Monday, February 21, 2011
Cancer Information - 06 - Dealing With Emotional Turmoil
You may and should reason that many people get this disease, it is rapidly overcoming cardio vascular diseases as the number one serious health hazard. You should also reason that there are many available treatments for cancer and by no means cancer is a death sentence, because many people recover from cancer. This is not a comfort thought, it is the truth. But in spite of being a rightful assertment, this is far from enough to please you and calm you.
You'll still be worried that you can be one of those that will add up the negative statistics of cancer. And like me you'll have to find a way or ways to control your anxiety and fear, that try to emerge most of the time, relentlessly. It is not easy, there will be ups and downs.
First, what I did, and later what I could have done. As I was in average physical condition, I did long walks because I found it relaxing and kept me away of obsessive thoughts about my disease. I tried to improve my mood by looking at comedy movies from my dvd collection. Regularly I commit to myself that for a certain period of time, starting as low as just a few minutes, that I would not think about my health state, and during that time frame I pretended, kind like an actor, that things were "normal", and tried to act as such, making brilliant plans for the future, such as a trip I would like to do, something I would like to buy, a musical instrument I would like to learn how to play, etc. The objective was to keep the mind busy in a positive way, about anything but the cancer.
Another situation I had to deal with was the constant incoming calls from friends and relatives concerned about my health status. As I lived alone, I had no one else to filter those phone calls, that represented a lot of unproductive stress. I strongly encourage you to find someone to take care of those phone calls and gave those daily "health bulletins". I hope never fall into this trap again, it is really exhausting to deliver the same kind of information over and over again, three, four or five times a day.
I should also have practiced meditation and relaxation. Even for those people who have never tried or are not familiar with any meditation method, there is now a wide choice of cds, dvds, and multimedia equipment, that allow in a passive way to induce alpha and delta waves to flow in your brain. Your recovery starts by relaxing and let your body and mind do their job in getting you back to your full potential.
For those who have a spiritual belief, any kind of praying is positive, in terms of mental focus, and creating positive prospects for your health outcome. Unfortunately I do not share this type of belief, so I could not take advantage of this option.
An important part of your anti-cancer program should include two to three daily sessions of mental imagery. Under a very relaxed state try, for 10 to 15 minutes, with your eyes closed, to visualize your immune system cells searching and destroying cancer cells, visualizing yourself getting better every day, feeling more radiant and joyful, until the day you get your health fully recovered and your destiny is back in your hands. Imagine then what you would do under that healthy state, create your life goals, and visualize you daily working to fulfill them in detail and finally achieving them successfully. This will have a great impact on your disease, no matter what therapy you choose. You will be exercising the same power that a placebo pill actually exerts on a real patient. Mind has the power to cure you or to make true your worst nightmares. It's your choice.
Sunday, February 20, 2011
Cancer Information - 07 - Surgery
First of all, you should find the best possible surgeon you can afford. Contact your regular doctor, your friends and check the internet for any relevant information, including forums where people put their comments. A well done job is priceless, it will prevent you from having to repeat the procedure to correct any wrongdoing, and a good surgeon will be worried about possible metastasis resulting from the procedure.
Surgery has its own concerns, and I am not referring to the action of surgery, which has progressed and is much safer than before. It has been established statistically, that surgery increases the possibility of creating future metastasis, sometimes as long as eight years after surgery, by releasing cancer cells into the bloodstream, which will travel and attach to new organs, creating secondary tumors, which are far worse than the primary tumor, being much more aggressive.
One can take appropriate measures to decrease the possibility of such negative outcome of surgery. There are supplements and pharmaceutical drugs that one can take before - starting one week before - and after surgery - up to one year after, to prevent the possibility of metastasis.
Next there is a list of the recommended supplements and drugs. Some supplements like omega-3 oils (EFTs), green tea, vitamin E, and some more, have an anti-coagulant effect, which is not advisable before an operation, as it may negatively interfere with the surgeon job. Check the internet for this possible side effect in any supplement you may want to take before surgery, or ask your supplier. Taking a good vitamin K complex may be a good strategy as it will improve blood clotting.
- 14 grams a day of MCP (Modified Citrus Pectin) and 800 mg of the drug Cimetidine (also known as Tagamet), they will prevent metastatic cells from attaching to blood vessels;
- 3 grams a day of PSK, obtained from the mushroom Coriolus, to increase NK activity (natural killer cells).
- take Beta-Glucan, Glutamine (3 grams, outside meals), IP-6 (1 to 3 grams, outside meals) and Lactoferrin (300-900 mg), in order to significantly increase your immune cells activity.
- take green tea (1 gram of EGCG) and curcumin (2.5 grams) in order to suppress angiogenesis - the creation of new blood vessels to feed a tumor.
