Month 3

Month 3 is the third and final month before my next PSA test. How will all this university research-based knowledge work out?

I learned about the Pritikin Studies and their Institute. While I only skimmed their overall diet which seems a little on the severe side, I learned about four different types of research: 

1) Prostate cancer cells are put in a dish, and the experimenter exposes that directly to the substance under study, be it PSO, Resversatrol, etc. Here you have to deal with the fact that it’s impossible to get the same level of concentration of the drug into your blood by eating a fruit or vegetable. Therefore I take supplements with high concentrations. 

2) Flaxseed or pomegranate juice or some other substance is fed to the experimental subject while a control group does not feed on it. The two groups’ PSAs are taken and compared. This is very strong evidence in my estimation. 

3) The Pritikin method has the subject take the supplement and their blood is drawn and dripped onto Prostate Cancer. Very convincing to me for an in-vitro (outside the body) experiment.

4)  Experiments are conducted by placing human cancers into immunocompromised mice. While there may be a lot to learn here, my focus has not been on these types of experiments.

The takeaway for me was to try to get high concentrations of prostate cancer fighting substances into my bloodstream through supplements and fruits and vegetables as close to fresh picked as possible and properly prepared.

So I order a high powered supplement replacement.

One of my most promising lines of PSA lowering is the PSO, Luteolin, Ellagic acid combination.  The following purchase is a super high concentration of Ellagic acid.

Here are the sponges I used to clean the distiller. I try to always unplug it at 70% complete, so there isn’t so much sediment on the bottom or sides of the heater. I wait 30 minutes or more after I unplug so the unit cools down, then I open and empty the water, refilling it two inches or so with fresh water. And then I scrub some of the sediment off the bottom and sides. Finally, two fresh water rinses before refilling for the next batch. This way I can make up to 20 gallons between complete cleaning, instead of 3 or 4.

Rosemary is the subject of over 4,000 research papers, most demonstrating how Rosemary fights PC.   Here is one summary paper saying the same. I wish to emphasize that many of the 4,000+ papers in the last 3 years discuss potentially different ways Rosemary works to fight prostate cancer. This tells me that the research is no longer about if it fights PC, but how that works. And later, I learned that rosemary is 3% ursolic acid. But ursolic acid, while effective, has the dual problem of a lack of bioavailability owing to insolubility in water, and it only stays in the blood for about four hours. Maybe there is something else in this supplement that addresses that. I am mindful that there is a lot going on in all these different supplements than what scientists study.

Following-Up with My Care Team

Month 3 ends with a PSA test and my urologist appointment. I don’t take the test soon enough for the results to be available for the appointment. A serious discussion takes place about how I should be scheduling my prostate removal, and I get some details from my doctor as I brace with the fear that I may have to do this. My January 2nd PSA test was 6.4, and four months earlier it was 5.3. We scheduled a teleconference for April 2. My new PSA comes in at 4.7 and then my Primary Care Physician appointment happens. My PCP applauds me with a silent hurrah, but curtails my expectations by saying it takes two drops in a row to really have something. I need to both stay the course and find a way to up my game, if possible.

Closing Thoughts

In summary:

• Not all studies are created equal. Think critically when reading research papers, and gather opinions from a variety of experiments and research types.
• Rosemary may slow PSA doubling times, may lower PSA in combination with multiple PSA lowering strategies
• Everything I’ve been doing so far is working
  • In three months, my PSA decreased from 6.4 to 4.7!

Stay the course: I can avoid surgery and radiation if the current trend continues.