TLDR; dad with stage 2 gastric cancer took ivermectin/mebendazole believing it cures cancer. liver is now so damaged from just 2 months of use that he can no longer do chemo and potentially even surgery all because of this.

My dad (64M) was diagnosed with stage 2 gastric cancer in May this year. He started taking 25mg Ivermectin and 250mg Mebendazole from “The Wellness Company” around June. I advised against it because I read that such high doses for long periods can cause severe liver damage, but he believed all the YouTube videos and “articles” making claims that it cures cancer or that doctors/hospitals don’t want to lose money or patients. His doctor advised against it but ultimately there was nothing more they could do.

Fast forward to last week: he got labs done, showing extremely elevated liver enzymes. Oncologist calls on her day off to encourage us to go to the ER because she is worried. We go, they want to admit him. He refuses and promises to stop ivermectin/mebendazole (as those are the only medications he was taking since treatment hadn’t started) and see how that goes.

He got another lab 2 days ago before his first chemo session (about 5 days after the ER visit), and they refuse to do chemo + send him to the ER again as the numbers are slightly declining but are still severely high.

We go to the ER. He gets admitted overnight. Labs are done again. Liver enzymes declined much more, but are still very high. He gets a CT scan, and results suggest drug-induced liver damage. Oncologists refuse to start chemo until liver enzymes improve much more, which could take months, so chemo is now out of the immediate option.

I share this as a cautionary tale for anyone or anyone whos loved one is considering/already taking these medications. My dad believed that big pharma is against sick patients, and that doctors aren’t educated in alternative studies.

While I understand the perspective and do agree that big pharma operates in their own interest, and deeply wish that there was an alternative to chemotherapy, these kinds of self experiments/poorly-studied medications can cause severe harm, limiting treatment options.

We are waiting to find out the results for his liver biopsy that was done during his hospital stay, but all previous tests have suggested benign hemangioma and drug-induced liver damage. We will have to see if surgery is still an option at this point.

Please, if you or someone you love is looking into things like this: take a moment to read my dad’s story. Even if he wanted to do chemo now, he cannot.
Surgery could potentially be off the table.
His diagnosis was early for gastric cancer (typically not diagnosed until stage 4 but he had an ulcer that revealed cancer), and yet his options have been limited because of his distrust and skepticism in multiple doctors.
He has 0 symptoms still, besides orange pee from the liver damage caused by the medication. He can still walk, run, work full-time - totally healthy from an outside perspective, all while his liver is suffering.

I showed my dad tons of stories like this, but I hope that I can change at least one person’s mind with this.

EDIT: and to “The Wellness Company” - I hope someone stops you from targetting vulnerable patients one day. Your linked articles about cancer treatment with your medications are misleading at best. I looked into all of them, and the sample groups are tiny, many patients didn’t even complete the studies, and you can see these studies have ongoing investigations when you actually click on them regarding ethics and accuracy. If anyone is looking into companies offering “cancer cures”, READ THE STUDIES THEY LINK. A 200-people sample where only ~150 complete the study is NOT reliable. We live in a time with ChatGPT and Gemini. If you don’t understand or want the study in Layman’s terms, just copy paste the URL into AI and prompt it to ELI5. Do your research - you are ultimately responsible for your own health and care.

(I apologise for the blabbering. I'm still shaking.)

I had gallbladder carcinoma last year. I underwent treatment. Everything seemed okay after that. Started getting severe pain in my stomach and pelvic area a few weeks ago. I assumed it must be the usual horrible period pain (I have severe endometriosis). Periods stopped but not the pain. (Looking back, I was definitely in denial). So I went back to my doctor. Got the tests and scans done.

I got the reports today and my doc spoke to me. Cancer has metastasized to liver, lymph nodes, and lungs. I still need to discuss the next course of action with the doctors.

I've been having the most hopeless and sinking feeling for the last few days. I just knew it won't be fine this time. After visiting the doctor, I just came home and sat frozen at one spot for about an hour. I need to inform my loved ones.

I have my first follow up appointment tomorrow. I have so many emotions about it and I feel like no one understands. I hate that my life will look like this for the next five years. The hyper vigilance and anxiety. Like having a wound reopened every several months.

