You can read about this (or watch the video) at various places. One is TheFocalPoints.com.
“84.4% of Cancer Patients Taking Ivermectin + Mebendazole Reported No Evidence of Disease, Tumor Regression, or Cancer Stabilization After 6 Months”
It just sounds too good to be true. And you know want that usually means. I’ve not done a deep dive into this report but I’m very skeptical. The study lumped a bunch of different cancer types together: breast, pancreas, colon, lung, etc. The uneducated among us may think all cancers are alike. They are not. They behave differently and, traditionally, require different therapeutic approaches for the best outcome. If (and that’s a big IF) there is a unifying underlying chemical or cellular phenomenon that causes all cancers, then a panacea like ivermectin/mebendazole may be an effective treatment. (In case you’re wondering, I was prepared to take ivermectin during the pandemic but never did.)
Just a reminder, I am not a cancer specialist. If I had cancer, I would consult a cancer specialist, typically an oncologist.
Authors of the study at hand do note that “…these findings should be interpreted as hypothesis-generating. Urgent prospective, randomized, placebo-controlled clinical trials are warranted to validate these observations and further define optimal dosing strategies.” You may recognize one of the authors, TV celebrity Dr. Drew Pinsky. What a Renaissance man! Other familiar author names are Peter McCullough and Harvey Risch.
Dr. David Weinberg at Science Based Medicine has done a deep dive and concluded:
This is a shoddy research study presented as a quality improvement project. This dubious classification functioned as an excuse for lack of interface with relevant regulatory bodies.
There is validity to the assertion that ivermectin and mebendazole show anticancer activity in preclinical studies. This study provides no meaningful evidence for or against the efficacy of such treatments in humans with cancer.
—–Steve Parker, M.D.
PS: Did you know there’s a way of eating that’s linked to lower risk of developing certain common cancers? It’s the Mediterranean diet!
Filed under cancer
I’ve noticed that many of my type 2 diabetic patients have knee osteoarthritis, aka degenerative joint disease. That’s why I’m sharing my experience here.
I had considered this therapy a couple years ago but didn’t try it after reading that it had to be applied four times daily and that it may take 2-3 weeks to take effect, with no guarantee it would work. That just seemed like too much hassle. The hassle/benefit equation changed for me recently so I decided to give it a go.
The active ingredient in Voltaren gel is diclofenac, which is a non-steroid antiinflammatory drug (NSAID). NSAIDs can wreak havoc on the GI tract, causing ulcers and gastritis. It can also damage the kidneys. Topical application to the problematic joint should prevent those adverse effects, assuming there is negligible, if any, systemic absorption.
My wife picked up a tube for me so I don’t know how much it cost. The 150-gram tube has enough gel for 33 doses to a knee. The dose for a smaller joint like a wrist is half as much, so the tube would hold 66 doses. The package insert says it may take up to seven days to work. “Use Voltaren Arthritis Pain 4 times a day every day for up to 21 days for treatment of arthritis pain or as directed by your doctor.” “If no pain relief in 7 days, stop use.”
I resolved to try it for a week, which just about used up the entire tube.
I think it worked somewhat. Could have been a placebo effect, or just the effect of massaging my knee four times daily, or the knee just improved spontaneously. It didn’t work so well that I wanted to run out immediately and get another tube of it. In fact I haven’t used it again in the subsequent three months. My other knee is bothering me now so I got a 100-gram tube of the generic diclofenac (Equate brand) at WalMart today for $12-15. I’ve used Tiger Balm for immediate relief when the arthritis interferes with my sleep but, man, that stuff is expensive.
—–Steve Parker, M.D.
Filed under Knee Pain
I recently started taking an omega-3 fish oil supplement with hopes of preserving cognitive function as I age. Cold-water fatty fish are a natural source of omega-3s and I haven’t been eating much lately. My supplement contains 1040 mg of omega-3 fatty acids. It’s a large pill that’s difficult to swallow sometimes.
Now I’m starting to wonder if I should continue. From Daily Mail:
The [single observational study] researchers compared 273 people who take omega-3 supplements daily, with 546 similar non-users – and found that those taking fish-oil pills appeared to decline faster on several cognitive scores.
