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Spirogirl
USA
2 Posts |
 Posted - 09/20/2019 : 22:59:54
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Hi everybody. I'm new to this forum. I've read everything on here but having trouble finding advice on the treatment of my upper lip. I have a BCC along the vermillion line in the center. I have tried the homemade eggplant and vinegar treatment, Castor oil, and Frankincense oil, but no improvement. I started curaderm three weeks ago, applied for 2 weeks, and then had to take a week break to let it calm down because it was so painful and deep. It is an open deep lesion, a "rat bite" hole and the curaderm is definitely eating away the nodular spots most aggressively. I started again a few days ago and it went right back to work. The cream is so thick it's hard to fill up the hole, so I have been mixing with a few drops of water to smear it in there. After restarting, it hurts less but still burns.
I figure that the Mohs surgeon would cut away most of my upper lip and so anything that curaderm eats away would have been cut out anyway. It will be my last resort- but if I can kick this thing with the curaderm and keep my lip, that would be really great.
Has anyone else used curaderm on their lip? Did it go deep? Did it work? I'd love to get some thoughts from you all! THANKS! |
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dan
611 Posts |
Posted - 09/21/2019 : 12:21:24
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Hi Spirogirl,
Welcome! It looks like Curaderm is working, so that is great. Thanks also for sharing what didn't work for you. It makes sense to keep going with what works.
I would still keep searching for other effective treatments because in my experience relying on combo treatments tends to work better in the long run than a single treatment approach. Actually, there is a chance that you may have already done this with the other treatments you tried before Curaderm, setting the stage for success. And if you find something else that works too, your chances of permanent success increase a lot.
Here are a couple of other things to also consider trying. The first is iodine (Lugol's or nascent) orally perhaps using simultaneously with Curaderm. Iodine will help to raise pH. https://www.drbrownstein.com/iodine-why-you-need-it-p/iodine.htm There is a large iodine thread here too http://www.topicalinfo.org/forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=409
I also like mixing in other topical treatments. Topical household ammonia or a baking soda paste raises the pH of skin for several hours which fights the acidic metabolism of cancer cells. You can try adding aloe vera and pancreatin topically. I consider circulating pancreatic enzymes to be the body's main defense against cancers, which is why intermittent fasting is a good idea for freeing up the enzymes from digestive tasks to cancer fighting tasks. Pancreatic enzymes work best at a pH near 9 so they are helped by the ammonia or baking soda paste.
Another idea to consider trying is using orange oil (d-limonene) topically. Orange oil penetrates skin well, provides a stinging sensation (lasts for 25 minutes) that gives information on the extent of the cancer remaining, and has lots of anticancer properties with studies supporting it. https://www.mskcc.org/cancer-care/integrative-medicine/herbs/d-limonene
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Spirogirl
USA
2 Posts |
Posted - 03/10/2020 : 13:25:43
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Hi all- I wanted to give an update on my situation. I had a huge nasty gbasosquamoush carcinoma on my upper lip along the edge. Once I got the biopsy and was told Mohs was my only option I tried all of the home remedies, ACV, straight eggplant juice concentrate, baking soda, castor oil, Rick Simpson oilc the WORKS. I saw 4 (Yes, FOUR) dermatologists that all told me Mohs was the only way. But I did my own research (Thanks, TopicalInfo.org) and while continuing with the DIY, I found out about superficial radiation. It sounds scary but it is non-invasive and painless, and has equal success rates to Mohs. I tried every dermatologist in town that had an SRT machine, but none accepted my insurance. So, pigheaded as I am, I went directly to a radiation oncology doctor. He said that he could absolutely treat me, and that he treats skin cancers often! I asked why all the derms said no, and he said that derms arenft fully trained in radiology and that they prefer to do Mohs themselves than refer people out. I refuse to let them take a melon baller to my face. Radiotherapy is especially good for facial cancers on eyelids, lips, noses and ears that would be cosmetically disfiguring. SO I finally got approved to do it, and was covered by insurance.
Over the holidays I stopped all of my DIY treatments while waiting to start radiation. Well let me tell you they were definitely doing something because the tumor got HUGE while I wasnft treating it. But the topicals weren't enough to get rid of it completely either.