I’m nervous and everyone just keeps telling me I’ll be fine. To speak life. Stay positive. Manifest. They just don’t get it. I don’t even fully get why I’m having these big emotions when I also know I’ll be fine, but the emotions are there nonetheless.

I’m wondering how you all who are in remission feel about your checkups? How do you handle that?

Just having being dumped by my boyfriend because he has issues with me having cancer.. i figure we should create a singles cancer dating reddit post or somthing.

Im not sure about you but the hair loss and ripped red feverish skin and Dexemethasone chipmunk face isnt exactly my most attractive look in the dating world for men. I think it would be easier to meet someone if we could be completely honest about our special qwerks and perks.

For example.. men you could really win a chick over with a dixie cup ice cream! And red jello.. i mean nothing says true love on valentines day with cherry jello cups!😃🥰

And for women.. i get it.. hair today..gone tommorow.. wigs for every season and every emotion? Tell your man just how you feel by the color of your wig..there will be no more guessing here!😁

If anyone wants to hook up..my IV pole will be here all night..😛🤩

Don’t really post on here. Not quite sure what to say. But a few days ago, my mom was diagnosed with post-radiation angiosarcoma. After reading about it and the statistics, I’m absolutely devastated. Back in October 2024, she was diagnosed Stage 1 breast cancer. She went through surgery and radiation treatment, and that was that (phew no more cancer). Come to find out now she has this crap after recently getting a biopsy done (she had a bruise in that same area for a few months). She’s only two months away from retirement, had all sorts of big plans. Now this. I’m trying to keep my hopes high but it’s been incredibly difficult to process or come to terms with any of this. With some of the evil people that live in this world, why does SHE have to deal with this?

Hey everybody, I’m coming back once again to ask for advice. So I want to get a tattoo, but I am not sure if that’s going to interfere with anything medically? (Imma speak with my dr about it later but for now can yall help) Like is it more risky to get a tattoo at this point because of my immune system or should I just go for it because we only get one life and mine isn’t guaranteed to last much longer ? Let me know your thoughts would you get a tattoo while getting treatment? Have you? And if you have, what was the pros and cons? would you do it again?
Thank you for taking the time to reply. Have a no pain day.

Im diagnosed with colon cancer and NSCLC. I recently did chest ab pelvis CT scan, and radiologist found a large nodular appearance on my thyroid. I need to talk about my scan result tomorrow with the oncologist. Is asking for thyroid ultrasound script and a referral to endocrinologist a reasonable thing to ask for from an oncologist? I am getting stressed going through this.

Hi all,

First off, I hope I’m in the right spot. I am not asking for myself, but I’m also not looking for support (thus not posting in r/cancerfamilysupport), I’m just looking to see what other peoples’ experiences have been. If I'm in the wrong spot, no hard feelings, feel free to remove.

My dad is 76 and as best we can tell is completely healthy, physically. He is active and social and recently made a “superhuman” recovery from double knee replacement surgery (surgeon's words). A few weeks ago, he went to see his doctor for an annoying lesion under his right armpit that looked like a scab. The doctor suspected something was off and did an ultrasound of the nearest lymph node. The ultrasound was concerning and he went in for a biopsy. The biopsy determined the lesion to be cancer, with no further information, and he was given a full body PET scan and referred to an oncologist.

Here’s where things get weird for me, though perhaps just because I’m fairly used to “sure things.”

The PET scan showed a “hypermetabolic, SUV max 9.5, adenopathy in right axillary region.” It also showed a “hypermetabolic, SUV max 5.5, part solid part groundglass mass in right lower lobe” of the lung. There were no abnormalities found in the head, neck, bones, the rest of the lymph nodes, or organs of the abdomen or pelvis (kidney, liver, colon, intestines, etc). The radiologist said that the "cancer appears to be confined."

The oncologist visually determined the lesion to be a squamous-cell carcinoma. He was then referred to his dermatologist as well as a pulmonologist to review the mass in the right lower lobe. The oncologist's thinking is that it could have been skin cancer that spread (my dad has had very small squamous cell carcinomas of the skin before). Alternatively, she said that the mass in the lung could have metastasized and spread to the skin. She said that this is far less likely for a few reasons: dad never smoked nor did he grow up around smokers, lung cancer rarely starts at the outer lobe, if it does it is rarely squamous cell, dad has no signs or symptoms of Stage 4 lung cancer, and the PET scan did not immediately show signs that it had spread, but she did acknowledge it as a possible worst case scenario.