However…
…when it comes to omega 3s and cognitive function, in a major [meta-analysis] review published recently in Scientific Reports, analysis of 58 randomised controlled trials from multiple countries suggested that omega-3 supplements may be associated with slightly better cognitive outcomes – or slower decline in some areas, particularly memory.
—–Steve Parker, M.D.
PS: There’s a diet linked to lower risk of cognitive decline and dementia. It’s the Mediterranean diet.
Filed under Dementia, Supplements
I was watching something at rumble.com last night when up popped and ad informing me that type 2 diabetes is caused by a parasite in the pancreas. Drink a concoction of three common household items and your diabetes is cured in 20 days. Because you killed the parasite.
I did not click through for the details.
Ads like that make me think that maybe I shouldn’t be watching anything at rumble.com.
—–Steve Parker, M.D.
Filed under Uncategorized
Last summer, a man’s brother-in-law suffered a fatal heart attack. The hospital bill for four hours of emergency care: $195,628.
The man’s sister-in-law was ready to pay it. He asked her to wait. He requested an itemized bill with CPT codes, the universal billing codes hospitals use, and fed the whole thing into Claude, an AI chatbot.
Within minutes, Claude found duplicate charges, services billed as “inpatient” even though the patient was never admitted, supply costs inflated by 500% to 2,300% above Medicare rates and charges for procedures that never happened. He cross-checked with ChatGPT. Both AIs agreed. He wrote a six-page letter citing every violation by name.
The hospital dropped the bill to $33,000. An 83% reduction. Zero medical training. A $20 app.
This is amazing.
I have a friend who was diagnosed with acute myelogenous leukemia about nine years ago. He was intubated quite soon after arrival at the emergency room. The bill for the first hospital day was ~$1,000,000. His wife went through the entire itemized hospital bill by hand and found numerous mistakes that were eventually rectified
We’re grateful beyond words that my friend survived and is doing well to this day.
—-Steve Parker, M.D.
Filed under healthcare reform
From The Guardian:
Researchers analysed health data for more than 100,000 people between 2004 and 2018, covering several generations of people aged 50 and above across England, the US and Europe.
They found increasing rates of chronic disease, especially when comparing people born between 1936 and 1945 and those born from 1955 to 1959.
Rates of chronic disease rose across successive generations in all regions, with more recently born adults more likely to have cancer, lung disease, heart issues, type 2 diabetes and high cholesterol than their predecessors at the same age.
Although prevalence of type 2 diabetes rose at the same rate across all regions, diagnoses of cancer, heart problems and high cholesterol increased the most in England and Europe, with baby boomers and people in their 50s being 1.5 times more likely to have these issues than their predecessors at the same age.
Levels of grip strength, a good measure of overall muscle strength and healthy ageing, decreased across generations in England and the US, but either increased or remained constant in Europe.
Why is health worse?
Pollution? Poor food quality? Increasing rates of obesity? Increasing social isolation? Over-crowding? Loss of religion?
—–Steve Parker, M.D.
Filed under Longevity
The main focus of this video is the zoster vaccination. The physician also has hopeful comments about multivitamin-mineral supplementation, omega-3 fatty acid supplementation, and creatine.
I recently hit an improvement plateau with my weight training, so have started supplementing with creatine 5 g/day. It is quite popular these days.
Remember when collagen peptide supplementation was popular a few years ago. To reduce joint pain. I gave it a decent chance and saw no benefit.
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Filed under Dementia, Uncategorized
I don’t know if this guy’s legitimate or not. At least what he proposes looks safe to try. It’s interesting that he doesn’t mention the underlying diagnosis of the knee pain. I assume he’s referring to chronic pain unrelated to acute trauma. He says it works to reduce pain at the front of and inside the knee. The suggested exercise is simple and quick. Sounds to good to be true.
—–Steve Parker, M.D.
Comments Off on Too Good to Be True? Reduce Knee Pain by 50%
Filed under Knee Pain
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Diabetic Mediterranean Diet 