Cancer Drugs – Hormones and Hormone Antagonists

Hormones are chemicals that cells secrete into the bloodstream. They have an effect on some organ or other type of cell. The concept of hormones was first defined scientifically by Scottish physician Sir George Thomas Beatson. Beatson lived near sheep and cattle farms all his life, and probably knew about a typical practice of farmers at that time in which a cow’s ovaries were removed shortly after it gave birth to a calf in order to keep the cow lactating (producing milk) indefinitely.

In 1878, Beatson demonstrated changes in milk production in rabbits after he removed the ovaries,which suggested the idea of “one organ holding control over . . . another and separate organ” of the body. Specifically, he recognized that this information could holdpromise for the treatment of breast cancer. When he tested his idea by removing the ovaries of advanced breast cancer patients, he often saw improvement. Beatson had discovered the role of the female hormone, estrogen, in breast cancer even before the existence of the hormone was known. His work ultimately led to the use of modern-day hormone therapies.

ANTICANCER HORMONE DRUGS

The body uses hormones to regulate many functions, including growth, digestion, sexual development, and reproduction, among others. Because of their diverse activity in the body, hormonally active drugs can have several therapeutic uses.

Many normal cells in the body grow and perform their regular functions in response to the presence of particular hormones. For example, the cells lining a woman’s uterus proliferate in response to hormones released at the time of ovulation, and male testicular tissues produce sperm in response to the presence
of hormones. Unfortunately, tumors sometimes arise from these hormone-sensitive cells. This can result in tumor tissue that grows vigorously in the presence of hormones and even depends on these hormones for its growth. Anticancer hormone therapy takes advantage of these characteristics by limiting, in different ways, the availability of hormones to the cells.

In both normal and cancer cells, hormones regulate which genes in the cell are stimulated to produce the cell’s proteins and structures.

Hormones are carried into the cell, where they interact with hormone receptors. In fact, tumor cells can be tested to determine which hormones they have receptors for. When the receptor connects with the right hormone, the receptor stimulates genes to produce proteins that go on to perform their functions in the cell. Interfering with hormones at any step along the way ultimately interferes with cell behavior. In the case of hormone-sensitive cancers that depend on the hormone for their uncontrolled growth, interference can end the life of the cancer. Groups of drugs in this category include selective estrogen receptor modulators (SERMS), progestins (megestrol acetate), luteinizing hormone-releasing hormone (LHRH) agonists, and androgenic agonists. The cancer hormone based drugs works by regulating the hormone quantity and flow in your body therefor reducing the multiplication of cancerous cells.

We’ll continue treating this subject as we want our readers to be fully prepared and aware on how to fight against cancer and what are the treatments and couses of it. Read more on the next part of our cancer related drugs articles.

For your health,
The EremedyPharma Team.

Fighting Cancer Comments (0)

Leukeran – Keeping Cancer Under Control

Fighting cancer is not an easy task. More and more patients are struggling with the fight against cancer every day, and keeping it under control is a very demanding objective. For this matter it is extremely important to know and understand what are the symptoms of cancer and how to keep cancer under control once you have been diagnosed with it. Understanding and knowing more about different types of cancer treatments it the right path for you because you will increase your knowledge about how to treat and keep cancer under strict control.

Fighting cancer is facilitated with the help of modern medicine in a treatment known as chemotherapy. One of these medicine used in chemotherapy is Leukeran (either brand or generic Leukeran) which proved to be one of the most successful medicine for cancer treatments. Leukeran is most commonly used for the treatment of acute up to chronic lymphocytic leukaemia, Hodgkin lymphoma, low-grade non-Hodgkin lymphoma and Waldenstrom’s macroglobulinaemia.

Leukeran is a pill available in the form of 2mg brown colored tablets. Chemotherapy is usually given as a course of several sessions (or cycles) of treatment over a few months. The length of your treatment and the number of cycles you have will depend on which type of cancer or leukaemia you are being treated for.

Leukeran may be prescribed for conditions other than cancer. Leukeran dosage may be reduced and therefore the side effects may vary (for a complete list of side effects please visit our dedicated leukeran page by clicking here).

When using Leukeran you must know that using this drug can involve some risks. These risks may include:
*Risk of blood clots
Cancer can increase your risk of developing thrombosis, also known as blood clot, and having chemotherapy may increase this risk further. A blood clot may cause symptoms such as pain, redness and swelling in a leg, or breathlessness and chest pain. Blood clots can be very serious so it is important to tell your doctor straightaway if you have any of these symptoms. However, most clots can usually be successfully treated with drugs to thin the blood. Your health care provider can provide more detrailes about this risk.

*Taking other medicines
Some other medicines can be harmful to take when you are under a chemotherapy treatment. Notify your health care provider about any medications you are taking, including non-prescribed drugs such as complementary therapies and herbal drugs.

*The ability to procreate
Your ability to become pregnant or father a child may be affected by taking this drug. It is important to discuss fertility with your doctor before starting treatment.

*In case of contraception
It is not advisable to become pregnant or father a child while taking Leukeran, as the developing fetus may be harmed. It is necessary to use effective contraception while taking this drug, and for at least a few months afterwords. Discuss this with your health care provider if you have any doubts and before beginning your treatment with Leukeran.

To facilitate cancer treatments Leukeran has been approved to be available for online purchase in the generic form. Generic Leukeran is available for online order from our main pharmacy. Please contact us about this drug if you want to know more information on how to buy Leukeran online. We are available 24/7.

