CLL, Spontaneous Regression

CLL diagnosis- After a diagnosis of any type of cancer most, including myself, search for life style changes or supplements that could slow down the progress of the disease or best of all put it into remission.
Some of my friends shared stories of others successes surviving cancer and that's why I began drinking at least 2 cups of green tea daily and a southern friend swore by the benefits of Muscadine Grape Seed tablets, not just any type of grape seed but specifically the southern Muscadine seed. Why not, I figured it shouldn't make it worse. I did this daily for about 8 years and my white count and lymphocytes stalled and then began lowering to normal. I stopped the green tea and muscadine seed tablets a few years after my blood counts were normal. The oncologist calls it a spontaneous remission, no cure evidently for CLL, it would be found in the bone marrow and it's possible to reappear. No interest in a another Bone Marrow Biopsy which was the standard way to prove diagnosis 26 years ago. I I have no desire to experience that painful procedure again and no point in doing it anyway. Now at age 76 which is 26 years after my diagnosis I still have no CLL markers in my blood .

Well it sounds like you’ve had a fulfilled life so far! So good!! May I ask what life changed you made after your diagnosis? I’m juicing lots of fruits and veggies hoping I can get the numbers straightened out and not have to spend so much on supplements.

Thank you so much for sharing!! That gives me great hope!!🙏🏻💖

I was diagnosed in November 2023 and had a fall in December 2023. Broke my humerus in two. Never broken a bone or had any significant surgery. The bone was not healing properly so here I am a year and a half later recovering from my third surgery which was a cadaver bone and plate and screws. That was 4 months ago and now doing bone healing ultrasound treatments at home until my next followup in August.

Suffice it to say, since I was Stage 0 and no symptoms, this broken arm thing has consumed all my time and attention. I have not been back to my hematologist/oncologist yet. On the back burner for now. I have been taking supplements and collagen, but I've always done that, as well as a healthy diet. I'm mostly geared toward getting my bone healed at this point. Still wonder if the CLL had anything to do with that. My surgeon is awesome but was pretty much unconcerned about that aspect.

So... I'm in a holding pattern right now. Thanks for your response! We'll keep each other informed as time goes on.

I found your post to be very interesting. I also have CLL and would like to do what I can to prevent it from progressing. I asked my oncologist if there were any supplements I could take or if there was anything I could do to halt the progression. She said there was not anything. I have heard before about green tea, but I have never heard before about Muscadine Grape Seed tablets. Having now checked the web, I see there are several types. Can you tell me how many mg you took each day? Thanks!

I simply took the recommended daily dose on the bottle.

I see there are a few different ones. Which one did you use??

Thank you kindly.

My blood's been clear of CLL markers for 15 years and I don't remember the brand or dose. I do know it came from a farm in Mississippi and didn't contain other minerals or additives. I just looked on line and see there are many more choices today and the prices are more completive than they were years ago.

I just came on this thread, and just wanted to mention that I know of one other person, the husband of a friend of mine, who also was diagnosed years ago with chronic lymphocytic leukemia, (CLL), stage 0. It was discovered when he had an elevated white blood cell count, with predominantly lymphocytes, and the cell markers typical for CLL were found on the cells in his blood and bone marrow. He never received treatment for the disease, but saw an oncologist every three months to monitor for any possible progression of the disease.

My friend told me that approximately 6 months ago, his oncologist told him he had no evidence of the disease any longer, a spontaneous remission, it would seem. My friend told me the oncologist commented that he had never seen that before. I don't know what he may have taken in the way of supplements or whatever that may have affected this result, but I know he and his wife eat healthy and exercise regularly.
So it may be a rare thing to be spontaneously "cured" of CLL, but it would seem it does happen sometimes. I'm happy for your recovery, what a relief that must be!

marybird- In my 25 years of blogging about a spontaneous regression on this site and the Inspire site I have never had anyone report about spontaneous regression. Like your friend's
oncologist, my oncologist has never seen this either. I did read about a study in Italy in the late 1990's in which they studied spontaneous regression for CLL and found it does happen in about 5%. This regression is not considered a cure, because CLL can still be found in the bone marrow, it's simply inactive. He said that is different than a remission, in which a cancer is cured. If a patient doesn't regress there is still much hope, most are middle age or elderly and do not die from CLL but from other aging factors so eating healthy and staying active will be beneficial.
You friends profile is identical to mine. Thank you for sharing!