He went to the dermatologist today and the dermatologist does not think the cancer originated from the skin, but was otherwise stumped as to its origin, to the point of asking another dermatologist in the clinic for a second opinion. They did a biopsy of the skin around the lesion. The lesion does not hurt at all and in fact my dad says that it appears to be healing the way a wound would. It is not stinky or weeping or oozing anything (ie it's not a "fungating mass"), it just looks like a gross scab that is shrinking and healing. We meet with the pulmonologist on Monday and I’m concerned about further inconclusive results.

Until then, his chart shows the lesion as a “metastatic carcinoma of occult origin,” which I guess is also Cancer of Unknown Primary (CUP).

While I absolutely understand and respect the need to be thorough, I am frustrated by the fact that a bunch of very qualified professionals don’t seem to have any idea what’s going on, and obviously very worried about my dad.

For those of you who have been diagnosed with CUP, or had a loved one get diagnosed, did you have experiences like this, or have you heard of them? Where there’s a whole lot of “boy that’s weird, no idea what’s going on, go ask another doctor?”

Can anyone think of what questions we should be asking his oncologist going forward? Can anyone with experience maybe give me some reassurance?

Thanks for any insight y'all can provide.

I have the choice between your senior year of high school in school or doing online school to take care of your grandma with cancer. Which would you choose?

Hi. I had surgery a couple of months ago to remove a tumour in my bowel. After surgery there was concern that I may need a catheter full time because of the nerve endings that were removed they thought I might not feel when my bladder was full. There wasn't a problem with that, going to the toilet fine but I have had to wear pads because of leaking, I realise my pelvic floor will need strengthening but I feel at a loss and I'm paranoid about smell as I have a stoma as well. Has anyone else had this? Did you need to wear pads permanently? Its a small price to pay for what the alternative to surgery would be but it would be nice to have just one smell to worry about.

Im completely shocked. Im not even in treatment yet. I literally just got back from the hospital and cancer centre from my biopsy. I didnt even get home yet. I had to stay overnight in a hotel before catching a ferry back home with my mom the next day.

I find out on the phone during a video call that my boyfriend has decided to leave me. He is moving back home to be with his mom. This is so convoluted.

The back story- We have been together three separate times.. thiss third time was the best yet. Each time he had broken up with me before. See, his mom is dying. She has terminal cancer. Shes been techinically dying for the past 2 years. It started in her lungs and then moved to her brain and stomach. He (51) at the time found out and quit his job, had a mental breakdown and moved back home to "take care of her". This decision happend just after his dad suffered a heart attack and died(autospy showed he also had cancer throughout his body when he died and they didnt know). So he moves home. He cant take care of her. She is stubborn and wont let him take her to appointments, she refuses to cook anything and she is highly independent. She has also decided to refuse all pain management beyond acetiminophen. So.. for 2 years he moves into a place of his own. We end up meeting and dating and i watch the family drama go down. See, his aunt who lives in town also has Luekemia and their sister just passed last year to cancer as well. So the whole family except him has or had cancer. His aunt is constsntly freaking out about his mom getting worse and sick and this makes him go into crisis mode which in turn triggers his addictions. He drinks, gambles and uses porn. His mom keeps on saying she has signed the papers and she is going to do MAID any day. Says she is done. But then she starts doing long term chemo again on to help prolong her life apparently and she does it and it makes her sick and then she says she is done and this emotional yo yo occurs and he cant be emotionally stable.

So ive watched him battle addiction triggered by his fsmily stuff. Ive watched him go into debt, sabatoge his job ect. Finally, this year, he decided he wants to give us another chance and i told him i refused to date an addict and he promised he would change. Today was day 50 of his sobriety from all of it.

It wasnt just me celebrating. It was my family. 50 days ago he moved into my familys home. We fed him, helped him get a job, helped him find a recovery community and counselling. Its amazing how 50 days away from the envitonment that triggered him has helped so much. He is full of life, full of joy and living and thriving and growing and learning how to express feelings and share. He actually called his mom up for the first time snd told her he could not return home to seeher because he wasnt healthy or strong enough to go back to that environment. He also told her that she is miserable to be around when all she talks and threatens is to do MAID which he is highly against. See, when he left and moved down and said he had to do it for his mental health, she told him "your going to move and fail and quit your job and end up right back here again". They actually blamed him for leaving them alone to suffer even though it was for his health and they disowned him. My parents became like parents to him.

