WOW - This really is a wow moment. I found the following article in a Diabetes Magazine that I subscribe to, it contains a stunning piece of news about metformin. Metformin, not only pretty standard treatment for Diabetes T2, but now it seems it is a cancer stem cell killer - and killing stem cells is something that standard Chemo doesn't do - thus enabling cancer to return after chemo. This, to me, is W.O.W. I have cut n paste the artice below. It is nice to know that my chance of getting certain cancers is also reduced as I am on metformin. The two months of horrible metallic taste in my mouth and stomach gripes as I got my body used to Metformin all seem worth it now.



Mighty Metformin: The New Cancer Wonder Drug
Sep 25, 2009
Metformin has always been the old reliable for treating new onset type 2 diabetes, but it's beginning to look like it's got a new calling as a cancer treatment. Diabetes Health recently reported on the fact that metformin reduces a type 2 person's risk of pancreatic cancer by up to 62 percent. It's also been observed that people with type 2 who take metformin have a much lower cancer incidence than those who don't. Now it appears that metformin can help with breast cancer treatment as well. A study of mice with breast cancer generated from human breast cancer cells has found that they remained tumor-free for nearly three months on metformin combined with doxorubicin, a standard cancer chemotherapy. In mice given only the doxorubicin, the tumors recurred.
How metformin suppresses cancer has been unclear, but now researchers believe that they may have the answer. According to Dr. Kevin Struhl of Harvard Medical School, the lead researcher of the study, metformin selectively kills cancer stem cells. This is an extremely valuable talent because stem cells, which make up five to ten percent of a tumor's cells, are resistant to chemotherapy. Although standard chemotherapy kills the mature cancer cells that comprise most of the tumor, it can't vanquish the cancer stem cells. Consequently, the tumor is able to regrow after standard chemotherapy. But the combination of standard chemo and metformin appears to be very powerful.
The researchers hope that by adding metformin to the cancer treatment regimen, it will be possible to reduce the dose of standard chemo. According to Dr. Struhl, current chemo regimens load patients up with as much as they can possibly tolerate. With metformin, however, the doses of standard chemo could possibly be reduced, allowing good results with fewer side effects.
Dr. Struhl's study grew out of another project, during which he found that the gene activity changes that occur when cells transform into cancer are a lot like what goes on in diabetes and other inflammatory conditions. He reasoned that if a common genetic pathway underlies different diseases, drugs that work against one disease might also work against another. After screening a number of drugs, he found that metformin was most effective in inhibiting cells from transforming into cancer. Those findings led to his current study, the results of which were published in the September 14 online edition of Cancer Research, a journal of the American Association for Cancer Research.
Although the current research was conducted on mice, their cancer cells were actually of human origin, which is promising. The researchers are now planning clinical trials conducted on humans. This normally lengthy process might be hastened by the fact that metformin is already an accepted drug that is known to be safe. In fact, a clinical trial to see if metformin alone is effective in preventing breast cancer from recurring in early stage breast cancer patients who have already had surgery and chemo will begin enrolling patients next year.
Interestingly, Dr. Struhl and Harvard Medical School have already applied for a patent that would cover a combination of metformin and a lower dose of chemotherapy to treat cancer.

Couple of different subject matters for todays post. Wry Interest and Health. First the wry interest:
Well, I thought that nothing much would take me by surprise, in a pleasant way. This standard from the British Standards Institute BS 6008 proved me wrong. ISO 3103 would appear to be the same standard but regulated by the International Organization for Standardization. I suppose if I stop and think about it logically it shouldn't really suprise me, but I always supposed that 'Standards' would be more for things like bricks, or glass or other tangible objects and measures. I suspect that this is my failing and not that of the standards organisations. In reality anything that could be made in a repetitive process should have a standard methodology, it just never occurred to me that a cup of tea was any such thing.
ISO 6668 then gives us a standard for preparing coffee, and I should imagine that any number of odd things that we do day in and day out can also fall under the auspices of the standards bodies.
Okay, off to check ISO6668, I'm a tad thirsty.

Now the Health:
Just come back from the GP. Good news and bad. The blood sugars have stabilised at between 7 and 8 prior to eating and he is happy about that (as I am !), BP still a little high at an average of 150/90, and I am suffering weight gain (1 stone added in 4 weeks)as a side effect of the Avandamet. A bit of fine tuning and so an Update on my daily meds.

Avandamet (4mg rosiglatazone, 1000mg metformin) twice daily

xenical (120mg orlistat) thrice daily (New for me!)

aspirin 75mg mornings

perindopril 4mg mornings

amlopidine 5mg mornings

doxazosin 4mg night

simvastatin 20mg night

oxycodone 5mg twice daily (pain killers at last!!!!!! :-) )

Net result of all the meds is a general feeling of queasyness, an 'upset tummy' most of the time, some cracking headaches and let's just describe me as 'loose'. But the upside is that the Blood Sugars are under control and the BP is down from where it was, ( i was getting 200+ over 100+), that has to be good for my long term health. It'll be interesting to see how things go with the fine tuning that the new meds will bring. My GP also managed to get my opthalmic appointment bought forward at the local hospital, and now I have an appoinment tomorrow. Now that is what I call service.

Back into the office yesterday for the first time in 2 months. It was quite strange, but good to see everyone again. But Lordy Lordy, after 5 hours I was completely shattered. My arms felt bruised, very odd.
Disquieting reading in the internet today about the new drug regime that my Doctor put me on. According to Washington Post there are side affects with Avandamet that are scary. The data sheet for Avandamet Avandamet also lists a strange side effect - Unexpected Injury. What the hell is that? I never knowingly injure myself, and I am sure that virtually all my injuries over the years have been unexpected.
Despite the scares and the concerns I can report that since dropping 500mg metformin + gliclazide and going onto Avandamet (1000mg Metformin and 4mg of Rosiglitazone) my blood glucose levels are averaging higher at 5.9 rather than 5.3 and the SD is higher at 1.2. Mode value also increased from 5.9 to 6.2. The spread of readings has gone down from 6.4 to 4.1
So I can expect fewer complications and a gradual settling. I have not had a Hypo since moving to the new regime, and my eyes do seem more settled and less prone to variation across the day.
But having had reported reduced liver function (partially the reason for giving up alcohol)and sharp chest pains, reading the Washington post report is unsettling! I have added 5lb to my weight since going on to Avandamet, and that is in only two weeks. But I guess that the risks and side effects of the Avandamet far outweigh the risks of untreated diabetes.
I shall live long!