Mexico - Oasis of Hope - Tethys41 et al

Pete12 said:

Hold on a second, there.

Hold on a second, there.

 "I've learned the hard way that people get paid to push conventional medicine on these boards and personally rip apart anyone who advocates for options."

When I was diagnosed with cancer and did my research, you know what I learned? The people around me who'd used conventional medicine survived their cancer.

No, I didn't seek the opinions of the people who'd used alternative medicine to treat their cancers. Because they'd died. That made it difficult to speak to them.

"It's a sad statement that pharmaceutical companies feel they have to fear monger people into using their products, over and over again."

And alternative medicine practicers don't use this? They don't constantly scare people with stories of toxins and the evils of a corrupt medical system?

"They must feel threatened by other approaches to cancer."

Or they feel threatened by dying of cancer.

"They don't save everyone who goes there and if the patient isn't willing to make the lifestyle changes they recommend, the success of their treatments is limited."

If you actually know stuff about cancer, you know that some patients are genetically-predisposed to certain types of cancer. Bowel cancer, for instance, is often the result of one of two faulty genes. You can drink kale juice and have coffee enemas until you turn green ... but that won't change the potential for cancer diagnosis.

And lastly?

"And a drug company will not commit to a study from which it is not likely to make a very large profit, because in all honsty, making a profit is why they are in business."

That's why these institutes in Mexico charge thousands and thousands of dollars? That's why the Gerson Institute wants $5000 from you so you can sit in their clinic and drink fruit juice for a month?

Making a profit is why these places are in business. It frightens me that people can't see that.

"As a result, however, there are a number of options that are effective but which will never be subjected to a double blind study and will never, therefore be approved by the FDA."

For sake of argument, let's say that, yes, fruit juice cures cancer. Grocery stores make millions of dollars selling fresh produce. Fruit juice companies make millions of dollars annually selling ... yes, you guessed it ... fruit juice. There is a sizeable profit in selling natural things that can't be patented (does the farmer who sells apples have the patent on apples? Or does he just sell apples and make money?), so why on Earth would drug companies *not* get in on that, if there was some protein or enzyme in pineapples or guavas or kiwifruits that cured cancer?

I imagine you won't answer those questions, and I imagine you'll accuse me of being a shill, but my cancer experience taught me to trust doctors, and be wary of people selling magic simple cures (that have little proof if they actually work) for complicated things.

Pete, obviously you were triggered by my lengthy discussion with various ovarian cancer patients from years ago. 

I am happy to respond to your many questions.  I hope you will grant me the same courtesy and answer mine. 

I never stated I did not use conventional medicine, nor do I discourage others from using it.  I did, and for ovarian cancer, I encourage women with late stage disease to opt for surgery and chemo.  The Oasis of Hope does also.  Ideally, however, I have seen better results if they incorporate integrative therapies along with the conventional ones.  You are dreaming if you think doing conventional treatment is the answer to surviving this disease.  Just scroll through the posts here and look at the number of members we have lost.  The vast majority did what you suggest and received only conventional treatment.  Some people die of cancer regardless of what they do. 

I had a medical oncologist attempt to force me to stop the high dose IV vitamin C I was receiving during treatment.  She quoted a flawed study that showed vitamin C would protect the cancer cells.  I watched as other cancer patients, who also received IVC where I did, were fear mongered out of doing the integrative treatments.  The study my oncologist referred to was conducted to try to disprove Linus Pauling's research about the benefits of high dose IV vitamin C for cancer.  The study used oral vitamin C and didn't follow the same protocol Pauling used, but the results were reported as vitamin C protects cancer cells, when high dose IV vitamin C does not.  If you do not believe me, you can look up the extensive research conducted by the Riorden Clinic and the University of Kansas on high dose IV vitamin C for cancer.

I am BRCA positive and am taking measures to reduce my risk of recurrance for ovarian cancer and for breast cancer.  For example, did you know that BRCA positive women are about 100 times more suceptible to DNA damage from radiation than non-BRCA positive women?  Yet, high risk women, such as myself, are encouraged by the medical community to have annual mammograms, which expose us to radiation, thus raising the risk that we will develop breast cancer, when alternatives, such as thermography, are available.  How illogical is that?  Additionally, a 25 year study conducted in Canada revealed that women who have mammograms and women who don't have the exact same survival rate, and those who do the mammograms have many more unnecesary procedures. 

No pharmaceutical company will conduct tests on high dose IV vitamin C or mistletoe because it cannot patent it.  This has nothing to do with the costs needed to cover lodging food, treatment, and tests performed when you go to a clinic in Mexico, by the way.  Comparable services in the U.S. would  cost at least 10 times as much.  The only way such treatments are tested is through funding by such organizations as Believe Big, which funded research of mistletoe for colon cancer at Johns Hopkins.  

In one statement you fault alternative clinics for charging money for their services yet you later state that it's okay for farmers to make a profit off of growing crops and obviously it's okay for pharmaceutical companies to make huge profits from their medications.  Do you see the hypocrisy?  Pharmaceutical companies don't bother with treatments that don't bring in huge profits.  They do not waste their time marketing vitamin C, for example, when they can make money off of something like insulin.  

Now for my questions.  I admit, I am suspicious of your motives.  Why, for example, would a person named Pete, assuming that is your real name, open a brand new account, and come to the ovarian cancer discussion group to dredge up an old post about a hospital in Mexico?  That must have taken quite a bit of time and effort to ferret this discussion out of the thousands on this site.  Or is it possible this is in response to a conversation on another ovarian cancer support group page, about a similar topic, posted on the very same day you opened a new account and made these comments here?  It's beyond coincidental.  That too would take a lot of time and effort to search out this discussion.  What would motivate someone to do that?  Why so bitter?

Unlike yourself, I don't expect everyone to embrace my experience and what I learned from it.  The thing about cancer is we each get to choose how we want to address it.  I never expect anyone to follow my path because it is my own; my own exprience, my own lessons, my own choices.  I merely share my experience and what I've learned a long the way to let people know there are options. 

May you find peace with your own experience.

JD44 said:

Hi Tethys41,

I am writing to find out how you are doing? I was diagnosed with stage 3b ovarian cancer in 2017. BRCA 1 positive. did traditional treatment with success, but returned a year later with mets. Now i am considering Mexico. Any advice would be helpful! Thank you! JD44

Hi JD44,

I am doing well, thanks.  I am only familiar with the Oasis of Hope hospital and I felt the experience was a postive.  I can't say whether or not it is the best choice.  I see ads for a number of other clinics in Mexico, like Chispa.  I would suggest you research each one to see what resonates with you.  Then, if they all operate like Oasis of Hope did, you should be able to have an introductory phone call with a doctor there, once you have supplied your records, and talk with them about the proposed treatment plan.  I have to admit, the first time I called, I was put off by the fact that the doctor immediately tranferred me to someone who discussed the costs of a visit.  But in hindsight that information was important too.

There are other options.  I received a lot of support and similar treatments from a local naturopath once I returned home, and there are a variety of naturopaths and integrative practitioners across the country.  But one thing Mexico offers that you cannot get in the U.S. is leatrile.  I'm happy to discuss options for services you can get in the U.S.  If you would like to, please send me a private message. 

Good luck.