CLL diagnosis

Jeannie · New User Joined: 03 Feb 2006 Posts: 1

Greetings! I have never posted anything on-line, so this is an adventure! This week I was diagnosed with CLL as the result of bloodwork done during a routine physical. My hematologist has designated me a level "0" because thus far I am asymptomatic. He is checking my blood every month and then will see me again at the end of three months, so I guess I am in the "watchful waiting" catagory; however, this is driving me nutty because I keep thinking I should be doing something. Is there any supplement I should be taking? Chinese herbs? Special diet? I would eat stir-fried earthworms if I thought it would help keep me at level 0.
I will be more specific in asking my doctor questions in the future; at the time of my diagnosis, I was just thankful I did not have acute leukemia. As far as my vital statistics, I am 57, female, recently retired from teaching, and thought I was in excellent health. I do strength training at Curves and walk 30 minutes several times a week on a treadmill. Any suggestions will be welcome. Thanks Jeannie[/i]

rlee · Site Admin Joined: 15 Jan 2006 Posts: 245

CLL can be a chronic disease and it sounds like yours was caught early. Yes, many people with CLL can just be monitored overtime. As far as complementary and alternative medicine (CAM), I don't know of any good evidence of CAM helping in CLL. What do I mean by good, well placebo controlled trials that prove benefit. I'm sure you could find something online about a CAM that helps people, but please be careful. Just because it is a herb or comes from a plant doesn't mean it isn't dangerous. Many chemotherapy agents are derived from plants. Well you may say, what's the harm of a megavitamin or something similar. I provide 2 examples:

A common chemotherapy used for patients is methotrexate, an antifolate agent. It was discovered because they tried giving folate, a vitamin, to patients with leukemia and found patients died faster. So logically, it was determined an antifolate agent would be better, and now, antifolates are a class of chemotherapy agents.

2nd, beta-carotene (BC) was the fad in the 1980's. So many trials looked at high dose BC for lung cancer. When the analysis was done, people on high dose BC did worse. Rarely, does anyone advocate BC anymore for this reason.

Now do supplements ever help, yes. Vitamin E and fish oil for heart disease has been shown to be beneficial. So it can work both ways. I think the best thing is to work with your medical team about a healthy balanced diet. Perhaps a dietician could contribute to a plan.

RLee, MD
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RLee, MD

Any information provided is NOT intended to provide specific medical advice to users but rather to provide users with information to help them better understand their health condition and related care. All readers are strongly encouraged to consult with a qualified physician for answers to their personal medical questions.

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