Hello Sandra and Everyone,
Perhaps it's time for update. As I've said in previous emails my wife, Bonnie, and I began the Budwig diet on February 15 of this year. Bonnie is a breast cancer survivor, who received surgery and chemo therapy and has now been clear for roughly four years. She decided to begin Budwig for preventive reasons and to make things easier for me.
I received a diagnosis of non-metastatic Gleason 8 prostate cancer just short of 5 years ago and decided then to continue taking finasteride for BPH and using supplements and dietary changes to hold back my cancer. Last fall my PSA began to spike and after it reached 27.96, I decided to make a change and begin the Budwig protocol. I also decided to also use bicalutamide (Casodex), and dutasteride (Avodart), as well, and began those drugs on March 1, after tests showing that I was still non-metastatic.
To get prescriptions for the two?drugs, I had to fight with my Kaiser Doctors, who want to use Lupron depot in cases like mine. In the end however, I persuaded them to go along with my choices by citing research on both positive results and differences in side effects and just insisting that I would not take Lupron. I have not shared my choice to pursue Budwig, as well as my pharmaceutical choices with my doctors.
I'm tracking the results of my combined Budwig/pharma treatment with monthly PSA tests. Here are my results:
2/3/17 -- 27.96
3/3/17 -- 17.72
4/03/17 -- 4.67
5/03/17 -- 3.11
6/05/17 -- 2.60
You can see that my PSA has been falling substantially, but that the rate of deceleration in decline of the PSA has been slowing as time passes. At first, I thought that the substantial decline from February 3, to March 3, must have been at least partly due to Budwig, but I now think it was too early for Budwig to have been due to an immediate impact of bicalutamide, because its impact is said to be greatest at the start and I think a decline of 1/3 in the PSA is probably possible after 2 days of taking that drug, considering that the next decline was one of about 80 % over 31 days.
One of the differences between Lupron therapy and bicalutamide therapy is that Lupron will generally reduce PSA to a fraction of 1, perhaps as low as 0.1, whereas, bicalutamide will only lower it to perhaps 2 or so, but rarely lower. So, thus far, I think my results fit the bicalutamide pattern and that I can't distinguish, though neither can I rule out, a definite impact from the Budwig protocol.
Looking at the future however, I think that if my PSA results continue to fall, and as time passes they keep ?declining, then I will be able to say that likely Budwig worked, because my PSA results were incompatible with knowledge about how bicalutamide works.
Apart, from the above, I also want to say that Bonnie and I intend to continue following Budwig for good. We've adapted to the FO/CC well and we believe our health is better in general since we've started the diet. So, at this point we're very happy with Budwig and would recommend it to others.
I also want to say that I think this a wonderful yahoo group, and I greatly appreciate the very good information, encouragement and emotional support created here every day. So, thanks to everyone for your good will and contributions and special thanks to Sandra Olson, Denise Newkirk, and Dana Mills, for leading the way in setting the tone and being so generous in their sharing so much with the group.
Warm Feelings and Great Hopes for All of Us,
Joe Firestone
