Cancer is never your friend

ShadyGuy
ShadyGuy Member Posts: 922 Member
edited December 2017 in Lymphoma (Hodgkin and Non-Hodgkin) #1

Having a diagnosis of cancer can be frightening. A person can be confused or misguided by the plethora of opinions, information and outright lies out there. My opinion is that cancer is an enemy to be defeated. Its that simple. Cancer is never your friend and wants to kill you. Never forget that. Never give cancer an even break or the benefit of the doubt. Medicines and treatments like radiation can cure many cancers, including some types of lymphoma. When a person is told they have cancer, they might find themselves wondering if alternative treatments, religion, herbal remedies, meditation etc. might be the best course of therapy. These things can lead to a better quality of life but scientific evidence says they contribute nothing (nada, zero, zit) to the patients survival. Survival is our goal.

 

Some research

  • Did I bring the cancer on myself through a bad attitude? A resounding no! In 2010, the largest and best-designed scientific study to date was published. It looked at nearly 60,000 people, who were followed over time for a minimum of 30 years. This careful study controlled for smoking, alcohol use, and other known cancer risk factors. The study showed no link between personality and overall cancer risk. There was also no link between personality traits and cancer survival.
  • Can my emotions really make cancer grow or affect the outcome of my treatment? No! Sadness, depression, guilt, fear, and anxiety are all normal parts of grieving and learning to cope with major life changes. They do not cause or cure cancer.
  • Can I control the tumor growth by visualizing how my body is fighting the cancer or by thinking myself well? Science says no.

Personality traits and cancer

For many years there have been those who were convinced that people with certain personality types were more likely to get cancer. The common thought was that neurotic people and introverts were at the highest risk of cancer. This has been proven wrong by carefully controlled studies.So go ahead, be a jerk. You will live just as long as if you try to be a nice guy.

 

Does a positive attitude affect cancer?

You may feel pressure to keep a “good attitude” at all times, which is unrealistic. This feeling of pressure can come from within you, from other people, or both. Along these same lines, many people want to believe that the power of the mind can control serious diseases. This is a comforting belief that can make a person feel safer from the risk of serious illness. If it were true, you could use your mind to stop the cancer from growing. But the down side of such beliefs is that when people with cancer don’t do well, they may blame themselves, adversely affecting quality of life. Based on what we know now about how cancer starts and grows, there’s no reason to believe that emotions can cause cancer or help it grow. Being “positive” contributes greatly to quality of life but does NOT improve survival!

 

Can psychotherapy help people live longer?

A 2004 study review pooled the results of many well-designed studies of cancer patients getting psychotherapy. With more than 1,000 patients in the final results, no effect was found  on survival. The study was repeated with a new group in 2007 and the result was the same as that of the earlier trial -there was no difference in survival. It seems clear that support groups can positively affect quality of life, but the available scientific evidence does not support the idea that support groups or other forms of mental health therapy can help people with cancer live longer.

 

Why am I writing this? I am writing it because it distresses me to see cancer patients blame themselves or veer off track and sometimes abandon mainstream therapy to pursue emotional or holistic cures. These things can enhance quality of life which is good, but they should never, ever take the place of competent professional medical care. As unpleasant as they may be, mainstream medical treatment is your best option for surviving longer.

 

And I repeat that cancer is always your enemy, never your friend. Your goal should be to kill it. Never think of it as a positive force or a “friend”. 

As always, this is just my opinion and borrowed heavily from Cancer society articles.

Comments

  • lindary
    lindary Member Posts: 711 Member
    #2
    one cause

    Shady Guy,

    I agree with what you said.

    I'd like to add - don't believe stories that if you had avoided a certain food or manufactured product you would not have gotten cancer. 

    Take small cell lung cancer. Over 90% of the victims of small cell lung cancer are smokers. But only 10% of smokers get small cell lung cancer. 

    Recently I was visiting a friend who was recently diagnosed with a cancer. Another person she knows stopped by while I was there. We were talking about cancer treatments, side effects and such when this person stated very strongly that all cancers could be avoided if people just avoided sugar. I've heard this before and was equally strong with my response. I mean if sugar was a sole cause behind all cancers then most of us would not exist because our ancestors would have died from cancer. 