- take COX-2 drug inhibitors to prevent bone metastases, or alternatively take the following supplements: curcumin (2.5 grams), resveratrol (250-1000 mg a day), vitamin E (400-800 IU), green tea, quercetin (500-1000 mg), silymarin (600 mg). COX-2 inflammatory chemicals are produced as a result of the trauma that surgery causes within the body. These chemicals promote cancer metastasis.
- ask your surgeon to prescribe Tramadol instead of morphine for after surgery pain, it will stimulate NK activity instead of the opposite, as it happens with morphine.
Saturday, February 19, 2011
Cancer Information - 08 - Chemotherapy & Radiation
Not all cancer patients can endure this type of aggressive and toxic treatment. Its side effects can be noticed from day one or later, depending on the sensitivity and health condition of a particular individual. Common side effects are gastrointestinal distress (nausea, vomit, diarrhea), fatigue, immune system depression that sometimes can lead to fatal infections, low platelets count in the blood resulting in bruises and bleeding, temporary or permanent hair loss.
Chemotherapy is used with the intent to cure, to prolong life expectancy or to palliate symptoms. It is particularly effective with fast growing cells, like in lymphomas and new born cancer cells. It is ineffective with older cancer cells and cancer cells in the center of a large tumor (they can not be reached). Besides this general rule, cancer cells obey to Darwin's law of survival of the fittest, so after a round of chemotherapy usually the weaker and younger cells die, while the survived cancer cells "have learned" and become more resistant to further chemotherapy treatments.
Chemotherapy is usually used combined with other conventional cancer therapies like surgery and radiation. It may be used to decrease the size of a tumor to make it operable, it may be used after a surgery to reduce the possibility of metastasis, as the cancer cells that may spread from a tumor surgery can be more easily targeted with chemotherapy compared to those cells when they were shielded inside a tumor. Chemotherapy is also combined with radiation with the intent of killing cancer cells located at the center of the tumor, usually unreachable by chemotherapy drugs.
Alternative clinics may use chemotherapy in much smaller doses using a protocol known as IPT - Insulin Potentiation Therapy. An insulin shot is given prior to administering the chemotherapy drug, creating a low blood glucose level situation, which increases the cancer cell permeability to chemotherapy drugs, allowing a much lower dose to have a much higher effect. Besides this altered technique, which has less side effects, some of these clinics also carry a sensitivity blood test, where in a special laboratory it is looked for the more effective chemotherapy drug for that particular patient rather then rely on a generic drug for a particular type of cancer. While I believe this is a enhancement on the general purpose approach of conventional medicine, I doubt this is a panacea for all cancers, as recent studies found that a tumor is composed with different type of cancer cells, so a particular chemotherapy drug may fit some of those cancer cells but hardly all.
Alternative practitioners recommend the use of antioxidants in high doses, immune enhancers, and herbs to decrease the level of side effects. Chemotherapy is a high oxidizer, so taking large amounts of antioxidants could make sense. However conventional doctors and oncologists do not recommend taking supplements during the round of chemotherapy, fearing that it may interfere with its action. Alternative doctors and practitioners say that there is not a single scientific study that can prove this theory. I don't know who is right, but I know that if I sense that chemotherapy is too much that I can handle, between abandoning this treatment in the middle or start taking supplements like coenzyme-Q10 in high doses, I would chose the last option.
Then we came to the final question every cancer patient will have - how efficient is chemotherapy? It depends on what type of cancer, what stage the cancer is (I to IV), how aggressive the cancer is, how far the disease has progressed, etc. As a general rule and as stated before, cancers with fast growing cells like lymphomas or testicular cancer, are highly prone to be treated successfully with this cancer therapy. We all know that lung, pancreatic, liver cancers and some brain cancers are usually the hardest to treat, either using conventional or alternative therapies. Statistics are played by both sides of the fence, with conventional medicine claiming a general cancer success rate of around 50%, while alternative practitioners claim that chemotherapy is only able to save 2% of the cancer patients, using in a misleading way conventional medicine statistics that refer to stage IV cancer patients and not all cancer patients. It was a war of words that sometimes resembles politicians.
A fact is that with every round of chemotherapy your body becomes weaker, with decreased immunity, with the bone marrow severely affected and difficult to recover, with remaining cancer cells that "learned" and are stronger than ever, so your odds are lowering after every round of chemo, to the point that a simple gastrointestinal infection, created by the existing bacteria in your gut, can kill you. So this is a treatment that has to be assessed in every possible aspect, you should consult at least three or four specialists on your cancer type, and evaluate it against other possible alternative treatments.
Regarding Radiation Therapy, I would advise you to read thoroughly the wikipedia article located at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Radiation_therapy. It is a therapy mainly used to decrease the size of large tumors, some of them may be life-threatening as they may block blood vessels or organs, and in these particular cases it is even advocated by alternative practitioners (at least some). It causes immediate side-effects and long-term side effects, some of them are permanent.
