A 3rd Opinion - What does this blood test mean?

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“However, cancers such as pancreatic, kidney, leukemia and myeloma have long been touted as mostly genetically driven, with risk mostly determined by whether the cancer runs in the family combined with smoking habits.”

 
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Rinse & rePeat:
"For someone with prolactinoma (5mm nodule within left side of pituitary gland, prolactin levels of 70 my/ml), but who can’t use cabergoline or bromocriptine due to side effects (specifically, liver problems), what natural methods can they use to restore balance to their hormones and/or shrink the tumor?”

RAY PEAT:
“Thyroid acting partly through the liver helps to lower prolactin production.”


Rinse & rePeat:
“….are there any particicular foods to focus on having more of and ones to particularly avoid with prolactinoma?”


”RAY PEAT:
“Excessive water drinking, excessive protein, and PUFA are some of the things that increase it. It happens that the signal in the brain that increases TSH when thyroid hormone is low, is also the release hormone that activates prolactin secretion.”
 
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Ray Peat shared this link…..

“In early lab tests on cancer cells from brain tumours from adults and children, results show liquid aspirin combined with other ingrediants to be up to 10 times more effective than chemotherapy at killing brain tumour cells.
In its liquid form, aspirin is able to cross the blood brain barrier, which makes scientists believe that it could have potential to be combined with other drugs to form treatment for brain tumours. However, it is difficult to produce a completely liquid aspirin and aspirin that is described as 'soluble' actually contain tiny particles of the drug.
Although early results seemed promising, further research is needed before a clinical trialcan be considered .”

Intern Med J. 2020 Mar;50(3):357-362. doi: 10.1111/imj.14468.
Addition of low dose acetazolamide as an adjunct in patients undergoing high dose methotrexate is safe and beneficial
Matthew Ku 1, Ali Bazargan 1, Constantine Tam 1 2
Abstract
Background: High-dose methotrexate (HDMTx) is utilised in central nervous system lymphoma and acute lymphoblastic leukaemia due to its ability to penetrate the blood-brain barrier. Despite its efficacy, nephrotoxicity is a potentially serious toxicity that could also exacerbate other methotrexate-related toxicities and compromise dose intensity. Acetazolamide (AZL) is a carbonic anhydrase inhibitor that causes an increase in bicarbonate excretion and consequently urine alkalinisation. Following occurrences of HDMTx-induced acute kidney injury (AKI) due to inadequate urine alkalinisation at our institution, routine AZL was administered to appropriate patients from 2010 onwards.
Aims: To analyse the addition of AZL to routine renoprotective measures, given that inadequate urinary alkalinisation is the major risk factor for methotrexate crystal precipitation and prolonged excretion. In addition, since fluid overload is a common consequence of HDMTx treatment, the effect of AZL on fluid balance was also examined.
Methods: This is a retrospective, single-centred cohort study examining the mitigation of HDMTx-induced toxicities by AZL in 92 patients over a 6-year period.
Results: AZL showed a strong trend of preventing either AKI (as per CTCAE version 4.03) or delayed methotrexate elimination (>5 days), especially in males. Furthermore, AZL also resulted in reduced weight gain and fewer episodes of urinary pH <7.0.
Conclusion: AZL appeared to diminish the incidence of HDMTx-induced toxicities, including reducing oedema-related weight gain. With mild, preventable hypokalaemia as the only noteworthy toxicity, AZL could be considered as an adjunct to HDMTx patient care.

Aspirin | The Brain Tumour Charity
 
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“Therapeutic thinking has been influenced by the doctrine of the mutant cell as the initiator of cancer, leading to the idea that only things which kill the cancer cells can cure cancer. But when the body stops activating the processes of inflammation and growth, normal processes of tissue repair have an opportunity to eliminate the tumor. Even the fibroblasts which normally secrete collagen can participate in its removal (Simoes, et al., 1984). Something as simple as eliminating lactate can change their functions.” -Ray Peat

 
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BTI: Do you think there are ways to prevent cancer, and if so, what would be the top four ways you would recommend?

