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27-year-old paleo crossfitter, just found out I have cervical intraepithelial neoplasia (CIN III), which basically means I have pre-cervical cancer. This came as a shock to me because I thought I was living a pretty anti-cancer life, avoiding neolethal foods and whatnot, but when the dr explained that the HPV virus has been in my body for years (thanks, college) and flares up/ starts to grow when my immune system is compromised during times of stress, it made sense since my life has been kind of chaotic this last year.

I'm scheduled for a cone biopsy soon, but I really dislike the idea of having part of my cervix taken out, especially since I'd like to have more children someday. I know that cervical cancer is caused by the HPV virus, so is perhaps different than other cancers (breast, colon, etc) that can be treated/helped by a ketogenic diet, but would it be worth a shot? I was thinking if I could postpone the surgery for a few weeks and dial in my diet/sleep/exercise as close to perfect as I can, perhaps I would give my body a chance to heal itself before I lose a piece of myself that won't ever grow back properly. Is that taking an irrational risk with my health? And to be honest, I don't have much control over how much sleep I get due to family situations, so I guess I could only dial in nutrition and exercise and do my best at sleep. Or is a piece of my cervix the price I have to pay for all the fun I've had in my life?

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you need to employ my CT protocol stat. And you need a ketogenic seafood laden paleo template change stat. CT protocol is here.jackkruse.com/the-evolution-of-the-leptin-rx – The Quilt Mar 5 2012 at 12:46
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Whatever you do, don't employ QUILT's advice. Might make sense to read what he says, though, and do the opposite. – Jay Mar 5 2012 at 15:02
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Seconded Jay's opinion. Quilt, do you realize you were incorrect about the calories burned by ingesting ice water? It takes one calorie to raise 1mL of water by 1 degree C. – raney Mar 5 2012 at 16:11
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Quilt is referring to a food calorie (1 kilocalorie) in his calculations. A one degree change in Celsius is 1.8 in Fahrenheit, thus the ~2. His calculations look right – Silverspeed Mar 5 2012 at 19:29

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Hi Lizzish,

Sorry to hear this, I just went through the exact same thing this past year. It's scary, and the treatments are fairly invasive. I would go and get the cone biopsy, there's a good likelihood that you will then need to go for a LEEP if the abnormal cells are going deep enough in the cervical tissue. I would do everything your doctor suggests with this and do it quickly. The faster you catch it the better.

After and during the treatments I was taking vitamin d, and vitamin a(my naturopath suggested a high dose of vitamin a for a short period of time). I would be happy to talk via email regarding the details, just let me know.

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Yes, would love to chat with you about it! Thanks so much. What's the best way to get in touch with you? – Lizzish Mar 5 2012 at 2:24
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I'm going to agreeand say that if you want to have kids, having the biopsy is maybe the smartest thing to do at this point. I had a handful of procedures done when I was 18-19 for the exact same thing, and I've had 5 years of normal paps now. Removing a small portion(s) is not going to reduce you likelihood of a safe pregnancy. – Chris Mar 5 2012 at 14:44
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Do what the doctors tell you. Diet is better at preventing illness than curing it. That said, you can probably help yourself greatly by also attending to your diet.

Eat a low omega 6 diet (like under 3% of your calories). This likely makes promotion of any cancer cells to actual cancer tumors extremely difficult.

Get your vit D levels up to about 50ng/ml by taking D3 supplements. Take some vit K2 as well - perhaps the LEF vitamin K complex. Ensure also adequate vit A by eating liver occasionally (no more than once per week). These fat soluble vitamins push cells to differentiate and, thus, make it hard to advance (and may aid regression) on the metaplasia, dysplasia, neoplasia spectrum.

A low carb diet that is low in omega 6 is hard to achieve. (Grass fed dairy fat, coconut fat, and macadamia oil are low omega 6 fats.) I think you should try cycling into and out of ketosis (like 1 to 2 weeks max) rather than staying in ketosis long term; using calorie restriction during this period may also help.

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Excellent answer. – Phoenix Mar 5 2012 at 16:37
Jay, what's your opinion on dessicated liver capsules? I know it's better to actually eat the liver, but this is the only way I can ingest it. – legup May 2 2012 at 21:57
my instinct is that it is better to just eat eggs then, along with an otherwise nutritionally dense diet. – Jay May 3 2012 at 12:54
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I like to do multiple things at the same time. Both Doctor and Diet.

Things to research:

Ketogenic diet.
Ketogenic diet w/ coconut oil.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Natto (fermented soy).
Some grassfed liver
Vitamin D3
Change meat to Grassfed Lamb/Beef and Wild Salmon
Healing your gut. http://www.siboinfo.com/ Dr Allison Siebecker will do skype calls with you. If you visit her once in person then I think the skype calls can be full up patient doctor..

Things to get rid of:

All Vegetable oils. (This seems like a no brainer but of course research.)
All Dairy. (research)
White Sugar
Soy Protein Powder.

You might study the work of:

http://www.dr-gonzalez.com/index.htm

He is WAPF friendly but not Paleo. He has a video series in cancer that is interesting. Being his patient involves one flight a year to NY. My friend visits him.

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I would also add getting rid of fruit. not just "white" sugar..ALL sugar. "While it's widely known that cancer cells use glucose to fuel their growth, last week's findings were the first to link fructose to cancer growth. The cancer cells grew at fructose concentrations easily attainable in our North American diet and they did so at a similar rate to glucose. " research "fructose and cancer " theglobeandmail.com/life/health/… I know many Paleos are fruit friendly.. I am not. sugar is sugar and fruit esp so. – jo60 May 2 2012 at 18:40
I like this "diet and doctor" method, could be perfect for her situation. – JeJ May 2 2012 at 20:52
I would not be so eager to throw out fruit as jo is. One or two servings of low sugar, high flavonoid fruit per day is what I am allowing myself now that I have had a breast cancer removed - blackberries and a half a grapefruit, for example. – arugula Jun 9 at 12:23
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Wait! I had the same issue 15 years ago and was able to shift it with diet.

