I'm curious, because many years ago, when my dad was given a Lupus diagnosis, I happened to be seeing a doctor in LA who was the associate of a Daniel Wallace/Rhuemy. At the time he was some big wig at Cedar Sinai in Beverly Hills and also treated a lot of CFS/FM.
He has written a book on CFS/FM and one on Lupus back then. I got the one on Lupus to read up on my dad. One of the things he said was that people with Lupus, don't seem to get cancer. At the time, he had been treating about 400 people with Lupus. Not a one of them had cancer.
The ratio is so they say, 1 out of every 4 will get cancer. So theoretically he should have had somewhere in the realm of 40, but he had none what so ever. Give or take a few for say age.
Every now and then, we hear someone here has gotten cancer, but it seems pretty rare considering how many of us there are here.
Would you be interested in seeing what our ratio is? Excluding most skin cancer, but including melanoma, we could just say YES in a post if you have it now or have had it in the past. If you have never, just say NO. Also state, if, you had it whether or not it was before or after Lyme.
Then we can kind of figure a ratio...sort of.
Please
[ 06. October 2007, 11:41 AM: Message edited by: Jellybelly ]
Posted by Lymetoo (Member # 743) on :
I thought our ratio would be high because of our immune systems.
For me .. it's no.
Posted by tailz (Member # 10014) on :
Not yet. My head hurts though.
Posted by 5dana8 (Member # 7935) on :
One yes on cancer.
I think the lyme can weaken our immune systems & leave us open to alot of secondary problems.
Posted by viva (Member # 8183) on :
Ditto on Dana's statement.
Husband was diagnosed this past May, and I wonder whether a stronger immune system would have fought it off.
Aviva
Posted by Neil M Martin (Member # 2357) on :
Three cancers diagnosed since 1999.
Lymphomas w/ symptoms that overlap Lyme are both in remission. Rubra Vera still active.
Posted by radfaraf (Member # 11909) on :
No.
Posted by cactus (Member # 7347) on :
No cancer here. Knocking on wood.
My uncle had a bad bout with RMSF in his teens, and went on to develop Multiple Myeloma in his 60s. I would not have thought the two connected, but did some research and found a few connections between them.
Posted by Cobweb (Member # 10053) on :
yes, but in my case it seems to have been caused by HRT ,many years on Hormone Replacement Therapy.
Posted by Robin123 (Member # 9197) on :
Q on the lipoma situation - I have spreading lipomas in my legs. These are fatty tissue tumors. So I would consider it a cancer of sorts, in terms of uncontrolled cell growth. I would also like to know how to stop it. Not sure anyone knows.
Posted by trueblue (Member # 7348) on :
No
Robin, Don't quote me but... I believe lipoma and lymphoma are 2 different things. Lymphoma invloves the Lymph system and lipomas are like you described, fatty tissue deposits but generally benign, I think. (I seem to have some of those.)
Posted by MamaWolf (Member # 10578) on :
No
*she says as she wildly knocks on wood*
Posted by joalo (Member # 12752) on :
Yes!
Thyroid cancer...
Posted by Jellybelly (Member # 7142) on :
Me.....no.
For those of you who have already posted and have had cancer, maybe you state before or after Lyme.
Posted by hostbody (Member # 12695) on :
no cancer for me
Posted by cbb (Member # 788) on :
Lyme since late 1970s or early 1980s. Diagnosed 1992.
Cancer in 2000.
Posted by TexasLyme (Member # 11920) on :
NO!!..... and I come from a family with many different types of cancer.
Posted by MaryOH (Member # 5609) on :
I was diagnosed with Lyme one month before I found I had breast cancer at the age of 36. That was 7 years ago and the chemo cured my cancer, not the lyme though. That right there says it all about how hard lyme is to treat.
Posted by Geneal (Member # 10375) on :
No for me.
I pray that this continues.
Hugs,
Geneal
Posted by HaplyCarlessdave (Member # 413) on :
No for me. neither...., and I will always do everything I can to maximize the probability that that this continues!... DaveS
Posted by tailz (Member # 10014) on :
Does pre-cancer count?
If so, skin and cervical.
Posted by zil (Member # 12048) on :
Diagnosed with Lyme Aug. 07 and have been sick for years. I had an ultrtasound of my thyroid a couple weeks ago and have a nodule I have to have biopsied. Could be papillary carcinoma. Just one more thing to add to my list. Liz
Posted by lymeladyinNY (Member # 10235) on :
No cancer. Had a lipoma on my face removed in 1988 - doctor said it was "pre-cancer".
Posted by Michelle M (Member # 7200) on :
Large high risk breast lesion, partial mastectomy. Pre-diagnosis but probably post lyme.
Has not come back!!
Michelle
Posted by twopuggles (Member # 10971) on :
Yes, Melanoma in 2001. Prior to Lyme in 2004. Seemed to be the start of my immune system decline.
Posted by Jellybelly (Member # 7142) on :
So far.....YES...7 NO...13
I suspect the NOs are not replying, PLEASE DO!!!
Posted by heiwalove (Member # 6467) on :
nope.