RP:
John Gofman, who in the 1950s was the US Government’s leading propagandists for the safety of ionizing radiation, did a large study* in which he showed that medical radiation contributes to the majority of cancer and heart disease in the US. Several factors (including estrogen, unsaturated fats, and toxic metals) synergize with the carcinogenic effects of radiation, so besides avoiding medical radiation, it’s good to reduce the polyunsaturated fats in the diet, to reduce toxic chemicals and other stressors, and to eat a protective diet, emphasizing calcium, magnesium, the oily vitamins, and moderate amounts of the essential nutrients.
 
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“Lingonberry has also been shown to increase red blood cell and liver enzymes needed for antioxidant protection. We need antioxidants to protect vessels and nerve tissue, and also to help decrease the damage from inflammation. Proanthocyanidin extracts from lingonberries were also found to be effective against the bacteria Staphylococcus aureus, which can cause a wide variety of infections.”

 

FoodForeal

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My husband had this blood test taken under stressful conditions from a spinal compression fracture, that originally happened from a golf swing. He thought it was just a pulled muscle and went about his business in pain, hoping for it to heal. When it didn't after two months he went to a highly touted back surgeon, who has 5 clinics, and he did 2 x-rays and said his back looked healthy and that there was no cancer. Five weeks later my husband drives himself to the hospital in pain to find that he had two back fractures. A blood test was sent out to Mayo Clinic and was labeled "Smouldering Myeloma" by somebody at the clinic or hospital, I don't know, but the Oncologist at the hospital says he has Myeloma. There has been so many conflicting opinions and dropping the ball with his health, with every twist and turn, this last couple of months, and so much pressure from doctors wanting his business, suggesting a bone marrow transplant, stem cell and gene therapies, before ever meeting him or doing a biopsy. He had a blood test and urine analysis done two weeks earlier at Urgent Care owned by the same hospital with elevated proteins showing up in his urine, which they diagnosed as kidney stones, which was confirmed to be true at the hospital. Can any person on this forum tell anything for certain from his blood test without further testing and a third opinion?
Give him a pregnancy test if you need to test for cancer. Because he is male you can be sure a positive test result indicates cancer.
"
Griffin continues: "The trophoblast in pregnancy indeed does exhibit all the classical characteristics of cancer. It spreads and multiplies rapidly as it eats its way into the uterus wall preparing a place where the embryo can attach itself for maternal protection and nourishment."
The trophoblast is formed in a chain reaction by another cell that Griffin simplifies down to the “total life cell,” which has the total capacity to evolve into any organ or tissue, or a complete embryo. When the total life cell is triggered into producing trophoblast by contact with the hormone estrogen, present in both males and females, one of two different things happens. In the case of pregnancy the result is conventional development of a placenta and umbilical cord. If the trophoblast is triggered as part of a healing process however, the result is cancer or, as Edward Griffin cautions: "To be more accurate, we should say it is cancer if the healing process is not terminated upon completion of its task." Stunning proof of this claim is readily available. All trophoblast cells produce a unique hormone called the chorionic gonadotrophic (C.G.H.) which is easily detected in urine. Thus if a person is either pregnant or has cancer, a simple C.G.H. pregnancy test should confirm either or both. It does, with an accuracy of better than 92% in all cases. If the urine sample shows positive it means either normal pregnancy or abnormal malignant cancer. Griffin notes: "If the patient is a woman, she either is pregnant or has cancer. If he is a man, cancer can be the only cause." So why all of the expensive, dangerous biopsies carried to “detect” cancerous growths? One can only assume that Medicare pays doctors a larger fee for biopsies than pregnancy tests.
"
 

FoodForeal

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Would a pregnancy test detect cancer in
a postmenopausal woman.
I don't know but I think because pregnancy tests test for cgh there can only be two causes for a positive test; cancer or pregnancy.
 

FoodForeal

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Hmm looks like it could be benign, but it can't hurt to take a pregnancy test and see just to add it to your knowledge about your body.

Elevated hCG can be a benign finding in perimenopausal and postmenopausal women​

"​

In a perimenopausal or postmenopausal woman, an elevation in human chorionic gonadotropin (hCG) can raise the concern of malignancy or even pregnancy, but it can also be a benign physiologic finding due to production in the pituitary gland in this patient population. Diagnosing the underlying cause of hCG elevation can be challenging, especially if a pituitary source is not considered. Pituitary hCG production remains largely underrecognized and can lead to unnecessary testing, harmful therapy such as chemotherapy, or delay in receiving appropriate care for other unrelated diseases. It is therefore important to establish guidelines to aid medical evaluation.

