Is traditional cancer treatment a big scam?

GrandmaMir

Healthy Diet
I'm trying to eat a healthy diet and exercise but don't always do real well. I do it more for my heart than because I may have a recurrence of cancer. I had my first visit with my medicine onc. today. He told me that even if I don't take chemotherapy and do take an aromatase inhibitor, I'm more likely to die of heart disease than cancer. I agreed to be part of an OncotypeDX study. I will find out on Aug. 6 whether or not I'll get chemotherapy.

RE

hmmmm double hmmmmm
This topic comes up now and again, here is a response I wrote in Jan 2009 with an update.

I am afraid I am not going to be very popular with my stance on this subject but I feel compelled to chime in. I have had three friends who all chose holistic care over traditional. These individuals choose not to have any chemo therapy or radiation, although they did have the surgery to remove the tumors. Two are no longer with us as they passed away less than two years after their surgeries, one was a stage 2 the other a stage 3. The third gal had her cancer spread from one breast to the bones and lung area, she has since had several infusions of chemo and is taking oral meds as well. Her doctor's tell her it will never be in remission they are treating it in hopes they can keep it at the stage it is at now. I am not sure is she is having rads or not. I have spoken with her on several occassions and she regrets her decision to forgo chemo and radiation the first time around. The update is she has since passed as they could not stiffle her cancer.

I know it is not for everyone and we each have to make our own choices, I just would not feel right if I choose only to share the uplifting information we all like to hear.

I agree we should eat as well as we can, exercise and do all the good things we can, but I did the no sugar, exercise like a mad woman, dropped 34 lbs took vitamin d all to have it come back with in 6 months. Aggressive chemo and aggressive rads have kept me alive, I would asked to be hooked up tomorrow if it returned for a fourth visit.

I think the key is diligence on our part, know you body, tell your doc when something seems wrong, if they don't listen tell them again and more sternly we know ourselves better than anyone.



I wish you all well and hope this is received in the spirit of caring as is my intention.

RE

Balentine

RE said:

hmmmm double hmmmmm
This topic comes up now and again, here is a response I wrote in Jan 2009 with an update.

I am afraid I am not going to be very popular with my stance on this subject but I feel compelled to chime in. I have had three friends who all chose holistic care over traditional. These individuals choose not to have any chemo therapy or radiation, although they did have the surgery to remove the tumors. Two are no longer with us as they passed away less than two years after their surgeries, one was a stage 2 the other a stage 3. The third gal had her cancer spread from one breast to the bones and lung area, she has since had several infusions of chemo and is taking oral meds as well. Her doctor's tell her it will never be in remission they are treating it in hopes they can keep it at the stage it is at now. I am not sure is she is having rads or not. I have spoken with her on several occassions and she regrets her decision to forgo chemo and radiation the first time around. The update is she has since passed as they could not stiffle her cancer.

I know it is not for everyone and we each have to make our own choices, I just would not feel right if I choose only to share the uplifting information we all like to hear.

I agree we should eat as well as we can, exercise and do all the good things we can, but I did the no sugar, exercise like a mad woman, dropped 34 lbs took vitamin d all to have it come back with in 6 months. Aggressive chemo and aggressive rads have kept me alive, I would asked to be hooked up tomorrow if it returned for a fourth visit.

I think the key is diligence on our part, know you body, tell your doc when something seems wrong, if they don't listen tell them again and more sternly we know ourselves better than anyone.



I wish you all well and hope this is received in the spirit of caring as is my intention.

RE

Thanks for your post RE
Because I am one of those ones who are wondering if diet and exercise will be enough for me. I did have IDC stage 1, 2.2 cm lump, mastectomy and 4 rounds of chemo but I stopped there....did not do tamoxifen because I am a poor metabolizer and did not want to do the other things they suggested...which is taking my ovaries out and doing arimidex. I am hoping since I was stage one, no lymph nodes involved, did mastectomy and chemo, that diet and exercise will be enough. I have stopped my period and have not had it for 3 months now, getting hot flashes so I know that the estrogen in my body has decreased dramatically. I just don't want to do anything else at this point for quality of life reasons. I am hoping and praying I am making the right decision. This is my heartfelt prayer.

For daily bible scripture encouragement and prayer during your journey through cancer,
please meet me at the discussion board called ‘spirituality, prayer, and meditation’
located toward the bottom of the discussion board listings under ‘other’ and be blessed!
Lorrie

sal314

m_azingrace said:

To all my dear sisters:
Keep an open mind, but don't let your brains fall out.