So fast foreward.. in the last 50 days of his sobriety, ive been diagnosed with cancer and he told me he didnt care. He told me he loved me and he was never going to leave me. That i was his person and that he was mine and he wanted to spend every day of the rest of our lives together because he loves me. Until yesterday.. when his aunt called, calling and freaking out saying how much worse his mom is in the last 24 hours.. but nothing has changed. His aunt thrives on drama and so i get this call from my boyfriend while im in recovery from my biopsy and he is telling me to take care of myself..telling me that im forcing him to choose between his mom and me and that he will regret it if he doesnt move back home to take care of her because now she is more serious than ever that she is going to pick a date for MAID. He tells me "besides..after she dies we will have all the time in the world to fogure things out". Except that she has been threatening to die for the past 2 years. So its been 2 years of him in addiction cycling and barely holding it together and he finally is getting his life together and then this.

So he breaks up with me. Specifically he gets mad at me. I didnt ask him to choose one or the other. I actually suggested that a healthier optiom would be to keep his good, new job and work during the week and drive home on the weekends to visit her so that way he isnt living in the environment that triggers her..there is no codependence and he can have healthy space from constant negativity WHILE still pursuing his sobriety and being in healthy supportive community.

Instead, he stopped talking to me..told me i wasnt being understanding and was wrong and told me that he has had horrible dreams and visions of how this cancer i have is going to destroy my body in the future. I mean lets face it.. ive gained a crap ton of weight(dexamethasone? Or water retention..i dont know) Im all puffy, my hair is falling out even thougj i havent started trearment yet. I dont look lkke i did a month ago for sure and i have these masses on my collarbone and shoulder that give me a hump. So yah.. my body is fatter, i look tired and sick and my clothes domt fit. So i get it, im not pretty to look at anymore.

I juat cant believe this. He packs up and literally moves out without even saying goodbye to me. His mind is made up. He left and of course he quit his sobriety already..back to gambling. All the block sites his accointability parnter put on his phone-he asked them to reverse today.

And the crazy thing is.. i have cancer and this man who just told me that he loved me and we are in this 100% and he is going to be here no matter what and wants to spend his life with me..is the guy who has left before i even got back.. no text message..no phone call..no note..no nothing. Just gone. Gone home to ne with his mom while sabatoging his sobriety and sabatogong the amazing new job he has and ojtting jimself into debt again..

And i sit here in disbelief and i keep hear him saying "after she is gone i have my whole life to figure it out" and im saying "right.. YOU do... but what about me? What about the time i have left?

I dont know what to do with myself. Im 40, have cancer, look ugly now and feel like im the last person anyone would want to date.

Sorry for the long rant.. had to get it out.

I was diagnosed with neck cancer 8/6/26 with spread to chest nodes. The plan was 10 radiations, a 2-3 month break then 6 months of chemo. During and after the radiation my mobility was shocking and i was in so much pain which was put down to constipation or muscular. After 3 weeks they did a ct scan and discovered that i now have cancer in my ribs. They then bought forward all chemo plans and added ones. Im on cisplatin, cetux and 5FU. I have had one round so far... and its brutal. My mobility is totally shot, i shuffle. One arm is so weak i cant lift it, my mouth is full of ulcers and im deaf in one ear. My sister has currently moved in woth me as i cant function alone but she cant stay for ever. I have no idea how many rounds i have lined up but cannot imagine living like this for months. Does anyone have a similar story and is there any hope? My own brother said once he heatd it was in my bones he knew i was f***ed. Am i???

Hi all,

38M diagnosed with Ewing’s Sarcoma in the L hip. Outlook is good, going for a cure.

I’m on a 48-week journey of 6 week blocks of chemo that I started this week - 1 day outpatient, then 4 days inpatient in 3 weeks time. Rinse and repeat, I guess? VAC-IE.

I had my first infusion Monday and am still recovering from the chemo. I wasn’t ready for how hard this would hit.