The human chorionic gonadotropin (hcg) level is routinely measured to diagnose and monitor pregnancy. In addition, because hCG can be elevated in females with trophoblastic disease, germ cell tumors, and other malignancies, it is often used as a prognostic marker and for disease monitoring.1 These days, more women, even those in perimenopause and menopause, are having their hCG levels measured to rule out pregnancy before they undergo imaging studies or treatments that could harm a fetus.

However, elevated hCG levels have been detected in as many as 0.2% to 10.6% of perimenopausal and postmenopausal women who are not pregnant and have no disease or tumor.24 This phenomenon remains underrecognized, and appropriate patient care may be delayed while the source of the elevation is being sought.

In this paper, we review the evidence regarding how to assess perimenopausal and postmenopausal hCG elevation.

"​


Postmenopausal pregnancy? Evaluation of elevated hCG in a 59-year-old woman​

"
Slightly elevated serum human chorionic gonadotropin (hCG) can be a normal finding in postmenopausal women. We report a case of a 59-year-old woman with a history of abnormal uterine bleeding who presented with a concern for pregnancy after developing nausea and vomiting a few weeks after unprotected intercourse. Although pregnancy was extremely unlikely, hCG was obtained in order to reassure the patient since she reported that her mother conceived at the age of 60. Serum hCG was positive, prompting concern for malignancy versus pregnancy. Stable serum hCG levels, elevated follicle-stimulating hormone and negative transvaginal ultrasound ruled out both malignancy and pregnancy. Positive serum pregnancy test and hCG elevation was attributed to normal postmenopausal state.

Various disease processes result in elevated human chorionic gonadotropin (hCG) which can alarm both the patient and the healthcare provider. The birth rate for women over the age of 50 has increased since 1997 with Hamilton et al1 reporting 743 births for this population in the 2014 Centers for Disease Control and Prevention National Vital Statistics Reports, higher than the 677 reported in 2013. The patient’s history of unprotected sexual intercourse, combined with her family history of women with viable pregnancies in their late 50s, led to the ordering of pregnancy testing that was unexpectedly positive. This prompted two important questions: Was our patient indeed pregnant? Or did she have a malignancy in the setting of abnormal uterine bleeding? We, along with our colleagues, were unaware of the physiological increase in pituitary secretion of hCG in some postmenopausal women. Collectively, we rarely order hCG in women over the age of 50 years; however, it is important for primary care providers to know how to accurately interpret the results in the few instances that hCG is measured in this population.
"

Persistently Elevated Human Chorionic Gonadotropin in a Menopausal Woman
"
A sexually active 50-year-old woman with a history of hypothyroidism and a family history remarkable for cancer presented to her primary care physician with complaints of constipation and abdominal cramping. The patient had been amenorrheic for 28 months and, although some intermittent spot bleeding had occured, was assumed menopausal. Because of ovarian cancer concerns, quantitative serum human chorionic gonadotropin (hCG)5 and α-fetoprotein tests were performed; liver function, steroid hormones, and pituitary gonadotropins were also evaluated (Table 1). The increased hCG (16 IU/L; reference interval: <3 IU/L) was concerning and the laboratory was consulted. Analysis of the hCG concentration on a different manufacturer's assay and platform produced consistent results (Table 2). In addition, 1 month before this presentation, the patient's hCG concentration, measured by a different laboratory on a third manufacturer assay/platform, was 13 IU/L. The hCG concentration recovered linearly after a 2-fold dilution and was not affected by treatment with a heterophile blocking tube. Urine hCG was negative when assayed on a qualitative point-ofcare device. With the exception of increased thyroid-stimulating hormone (TSH) (7.486 mIU/L; reference interval: 0.400 –5.000 mIU/L) and follicle-stimulating hormone (FSH) (129 IU/L; reference interval: 16 –110), all other laboratory tests were normal. Abdominal and pelvic ultrasound revealed no obvious abnormalities.
"
 

FoodForeal

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This study seems like it might provide an insight into pituitary hormones so I'll leave it here:

Pituitary as a Source of HCG: Residual Levels After Bilateral Testicular Tumor Removal​

