OTC Medicines and Possible Cancer Treatments – H2 Antagonists

Society will look back on our modern cancer treatments and consider them as being barbaric. Treating cancer with radiation and chemotherapy which further damage cells, injure organs permanently, and even eventually creates more tumors in some people. Survival of modern cancer treatments are poor at best, and current treatment protocols attempt to eliminate the cancer before the treatment eliminates you. There are many different types of cancer, with many different causes. Some of the proposed causes of cancer are infections, toxin exposure, radiation exposure, excessive inflammation, poorly regulated immune system, and HRAS mutations. Cancer being extremely complex is why I choose not to write about it in depth. I know what I would try if I had cancer, but to propose correct recommendations to other people is a very complex issue to me. However, when I read this recent study I knew I had to write a blog about it. A recent study concludes that H2 antagonist medications might be a cheap, safe, effective treatment for certain forms of cancers.

What are H2 Antagonist Medications?

H2 antagonists are drugs that are used clinically to block histamine reactions in parietal cells that line the stomach that lead to decreased production of acid by the parietal cells. H2 antagonists have a shorter half-life than PPI’s (proton pump inhibitors), so they should be taken thirty minutes to an hour before each meal. ¹ Tagamet has been linked to increased side effects (sexual side effects in men, low testosterone) and therefore should be avoided. Pepcid is probably the safest H2 antagonist with the least amount of reported side effects. ²

Common side effects with H2 antagonists include headache, nausea, dizziness, and diarrhea. Long-term H2 antagonist supplementation can cause issues with B-12 absorption, magnesium absorption, and low testosterone. Long term use may also cause SIBO (small intestinal bacterial overgrowth) and development of new food allergies from a chronic lack of stomach acid. ³

The Relationship of Excessive Histamine and Some Types of Cancer

Depending on the cancer cell type, some cancer cells produce too much histamine so that the cells can proliferate. It appears that in some colon cancer, melanoma, gastric, and renal cancer types, the cancer cells produce excessive amounts of histamine. When large amounts of histamine are produced in the body, it can cause the immune system to down-regulate certain immune functions which lead to certain cancer cells being able to proliferate freely instead of being eliminated. Immune dysfunction that occurs from chronically elevated histamine levels and the issues that stem from it include: ⁴

• T-cell dysfunction. T-cells are one of the main components of the human immune system. ⁵
• Suppression of Il-12. Il-12 suppresses tumor growth in the body. ⁶
• Reduced dendritic cell activity. Dendritic cells helps T-cells and other immune cells identify and eliminate cancer cells. ⁷
• Increased cancer cell adhesion. Cancer cells have to adhere together to be able to form tumors and to protect themselves from immune system elimination. ⁸
• Increased vascular endothelial growth factor. Tumors require a large blood supply to grow. Therefore, elevated VEGF levels has been linked to greater cancer diagnosis risk. ⁹ There is some noted controversy with the use of VEGF blood tests and cancer diagnosis. ¹⁰

If I had any of these forms of cancer, I would talk to my doctor about considering using Pepcid daily. Make sure you supplement with methyl B-12 sublingually and topical magnesium during its use. I would also take digestive enzymes to help prevent the development of food allergies because of lower amounts of stomach acid.

It may also be possible to use the newer generation of histamine blockers like Claritin instead of H2 antagonists for even fewer side effects. My suggestion of the use of H1 second-generation drugs to help the fight against cancer is not proven and is just a theory, use with extreme caution.

Natural equivalents of histamine lowering drugs include supplementing with large amounts of vitamin C ¹¹ and going on a low histamine diet. The histamine lowering effects of vitamin C might explain why it helps fight cancer.