cells and tissues in the body , which is very important for a healthy body. I am convinced and surely we can give up food for one day in a week for improving our health. The side effect of Fasting is better health 🙂
On other days too , I follow the Diet given by Dr Nitin. I have reduced consumption of Sugar, Maida , Milk , Wheat , tur dal and have included more of millets , Moong dal , chana dal , veggies , nuts in my diet .
Feeling good , happy and quite comfortable now. Wish to share my miracle with as many as I can so they too can benefit from Ayurveda , Fasting and proper diet.
I feel happy sharing details of my experiences in this blog through my other posts.
My Serum Protein Electrophoresis and Beta 2 microglobulin serum results are out.
‘No M band is seen’ in the Electrophoresis test . Yayyy … On seeing these words I immediately say a little prayer thanking Almighty.
The Kappa parameter is on the higher side while the Kappa Lambda ratio is in the normal range.Not to worry as I am confident that Kappa too will be normal soon.
My Oncologist expressed his happiness and we were all ears to listen to what he had to say next.
Said I can take a break from Lenolidamide for another three months. Yayy .
It’s been 3 months since I was told to stop lenolidamide and I need not take it for another three months. I was patiently waiting for exactly this kind of news and had this wish for a long time. Hopefully I will never ever have to take it again.
Every month for the last 16 months I was getting the CBC , LFT AND RFT tests and meeting my Ocologist with the reports. He was closely monitoring me since the relapse in Dec 14 and i was advised to go for a second Stem cell transplant after 3 months. However there was no need to go for it as my M spike was zero in the subsequent tests after the relapse.
This 3 months break is such great news and a great relief.
I feel like screaming and shouting and telling the whole world.
My confidence and belief that my condition can be reversed has come true and quite quickly too.
Informed Dr Nitin , my Ayurvedic doctor , about the results and he too was glad and wanted me to do a writeup on my experience and progress with Ayurvedic medication and Fasting so he can share with his students and others who can benefit.
I met Dr Gayatri from Delhi on a whatsapp group started by Mr Rahul of yoddhas.com
This group is for all cancer patients and their care givers.
One day in Apr 2015 I shared my experience with turmeric in the forum.(details of the experience are in another post) . That was when Dr Gayatri mentioned that she too had used Curcumin prescribed by Dr Nitin , an Ayurvedic Doctor from Mumbai. We spoke over phone and she suggested that I get in touch with him on phone. Her voice was strong and energetic. Her story was very inspiring. She was detected with MM more than a decade ago and is now free from any type of medication since last few years after a lot if struggle that included two Stem cell Transplants and several surgeries.
I then spoke to Dr Nitin.
I have been using Ayurvedic medications prescribed by him, including curcumin , since then.
Before I met Dr Nitin I didn’t know where I could get Curcumin in India. I was using Haridra from Himalaya which is Turmeric and not Curcumin.
Thanks to Dr Gayatri for introducing Dr Nitin to me.
I have been doing quite well since then.
I would ask her a few doubts now and then and very patiently she would answer and guide me.
At times I would have certain doubts regarding ayurvedic medication and she patiently answered my questions. She also gave me the confidence and comfort to talk to Dr Nitin without any hesitation.
I met Dr Gayatri recently in Hyderabad. It was nice interacting with Dr Gayatri and her husband. I feel much more energetic after the interaction. The strength and poise in Dr Gayatri is amazing. She is deeply spiritual and her words are soothing and encouraging.
Thank you very much Ma’am.
She has been counselling a lot of patients for the last few years.
People with chronic diseases go for various treatments depending on the faith they have in a particular treatment. Most use allopathy by default, as the duration of treatment is the fastest ,success rate is highest and the results are quick. Some follow a different treatment based on the experiences of their near and dear ones or when Allopathy has no solution or as a last resort.
But usually for cancers Allopathy is the first and foremost treatment that one opts for as the diagnosis itself happens in the third or fourth stage wherein the disease would have progressed to a large extent and Allopathy would be the best treatment. .
I didnt think of Alternative treatments for two years after I was diagnosed with Multiple Myeloma . I started experiencing side effects of Chemotherapy in the third year and I began scouring the internet for other treatments.
Internet is full of articles on Alternative Treatments . Initially I didnt believe all that was written on various websites and was being said on youtube videos by patients. I found them ridiculous too. Always wondered how it was possible that people are getting cured of Cancer which is not curable . Not just ‘managing’ but they were getting ‘cured’ and have been living for decades without any Allopathic treatment. I felt that these people were just exaggerating , that they wanted people to watch their videos , knowing that many would be looking up , that they were just uploading these videos to get a lot of views/hits. There were websites which talked a lot about a cure but at the end of the page there is a link to a book with a price or some secret methods which confirmed my fears that people only wanted to make money by luring desperate patients.
I wanted to believe all this was true , that there is a way , but was not convinced.
I came across various articles on the reasons for cancer and a cure. Juicing, diet, exercise, detox , supplements, antioxidants , various high frequency protocols, immunotherapy , Ph therapy, effect of yoga and meditation for curing the disease and the reasons for cancer varied from DNA mutations to microbes to lack of Vitamin D , poor diet , stress etc. These are a few of the topics that I was reading and trying to digest . All the information was baffling.