"
Context. Challenging clinical scenario in which elevated β-human chorionic gonadotropin (HCG, subsequently termed HCG) levels suggested occult tumor metastases after removal of bilateral testicular cancers and metastases from them and as well as after chemotherapy. Case Report. A 22-year-old male, post excision of bilateral testicular tumors, who had no imaging or clinical evidence of residual tumor but an elevated HCG raising the question of the presence and location of occult tumor metastases. Clinical Questions. Does luteinizing hormone (LH) cross-react with HCG in current assays? What levels of testosterone and estradiol are necessary to suppress LH and follicle-stimulating hormone (FSH) in a male patient with bilateral orchiectomy, and therefore lacking inhibin? Does the pituitary secrete HCG and under what circumstances? Assessment. Current HCG assays no longer cross-react with LH as did prior assays, but the presence of heterophile antibodies and other factors such as biotin can still cause false positive HCG levels. In the chronic post-orchiectomy state, the pituitary is relatively resistant to LH and FSH suppression by testosterone. The pituitary secretes HCG in very small amounts unless interruption of negative feedback results in high LH and FSH whereupon HCG levels become elevated. Clinical Conclusion. A GnRH antagonist suppressed both LH and HCG in this patient indicating that the elevated HCG was secreted by the pituitary and not by occult tumor metastases. Further credence for this conclusion resulted from the lack of a progressive increase in HCG levels over a 4-year period of follow-up and from no evidence of metastatic tumors on serial imaging.
"
 

David PS

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Would a pregnancy test detect cancer in
a postmenopausal woman.

In a post menopausal woman, one would expect a positive pregnancy test to be a false positive. If a person got such a false positive, I would take that as an indication to look into the possibility of cancer with a little more urgency.
 
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Give him a pregnancy test if you need to test for cancer. Because he is male you can be sure a positive test result indicates cancer.
"
Griffin continues: "The trophoblast in pregnancy indeed does exhibit all the classical characteristics of cancer. It spreads and multiplies rapidly as it eats its way into the uterus wall preparing a place where the embryo can attach itself for maternal protection and nourishment."
The trophoblast is formed in a chain reaction by another cell that Griffin simplifies down to the “total life cell,” which has the total capacity to evolve into any organ or tissue, or a complete embryo. When the total life cell is triggered into producing trophoblast by contact with the hormone estrogen, present in both males and females, one of two different things happens. In the case of pregnancy the result is conventional development of a placenta and umbilical cord. If the trophoblast is triggered as part of a healing process however, the result is cancer or, as Edward Griffin cautions: "To be more accurate, we should say it is cancer if the healing process is not terminated upon completion of its task." Stunning proof of this claim is readily available. All trophoblast cells produce a unique hormone called the chorionic gonadotrophic (C.G.H.) which is easily detected in urine. Thus if a person is either pregnant or has cancer, a simple C.G.H. pregnancy test should confirm either or both. It does, with an accuracy of better than 92% in all cases. If the urine sample shows positive it means either normal pregnancy or abnormal malignant cancer. Griffin notes: "If the patient is a woman, she either is pregnant or has cancer. If he is a man, cancer can be the only cause." So why all of the expensive, dangerous biopsies carried to “detect” cancerous growths? One can only assume that Medicare pays doctors a larger fee for biopsies than pregnancy tests.
"

It is certainly a good starting place, better than a yearly check-up to get mammograms and x-rays.
 
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“Evidence is growing that honey may have the potential to be anticancer agent through several mechanisms (Figure 3). Though the full mechanism is yet to be fully understood, studies have shown that honey has anticancer effect through its interference with multiple cell-signaling pathways, such as inducing apoptosis, antiproliferative, anti-inflammatory, and antimutagenic pathways. Honey modulates the body immune system. There are still many unanswered questions; why sugar is carcinogenic, while honey which is basically sugar has anticarcinogenic properties. Honey of different floral sources may give different effects. More research is needed to improve our understanding of the positive effect of honey and cancer.”

 
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Wow!