Now for the good news: I am nearly through my radiation treatments (Ifve had 25 out of 30) and my skin cancer is just shrinking away like a miracle. Itfs completely painless and I go in for a five minute appointment each weekday for 6 weeks. I am in no pain or discomfort whatsoever, and am really really happy. I just wanted to share this for those of you like me who are afraid of the knife. Superficial radiation therapy is really incredible. Ifm so glad I stuck to my guns. Keep doing the eggplant even if itfs not going away- just to keep it from getting even bigger faster until you find the right treatment plan for you. Check out SRT on youtube to learn more. Ifm so glad I did.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ueiZwUlRPpY |
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anivoc
668 Posts |
Posted - 03/11/2020 : 21:12:27
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Congrats on fighting for yourself and not accepting the status quo ..It is really frustrating how doctors of different types and specialties don't advise the other options that many times they are very aware of because they might not get the job....sad
Glad in your case things have gone well!
It is a shame that radiation is not touted more ....especially when it is an area that can mess with your quality of life or your looks...
Had I not gone to City of hope in my case it is highly unlikely I would have known or been given the option for radiation.
When I met with the oncological surgeon there he explained that he will cut half of my ear off.."I'll get used to it"..."people lose an arm and think it's the end of the world ...a year later there living life normal...people adapt..." Yep he really told me that...fortunately the dermatologist there ( who I saw after I saw him) said hold on ...there are other options...enter radiation...I met with the radiation oncologist who said no problem we can take care of that and this one and this one......Gotta say I like having a whole ear...that said radiation on my other tumors was not a fun thing but all the basal's seem to be knocked out and the one over my left eye was huge...It's been 15 months and I still have a radiation ulcer there that is slowly getting smaller. All the other basals healed up /shrunk to nothing. Sadly the squamous one on my cheek which almost got got with radiation ( shrunk down to the size of half an M&M from a huge bigger than a half dollar 1/2" thick beast) came back with a vengeance and has left me with a huge scar and a face that is semi paralyzed ( might come back but it's looking less and less likely)
Radiation is definitely an option for small tumors in difficult to treat areas...There is also Brachytherapy which is a different more precise and less invasive way of applying radiation to a specific tumor or area...
COH used tomographic and proton on me...My radiation oncologist at COH felt Brachy was not as good...conversely when I met with the folks at UCLA this year to see if Brachy might be a option for the out of control squamous I was told differently and that Brachy has advanced greatly and it would have been there first line of attack ...Unfortunately with all the radiation I received in my first journey with mask and 35 rounds the long term damage to my tissue in the treated areas could not sustain more radiation and I would have wounds that would never heal...
That's one of the devil in the details that they don't really discuss..radiation messes up your skins healing capabilities forever..but it kills the cancer
I wanted them to do MOHS on my Cheek tumor second time around but was told no...because with Mohs and squamous they would want to radiate afterwards..because I had already been radiated they felt it would be too risky and that instead they needed to go much deeper and further requiring an oncological surgeon and skin grafts...lovely
I've shared my surgery story elsewhere here so I won't repeat but just a few more FYI's on the radiation route and the caveats that come with it....
I temporarily lost the sense of taste...this went on from about 2 weeks into the treatment to @ 1 month after...eating was not fun..I have fully recovered my taste.
Dry mouth...wow that really sucked and even now 15 months later I am only @ 70% ...still wake up at night with the mojave desert in my mouth.
I permanently lost my beard completely on the left side of my face.
I permanently lost a lot of my head hair where they zapped me.
The radiation zapped my jaw so bad I can still only partially open my mouth...barely 1 1/2" so eating sandwiches, fruits and such is a PITA.
So final thoughts...
Radiation is a great option for certain things like your ears, eye lids etc. It may cause cataracts, it may effect you hearing but if you lose an eye lid they have to take your eye...YIKES
Based on my experience if I had a squamous I would have them do Mohs and then radiate rather than what I ended up having to go through..
With regards to which type of radiation there are several and it just depends on where you go and what that particular doctor or clinic knows and understands..Each sit on their mountain with the wisdom they have collected and must feel confident they are doing the right thing..( they need to sleep at night ) I get it and forgive it but we as the patient and sometimes victim must be our own advocate and do our own diligence or just go blindly in faith , that the roll of a dice, that the doctor or clinic you chose was the best choice...
Certainly in my case in retrospect knowing what I know now I would have gone different routes than the ones I chose and or accepted but I take full responsibility for my choices..They all did their best as they understood or believed.
