alternative therapies; esp for Tethys41

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MaxRudy
MaxRudy Member Posts: 56
in Ovarian Cancer #1
As indicated before, I am very interested in doing some of things you (Tethys41) are doing/have done re: naturopathic alternatives and Mexico. My plan of action is to find a local naturopathic doctor to help boost my whole body health, then perhaps go to Mexico to see what they have to offer. I just finished chemo and while i haven't had my scan to see how effective the chemo was, I'm assuming I will be in "remission" for some period of time, hopefully a long time. You (tethys41) helped me alot with the Mexico selection. Now I'm having trouble narrowing down a good naturopath here in the Virginia (near DC) area. It seems that a lot of the NP don't offer Vit C IV's or insulin potentiate and I want one that offers all the latest rather than just treat me with what they have available. the one that I found that does the Vit c IV's etc had terrible terrible references from her patients. They said she barely sees them (other staff members do everything) and she is highly focused on selling them supplements they dont need. I realize they can't tell me how long i'd be in treatment or what they'd recommend as treatment until they do a full analysis of blood, my history etc, but after that, would it be too much to expect for them to give me a plan of action so I know what I'm getting into, the length of time, the cost...or is more of a step by step process. If the latter, how do you assess if you're being helped?

Comments

  • Tethys41
    Tethys41 Member Posts: 1,382 Member
    #2
    Options
    Naturopaths
    It is so wonderful to hear that you are doing well. Isn't it great to be done with chemo? I hope your scan is clear. I am so happy to hear you are planning to do the IV vitamn C. It really is a miracle treatment, as far as I'm concerned.

    I am not familiar with the regulations in Virginia regarding natruopathic medicine. I believe that in some states, naturopaths are not authorized to administer IV vitamin C. You can look for a naturopath by location and specialty (and I would look for one who specializes in cancer support) at http://www.naturopathic.org/AF_MemberDirectory.asp?version=1
    If Angie's List covers your area, that might be a place to look up reveiws of local naturopaths. www.Angieslist.com The service used to be free, but now, I think, they charge.

    Depending on your state's regulations or on the naturopath you find, it may be better for you to work both with a naturopath and an integrative medical practitioner.
    I receive my IVC from a nurse practitioner who has a family practice but also uses integrative therapies in her practice. I also work with my naturopath who has a more supplement based approach to her treatments. I appreciate the slight differences between their approaches, and although it sometimes results in conflicting information, I feel I get ALL the information for me to base my decisions on.

    It is true that if you work with a naturopath, he or she will recommend supplements, as that is often their answer to prescription drugs and disease prevention. You would definitely need to have faith in your pratitioner that he/she is not recommending unnecessary supplements. He or she should be able to explain the purpose of each supplement being recommended. And actually, it has become clear to me that there are typical supplements that are related to cancer prevention that are widely used. So, it would not be hard to find out whether what is being recommended makes sense.

    You absolutely should be able to know the treatment plan up front. There may be some basic bloodwork they want to run, but they should be basing a lot of your plan on your medical history. What they may want to do is determine whether there are any other conditions that need to be addressed to support your cancer prevention plan. For example, they should be testing your vitamin D level and your copper levels. Low vitamin D and/or high copper contribute to tumor growth.

    The stem cell therapy is what I am most interested in down in Mexico right now. They offer amazing treatment for people with active cancer as well, but the stem cell therapy, it appears, can heal the damage done by the chemotherapy.

    Take care. Hope this helps.
  • carolenk
    carolenk Member Posts: 907 Member
    #3
    Options
    Tethys41 said:

    Naturopaths
    It is so wonderful to hear that you are doing well. Isn't it great to be done with chemo? I hope your scan is clear. I am so happy to hear you are planning to do the IV vitamn C. It really is a miracle treatment, as far as I'm concerned.

    I am not familiar with the regulations in Virginia regarding natruopathic medicine. I believe that in some states, naturopaths are not authorized to administer IV vitamin C. You can look for a naturopath by location and specialty (and I would look for one who specializes in cancer support) at http://www.naturopathic.org/AF_MemberDirectory.asp?version=1
    If Angie's List covers your area, that might be a place to look up reveiws of local naturopaths. www.Angieslist.com The service used to be free, but now, I think, they charge.