Love Your Reply!!
Too funny! And SO very true! Nicely said:)

Sally

sal314

laurissa said:

Thank you
Cancer is a scary thing to live with and I've been trying to make heads or tails of it all. I do feel like my brains are falling out at times. LOL I just needed some insight from all of you. Maybe I'm reading too much!

Very well could be! I did the same thing and am now doing it with my father's cancer. I think it's possible to get so caught up in it, and wanting to believe that if I don't keep researching and reading I'll miss some big new thing that could "cure" me! LOL. Truth is, pretty much everything that is effective and safe is already out there and known by the masses. So, maybe it would serve you well to take a brake and just sit still? Just a thought.

I need to do the same for myself. I've been spending way too many hours on the web research Esophageal cancer. I think I've read just about every article out there at least twice! LOL. I don't know, I guess subconsciously, I'm thinking if I just keep looking, I'll find better news? But the reality is...it's a nasty, agressive cancer. He's doing what he can and we just have to be thankful for the time we are given with him.

Anyway...stay possitive.

Sally

roseann4

Balentine said:

Thanks for your post RE
Because I am one of those ones who are wondering if diet and exercise will be enough for me. I did have IDC stage 1, 2.2 cm lump, mastectomy and 4 rounds of chemo but I stopped there....did not do tamoxifen because I am a poor metabolizer and did not want to do the other things they suggested...which is taking my ovaries out and doing arimidex. I am hoping since I was stage one, no lymph nodes involved, did mastectomy and chemo, that diet and exercise will be enough. I have stopped my period and have not had it for 3 months now, getting hot flashes so I know that the estrogen in my body has decreased dramatically. I just don't want to do anything else at this point for quality of life reasons. I am hoping and praying I am making the right decision. This is my heartfelt prayer.

For daily bible scripture encouragement and prayer during your journey through cancer,
please meet me at the discussion board called ‘spirituality, prayer, and meditation’
located toward the bottom of the discussion board listings under ‘other’ and be blessed!
Lorrie

I believe there is no clear answer.
I believe that any disease is "dis ease" of some sort. I read in an article from John Hopkins that we will all experience cancer cell growth from 6 - 10 times in our lifetime but may never know it because it cannot be detected until the numbers are in the billions.
The radiation and the chemo may deal with the current cancer however I believe that unless a cancer patient deals with what is compromising his/her immune system there is a high chance that it will return or they may get another type of cancer. Our immune systems are lowered by stress, poor eating habits, lack of exercise, environmental issues,age, etc.

I did both and feel great. No one knows for sure, but that's my opinion.

Roseann

Marcia527

If I'd not had traditional
If I'd not had traditional treatment I know I would not be here today. Nutrition doesn't help once the cancer takes over. I saw this with my mom who took 50+ pills a day-herbs and vitamins. By the time they found the cancer the tumor weighed 10 lbs. (the size of a small football) and she was malnourished. All those pills were feeding the cancer.

Balentine

Marcia527 said:

If I'd not had traditional
If I'd not had traditional treatment I know I would not be here today. Nutrition doesn't help once the cancer takes over. I saw this with my mom who took 50+ pills a day-herbs and vitamins. By the time they found the cancer the tumor weighed 10 lbs. (the size of a small football) and she was malnourished. All those pills were feeding the cancer.

I agree with Roseann
I believe you must do the chemo and maybe radiation but after that, I believe diet and exercise are key to helping our immune systems especially if you are early stage. If you are late stage, then I would do whatever the doctors told me. Marcia, I do not know what kind of diet your mom was on, you only spoke of all the supplements and taking that many probably is not very healthy. Also multivitamins can cause breast cancer because it makes your breasts very dense. I think you really have to do the research to find out what types of foods to eat and what are cancer fighters. However I do believe that once the cancer cells take over, nothing but chemo and/or radiation can help you. I am focussing on building my immune system right now by diet and exercise and hoping it works. We never know....we do what we can and leave the rest up to God. When He decides to call us home, then nothing can interfere with that and we have to trust Him.