“A priest, president of Human Life International (HLI) based in Maryland, has asked Congress to investigate reports of women in some developing countries unknowingly receiving a tetanus vaccine laced with the anti-fertility drug human chorionic gonadotropin (hCG). If it is true, he wants Congress to publicly condemn the mass vaccinations and to cut off funding to UN agencies and other involved organizations. The natural hormone hCG is needed to maintain pregnancy. The hormone would produce antibodies against hCG to prevent pregnancy. In the fall of 1994, the Pro Life Committee of Mexico was suspicious of the protocols for the tetanus toxoid campaign because they excluded all males and children and called for multiple injections of the vaccine in only women of reproductive age. Yet, one injection provides protection for at least 10 years. The Committee had vials of the tetanus vaccine analyzed for hCG. It informed HLI about the tetanus toxoid vaccine. HLI then told its World Council members and HLI affiliates in more than 60 countries. Similar tetanus vaccines laced with hCG have been uncovered in the Philippines and in Nicaragua. In addition to the World Health Organization (WHO), other organizations involved in the development of an anti-fertility vaccine using hCG include the UN Population Fund, the UN Development Programme, the World Bank, the Population Council, the Rockefeller Foundation, the US National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, the All India Institute of Medical Sciences, and Uppsala, Helsinki, and Ohio State universities. The priest objects that, if indeed the purpose of the mass vaccinations is to prevent pregnancies, women are uninformed, unsuspecting, and unconsenting victims.“
 
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“Numerous studies have shown that coffee drinking is associated with a lower risk of dying from all causes of death. However, associations with cancer overall or with specific types of cancer are unclear. In 2016, an expert working group convened for the International Agency for Research on Cancer Monographs Programme reviewed the world’s body of human and laboratory research on coffee drinking and cancer risk, and they found the evidence of carcinogenicity of coffee drinking to be “unclassifiable”.

They also found that coffee drinking is not a cause of female breast, pancreas, and prostate cancers, but may reduce the risk of uterine endometrium and liver cancers. The evidence was judged to be inadequate for other cancer types. Reasons for the lack of convincing evidence included inconsistent results across studies and issues with data quality.“

 
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“When cancers are metastasizing, their phospholipids contain less stearic acid than the less malignant tumors (Bougnoux, et al., 1992), patients with advanced cancer had less stearic acid in their red blood cells (Persad, et al., 1990), and adding stearic acid to their food delayed the development of cancer in mice (Bennett, 1984). The degree of saturation of the body's fatty acids corresponds to resistance to several types of cancer that have been studied (Hawley and Gordon, 1976; Singh, et al., 1995).“ -Ray Peat
 
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“In the 1980s the oil promoters were becoming more sophisticated, and were publishing many experiments in which the fish oils were compared with corn oil, or safflower, or soy oil, and in many of those experiments, the animals' health was better when they didn't eat the very toxic seed oils, that contained the “essential fatty acids,” linoleic and linoleic acids.

Besides comparing the fish oils to the stronger toxins, another trick is to take advantage of the same immunosuppressive property that had seemed troublesome, and to emphasize their ability to temporarily alleviate some autoimmune or allergic diseases. X-rays were once used that way, to treat arthritis and ringworm, for example.

And, knowing that cancer cells have the ability to consume large amounts of fatty acids, they would test these fats in tissue culture dishes, and demonstrate that they were poisonous, cytotoxic, to the fast growing cancer cells. Although they caused cancer in animals, if they could be shown to kill cancer cells in a dish, they could be sold as anticancer drugs/nutrients, with the special mystique of being “essential fatty acids.” Strangely, their ability to kill cancer cells under some circumstances and to suppress some immunological reactions is being promoted in close association with the doctrine that these fats are nutritionally essential.“ -Ray Peat
 
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“Eating low-fat seafood (sole, whitefish, turbot, scallops, oysters, lobster, shrimp, squid, etc.) once in a while can provide useful trace minerals, without much risk. However, fish from some parts of the ocean contain industrial contaminants in the fat, and large fish such as tuna, swordfish, Chilean sea bass and halibut contain toxic amounts of mercury in the muscles. Chilean sea bass (Patagonian toothfish) is very high in fat, too.

About ten years ago I met a young man with a degenerative brain disease, and was interested in the fact that he (working on a fishing boat) had been eating almost a pound of salmon per day for several years. There is now enough information regarding the neurotoxic effects of fish oil to justify avoidance of the fatty fish.“-Ray Peat
 

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