Is anyone doing any type of "alternative treatments"?

Unknown

luvmum said:

Chinese medicine and qigong
Once my mum was diagnosed with colon cancer, liver met. After one week of the colon surgery, I took her to qigong. It seems worth trying because that night she had a better sleep.

Her oncologist and surgeon also encourage us to try Chinese medicine to go with the chemo. As long as we don't take the medicine on that day, and have Chinese and Western medicine with 2 hours gap. Oh, you have to make sure the Chinese doctor knows the chemo treatment well, so they know what to give you to relieve your side effects and support your body wellness.

Unfortunately, after chemo, my mum was too weak to get out of her bed and the qigong master will not come to our place... I'm hoping she can resume qigong and going back to see the Chinese doctor soon.

This comment has been removed by the Moderator

John23

dschreffler said:

My fiscal comment was to
My fiscal comment was to contrast to a prior comment in this thread, and an opinion I often see voiced in support of alternatives vs chemo/rad.. "My thoughts on why Onc don't want you on supplement's is because they will miss the thousands of dollars for only one Chemo Treatment."

That implied Oncs and tradition doc, pharmco only concerned about dollars and somehow alternatives where given away by saintly healers. :-) hence my statement of both making $ off the sick or wishful thinkers.k

It costs to do clinical trails, drug testing and to be able to say FDA approved vs having disclaimer on supplements that say "these claims of health benefit not certified by FDA".

My Onc and his staff has my best interest in their treatment of me, and I have seen them go out of there way to help folk get the drugs they need when could not afford/insurance not covering.

Eating right and exercise is beneficial to stay healthy and to counter many deseases. Most nutrients are free in foods if you eat balanced diet, and avoid packaged foods. Given that, I do not see compeling evidence for large amounts of supplements or specialty diets du jour, nor have dollars to spend on "disclaimered" treatments.

dschreffler -

We probably agree with more than what we disagree with...

Re:
"Eating right and exercise is beneficial to stay healthy and to
counter many diseases. Most nutrients are free in foods if you
eat balanced diet, and avoid packaged foods. Given that, I do not
see compeling evidence for large amounts of supplements or
specialty diets du jour,"

I always cringe when I see people spending hard cash for remedies
that are useless. Buying magnets to strap on their body - LED lights
are now popular for curing one's ills - water with more oxygen in it,
as if the digestive tract can put oxygen into the blood like our lungs do..

The list of all the new inventions that may cure cancer is nearly endless.
Some have remarkable psychosomatic ability, and some are really
a total waste of time, cash, and prayer.

To all that, we agree (not that it matters).

But, Re:
"It costs to do clinical trails, drug testing and to be able to
say FDA approved vs having disclaimer on supplements that say
"these claims of health benefit not certified by FDA"."

With even a modest amount of research, you can easily learn that
the industry pays for every ounce of that "research". The industry
owns the results of that research, and -is not- legally compelled to
release anything that it wishes -not- to release. It may release
any part of the research it feels helpful to gain approval.

The "FDA" bases it's reasons for approval on the data supplied
by the industry (company) involved.

Once released to the market, the company is not legally required to
release any further information. beyond that which may cause injury
to the user, and even then, it does so with an attorney's advice.

All the large corporations have a "risk management" division, dedicated
to weigh the cost of a lawsuit against the profit that can be realized
prior to any lawsuit; and the amount of the lawsuit, vs the cost to
pay out of court, along with the ramifications of doing so.

Vioxx was known by Merck to cause an erosion of the inside of
arteries and blood vessels. Aneurysm occur due to that erosion,
and when it subsequently ruptured, it was not a surprising happening
to the company involved. Many physicians were not aware of the
problem, and continued to prescribe the medication unwittingly.

The FDA approved that drug, based on the data supplied by the
manufacturer.

Knowing how the "system" works, should allow a consumer to be
more wary of what is being offered. Unfortunately, most people
simply accept the hyperbole, and try not to worry about "unfortunate
incidents". Those "unfortunate incidents" invariably happen when
the side effects they refused to hear about, does more damage that
the malady they were trying to treat.

Re:
"My Onc and his staff has my best interest in their treatment of
me, and I have seen them go out of there way to help folk get the
drugs they need when could not afford/insurance not covering. "

My wife's Rheumatologist(s) all were exactly like that. They were very
caring, and very honest in their belief that they were doing no harm,
and had only her health in mind.

But the profession (in this Nation) is limited to FDA approved medications,
and they do not stray far from that. There are legal concerns, and
other problems of going off the "approved" trail.

That does not mean, nor should it be interpreted to mean, that anything
they can not be prescribed is not of any value; can not work as good or better;
or can do a better job of saving your life, that the "approved" forms.

I think we can all live a better life, if we question everything, and not
accept anything for granted.

It's my personal belief, that if something we're putting into our bodies
is causing us to be sick, we really oughta' rethink what we're doing.

There are other options to "western medicine", some good, some
not-so-good. You can weed them out by looking at the ones that
have been around the longest, and has served the most people.

I doubt you will find anything over four thousand years old, that
has been used on billions upon billions of people successfully,
other than Traditional Chinese Medicine.

Look it up; explore it, and learn about it. It just might end up
saving your life.

Best of thoughts to you!

John