For daily bible scripture encouragement and prayer during your journey through cancer,
please meet me at the discussion board called ‘spirituality, prayer, and meditation’
located toward the bottom of the discussion board listings under ‘other’ and be blessed!
Lorrie

Marcia527

Balentine said:

I agree with Roseann
I believe you must do the chemo and maybe radiation but after that, I believe diet and exercise are key to helping our immune systems especially if you are early stage. If you are late stage, then I would do whatever the doctors told me. Marcia, I do not know what kind of diet your mom was on, you only spoke of all the supplements and taking that many probably is not very healthy. Also multivitamins can cause breast cancer because it makes your breasts very dense. I think you really have to do the research to find out what types of foods to eat and what are cancer fighters. However I do believe that once the cancer cells take over, nothing but chemo and/or radiation can help you. I am focussing on building my immune system right now by diet and exercise and hoping it works. We never know....we do what we can and leave the rest up to God. When He decides to call us home, then nothing can interfere with that and we have to trust Him.

For daily bible scripture encouragement and prayer during your journey through cancer,
please meet me at the discussion board called ‘spirituality, prayer, and meditation’
located toward the bottom of the discussion board listings under ‘other’ and be blessed!
Lorrie

Yes, I believe that taking
Yes, I believe that taking that many pills aren't good either. But she was an adult and believed in all the ads for them. Some she took because she believed an OD who told her to take them. She did not have breast cancer but ovarian.

RE

Balentine said:

I agree with Roseann
I believe you must do the chemo and maybe radiation but after that, I believe diet and exercise are key to helping our immune systems especially if you are early stage. If you are late stage, then I would do whatever the doctors told me. Marcia, I do not know what kind of diet your mom was on, you only spoke of all the supplements and taking that many probably is not very healthy. Also multivitamins can cause breast cancer because it makes your breasts very dense. I think you really have to do the research to find out what types of foods to eat and what are cancer fighters. However I do believe that once the cancer cells take over, nothing but chemo and/or radiation can help you. I am focussing on building my immune system right now by diet and exercise and hoping it works. We never know....we do what we can and leave the rest up to God. When He decides to call us home, then nothing can interfere with that and we have to trust Him.

For daily bible scripture encouragement and prayer during your journey through cancer,
please meet me at the discussion board called ‘spirituality, prayer, and meditation’
located toward the bottom of the discussion board listings under ‘other’ and be blessed!
Lorrie

What stage
Lorrie since I did not note it I will mention that I was stage one borderline stage 2 (could have been categorized either way I choose stage 2 treatment the first time) and my tumor was 2 cm with no lymph node involvement so they thought the first time. The second time it moved to my sentinel node and chest wall and I was a stage 4. My mom had bc several times, had radical mastectomies, she lived i believe 26 years fighting it off and on and had a very good life during those years. She lost her battle to ovarian cancer. I have had totally hysterectomy, but it is a gamble there is no perfect treatment or cure darn it sure wish there was. I will do all I can to keep it at bay, but my gosh look at Lance Armstrong he exercised more than prob any of us do and his diet was good and he got cancer and had to fight like the dickens to still be here. Everything in moderation there is no perfect answer here, I just feel we have to do all we can to stay here. Oh, just a foot note I put off not having the hysterectomy and once it was all said and done had wished I had done it sooner. For me there were hot flashes a bit of mood change for a few months then I was back to my old self.

Take Care,

RE

cahjah75

treatments are hard decisions
Treatments are hard decisions to make. First I was told I would need chemo & rads, then after surgery I was told I only needed Tamoxifen, now oncologist says I need chemo & maybe rads. When he told me I had a 20% risk of recurrence you bet I told him I'll do whatever it takes. I watched a coworker (ovarian cancer), a brother-in-law (throat & mouth cancer) & sister-in-law (collarbone, lung, ribs, then moved to brain) die of cancer. They did whatever it took. My sister-in-law was given 6 months to live until a surgeon at Dana Farber agreed to do surgery on her and she lived 10 years. One never knows if it is still lurking somewhere in our bodies. I spoke with a sister last night and even though she is 6 years past dx (took Arimidex for 5) she still wonders if it will come back somewhere else.