Friday, February 18, 2011
Cancer Information - 09 - Alternative Cancer Clinics
The best would be to contact an integrative or alternative cancer clinic and follow their tailored-made prescribed plan. Cancer is a serious condition for anyone to lose time in experimenting home made treatments or just by taking some supplements. One has to evaluate the seriousness of his/her condition, how aggressive the cancer is, how the cancer has already progressed, etc., to know whether there is still some time to try alternative protocols at home, and there are several suggestions that can be found in the internet and I will include some of them in this blog.
Integrative or alternative cancer clinics can be found mainly in Germany and Switzerland (I advise the ebook found at www.germancancerbreakthrough.com), or in Mexico (there is an ebook report at www.adios-cancer.com), or you may search a clinic for yourself in the internet.
The cost of using one of these clinics may not be cheap, and most of them require regular visits to control the cancer at bay. Alternative and natural therapies work in a different way than orthodox clinics. Their main concern is not attacking the cancer directly, but revert the patient condition to where he was before he got sick. They have detox therapies, immune enhancing treatments, some of them intravenous, anti-parasitic measures, remove long-time toxins like in root-canal teeth, etc. By improving the general condition of the cancer patient, together with anti-cancer specific treatments, the patient will in a steady way get rid of cancer and possibility from other long term problems.
Some of the treatments of these clinics include: IPT (Insulin Potention Therapy), high-dose vitamin C plus selenium and mistletoe (an immune enhancer) by IV (intravenously), fever therapy, local and general hyperthermia (high temperature kills cancer cells), ozone and oxygen therapy (anaerobic cancer cells don't like oxygen), magnetic-field therapy (immune enhancement), enzyme therapy, colonics and liver flushes, biological dentistry, heavy metals chelation, high potency injected lipid fatty acids, new diet plan, etc. As an example, perhaps the most complete of all alternative clinics, the Paracelsus Klinik in Switzerland, contains a list of 350 possible alternative treatments they can chose from, creating a personalized plan after knowing your medical history and interviewing you.
An alternative to recurrent visits to these clinics, after the first (usual) three-week treatment (sometimes more), is to continue some of the treatments locally, at the place where you live. You may try to find a local doctor that could apply the IVs prescribed by the clinic, and you may follow their daily plan, including dietary suggestions, that the clinic will certainly give to you before you leave, or complement it with the alternative plan I suggest to try at home, if you have time to experiment it or if you want to avoid a recurrence of the cancer.
Thursday, February 17, 2011
Cancer Information - 10 - Cancer Doctors & Coaches
The second least costly alternative is to contact an alternative cancer doctor or a cancer coach. They can be reached by the internet, and an appointment can be scheduled to an arranged date and time. Their cost is usually around 250 USD per session, some are less, some charge only once, some allow email support and follow-up.
What I find as a top-notch alternative cancer doctor and his contact information:
- Dr. Ralph Moss (https://www.mossreports.com/product/consultation/) - cost: $799
These are the cancer coaches I recommend and their internet contact information:
- Tanya Harter Pierce (www.outsmartyourcancer.com)
- Ty Bolinger (www.cancertruth.net)
- American Anti-Cancer Institute (http://www.americanaci.org/)
It is always better to chose a medical doctor instead of a cancer coach that has published some ebook about cancer, may know a lot about cancer, but when things become more complicated, eventually will refer you to a doctor.
Wednesday, February 16, 2011
Cancer Information - 11 - Home Protocol
1. I would switch to organic food if possible, if not I would try NOT to consume fruits with thin skin, more prone to chemicals, such as apples, pears, peaches, strawberries, cherries, etc.
2. I would avoid sugar, alcohol, refined grains, cereals, bread, and high glycemic foods in general, as cancer cells thrive on sugar.
3. I would include a certain amount of raw food like fresh fruit and vegetable juices (being watchful on the sugar content).
4. I would avoid processed food in cans, bottles, packages, etc., as they contain additives and they are not fresh food.
5. I would replace my normal breakfast with the quark cheese/flax oil mix, joining three tablespoons of fat-free quark cheese (or cottage cheese), with three tablespoons of unrefined flax oil and two/three flax seeds grounded with a coffee grinder. This would increase my intake of omega-3 fats. I usually add some beneficial spices, such as turmeric, black pepper, cayenne pepper, ginger, garlic. I may also include a coffee spoon of grounded apricot kernels, they are a good anti-cancer food.
6. I would take a daily walk (one hour or so) at the beach or a park, where I can walk on bare foot and expose my body to sun rays, except for period of the day high in ultraviolet radiation. It is very important for the omega-3 fats to work at the cellular level, increasing the cells breathing capability (oxygen intake).
