How to know what's actually working

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In case we haven’t been upfront and open about this with you, we nerd out on all things cancer survivors. But not just those who “survive” cancer but also those who truly thrive despite fighting one of the toughest and soul crushing diagnoses out there. Of the latest research that we’ve been getting into is something that really got me excited!

However, it also left me rather deflated as well.

Earlier this year, one most talked-about Ivermectin research followed a couple hundred cancer patients, and a lot of them reported feeling better. That part is real, and we're not going to wave it away. But when the scientists tried to say how much the Ivermectin actually helped, they couldn't.

And here's the part that matters: it wasn't because it doesn't work. It's because they had no way to isolate it. Almost everyone in that study was doing a dozen other things at the same time, different diets, supplements, treatments, and routines. When everything changes at once, there's no way to know what actually moved the needle.

We'll tell you exactly where we stand, too. We've watched Ivermectin help so many people in this Crew that we are not going to pretend we're neutral about it. We believe in it. And, at the same time, the formal proof isn't all the way there yet. Both of those things are true. The reason the proof keeps lagging isn't that Ivermectin fails. It's that almost nobody tests it cleanly.

Which brings us to someone in this Crew.

One of our members, we'll keep his name out of it, was fighting with everything he had. And we mean everything. Turmeric paste. Beet juice. Three different cleanses. A cabinet full of supplements. New routines every week. By the end he joked that he'd wake up having sweated through the sheets smelling like turmeric and beets every single night.

He was doing fifteen things at once, out of love and out of fear. And when we gently asked him which one was actually helping?

He had no idea.

He couldn't tell. Nobody could. He was exhausted, spending a small fortune, and flying completely blind, and he had no way of knowing whether something in that pile was quietly making him feel worse, either.

That's the trap. It isn't that he cared too much. It's that when you throw everything at the wall at the same time, you can't tell what's sticking. You lose the very thing you're working so hard for: the ability to know.

Because doing everything and knowing anything are two different things. Here's the shift, and it's a kind one: you don't have to do less. You have to test what you do, like it matters. Because it does.

1. Start with a baseline. You can't tell what changed if you never wrote down where you started. Know the numbers your care team tracks (scans, tumor markers, key labs) and your everyday reality: energy, pain, sleep, appetite, mood. Write it down.

2. Change one thing at a time. This is the whole trick. Add three new things at once and you'll never know which one helped, or which one caused a side effect. Give a single change enough time before you judge it.

3. Track what actually matters for you. Ask your oncologist which specific markers, scans, or labs are the real signal for your type of cancer, then watch the trend over time, not one scary or hopeful single reading.

4. Watch the whole picture, not just the scan. Numbers matter, but so does whether you can walk the dog, eat a real meal, or sleep through the night. Keep a simple weekly log. Patterns show up over weeks that you'd never catch day to day.

5. Read it with your team, not alone. Bring your log to your oncologist. They can help you tell a real signal from a lucky coincidence, which is the exact thing that big study couldn't do. That partnership is your best protection against both false hope and false fear.

That's how you go from throwing everything at the wall to actually knowing what's working for you.

A lot of you, after your own reading and a real conversation with your oncologist, are going to want Ivermectin in the mix. If you do, control the one variable you fully control: your source. It's the difference between a clean test and more noise.

There's a world of difference between veterinary paste off a farm-supply shelf, a mystery pouch from overseas, and a human-grade medication with a professional in the loop. When Crew members ask us where to look, we point them to Fierce Health:

Clinician-prescribed Ivermectin, made by a licensed U.S. pharmacy

One honest word, and we mean it as care, not fine print: Ivermectin is approved for certain parasitic infections. Its use in cancer is still investigational, and nothing here says it treats, cures, or prevents cancer. "Testing your protocol" means tracking alongside your oncologist, never replacing your treatment or changing it on your own. We want you here next year. Loop in your care team before you add anything, especially during active treatment.

You don't need to do more, Crew. You need to know more. That's how all that love and effort finally starts to add up to answers.

With heart, The Cancer Crew