Is Chemo a Scam?

There are people with all kinds of cancer and all stages.  One members who participated for a couple of months. the, we meet weekly and I think he may have been to 4 or 5. Dod one infusion of chemo.  He did not like feeling nauseated.  The chemo dropped his markers considerably, in fact, he stated his onco felt with 3 more treatments, if they went as well as the first, he could be in a complete remission.  I don't know the staging w/his cancer, but he never said he was stage iv.

Well, he started researching on the internet, found the testimonials on hemp oil being the cure for cancer.  Absolutely he had every right to decide on his treatment.  It took him about 5-6/weeks to get the oil from somewhere in California due to the high cost, it was $2500 for a Months supply.  The last meeting he attended was about 10 days into his oil.  He said anyone who does chemo is an idiot for putting poison in your body.  He passed less than 2 weeks later.

I was a little miffed when he called all of us idiots, as all but 1 or 2 had chemo at some point, but we were all around to talk about it.  

I have had a lot of chemo.  I don't know if it is a scam, I would hope not. I think in some cases we may have been scammed when research was tweaked or presented in a.board way to get approved.  Or when side effects or adverse reactions have been played down so we do not always get an accurate account of a product.  So in that way maybe it is a scam.  Pharmaceutical companies don't have too far to go for that t poo happen as the product they are pushing is to save or e extend lives.  I want to live, so I was willing to do 2 1/2 years of weekly chemo' and many other treatments, with no guarantee' only HOPE.

Texas,

Chemo Deniers have been "blowin too much doobie."

I am a long-timer at the Lymphoma Board and the Prostate Board.  Since lymphoma is pretty much exclusively a "chemo game," it is nearly all that we discuss (surgery and radiation are both almost never used against lymphoma or leukemia).  Most "deniers" seek either hemp oil or "nutritional cures."  The hard scientific studies consistently show both to be of virtually no worth in a curative sense. They may promote some sorts of well-being, but are not curative. Neither kills cancer cells.  Easily 95% of the "wisdom" encountered on the internet is ridiculous; pitiful, really.  Only academic and bona fide scientific sites are of real value.

A dear friend died of breast cancer Friday. After about seven months of treatment (chemo, surgery) she was told that all was hopeless at the best cancer center in the U.S.  She was offered chemo again toward palliative care (reduce the tumors, extend her life some, possibly a year).  She declined, and began a "Nutrition Cure," which a site "Guaranteed effective."  Withn two weeks of her last infusion, the tumors began furious growth.

I went to her Wake yesterday, ten months after her initial diagnosis.

I agree with Twinkltoz too. Chemo saved my life. You know what's kind of funny? The same people who make these type of claims are the FIRST to accept chemo when they hear the scary diagnosis and it hits home. One man who told me to eat lemons every day instead of chemo, just accepted chemo for a family member. I guess he forgot about the lemon cure!