One thing that I have realized visiting hospitals recently is that as a patient you always need to advocate for yourself. When you go to a hospital, most of the time they are going to tell you the treatment plan based on what they have and not cover on any other drugs or treatment that might be available at other healthcare facilities in the country or across the world. However, when you are suffering from cancer, sometimes what your hospital offers might not be enough.

As a Cancer patient family member, I found that during conversations with the treatment team that it was really hard to know what all treatments are available for a specific type of cancer, are there any experimental treatments going on, as well as what treatment usually people go for tailored down to their type of cancer, immunochemistry as well as stage.

So I started looking up online if there was any tool available that would help me navigate through what treatments are available and also see what people have tried with what results. That’s when I came across Trialjectory!

Trialjectory is a free online tool that not only helps you provide information on what clinical trials are available but also provides a tools to find personalized treatments for the cancer that you or your family member has.

To get started you would create your medical profile, where you answer a bunch of questions regarding your cancer like when it started, what type of cancer it is, at what stage, where has the disease spread, any kind of genetic testing you have, and any kind of medical procedures you have had. Trialjectory asks these questions to show you trials, and treatments available specifically for your cancer.

Once you finish the questionnaire, you are taken to a page that shows you all treatments are available for your cancer that you have not received yet. It also provides you insights on what has been the outcome from other patients who have the same type of cancer as yours and what treatment they received.

The really good thing about the treatment finder is that as long as you have enough information about your cancer, you can look up really targeted treatment and also be able to make an informed decision as to what procedure or drugs should be given to you. Trialjectory also lets you know how many people discontinued the treatment due to side effects as some of the chemotherapy/immunotherapy drugs can really have a big toll on your body.

Another important thing about the tool is to be able to see what clinical trials are available. When I checked the tool was able to list clinical trials from US and Canada. If you outside US/Canada then this tool can still provide you some information on drugs/treatments available which you can then follow up with healthcare professionals in your country if they have something similar.

I think the personalized cancer trials information is a lot better than sometimes sifting on clinical trials website to see what treatment you would be eligible for. Also it can save you a lot of time and effort as the information on trials website is sometimes really hard to understand. Though I must say that the information available on their website might not be complete for your type of cancer as the gather data from patients using the website. It’s a great tool to refer to but don’t rely on it 100% as you can always find more information about cancer somewhere else!

Always consult with healthcare professionals for treatment decisions.

I have been dealing with anxiety for more than a year now and I have noticed that for some reason, it gets worse just when I am about to sleep. Sometimes it keeps me awake for more than an hour or two and there have been some days where I was barely able to get any sleep. I think this had an impact on my productivity during weekdays as I often end up feeling more tired due to lack of sleep.

While Ashwagandha and B Complex have helped me control my stress, they still take some time work so I decided to try Super Sleep tablets that I saw in Costco. As per the manufacturer, the tablets can help promote temporary relaxation, help increase sleep time, help reduce the effect of jetlag, as well reduce the time it takes to go to sleep.

Here are the three main ingredients of the tablets as per the label –

• L-Theanine – 100 mg
• L-5-Hydroxytryptophan – 15mg
• Melatonin – 1.5 mg

While the recommended dose is two tablets before sleeping, I only tried to have one or sometimes even half of the tablet depending on my situation, and found that it was quite effective in putting me to sleep early. Most of the time, I went to sleep within minutes of going to bed. I have also noticed that whenever I have taken the tablet, I have a much more deep fulfilling sleep and feel great waking up!

The tablets are chewable and have a nice sweet flavor and it does not feel like you are taking medicine. Also, so far using the tablets I have not had any kind of harmful side effects. The supplements do mention not to take it with alcohol or if you are planning to drive.

If you are having issues with your sleep, it’s definitely worth adding this dietary supplement to your nightly routine and see if it works for you!

Update: I had a mild headache and increased heart rate after using Super Sleep recently. So I have decided to discontinue its use. Make sure to check if this supplement interacts with any of the products that you are already using. Also it might good to try with a small amount instead of going with the full dose.

Rating – 10/10

When I started having stress and anxiety in the recent years, I started looking for supplements that might help with it. I noticed that Costco was selling a product to help reduce stress and anxiety called Ashwagandha. I wasn’t sure at first but after noticing that the product had ‘Clinically studied’ on it, I wanted to give it a try as my stress and anxiety levels were bothering me quite a lot on daily basis.

Costco sells Webber Naturals Ashwagandha for about CAD $20 though sometimes you can get it at a discount. You get 120 vegetarian capsules in a bottle and each capsule contains 3600 mg of KSM-66 (Ashwagandha).

