TARCEVA and GRAVIOLA - 1260503

Hi Gon,

I am sorry to hear of your wife's diagnosis, but I'm hoping that Tarceva is effective for her for a very long time.

GRACE's Dr. Bufi has concluded: "I would not take or recommend a graviola product or any graviola extract as a dietary supplement. We do not have any convincing proof of efficacy, dosage, concentration, purity,
nor basic safety data on the graviola plant. It has already been associated with a risk of
neurological problems similar to Parkinson’s disease as well as some other types of
myeloneuropathy movement disorders."

You can read his full discussion of Graviola here: https://www.google.com/url?q=http://cancergrace.org/cancer-101/wp-conte… (the document will open or you can save it as a .pdf file)

JimC
Forum moderator

I agree completely with Jim and the comments from Dr. Bufi, a naturopathic physician. There isn't any information known about the potential interactions between graviola and Tarceva (erlotinib), and there is a chance that graviola itself or the interaction with Tarceva could be detrimental. Given that the value of graviola is quite speculative and not actually evidence-based, I don't recommend such a combination for my patients.

-Dr. West

The median time before progression, which is the point when half of the patients in a group have progressed, is 9-13 months in most trials of EGFR inhibitors in patients with an EGFR mutation. That said, there's a lot of variability, and there are certainly people who continue respond for several years.

Good luck.

-Dr. West

Hi everybody, I am new to this site. My name is Kary and I live in the tropics where graviola(soursop) thrives.

I was a skeptic of natural remedies until I spoke with locals about it. My father was diagnosed with bladder cancer. My sister encouraged me to send her graviola leaves and she was going to make him drink it because he was refusing chemo. His doctor had convinced him to cut out his bladder. He was skeptical about the tea also. He was urinating every 30-60 minute often with blood and pain. After about 3 weeks of drinking the tea made with about 10 leaves everyday. His pain, blood and frequency of having to go diminished greatly. After 4 months of drinking the tea everyday the cancer had gone leaving only some scar tissue.

I don't know about others but this was something our family and his doctor and nurses could not dismiss as his only therapy was the tea. It's been over a 2 years now. He is still cancer free, 80 years old with no side effects. He currently drinks about 5 leaves of tea everyday as well as my wife and myself.

My blood pressure has dropped as well as my father-in-laws BP where he doesn't need his blood pressure medicine anymore, I have become such a believer in this plant I made a website offering it to others for a free or for a small cost. I have received several emails from graviola users that I don't need clinical trials to know that this plant is amazing and can save lives.

Hi Kary,

Welcome to GRACE. Thank you for sharing your father's story; it's great that his problems were resolved.

What the GRACE faculty have said in the previous posts is that no one can tell you that graviola did not cure your father's bladder cancer, but on the other hand it's not possible to state that it did. Sometimes cancer does things in unpredictable ways, regardless of treatment (including suddenly disappearing). In order to recommend a substance as a therapy for cancer, a doctor needs scientific evidence, which is what clinical trials provide. Anecdotal evidence of the benefits of graviola is simply not enough to warrant offering it as an effective treatment. In addition, as Dr. Bufi stated, there is scientific evidence that graviola "has already been associated with a risk of neurological problems similar to Parkinson’s disease as well as some other types of myeloneuropathy movement disorders."

I understand your advocacy of graviola, and I hope you father continues to do well.

JimC
Forum moderator

I'll say that I certainly believe (and hope) we haven't found every effective treatment for cancer. When I say that there isn't clear evidence to support something, I don't mean to suggest that it couldn't or isn't effective, but rather that we need more evidence. My great hope is that more of these treatments can be tested in a more systematic way than anecdotal, one-off reports, as intriguing and meaningful as these can be to many people.

Good luck.

-Dr. West

Thanks for your welcome Jim C and your comments Dr. West,

I think this is a great forum and am happy to be apart of it.

I have other stories just as amazing as my fathers. I have been mailing graviola leaves to people for two years now. I have received some emails from graviola users that have had some very positive results with lung, skin, intestinal and prostrate cancers.

My wife and I drink it everyday. 1 gallon water 5-7 graviola leaves with 2 bags of green tea, two bags of cranberry or raspberry tea and 1/8th teaspoon of stevia for sweetener, 1/4 teaspoon of powder vitamin C. Our friends love it!

Locals here in the islands give the tea to their kids to help them sleep at night and they eat the tender new leaves right off the tree to maintain a healthy prostrate.

Keep up the good work!

I'm glad to hear that your father had such great success. Maybe this could be something that really helps people. I think for myself, like the original poster, the question would be the interaction with Tarceva. We know that Tarceva works and so far has worked for 14 months for me. I would love to try something like the tea, but would be terrified of it causing a problem with my Tarceva. Catch 22. :(

My husband took this for his lung cancer for about 2 1/2 months in 2022..he had the sore rash appear and the weakness...his breathing got very bad...he died Aug 11, 2016....I would never recommend this drug...