To buy Leukeran online please click here to acces our online pharmacy and place your order

For your health,
The EremedyPharma Team.

Fighting Cancer Comments (0)

Smoking and Lung Cancers – Prevention

Lung cancer is one of the most predisposition condition for a smoker. We all know that smoking is dangerous for our lives and there are strong campaigns against smoking in all media forms. If you just don’t notice these messages that is because you choose to ignore them. As we mentioned before, lung cancer is has as main cause smoking and this does not apply only to people from 65 years of age but to all ages.
Most people think that just one cigarette won’t hurt them but they obviously are unaware that one cigarette won’t leave your lungs completely for a month. If one cigarette can do that, just think how much harm a pack of 20 will do to you. Sitting on the fence at this late stage is not going to help especially wit the overwhelming evidence so perhaps it’s worth considering some recent information. There is no excuse not to keep informed nowadays especially with all the resources there are to help you. Prevention is always better than cure and no-one can say that they weren’t given enough information nowadays to help stop a condition that is preventable. There are some medical conditions that once highlighted the individual will take appropriate action but this isn’t generally the case with smoking.

Despite all the warnings, it is only when something serious happens to them that some smokers take notice and start taking heed of the warnings. If current articles on lung cancer won’t do the trick, maybe respiratory problems will. I saw something once though that stopped me in my tracks; a person smoking a cigarette through a hole in their throat. Some people just never know when to quit, but you have to be pretty self destructive to continue after having cancer of the throat.

You cannot go on explaining things away and ignore the proof that smoking seriously damages your health. Documented evidence and articles on lung cancer are full of conditions that have been caused or made increasingly worse by smoking. We need to work toward a smoke-free environment, because all the rest of us are being assaulted by the second-hand stuff. All too often people have the intention to quit but something disastrous happens and they are forced to, but by then it may be too late to make any difference.

Fighting Cancer, Quitting Smoking Comments (0)

Cancer – Fighting Against Cancer With Modern Generic Meds

There is never an easy way to talk about cancer. It is a very delicate subject and there is no way to talk about it without thinking about the people that are suffering from cancer or that anyone of us can be a cancer victim. Unfortunately thousands of people are diagnosed with cancer each month and some of them have no hope for recovery. But fortunately huge efforts are made for discovering new ways for people to deal with cancer. There are allot of modern meds (both generic versions and branded names) in our day that can help one such as you or me to deal with cancer and to live with it. These efforts have been put to good use by our doctors and pharmacists and there for we will talk in the following lines about such remedies. But before we proceed further on presenting you the solutions we need to introduce you some basic notions about this serious condition.

Cancer is actually the term used for diseases that manifests itself like following: cells multiply by division and when the division becomes abnormal, meaning cells multiplication without control, these cells invade other tissues. Cancer cells spread through the body to it’s other parts through the blood and lymph systems.

When we talk about cancer we don’t talk about just one disease but we talk about many diseases. Due to this there are more than 100 different types of cancer that we know about and even more that we don’t know about. Most cancer forms are named after the organ or type of cell in which they start. (Example: cancer that begins in the colon is called colon cancer)
We can group cancer in a 5 main categories:
*Carcinoma – This form of cancer begins in the skin or in tissues that line or cover the internal organs.
*Sarcoma – This form of cancer begins at bone level, cartilage, fat, muscle, blood vessels.
*Leukemia – This form cancer starts in blood-forming tissue such as the bone marrow and causes large numbers of white blood cells to be produced.
*Lymphoma and myeloma – This form of cancer begins in the cells of the immune system (the most dangerous form of cancer).
*Central nervous system cancers – This form of cancers begins in the tissues of the brain or spinal cord, or both.

All cancers begin in cells, the body’s basic unit of life. For better understanding cancer, it’s helpful to know what happens when normal cells become cancer cells. It goes like this:
The body is made up of many types of cells. These cells grow and divide in a controlled way to produce more cells as they are needed to keep the body healthy. When cells become old or damaged, they die and are replaced with new cells. However, sometimes this orderly process goes wrong. The genetic material (DNA) of a cell can become damaged or changed, producing mutations that affect normal cell growth and division. When this happens, cells do not die when they should and new cells form when the body does not need them. The extra cells may form a mass of tissue called a tumor.

As we said before we’ll present you one of the modern generic meds that can help in the treatment of cancer, in this case prostate cancer. The medicine we’ll talk about is Casodex.
This generic medicine is intended for use with other medicines, not alone. Casodex is a nonsteroidal antiandrogen that means it acts by blocking the action of testosterone. But before rushing on using this medicine you must pass several tests because Casodex cannot be used by anyone. Special care must be taken:
* if you are a woman
* if you are taking any prescription or nonprescription medicine, herbal preparation, or dietary supplement
* if you have allergies to medicines, foods, or other substances
* if you have liver disease

Of course if you already take a treatment it may interfere with the action of Casodex. Special care must be taken if you take oral anticoagulants (like warfarin) because the risk of side effects like bleeding, increases. Also it is very important to check with your health care provider before you start, stop, or change the dose of any medicine. For a complete list of Casodex interference, side effects and uses please visit our main product page as presenting this drug is not the purpuse of this article. The purpose of this article is to make you aware about the fact that modern medicine can help you in the fight against this terrible condition. Due to our scientists and medical researchers there is hope after all.

For your health,
The EremedyPharma Team.

Fighting Cancer Comments (0)