7. Total relax control, by not working during this phase of my life, filtering my phone calls, giving health status information to just one person that will inform my relatives and friends about me, looking for fun activities like comic movies or be with friends (but without talking about my disease).
8. I would try to sleep as much as possible (it would help my recovery), by supplementing with melatonin, 5-HTP and/or L-Tryptophan.
9. If I can move around, some daily light to moderate exercise is important, like walking, bicycling or swimming (not on chlorinated swimming pools).
10. At wake-up and before eating anything, I would take two IP-6 capsules and the homepathic Lymphomyosot (activates lymph drainage).
11. Fourty-five minutes later I would take the following supplements - coral calcium or calcium citrate, magnesium citrate, potassium, a trace minerals complex, L-Lysine and L-Proline amino acids, green tea extract, I3C & DIM, sulforaphane, selenium, ellagic acid, Co-Enzyme Q10, MSM, milk thistle, artichoke, curcumin/turmeric, quercetin, sea-iodine, beta-glucan, a chinese mushrooms complex (reishi, shiitake, etc.), vitamin D-3 5000 IUs in gel form, vitamin K complex, pancreatic enzymes. As I dislike swallowing capsules, I open them and mix them in a soy yogurt (simple and not flavored).
12. Fourty-five minutes later the quark-flaxseed oil mix as described before.
13. During the morning, afternoon and night, I may chew up thoroughly seven apricot kernels, together with one pancreatic enzyme capsule, and a glass of water. In the first days I would start with a smaller quantity, then upgrade. I would never go beyond a total of 35-40 apricot kernels a day. They may become too toxic.
14. Lunch and dinner in accordance to previous explained - no refined carbohydrates, fish, vegetables and fruits with few sugar content, like pineapples, avocados, granny smith apples, etc.
15. One and half hour before dinner, I would take another two IP-6 capsules and Lymphomyosot, as described in paragraph 10.
16. Fourty-five minutes before dinner, I would take another dose of supplements as described in paragraph 11, with the following differences - no selenium (just once a day), and adding a good cod liver oil gel.
17. High-dose vitamin C can be taken orally using the Liposomal Vitamin C form, the only one that will not cause gastric distress. It should be taken several hours after the quark cheese-flaxseed oil mix taken at breakfast as it may interfere with its action. One can start taking the liposomal vitamin C in the middle of the afternoon, outside meal times, for better absorption and effect.
Tuesday, February 15, 2011
Cancer Information - 12 - Home Additional Concerns
1. Cancer pain can be naturally controlled by taking hydrazine sulfate, apricot kernels as mentioned before, Sinus Buster nasal spray (for sinusitis, but the capsaicin works at the pain level), the last one can be found at amazon website, or if a pharmaceutical drug is required, Tramadol instead of morphine, like it was described in the Surgery post.
2. If I can afford it, I would double the recommended IP-6 two capsules, twice a day, to two capsules four times a day. The same principle apply to pancreatic enzymes, the more the better. In both cases, they should be taken outside meals.
3. I would control my saliva pH by testing it first thing in the morning, using paper pH strips, that could easily be bought through the internet. If the pH is below seven, then taking wheat and barley sprouts in powder form (in a vegetable/fruit juice), chlorella and spirulina, they all may help raising the pH and detoxifying the body. Buying a water ionizer and drinking ionized water is another easy form of raising the body's pH.
4. If I can afford it, I would check my mercury amalgams, root-canal teeth and possible cavitations within a biological dentist. I would not remove any mercury amalgams in a regular dentist, it is too dangerous.
5. I would remove my allergic/intolerant food using an elimination and challenging test diet. For seven to ten days a simple diet of fish, vegetables, fruits and water, where citrus foods, eggs, cereals and grains, coffe, chocolate and all dairy are excluded. Then a challenge test, reintroducing one possible offender food every day and check for body reactions. Foods that we are allergic or intolerant may cause inflammation, malabsorption and hypoglycemia. Food allergies and intolerances can be prevented by not eating the same food repetitively, like several times in the same day. A personalized rotation diet is the best.
6. Regular infrared saunas (two to three times per week), coffee enemas (once a day) may help to detoxify the body.
7. Colon hydrotherapy can be done by a professional and liver/gallbladder flushes using epsom salts, grapefruit juice and olive oil may also be important for the recovery. Colon hydrotherapy can only be done for those who have no serious colon problem and the liver flush formula can be found in the internet or in books.
8. Electromagnetic medicine is another option, even in the alternative field. The best in this area is the GB-4000 with M.O.P.A, an electronic device following the same principles found by Royal Rife in the last century. It is somehow expensive (4,500 USD), one has to use it every day for up to an hour, and the treatment can take months (or years) and should not be discontinued. But there are people swearing for it.