I took a folic acid supplement and did some visualization (releasing anger against previous sexual partners who didn't respect me). Two months later, my Pap smear was normal.

I suggest liver as a great source of bio-available folate--many people aren't able to convert folic acid to folate efficiently. 4 oz. 2 x a week.

If you can't handle liver, there is a bio-available folate supplement out there. Google it or bug me!

I would also supplement Vitamin D3 if you aren't already. I'd be aggressive and do 10,000 IUs/day for a couple of months & then test my levels and adjust. Take some Magnesium Glycinate before bed 200-600 mg to help with sleep & make your D work properly.

I wouldn't go ketogenic, since it isn't full-blown cancer. You want to reduce your stress as much as possible, for sure.

ETA: Some studies on PubMed do not show any effect from folic acid supplementation, but this one did:http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/7064879

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She has CIN 3, this advice is not appropriate. – Matt Mar 5 2012 at 1:31
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Why not, Matthew? I've been misdiagnosed several times. – Dragonfly Mar 5 2012 at 1:51
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And I have seen far too many women losing body parts unnecessarily. – Dragonfly Mar 5 2012 at 1:51
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And here's a testimonial from someone who reversed CIN3 with alternative treatment:inspire.com/groups/… – Dragonfly Mar 5 2012 at 2:23
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And there's reverse, regress and CUT OUT. Why gamble with something like this? It makes me very uncomfortable to see this sort of advice on an internet forum. What if her docs are wrong and it's further along? What if what if what if. I think it's one thing to support her and educate her and cheerlead thoughtful decisions and another thing to tell someone to put off surgery for an avoidable cancer. – syrahna Mar 5 2012 at 5:41
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I'm in complete agreement with everyone here who recommends following your doctor's advice.

That said, this article was recently tweeted by Robb Wolf. It might be helpful to read it closely.

Rainer J Klement and Ulrike Kämmerer, Is there a role for carbohydrate restriction in the treatment and prevention of cancer?

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Kevin Brown of Liberation Wellness argues that doctors may be the leading cause of death. gnolls.org/1794/… It is a scary time. Unless you have a stellarr dr.(few and far between) many do not have a clue. They are as ifnorant in their science as nutritionists are. Sorry..3rd generation medical family – jo60 May 2 2012 at 18:44
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Here is the data I gathered on why it would make sense to GET RID of as much SUGAR, regardless of what stage your cancer is in.
These website I like because it relays the sugar molecule as sharp daggers in the body. The sugar molecule is like sharp daggers in your bloodstream that scrape the linings of arteries and organs. Once the tissue has been scraped by the sugars, it scars and forms a scab. The scab can be broken by the sugar that continues to flow through the bloodstream, and the body has to form an even bigger scab. This process eventually leads to a blood clot that closes off the blood vessel causing a host of health problems, including strokes, heart attacks, poor circulation, kidney failure, erectile dysfunction, neuropathies and loss of vision, loss of feet/hands (smallest capillaries are in your eyes, hands, feet). Vital organs eventually lose their ability to produce enzymes, repair themselves or provide nutrients to other cells in the body.

Intuitively I can only surmise, Sugar (without insulin therefore insulin resistant) scrapes every fascia/soft tissue, which would include you cervix. Your cervix is trying to heal as quickly as it can, at the same time your cervix is being degraded by the sugar molecule, causing abnormal cell growth. THe last 2 websites were the most significant in my opinion.

http://freediabeteshealth.com/Diabetes_The_Silent_Killer.html
http://www.livestrong.com/article/212987-about-peripheral-arterial-disease-in-people-with-diabetes/ http://www.oprah.com/oprahshow/Dr-Oz-Explains-What-Diabetes-Does-to-Your-Body-Video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XDtiYahxr5I&NR=1 (Gary Taubes talks about cancer researchers linking sugar to cancer-- start time 4:40)

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This is the most uneducated answer I have ever seen. "sugar is like sharp daggers"? WTF? For one thing, blood vessel damage occurs from oxidized lipids, which incites an immune response, forming plaques. The inflammatory response degrades the plaques, causing them to rupture and re-heal. The ruptures cause clots and heart attack. Sugar doesn't scrape things. To think, there's a bunch of little white table sugar molecules floating around my blood stream. hahaha. Riiiight – musclegeek May 2 2012 at 18:30
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Start to take green tea, a lot of high quality green tea. Its not a quick fix, but on the long run it seams to be a pretty power tool agains cancer.

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My girlfriend just got diagnosed with cervical cancer. We get the biopsy results in the morning. I'm encouraging her to get more opinions because it sounds like misdiagnosis is common.

I did get her to start paleo about 6 months ago. With great results, so she loves it.

I need to get her to quit smoking. This is the biggest challenge.

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I agree with misdiagnosis..esp the pre-status. about 30 years ago my doctor said I had pre-cancerous cells. I quit getting annual pap smears..and maybe had 2-3 more..I think my last one was 3-4 years ago. completely normal.

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Intermittent Fasting!!!! IFing induces autophagy and has shown huge promise in battling the spread of cancer.

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I am on a very high dosage of D3 to try and beat my Leukemia on a 100day self imposed trial with associated Magnisium Citrate , vitamin K2 for correct absorbsion and a high protein low carb diet - Just a very important point on the supplementation of K2 if you are on blood thinning medication make sure your GP is aware there is a problem with one interacting with the other.

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