I have not had coffee in about six months. Eliminating coffee was just part of my change towards a healthier diet. But then, after reading that it reduces the effectiveness of Herceptin (the mono-clonal antibody that kills the kind of cancer I have), well, let’s just say I was relieved about having eliminating caffeine a few months earlier.
My oncologist never told me to avoid caffeine, and studies clearly indicate that regular use of caffeine makes Herceptin less effective. He still doesn’t tell his patient’s this even after I brought the UCLA study to his attention.
It is awful to see women coming into treatment carrying some kind of Venti coffee drink. Granted, not all of the women treated there are getting herceptin,but some are . . . and doing so with caffeine in hand.
Anyway, of all the things I have given up to improve my diet and health – coffee has been the toughest. I used to make a cup of coffee early in the morning, take it to the park across from me and read the paper (and, of course my 15 year old puppy, Molly, would accompany me). Somehow taking the paper over to the park without a cup of coffee (and without my dog) just doesn’t have quite the same appeal.
I look forward r0 having a cup again at some point – probably in late May or June. But, until then, I will just have to wait. It is no big deal really. But, today is one of thoe foggy mornings where a cup of coffee would be really nice. 🙂
cancerfree2b 
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