I have been primarily using this product for Stress and Anxiety but there are some other benefits of using Ashwagandha as well. The product claims to help with the following –

• Increase your resistance to stress and anxiety
• Improving physical performance in both genders
• Promoting healthy testosterone production in men
• Sports recovery

Webber Naturals Ashwagandha Product Review
I started with 1 capsule per day usually when I felt stressed out and started noticing some improvement in my health after a few days. It does take some time for the pills to take effect, so I try to take the pill early in the morning or before I start to feel worse due to my stress. After using it for a few months, and noticing no side effects I have started taking Ashwagandha 2-times once in the day and once before sleeping.

I am happy to say that Ashwagandha (Webber Naturals) has really helped me get my life back as my stress levels are in control now. I used to have heart palpitations before because of stress/anxiety but since I started taking pills, I haven’t noticed much. Also there was a time when I would have hard time sleeping but taking this pill before going to sleep has helped me resolve it. This has been a really great product for me and I recommend it!

Rating – 10/10

About 2 years back, I had a very weird feeling with my heart. I had been working late, and had a lot of soda pop that night. While I felt alright, I just felt real uneasy for some reason while laying down in bed.

Since I felt something weird with my heart I wanted to see what my heart rate looked like on my phone, while it initially looked normal, it just jumped out of nowhere and immediately I went into what felt like was a heart attack. I had never experienced something like this before, and I called 911 immediately. Luckily, my place wasn’t far from the hospital and the ambulance was able to arrive within minutes.

While I was having a racing heart beat and shivery, the paramedics assessed me and informed me that what I was going through was a panic attack. Before, this happened, I had never even heard of that term. I was taken to the hospital and my blood report and electrocardiogram looked normal. After monitoring for a few hours at the hospital, I was released and told that I should check with my family doctor if anything else needs to be done.

While the racing heart beat and shivering had gone before I left the hospital, I felt like my whole body had messed up, for some strange reason it just seemed like it was hard to breath and I had to really focus to keep breathing while trying to sleep. I felt slightly better after waking up.

I thought it was a one-time event, but it started to happen often and since my blood report came alright, I couldn’t figure out what was causing it. Whenever I would start to feel anxious, I would try to drink water and go for a walk and that seemed to help a bit. The issue started to bother me a lot since it was happening everyday.

Always Consult A Doctor
I consulted my family doctor who informed me that panic attacks are quite common and it can take a while for your body to heal. Also he mentioned that it takes some time to stop thinking about going into another panic attack. The blood reports appeared normal to him as well so no prescription medication or additional tests were advised for me.

Stop Having Caffeine Based Products
I started to monitor what I was eating, and doing, and then I realized that there was a pattern. I noticed that whenever I took Dr Pepper (soda pop), I would feel anxious and think that I might go into a panic attack. I looked up online and turns out caffeine in drinks was responsible for causing panic attacks. To test this out, I stopped drinking soda for a couple of days during which I felt better and then tried to get back on drinking soda, which seemed to bring anxiety back.

Before this I loved caffeinated drinks and chocolates. But now I can’t have a single piece of chocolate or a sip of drink. I have tried to get back on such products but everytime I have tried, it has brought my anxiety back.

Cutting off caffeine, really helped bring my symptoms a lot under control. Even though I still feel my stress/anxiety go up, it was a lot worse when I took caffeine based products.

Try Out Meditation For Sleeping
It was really hard to sleep for the first few months, with my mind thinking sometimes that I will go under another panic attack. So I started to listen to meditation music which helped me take my attention away from what was going on my mind and helped me to sleep.

Try Stress Relief Supplements – Ashwagandha and Vitamin B Complex
I started to look into products that might potentially help me reduce my stress. I didn’t think that they would work initially but I noticed that my anxiety reduced significantly once I started taking Ashwagandha and Vitamin B Complex on a daily basis. Now my stress/anxiety issues don’t impact me on a day-to-day basis.

I have tried some other anti-anxiety supplements however the most that have benefit me were Ashwagandha and Vitamin B complex.

Exercise Might Reduce Stress
Personally I have noticed that the days when I exercise, I feel I have less anxiety compared to other days when I have not exercised. I don’t know exactly about how the body works but exercise seems to help me feel a bit better.

Aromatherapy With Essential Oils Might Benefit
It’s a little hard for me to measure how much impact this has had but I have just felt a little nice whenever I have my diffuser on with essential oils. It might be worth trying aromatherapy and see if you feel better yourself as well.

Avoid Thrill Seeking
From time to time, I have felt that if I tried to accelerate fast, honk while driving it can cause me to get anxious. So I try not to do that anymore. Also I realized that sitting on a speed boat can cause me to get anxious as well. If you have felt the same, then it’s time to put a break to your thrills.

It took me a while to figure out what works for me and what doesn’t. Also what worked for me, might not work for you. This list is also not comprehensive I am sure that there are many other things that you could try out to keep your stress and anxiety under control. I was surprised to see that there are stress relief shoes available in the market these days, while I haven’t tried them out yet, I am really interested in getting a pair and see if they would work for me.