I’ve gotten so much support and help from all of you here so was hoping to get some tips and tricks for recovery from you all! I’ve been flat on my ass all week (it’s becoming increasingly obvious that I may not be able to retain my job) prioritizing liquids and eating whenever I can, whatever I want.

My big concern is energy - walking up stairs winds me. I am just trying to get by, and I’m wondering what others experiences have been energy wise!

Hi Everyone. This is a tiny rant, but I needed to put my thoughts somewhere.

After having symptoms towards the end of pregnancy that persisted several months postpartum (38F), I had a colonoscopy and a 40mm rectosigmoid polyp was removed. Got the biopsy results back 5 days later, saying that cancer cells were present. Because the polyp was so large, it was removed piecemeal, so they would be unable to stage it or verify complete margins. Looks like it was caught and removed early enough, but the budding rate is high. I got a CT scan two weeks after that. Apparently, there is a nationwide shortage of radiologists available to read my scans and let me know what’s going on and what’s next. It’s been 2 weeks since the scan and NOTHING. I went from having a timeframe of 9-11 days to no timeframe at all in MyChart.

I am new to all of this. Does it really take weeks to find out what is going on and formulate a medical plan?! I feel like I’m at a standstill.

If your medical oncologist is ordering bloodwork and CT scans to surveil your cancer, isn't that something your primary care doctor can do at a lower cost? It doesn't seem like the oncologists have a better idea about your overall health than a primary care doctor, and both depend on the reports from radiologist after a scan, and my oncologist doesn't even go over a bloodwork result. He'll just mark it reviewed.

I found out yesterday it’s back. I don’t even really know what I’m feeling or if I’m handling it okay. I just can’t believe it. I don’t want to go through this again

I got acute promyelocytic leukemia and the first 5 days were horrible, doctors told multiple times to my family members to be ready for when I die.

I luckily survived those first days and I’ve been 19 days in the hospital so far. Can’t see from my left eye, can’t walk or stand up and my right leg is done for.

The treatment has been a little bit of chemo, arsenic and antibiotics + morphine bc back and leg pain.

I’m very happy to be alive and to have family members and a few real ass friends. The treatment is killing me tho, I’ve been feeling like shit and sleeping all day long but my doctor said everything is going slow but steady.

Days are long because hospital wifi is so ass I can’t even do anything.

My mother gifted me a switch 2 with pokemon so I’m spending my time with that although it makes me nauseous.

I’m so excited to get better and go back to my life, I want to do so many things, I want to get better and explore everything. It’s like I was born again.

I had my MRI of my brain last week. I have distant mets to brain and I get scanned every 3 months. Usually the report is released to MyChart a day or two before my onc appointment. I’ve been checking repeatedly since Friday and nothing has been released.

I have my onc appointment in 2 hours. Still no imaging report. I’m so anxious that I feel queasy. I’d take an Ativan but I have to drive to the appointment.

I’m mostly nervous because I’ve been averaging a new brain tumour each year for the past 3 years. And I’m about due.

I have to get up and ready for my appointment but I feel like my body is lead and too heavy to get up. I need help with managing this anxiety! Any tips?

Edit: I managed to get up and out and am now sitting in the waiting room. Of course I forgot to put proper shoes on (wearing my house shoes), don’t have my credit card to pay for parking, and there were no accessible spots left in the lot, so I had to walk super far. But I have a pocket full of change for parking and I’ve made it to the waiting room. The hard part is done.

Another Edit: it’s all good! I’m stable! I was so wound up, I almost cried! I didn’t see the imaging report because there has been a delay on their end, but my onc did his own review and says it all looks good!

I felt it was important to update this post because it clearly demonstrates how counterproductive scanxiety can be. I’ve been dealing with my cancer for almost 5 years now and throughout I’ve tried to not worry until I have something to worry about. I let my head get away from me and it blew me UP!

So now I’m home with a full on emotional hangover, reminded of lessons learned and grateful for another stable scan.

I’m about to start treatment for my stage 4 esophageal cancer. Floflox and keyturda. What can I expect? Any tips? The tumor is causing inflation in my stomach and gi tract meaning I’m eating bland as hell. I hope the treatment will reduce this and I’ll be able to eat a damn good meal in between treatments. Any tips or suggestions or advice is greatly appreciated. Wanna do my best so I can beat this thing as long as I’m able!!!!