My CA 27.29 numbers have continued to go up, even on the new aromatase inhibitor, so it’s time for a new strategy to manage my cancer. I wanted to get advice from Nasha Winters, ND, author of The Metabolic Approach to Cancer. She is no longer seeing patients, but is teaching doctors to do what she has been doing for many years. She does doctor-to-doctor consultations, so my Naturopathic doctor, Niki Young, ND, had a consult with Dr. Nasha about me. They had access to many blood tests (Dr. Nasha sent a list of what she wanted), my PET scan, a stool test, and my 23andMe profile.

Dr. Nasha said it’s time to not base my treatment on standard protocols, but look at the needs of my individual body. I feel like I’ve been introduced to a whole new language — the language of SNPS (Single Nucleotide Polymorphisms, pronounced “snips”). They can tell me what kind of help I need in detoxing, what kind of diet I need, what medications will be helpful for me, plus answer a host of other questions I never thought to ask.

Turns out the 23andMe test was changed on August 1, 2017. If I had it done before then, it would have given us many answers. On August 1, 2017 a pharmaceutical company bought 23andMe and took out many of the SNPS because they indicated that some people wouldn’t benefit from their meds. I had mine done on August 13, 2017. So Dr. Nasha has recommended the Nutrition Genome test (plus some others) and we will meet again after I get those results to go deeper into my body’s needs.

In the meantime, there are some changes she has recommended immediately. There has been recent research to demonstrate that high dose Melatonin (180 mg) acts as an aromatase inhibitor, without the side effects that Aromasin has of enhancing the 3 drivers of breast cancer. For now, I am taking the Aromasin every other day and the high dose Melatonin on opposite days. Turns out the only side effect of high dose Melatonin is more vivid dreams. Fun.

She also recommends I do Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy, and use a far infrared sauna to detox. I am high in lead and mercury, but according to my SNPS, chelation is not good for me. I want to start both the Hyperbaric Oxygen and far infrared sauna, but finances have made me procrastinate.

Other information from my SNPS is that I shouldn’t eat a vegan or vegetarian diet. I already knew that from my Metabolic Type, but it felt good to have it confirmed. I was a vegetarian for 12 years after being diagnosed because it was standard protocol for anyone with breast cancer. I didn’t do well on that diet. I had many recurrences of cancer during those years, and switched to eating meat in 2002. Of course, it has to be wild-caught fish, free-range chicken, and grass-fed and grass-finished beef. I haven’t been eating much red meat, but Dr. Nasha recommends I eat more of it based on my body’s needs from my testing. And she is recommending I add more liver to my diet. Because there is so much controversy about diet and treatments, I am excited to be learning that there are actually ways to know what my body needs.

I’m a newbie at understanding the new language of SNPS, and now that I’ve been introduced to it, it seems to be popping up everywhere. Dr. Hyman even did an episode on it in his Broken Brain 2 docuseries this week. I’m eager to find out what we will learn with my next level of testing.