Posted by klutzo (Member # 5701) on :
Hi Jelly, As you know, I used to run a Fibro support group, back when I thought I had Fibro and had never heard of Lyme. I was sponsored by the Arthritis Foundation.
Their Program Director oversaw my group, and she had Lupus. She died a few years later of non-Hodgkins Lymphoma, which is a cancer, so there is at least one Lupus patient who got cancer!
Also, I see a couple of people here posted they've had or may have thyroid cancer. I cannot remember where I read it, but I read that CFS patients get thyroid cancer at a rate 40,000 times the general population. It is a rare cancer, so that still translates to only 7% of CFSers getting it. Of course, I am assuming that CFS and Lyme are related,and some would disagree.
I also saw figures, again for CFS, of 40 times higher than normal for non-Hodgkins Lymphoma, and higher rates (don't know percentages) of Burkett's Lymphoma, Myoglioblastoma, and cancer of the salivary glands. I had one case of the salivary gland cancer in my support group.
NOTE: To those who wonder why I am using the full names of the doctors in the rest of my post....they are not LLMDs, do not treat Lyme, and as far as I know, they do not accept the premise that CFS and FMS are mostly Lyme Disease.
Are you familiar with Dr. Byron Hyde of Canada? He has devoted his career to treating CFS. IF you make the assumption that most if not all CFS is Lyme plus coinfections, usually including HHV6, then his research may be relevant to your question.
He followed all of his patients that he could keep track of for over 25 years and wrote a paper entitled something like, "On the Edge of an Epidemic: The First 25 Years"....I am paraphrasing ,as I am not sure of the exact title. I think it was quite a large study with over 1,000 patients.
If I remember correctly, his results showed that by the 25th year of illness, 70% were dead of cancer, 20% had committed suicide, and 10% were still alive. Pretty gloomy. I think he must have not included the under age 20 crowd in this, since many of them get better in the first two years, but I am not sure.
This does not square with Dr. Cheney, who has written about his CFS patients dying from congestive heart failure, due to the effects of what he calls compensated cardiomyopathy. THis is not the same as dying from the cardiomyopathy, which he says does not happen, as CFS protects them from it.
As you know, Cheney's been criticised for seeing cardiomyopathy everywhere, due to his own problem with it, but his research and the duplicate research done in England, Japan and Colorado seem to support his assertions.
IMO, this makes sense with CFS, as it is accepted that in CFS the TH2 side of the immune system is going great guns as it does in autoimmunity, while the TH1 side is turned off, and TH1 is what kills cancer. NK cells are the first line of defense against cancer, and NKs have been shown to be inactive in both CFS and FMS, as well as low in the CD57 type of NK cell.
Of course, if you do not think CFS and Lyme are mostly the same illness, this is irrelevant, but it is interesting if you do.
Personally, I have not had any cancer, but I am in the 3rd stage of the 5 stage development of stomach cancer, and am having regular EGDs as a result and taking a supplement (L-glutamine) to try to heal the abnormal gut mucosa. However, it runs in one side of my family, and may have nothing to do with my Lyme.
Klutzo
Posted by dguy (Member # 8979) on :
thyroid cancer
Since this is a self-selected group of responders, I don't know if this survey will produce meaningful data.
It's interesting that several have reported thyroid cancer, however I don't know if the rate of such reports is any different than for non-lymies.
Posted by klutzo (Member # 5701) on :
dear dguy, Please read my post above...I was writing the same time you were. IF you think CFS is the same as Lyme, there is a big difference in thyroid cancer rates.
Klutzo
Posted by Carol in PA (Member # 5338) on :
I know of a woman in her 40's who has a diagnosis of lupus, and now has cancer of the reproductive system.
Carol
Posted by pamoisondelune (Member # 11846) on :
No.
Posted by AZURE WISH (Member # 804) on :
no cancer.
Sick with lyme since 1987. (so I have been sick for 20 years)
I am 30 years old now so I think my age puts me at a lower risk for cancer (at least most of them) plus I never smoked.
Posted by Marnie (Member # 773) on :
May I add Dr. B ?...prostate.
Scott once posted Dr.B became interested in lyme because he "had" lyme once.
And, if I remember correctly, Troutscout's (Kent) wife had breast cancer. His entire family had lyme.
Most cancer cells originate as epithelial cells that wandered off...these line the blood vessels. They are the cells Bb attacks first.
Cancer cells are undermethylated, have very few mitochondria (powerhouses) left, there is DNA damage (replicate out of control), use sugar for energy...the list goes on and on.
Cancer happens very very slowly....over years usually...unless it is triggered by a virus...esp. those viruses that hit the pancreas.
H. Pylori...another bacteria... is believed to trigger gastric cancer.
Bb isn't the only pathogen that can start the ball rolling!
NORMALLY our NK cells...natural killer cells...destroy about 4 precancerous cell every day.
It is an ongoing battle...for all of us.
Posted by mushroomman06 (Member # 13088) on :
No cancer. Knocking on wood as others. No family history of such.
Posted by tdtid (Member # 10276) on :
I too am knocking on wood, but no cancer yet, although my family history is filled with it.
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