    Depending on your state's regulations or on the naturopath you find, it may be better for you to work both with a naturopath and an integrative medical practitioner.
    I receive my IVC from a nurse practitioner who has a family practice but also uses integrative therapies in her practice. I also work with my naturopath who has a more supplement based approach to her treatments. I appreciate the slight differences between their approaches, and although it sometimes results in conflicting information, I feel I get ALL the information for me to base my decisions on.

    It is true that if you work with a naturopath, he or she will recommend supplements, as that is often their answer to prescription drugs and disease prevention. You would definitely need to have faith in your pratitioner that he/she is not recommending unnecessary supplements. He or she should be able to explain the purpose of each supplement being recommended. And actually, it has become clear to me that there are typical supplements that are related to cancer prevention that are widely used. So, it would not be hard to find out whether what is being recommended makes sense.

    You absolutely should be able to know the treatment plan up front. There may be some basic bloodwork they want to run, but they should be basing a lot of your plan on your medical history. What they may want to do is determine whether there are any other conditions that need to be addressed to support your cancer prevention plan. For example, they should be testing your vitamin D level and your copper levels. Low vitamin D and/or high copper contribute to tumor growth.

    The stem cell therapy is what I am most interested in down in Mexico right now. They offer amazing treatment for people with active cancer as well, but the stem cell therapy, it appears, can heal the damage done by the chemotherapy.

    Take care. Hope this helps.

    other options
    There are MDs and osteopaths who do integrative medicine so they are licensed to practice medicine and their scope extends into the practice of naturpathic medicine. They usually do chelation therapy and I'm guessing IV vitamin C treatments as well. There's an osteopath in my area who does the insulin-potentiated chemo (which I am very interested in doing if I need to go back on chemo).

    To find an integrative physician, I would go to the American College for the Advancement of Medicine (ACAM) website. www.acamnet.org Often these doctors are out f network but will give you a superbill to submit to your insurance for reimbursement for services.

    A friend of mine with stage IV ovarian cancer is back from the Immunity Therapy Center in Tijuana where she got the stem cell therapy. It's too soon to say how effective the treatments were and I will let you know whichever way the next scan goes.
  • carolenk
    carolenk Member Posts: 907 Member
    #4
    Options
    Tethys41 said:

    Naturopaths
    It is so wonderful to hear that you are doing well. Isn't it great to be done with chemo? I hope your scan is clear. I am so happy to hear you are planning to do the IV vitamn C. It really is a miracle treatment, as far as I'm concerned.

    I am not familiar with the regulations in Virginia regarding natruopathic medicine. I believe that in some states, naturopaths are not authorized to administer IV vitamin C. You can look for a naturopath by location and specialty (and I would look for one who specializes in cancer support) at http://www.naturopathic.org/AF_MemberDirectory.asp?version=1
    If Angie's List covers your area, that might be a place to look up reveiws of local naturopaths. www.Angieslist.com The service used to be free, but now, I think, they charge.

    Depending on your state's regulations or on the naturopath you find, it may be better for you to work both with a naturopath and an integrative medical practitioner.
    I receive my IVC from a nurse practitioner who has a family practice but also uses integrative therapies in her practice. I also work with my naturopath who has a more supplement based approach to her treatments. I appreciate the slight differences between their approaches, and although it sometimes results in conflicting information, I feel I get ALL the information for me to base my decisions on.

    It is true that if you work with a naturopath, he or she will recommend supplements, as that is often their answer to prescription drugs and disease prevention. You would definitely need to have faith in your pratitioner that he/she is not recommending unnecessary supplements. He or she should be able to explain the purpose of each supplement being recommended. And actually, it has become clear to me that there are typical supplements that are related to cancer prevention that are widely used. So, it would not be hard to find out whether what is being recommended makes sense.

    You absolutely should be able to know the treatment plan up front. There may be some basic bloodwork they want to run, but they should be basing a lot of your plan on your medical history. What they may want to do is determine whether there are any other conditions that need to be addressed to support your cancer prevention plan. For example, they should be testing your vitamin D level and your copper levels. Low vitamin D and/or high copper contribute to tumor growth.

    The stem cell therapy is what I am most interested in down in Mexico right now. They offer amazing treatment for people with active cancer as well, but the stem cell therapy, it appears, can heal the damage done by the chemotherapy.

    Take care. Hope this helps.