     

  • Max Former Hodgkins Stage 3
    Max Former Hodgkins Stage 3 Member Posts: 3,817 Member
    #3
    lindary said:

    one cause

    Shady Guy,

    I agree with what you said.

    I'd like to add - don't believe stories that if you had avoided a certain food or manufactured product you would not have gotten cancer. 

    Take small cell lung cancer. Over 90% of the victims of small cell lung cancer are smokers. But only 10% of smokers get small cell lung cancer. 

    Recently I was visiting a friend who was recently diagnosed with a cancer. Another person she knows stopped by while I was there. We were talking about cancer treatments, side effects and such when this person stated very strongly that all cancers could be avoided if people just avoided sugar. I've heard this before and was equally strong with my response. I mean if sugar was a sole cause behind all cancers then most of us would not exist because our ancestors would have died from cancer. 

     

    George

    Linda,

    George Carlin used to joke in his shows that scientists had discovered that 'salavia causes stomach cancer, but only when swallowed in small amounts over decades.'  One decade's cause of cancer becomes the next decade's health food.  The woman who made the old hackneyed comment about sugar was just that -- a hack.   Even people who never eat processed sugar still have glucose in their bloodstream from carbs, which according to her logic means that everyone on earth should  have cancer.  The causality of most cancers is unknown.

    It is a cruel irony however that breast cancer feeds off of the natural hormone estrogen, just as prostate cancer feeds off of testosterone; one of the most effective ways to fight these diseases is to chemically starve off the hormones.    Very few cancers have clear dietary etiology (cause).   Smoking in lung and alcoholism in esophagus are the clearest. But as you note, many nonsmoker's get lung cancer.  Beyond those, dietary evidence is more coincidental than conclusively established as a cause.

    I eat what to hell I want and then sleep well, knowing that no man is the master of his mortality.

    max

     

  • Rocquie
    Rocquie Member Posts: 869 Member
    edited December 2017 #4
    Gift

    I don't say that cancer is a gift or has a silver lining--far from it--but it hasn't stolen every gift that life gives. 

  • ShadyGuy
    ShadyGuy Member Posts: 922 Member
    edited December 2017 #5
    Rocquie said:

    Gift

    I don't say that cancer is a gift or has a silver lining--far from it--but it hasn't stolen every gift that life gives. 

    So very true

    I agree. My only point is that the non-medical approach is a great quality of life enhancer but as an adjunct to and not as a replacement for mainstream medicine. Quality of life and individual wholeness are extremely important.

  • Lixx
    Lixx Member Posts: 21
    #6
    Hear Hear

    Totally agree Shady Guy. If I had a dime for every person that keeps telling me how much Postive Mental Attitude will go a long way towards helping with cancer (which is nice to have but will do absolutely nothing to cure you) I'd be rich by now.

    There is a reason you get the hardcore drugs that make up chemo and devastate your body. Cancer is a sneaky opportunist enemy that uses your body against itself, which is why it's an effective killer.

    I'm all for obliterating it and sending it out of orbit- only way to be sure :P

  • lindary
    lindary Member Posts: 711 Member
    edited January 2018 #7
    Max Former Hodgkins Stage 3 said:

    George

    Linda,

    George Carlin used to joke in his shows that scientists had discovered that 'salavia causes stomach cancer, but only when swallowed in small amounts over decades.'  One decade's cause of cancer becomes the next decade's health food.  The woman who made the old hackneyed comment about sugar was just that -- a hack.   Even people who never eat processed sugar still have glucose in their bloodstream from carbs, which according to her logic means that everyone on earth should  have cancer.  The causality of most cancers is unknown.

    It is a cruel irony however that breast cancer feeds off of the natural hormone estrogen, just as prostate cancer feeds off of testosterone; one of the most effective ways to fight these diseases is to chemically starve off the hormones.    Very few cancers have clear dietary etiology (cause).   Smoking in lung and alcoholism in esophagus are the clearest. But as you note, many nonsmoker's get lung cancer.  Beyond those, dietary evidence is more coincidental than conclusively established as a cause.

    I eat what to hell I want and then sleep well, knowing that no man is the master of his mortality.

    max

     

    sugar

    I wrote it up to "just another person who believes they are an expert without having any experience."

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