To understand what types of radiation are available go here https://www.cancer.org/treatment/treatments-and-side-effects/treatment-types/radiation/external-beam-radiation-therapy.html
I had tomographic (mask) on everything but the ear which I had proton radiation on...
Being of Medicare age and with a supplemental insurance that is golden I can pretty much go anywhere now and they fall over themselves to see me..Money doesn't talk it swears ( Bob Dylan) I just looked at a bill from my dermatologist at COH for removing the two lesions on my neck for testing ....total time spent talking and removing was at most 30 minutes...5 minutes at most to take the biopsies..needle with numbing solution zap zap bandage done....She Billed $4000 for 5 minutes of work...that does not include the lab work ...$4K just to snip two lesions for biopsy...So much for a non profit hospital...sheesh!
So in my last surgery I used a very well known plastic surgeon who has 70,000 surgeries under his belt. Boy is he ringing the bell. It's like a skin cancer buffet every day for him..I bet he see's at least 30 people a day and pulls off at least 15 to 20 excisions. I can probably safely say he never recommends radiation as a first line approach though when they have aggressive squamous like me he will recommend after he does his thing...As I sat in the waiting room I watched an endless line of mostly old farts like me march in and out with parts of their face missing . Half or partial ears, many noses with bandages covering them...crazy and said to myself...what a wonderful world...ok not really ..I said to myself how sad as I sit there with all of my ear...if they'd only known there was other options.... Whew I'm windy...but passionate about trying to help people be more informed on how to deal with skin cancers. |
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anivoc
668 Posts |
Posted - 03/11/2020 : 21:28:41
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BTW Spirogirl you mentioned the anomaly basosquamous ...How frustrating that is...it is a hybrid and it is different from Basal and squamous and generally more aggressive than both..3 different doctors and one told me he thought the pathologist was incorrect that what I had was probably a baso squamous...when I asked the COH radiation oncologist why they called it just a squamous he said they don't use that term because they just treat as if it were squamous which they take more seriously and go more aggressively at...Problem is if it is a basosquamous statistically it is more aggressive than just squamous and needs to be treated as such..
Which leads me to another fly in the ointment of giving these tumors names...Turns out the are many iterations of each and depending on YOUR DNA and the tumors DNA results and ways to go about treating may vary greatly....GREAT! |
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fRomance
USA
81 Posts |
Posted - 03/11/2020 : 22:37:05
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| Thank you for sharing it's very helpful. |
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radiourban
USA
41 Posts |
Posted - 03/23/2020 : 02:53:00
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| This is a wonderful story, very inspiring. Thank you! |
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radiourban
USA
41 Posts |
Posted - 03/23/2020 : 02:53:10
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| This is a wonderful story, very inspiring. Thank you! |
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radiourban
USA
41 Posts |
Posted - 03/23/2020 : 02:53:14
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| This is a wonderful story, very inspiring. Thank you! |
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radiourban
USA
41 Posts |
Posted - 03/23/2020 : 02:53:29
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| This is a wonderful story, very inspiring. Thank you! |
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fRomance
USA
81 Posts |
Posted - 03/23/2020 : 02:58:08
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| This is a wonderful story, very inspiring. Thank you! |
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fRomance
USA
81 Posts |
Posted - 03/23/2020 : 02:58:19
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| This is a wonderful story, very inspiring. Thank you! |
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fRomance
USA
81 Posts |
Posted - 04/20/2020 : 14:58:03
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| Curaderm's efficacy is unproven and their content is unregulated. |
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fRomance
USA
81 Posts |
Posted - 04/20/2020 : 14:58:11
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| Curaderm's efficacy is unproven and their content is unregulated. |
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fRomance
USA
81 Posts |
Posted - 04/20/2020 : 14:58:18
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| Curaderm's efficacy is unproven and their content is unregulated. |
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fRomance
USA
81 Posts |
Posted - 04/20/2020 : 14:58:44
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| Curaderm's efficacy is unproven and their content is unregulated. |
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Dougrun
92 Posts |
Posted - 09/17/2020 : 20:53:39
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| started treating a spot above the previous one with curaderm. working as expected. very satisfied with the previous treatment. |
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radiourban
USA
41 Posts |
Posted - 09/30/2020 : 01:23:12
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| Dougrun, good thing to know that you are a satisfied user. Hope it works for me too. |
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fRomance
USA
81 Posts |
Posted - 12/17/2020 : 06:01:00
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| It worked great for me, surely it will work for you too! |
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Curaderm