Just when I relapsed , at the end of the third year after my Bone Marrow Transplant for Multiple Myeloma, I came across a blog written by Margaret , a patient with Smouldering Multiple Myeloma. She was using natural supplements and has been successfully ‘managing’ the disease for more than a decade. After reading her blog , all the information and videos that I had seen suddenly flashed across my mind and I began believing all that I had read and seen. Suddenly all of it made sense. I was desperate for an alternative solution.
I talked to my Oncologist if he could recommend any Ayurvedic doctor but he was unaware of any specialist in Ayurveda. Ayurveda is an ancient Indian mode of treatment which uses natural herbs for curing various ailments. He didnt discourage me from using any alternative treatment and advised me to use ‘Tinaspora Cordifolia’ , a natural immunity boosting supplement.
I recommend everyone to do their own research. Once convinced one has to start incorporating one or more methodologies as per their faith and convenience. One needs to have faith in the treatment and should go all the way and follow the methodologies scrupulously.
I have almost given up food products made with sugar , milk , all purpose flour , rice and also reduced salt intake .All of these comprise a bad diet. These are the five white poisons that Ayurveda recommends to avoid.
I also read that cancer cells feed on sugar. I initially started taking supplements like Curcumin (in the form of turmeric) suggested in Margarets blog , started doing Pranayama and meditation , I also started taking ashwagandha , shigru , punarnava , garlic , had ginger decoction in the morning, eliminated most acidic foods and lo and behold within three months my MSpike was down to Zero !!
It is nothing short of a miracle.
I was later referred to an Ayurvedic Doctor by another MM survivor and since then I have been using Curcumin and other natural supplements since last one year. Fasting is also part of my regimen. I have been encouraging the use of Curcumin to whomsoever I come across. Curcumin is an extract from turmeric .Turmeric is a spice that is extensively used in South Indian cooking and as a medicine in India for various ailments.
It is one year and 3 months since I started following the new regimen and my M-Spike is in control.
Talk to other patients and their caregivers who follow Alternative treatments make your own decision.
If there is a will to survive , a solution will appear out of the blue. Never give up !!
I have been taking Lenolidamide 5mg since Dec 2014 as there was a relapse of Multiple Myeloma.
Thanks to Lenolidamide and Alternative medication , my M spike was zero during two consecutive bone marrow tests done in 2015.
However I started experiencing side effects of Lenolidamide in the form of a drastic drop in the counts of TLC and Neutrophils in Jan 2016. I also had several infections simultaneously. Sore throat ,stomach upset ( diarrhoea ) , asthma attack, eye infection and UTI. My oncologist told me to stop lenolidamide for one month. During this one month , ie Feb 2016 , I continued taking Curcumin and other immunity boosting tablets.
Went for the CBP LFT AND RFT tests after one month at the end of Feb 2016. All the counts were back to normal. Got a test done for Vitamin D too and the result was normal . Met my Oncologist with the reports. He was happy with the counts and told me to come back after 3 weeks with new reports. Told me to discontinue Lenolidamide for this period too.
I am currently taking three 500mg capsules of curcumin three times a day and other immunity boosting tablets two times a day prescribed by my Ayurvedic doctor .
I have been off chemo medication for almost 2 months now. Hope to stay away from chemo forever.
Will go for the next routine test in the last week of March 2016.
I am now following a No salt and No oil diet for two days in a week as instructed by my Ayurvedic doctor.
My diet during these days is as follows
Breakfast : idli or oats , two egg whites
Mid morning snack: Fruit or sprouts or vegetable salad, tea or buttermilk
Lunch : sweet kichdi made with rice , jaggery and moong dal
Teatime : tea, dry fruits and fruit
Dinner: jowar roti with jaggery
I am looking for more variety in the diet.
Each of these days I look forward to the next morning so I can eat foods containing salt and pepper 🙂
Usually salt and pepper go together . Being a South Indian makes things worse. We cannot survive without salt and pepper. Foods without salt don’t have pepper or chilli powder either. So ultimately it becomes a No salt, No oil and No pepper diet. It is a sweet diet.
I cant think of any dish with pepper and no salt. Thankfully i can have sweet foods but the day becomes too sweet 🙂 .
Hope to come up with more No salt No oil and No pepper foods.
It has been 6 months since I had my Bone marrow test done.The previous test was during the end of April this year. In April , for the first time since my diagnosis in 2011 , my M-spike was ‘not seen’. That was the greatest news ever.
I have been taking Circumin and other ayurvedic supplements since January this year. Along with these I am also on a fasting regimen since one month.
I have been avoiding foods made with all purpose flour(maida), sugar , milk and curds.
All the above has definitely helped me in keeping the M-spike in control and this time too the ‘M-spike’ is ‘not seen’.
However , my hemoglobin level is at 9.7 and I need to work on this.
In spite of Hb being low I feel much more energetic than ever. It feels so good to be so active. I have never been this active in a long long time. I am able to concentrate and perform well at work too.
Incidentally today is ‘Dhanvantari jayanti’ along with ‘Dhanteras’.
Dhanvantari is the God/father of Ayurveda.
My heartfelt thanks to my Ayurvedic doctor who has been treating me remotely from Mumbai.
I feel blessed and hope to have a bright and beautiful Diwali.
