Prefix: I’m hitting “send” on this post without overthinking it—it’s straight from the heart, more like a diary entry than anything else. It’s raw and disjointed. It was a single post at one point, but I have now broken it into many so Shaylin doesn’t kill me.
At last, my GP seems to have recognized that I’m not on a mission to self-destruct. He came into the picture in October 2023, and while it’s undoubtedly a relief to have a GP, introducing myself was akin to giving him a firehose drink from my life’s complexities. He got the rundown—heavy on the part where I’m self-treating my Cancer with internet-sourced drugs, which I somehow manage to do with a semblance of educated caution. I laid it all out for him, hoping he’d see reason. I asked him to consider prescribing Metformin—the most widely studied drug on the planet, mind you, not some obscure potion. I pointed out that Metformin should be the least of a GP’s worries of all the possible drugs a patient might request.
As expected, he trotted out the typical GP line: no evidence supporting Metformin for Cancer, blah, blah, it’s off-label. He also lamented his packed schedule, claiming no time to brush up on the latest research. I get it; he’s swamped. But really, is it too much to ask for a doctor to Google right in front of their patient? I mean you can do it when I leave too! Instead, he spent his precious time lecturing me before deferring to a clinical pharmacist. And I don’t want to sound like I’m putting my GP down (although I am); I get it he is busy AF, I get it that he thinks I am taking and reselling snake oil to him, I get it that it’s not excellent for a patient to walk in and say that their “research” trumps the doctoral education they have. But I didn’t ask for a prescription – I asked him to consider it. I asked for consideration because I am aware that they must feel they have clinical evidence to support their actions. I know they are legally liable and risk losing their medical licence if they don’t have the proper evidence to support patient recommendations. (I also know that we had a doctor at RJH who got caught taking pictures of a naked patient on a surgical table and texted it to a nurse making fun of the patient’s weight – AND didn’t lose his licence. So it’s not easy to lose those licences). With the shortage of doctors right now, I bet anything goes lol. But I also know that I am asking for him to consider a no-big-deal drug with lots of clinical evidence and that there is no way under the sun he would lose his licence over it. I bet my life on it. Literally. If I were asking for prescriptions for drugs that have little to no evidence, then I would have given him requests for all sorts of shit I am taking, lol. I’m even taking anti-parasitic drugs for dogs (FenBendazole). If I just thought he would willy-nilly prescribe stuff without “enough” evidence, I would have asked for Mebendazole, which is the legit human form of FenBen, instead. But did I do that – NO. I offered to make an appointment, then show up, sit down and shut up so he could do some research. And he has no idea how hard that would have been for me!! haha
Anyway, the pharmacist was a breath of fresh air, she gave me a whole hour. She got a thorough understanding of what I was doing and what drug I take, she did some research on DON and Canada’s Special Access Program. She triple-checked my drug list, looking for contraindications and agreed that Metformin was no big deal. She suggested and noted in my chart he could prescribe it as “harm reduction” if uncomfortable with the clinical evidence for use in Cancer (easy search).
Eight months later, come April, he finally prescribed it. Now armed with pharmaceutical-grade Metformin (muahahaha), I noticed a marked difference. This stuff packs a punch—you taste it about an hour after taking it, and boy, does it upset the stomach if not taken with food. It makes you wonder what I was ingesting before. Switching from 1500mg of whatever was in those internet pills (probably just a not-so-pure or robust version) to 1500mg of the real deal was enlightening. Had I jumped straight to that dose without prior exposure, I’d probably have really felt unwell, so I am pretty sure I was getting Metformin online, but probably not quality stuff. Physically, I feel great. I’ve tightened my control over my glucose levels. It’s not perfect, but it’s going in the right direction. I am now targeting 3.5mmol instead of 4.1mmol for an average. I am doing this with legitimate Metformin in my toolkit, and I’ve been upping my ketone game by strategically adding pure fats into my diet as much as possible up to every hour. I do this by spiking my Earl Grey tea with MCT oil powder, which mostly dissolves but leaves a few harmless floaties. This wouldn’t be entertaining if I didn’t have such a good sense of humour. And yes, I find it entertaining most of the time. The other 50% is frustrating, but if they make a movie later about this, I expect it will be a little like Trainspotting for Cancer, and then I will find it 100% entertaining. You have to laugh at the dysfunction so I don’t go postal. 50/50 remember 🙂