Nightmare

Tethys41 said:

Staying NED
Conventional medicine just treats us and sends us on our way once we are showing no evidence of disease. The problem with this approach is that the reason cancer grew in the first place is that something in our bodies was out of whack. It could be one thing or mulitple things, but something is not working properly, and that is why cancer grew. For example, if you look at what most people eat these days, it contributes to inflammation, supplies tumors what they need to grow, and produces other imbalances that promote cancer growth. It is absolutely possible to change your diet and lifestyle and incorporate supplements to get your body working properly again, and cancer will not grow. One good resource that discusses this approach is the book "Anti-Cancer" by David Servan-Schreiver. My naturopath is living proof that you can keep this disease at bay. She was diagnosed stage IV papillary serous adenocarcinoma 21 years ago. She declined surgery and chemo and found the way to make the disease retreat by changing her diet and lifestyle. Her approach has also been working for me, 2 1/2+ years NED, no sign of any imbalances in my system that would contribute to cancer growth, CA-125 = 1. We don't have to sit around waiting for this disease to return, but we do have to recognize that our doctors just don't know all the answers.

Tethys41 said:

Julie
My naturopath's approach is very specific to each and every patient. She is currently working with over 65 gynecological cancer patients in various stages of treatment or remission, and everyone is receiving a different protocol. The first thing she does is have extensive labs run:

Overall bone marrow status and inflammation/oxidation process, and can show signs of change well before cancer markers or scans.
•CBC with diff (Complete Blood Count and Automated Differential Count) ~ 85025
•CMP (Comprehensive Metabolic Panel)~ Fasting ~ 80053
•LDH (Lactate Dehydrogenase) ~ 83615
•HS-CRP (High-Sensitivity C-reactive protein) ~ Fasting ~ 86141
•Sedimentation rate ~ 85651

Tests to check body’s terrain,
•Ferritin ~ 82728 (Iron storage, as iron can feed cancer)
•Vitamin D (25-OH) ~ 82306 (Basically important for EVERY aspect of cancer treatment and prevention)

Blood sugar workup,
•Insulin, Fasting~ Fasting ~ 83525
•HgA1C (Hemoglobin A1C) ~ Fasting ~83036
•IGF-1 (Insulin-Like Growth Factor 1) ~ Fasting ~ 84305

Angiogenesis markers and clotting issues, for individuals who want to do radiation, have an aggressive 3 or 4 stage cancer, have ovarian cancer, have colon cancer.
•VEGF (Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor) ~ 83520

The following cancer markers to see if any of these are worth monitoring:
•CA125 (Cancer Antigen 125)~ 86304
•HE4 (Human Epididymis Protein 4) ~ 86305

Additionally she will test
serum copper and ceroplasmin (copper elevations, can contribute to angiogenesis)
fibrinogen and galectin-3 (blood stickiness and risk of clumping of cancer cells and mets)

Based on the results of these tests, she can identify critical imbalances that need to be rectifed in order to prevent cancer growth.

I have worked with various integrative practitioners, and none have put much weight on the alkaline approach. Although it sounds good on paper and the diet is better than what many people eat, you just can't change your body's pH. If your blood pH is not normal, you would die, and in order to digest foods, you stomach must be acidic. The adjustment to acid and alkaline occurs in the bowels, and it is what it is. It is true that cancer maintains an acidic environment, but it is due to self regulation by the cancer cells.

The diet my naturopath recommends is always some form of the Paleo diet. It varies from patient to patient, depending on that indiviual's needs, but it is always Paleo; clean healthy meats (grass fed AND finshed, free range, organic, antibiotic and hormone free, wild caught or wild game), organic vegetables, nuts, and very few organic fruits. Absolutely no sugar (only consuming 20 grams of sugar total daily, in the form of sugars contained in the healthy foods you eat), no processed foods, no grains, few to no beans. Absolutely no gluten. The lifestyle involves stress management, regular exercise, mostly weight training, and a strong support network. There is good information to be found in the books, "Deep Nutrition: Why Your Genes Need Traditional Food" by Catherine Shanahan and Luke Shanahan; "Pottenger's Prophecy: How Food Resets Genes for Wellness or Illness" by Gray Graham, Deborah Kesten and Larry Scherwitz; and "Lights Out: Sleep, Sugar, and Survival" by T.S. Wiley.

I don't know what type of oxygen treatment you are pursuing. Adding oxygen to the system is definitely beneficial, as cancer prefers a low oxygen environment. Some methods of adding oxygen are more effective than others.

Tethys41 said:

Hyperbaric treatment
This is definitely a beneficial treatment. I don't know much about it, so don't know how effective it is in treating cancer patients. The only oxygen treatment I've had is ozone therapy, which involves drawing blood from the patient, adding ozone to the blood and reinfusing the ozonated blood back into the patient. This was aimed at treating cancer, but is also beneficial for a number of other conditions.