I have 3 strikes against me: I'm the 5th in my family dx w/bc; I'm overweight (gained 80#s during natural menopause); and because I have lumbar stenosis & bone on bone knee I don't do much walking. I was BRCA negative, had bilateral mastectomies, nuclear Stage 2 of 3, no lymph node involvement, but my tumor was large and I had no symptoms that anything was wrong. My gyn found the lump at an annual physical. So, do I trust my team of drs, you betcha!
Char

Balentine

cahjah75 said:

treatments are hard decisions
Treatments are hard decisions to make. First I was told I would need chemo & rads, then after surgery I was told I only needed Tamoxifen, now oncologist says I need chemo & maybe rads. When he told me I had a 20% risk of recurrence you bet I told him I'll do whatever it takes. I watched a coworker (ovarian cancer), a brother-in-law (throat & mouth cancer) & sister-in-law (collarbone, lung, ribs, then moved to brain) die of cancer. They did whatever it took. My sister-in-law was given 6 months to live until a surgeon at Dana Farber agreed to do surgery on her and she lived 10 years. One never knows if it is still lurking somewhere in our bodies. I spoke with a sister last night and even though she is 6 years past dx (took Arimidex for 5) she still wonders if it will come back somewhere else.

I have 3 strikes against me: I'm the 5th in my family dx w/bc; I'm overweight (gained 80#s during natural menopause); and because I have lumbar stenosis & bone on bone knee I don't do much walking. I was BRCA negative, had bilateral mastectomies, nuclear Stage 2 of 3, no lymph node involvement, but my tumor was large and I had no symptoms that anything was wrong. My gyn found the lump at an annual physical. So, do I trust my team of drs, you betcha!
Char

Sounds like I am really playing Russian Roulet then
From what you have experienced yourself I am really taking a chance then doing what I am doing. YOur cancer seems to be very similar to mine...was it IDC stage 1 maybe 2? You said when it came back it was stage 4...that is very scary. As several of you have said there is no guarantee regardless of what we do and that is why all have us have come to advise everyone we meet who has cancer that you have to make your own choices about your treatment and do what is in your heart. I guess I really just do not want to do any more than I really have to...kinda the saying...if Its not broke then don't fix it...I am not having any problems with my ovaries so I do not want to have them taken out and maybe start a problem some where else in my body or quality of life issue...on the other hand doing everything you can to beat the cancer should be my first option. I have always been pretty hard-headed...I just hope this time I win.

For daily bible scripture encouragement and prayer during your journey through cancer,
please meet me at the discussion board called ‘spirituality, prayer, and meditation’
located toward the bottom of the discussion board listings under ‘other’ and be blessed!
Lorrie

CypressCynthia

My experience and opinion
When I was first diagnosed I was 33 and was doing my Jane Fonda video when my physician phoned me with the bad news. I was the picture of health: ate right, exercised, etc. My younger sister was a serious jogger and had an even healthier diet and she thought that, if I had eaten better, exercised more, etc, I would not have gotten cancer. Then both she and one of my older sisters were also diagnosed.

I believe my treatment, while not perfect, is absolutely the reason I have come this far. I do continue to try to eat a healthy diet, exercise and maintain my weight. But without tamoxifen, surgery, chemo, rads, etc, I'd be dead.

Balentine

CypressCynthia said:

My experience and opinion
When I was first diagnosed I was 33 and was doing my Jane Fonda video when my physician phoned me with the bad news. I was the picture of health: ate right, exercised, etc. My younger sister was a serious jogger and had an even healthier diet and she thought that, if I had eaten better, exercised more, etc, I would not have gotten cancer. Then both she and one of my older sisters were also diagnosed.

I believe my treatment, while not perfect, is absolutely the reason I have come this far. I do continue to try to eat a healthy diet, exercise and maintain my weight. But without tamoxifen, surgery, chemo, rads, etc, I'd be dead.

Thanks Cynthia for your response
Maybe I am just fooling myself about the diet and exercise thing and just don't really understand that much about how bc really operates. I am thankful to those that have been going through this alot longer than I have and know alot more about the facts than I do. I guess I have alot to really think and pray about and be more open to what the doctors are trying to tell me.
Lorrie

Marcia527

Balentine said:

Thanks Cynthia for your response
Maybe I am just fooling myself about the diet and exercise thing and just don't really understand that much about how bc really operates. I am thankful to those that have been going through this alot longer than I have and know alot more about the facts than I do. I guess I have alot to really think and pray about and be more open to what the doctors are trying to tell me.
Lorrie

At least if you do all you
At least if you do all you can you know you did all you could. Exercise helps in lots of ways and a good diet is what we all should strive for.

Jennifer1961

I think for the most part
I think for the most part doctors are kind people. I find it hard to believe there is some conspiracy out there that keeps information from us so that we think the only choice is traditional treatment. Alternative therapies don't have to prove themselves using scientific methods. They can simply make claims with no solid proof to back up their claims. The medical community can't do that. They must prove their methods work. I don't buy into the alternative therapy