Colon cancer

chutney
chutney Member Posts: 11
edited March 2014 in Colorectal Cancer #1
My sister has colon cancer. She has been fighting this for three years now. Has anyone out there tried any alternative medicines? Her current chemotherapy drugs do not seem to be working and she doesn't have a lot of time. We need to find something to built her body up to begin a new chemo in 1 month. Also, any chemos out there that you know of that have been successful. She has been on several of the new ones and they aren't working.

Comments

  • rejoyous
    rejoyous Member Posts: 259
    #2
    Welcome to a great site with tons of courageous and helpful people. I'm so sorry about your sister's situation. I've found that the more specific you can be about her staging, what her treatments have been, etc., the better advice you'll get here. There are some incredibly knowledgeable people on this board.

    Regarding alternatives, there's a woman named Emily who e-mails as 2behealed who is treating herself outside the standard system of chemo. You can try to look up her postings.

    She's big on getting off sugar and buying a juicer so you can make your own organic vegetable juice. She got a lot out of a book by Dr. Patrick Quillin called Beating Cancer with Nutrition. She has also recommended A Cancer Battle Plan by Anne Frahm, who was sent home to get her affairs in order and discovered a regimen that healed her cancer. Also When Hope Never Dies by Marlene McKenna. She was given 6 months and no treatment options. She discovered macrobiotics and lived. She wrote the book some 10-12 years after her dx. Also Cancer Options by Richard Walter.

    Maybe Emily will mail in her two cents as well, but this way I've saved her some typing. Good luck.
  • steved
    steved Member Posts: 834 Member
    #3
    Good too see you active in seeking things that may help your sister. i am all for looking around for posible adjunctive and complementary treatments that help people through this process. But I also have a medical background so tend to see things in light of my previous medical training. So I am often the slightly sceptical one on this site (which I think is a healthy balance of views to hear).

    therefore my advise is around just being cautious when going out looking at alternatives.There are a huge range out there and they vary in quality and how ethically they are promoted. Some make outlandish claims regarding cure and can cost huge amounts of money. Jusst go into them with your eyes open that many lack any scientific basis and any claims of cure are likely to be dubious.

    the other word of caution is simply to consider your sisters quality of life. Some regimes that are used can be very involved and in some cases take over people's lives. Some involve coffee enemas in teh morning, juicing and extracts rather than food during the day and various other interventions. While I am not against any one treatment I do know people who have had teh last stages of their life dominated by unpleasant procedures such as enemas for minimal gain. If the length of your sisters life is being threatened by this illness then the quality of her time left is paramount and maximising her enjoyment of this is key.

    Having said all that Iam in no way saying complementary therapies have no role. Many are basic healthy lifestyle changes eg juicing and using supplements. These may not be the ultimate cure but they do minimal harm and are likely to help promote a healthy body that is better able to fight the effects of the illness and any other treatments such as chemo she might have.

    So go out and find out as much as you can- arm yourself with good qulaity and clear info, then talk to your sister about what she wants. There are many here who can give good clear advise about these options and have personal experience of many of them so you have come to the right place.

    I hope this is helpful and my healthy scepticism isn't off putting. I am sure it will be balanced out by the full range of views which are present on the forum (the juicers tolerate me well- they are generally a welcoming and tolerant buch who balance out my medically oriented views nicely!)

    Let us know what you ddecide and how it goes- we are all here to learn from each others experiences and I'm sure you have a lot to offer us too,
    Steve.
  • Kanort
    Kanort Member Posts: 1,272 Member
    #4
    Hi,

    I just wanted to let you know that your sister is blessed to have you as an advocate. I hope that she will respond to her new chemo regimen.

    Kay
  • chutney
    chutney Member Posts: 11
    #5
    steved said:

    Good too see you active in seeking things that may help your sister. i am all for looking around for posible adjunctive and complementary treatments that help people through this process. But I also have a medical background so tend to see things in light of my previous medical training. So I am often the slightly sceptical one on this site (which I think is a healthy balance of views to hear).

    therefore my advise is around just being cautious when going out looking at alternatives.There are a huge range out there and they vary in quality and how ethically they are promoted. Some make outlandish claims regarding cure and can cost huge amounts of money. Jusst go into them with your eyes open that many lack any scientific basis and any claims of cure are likely to be dubious.

    the other word of caution is simply to consider your sisters quality of life. Some regimes that are used can be very involved and in some cases take over people's lives. Some involve coffee enemas in teh morning, juicing and extracts rather than food during the day and various other interventions. While I am not against any one treatment I do know people who have had teh last stages of their life dominated by unpleasant procedures such as enemas for minimal gain. If the length of your sisters life is being threatened by this illness then the quality of her time left is paramount and maximising her enjoyment of this is key.

    Having said all that Iam in no way saying complementary therapies have no role. Many are basic healthy lifestyle changes eg juicing and using supplements. These may not be the ultimate cure but they do minimal harm and are likely to help promote a healthy body that is better able to fight the effects of the illness and any other treatments such as chemo she might have.

    So go out and find out as much as you can- arm yourself with good qulaity and clear info, then talk to your sister about what she wants. There are many here who can give good clear advise about these options and have personal experience of many of them so you have come to the right place.

    I hope this is helpful and my healthy scepticism isn't off putting. I am sure it will be balanced out by the full range of views which are present on the forum (the juicers tolerate me well- they are generally a welcoming and tolerant buch who balance out my medically oriented views nicely!)

    Let us know what you ddecide and how it goes- we are all here to learn from each others experiences and I'm sure you have a lot to offer us too,
    Steve.

    Thank you all so much. My sister went to her doctor here in town today and he is starting her on Xeloda. I pray that will help. I appreciate all the great info that you have all taken the time to give to me. I am researching as much as I can, my entire family is. She is only 39 and I want her around a lot longer. If we had not been persistent in her getting treatment her doctors in Houston would have not agreed to trying something else in month one. Thank God her doctor here is trying something now.
  • kangatoo
    kangatoo Member Posts: 2,105 Member
    #6
    Kanort said:

    Hi,

    I just wanted to let you know that your sister is blessed to have you as an advocate. I hope that she will respond to her new chemo regimen.

    Kay

    Hi and welcome. Keep in mind that medical advances continue to come to the forefront every day so the hope we all have is that "tomorrow" someone may come up with a total cure for cancer. Seeking out all the information you can get your hands on will contibute enormously to the caring of your sister. While I am unable to help you with your questions please pass on our very best wishes to your sister and we hope that her new regimen will help her.
    regards, kanga n Jen

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