    Oops!
    Sorry, double post.
  • MaxRudy
    MaxRudy Member Posts: 56
    #5
    Options
    carolenk said:

    other options
    There are MDs and osteopaths who do integrative medicine so they are licensed to practice medicine and their scope extends into the practice of naturpathic medicine. They usually do chelation therapy and I'm guessing IV vitamin C treatments as well. There's an osteopath in my area who does the insulin-potentiated chemo (which I am very interested in doing if I need to go back on chemo).

    To find an integrative physician, I would go to the American College for the Advancement of Medicine (ACAM) website. www.acamnet.org Often these doctors are out f network but will give you a superbill to submit to your insurance for reimbursement for services.

    A friend of mine with stage IV ovarian cancer is back from the Immunity Therapy Center in Tijuana where she got the stem cell therapy. It's too soon to say how effective the treatments were and I will let you know whichever way the next scan goes.

    carolenk
    Thank you for clearing that up for me. I thought a nat. physician and an integrative physician were essentially the same thing. I so appreciate this Board and you ladies. We all are trying to do everything we can to beat the odds yet there is so much info to try to parse through. Aside from wasting money on the wrong treatment/resource, I, like all of us, don't feel I have the time to waste if I run off in the wrong direction. I'd really like to know how your friend's stem cell therapy goes as well as her comments on the environment. I have been to Tijuana once in my life about 35 years ago, and it was a mess. It's hard to picture it as a treatment center. Nonetheless, Tethys41 has been once and is thinking of another trip there. She sounds like a very smart lady so that gives me a great deal of confidence to pursue this option as well. My home health care nurse first mentioned it months ago. He has been there on "orientation tours" as he use to be a nurse in California and a lot of clients went to the Tijuana treatment centers. I was still a little apprehensive until I noticed several of the teal team had also tried it out and seemed pretty positive about their experience.
  • MaxRudy
    MaxRudy Member Posts: 56
    #6
    Options
    Tethys41 said:

    Naturopaths
    It is so wonderful to hear that you are doing well. Isn't it great to be done with chemo? I hope your scan is clear. I am so happy to hear you are planning to do the IV vitamn C. It really is a miracle treatment, as far as I'm concerned.

    I am not familiar with the regulations in Virginia regarding natruopathic medicine. I believe that in some states, naturopaths are not authorized to administer IV vitamin C. You can look for a naturopath by location and specialty (and I would look for one who specializes in cancer support) at http://www.naturopathic.org/AF_MemberDirectory.asp?version=1
    If Angie's List covers your area, that might be a place to look up reveiws of local naturopaths. www.Angieslist.com The service used to be free, but now, I think, they charge.

    Depending on your state's regulations or on the naturopath you find, it may be better for you to work both with a naturopath and an integrative medical practitioner.
    I receive my IVC from a nurse practitioner who has a family practice but also uses integrative therapies in her practice. I also work with my naturopath who has a more supplement based approach to her treatments. I appreciate the slight differences between their approaches, and although it sometimes results in conflicting information, I feel I get ALL the information for me to base my decisions on.

    It is true that if you work with a naturopath, he or she will recommend supplements, as that is often their answer to prescription drugs and disease prevention. You would definitely need to have faith in your pratitioner that he/she is not recommending unnecessary supplements. He or she should be able to explain the purpose of each supplement being recommended. And actually, it has become clear to me that there are typical supplements that are related to cancer prevention that are widely used. So, it would not be hard to find out whether what is being recommended makes sense.

    You absolutely should be able to know the treatment plan up front. There may be some basic bloodwork they want to run, but they should be basing a lot of your plan on your medical history. What they may want to do is determine whether there are any other conditions that need to be addressed to support your cancer prevention plan. For example, they should be testing your vitamin D level and your copper levels. Low vitamin D and/or high copper contribute to tumor growth.

    The stem cell therapy is what I am most interested in down in Mexico right now. They offer amazing treatment for people with active cancer as well, but the stem cell therapy, it appears, can heal the damage done by the chemotherapy.

    Take care. Hope this helps.

    Thank you Tethys41
    Your info is so very helpful and I really appreciate it. I would never have thought to look on Angies list for references. I don't know what all Virginia allows/doesn't allow but in most things, Virginia is ultra conservative (much to my dismay). I do know that they don't license Naturopathic doctors but most of the NP I looked up indicate that they are licensed in DC or some other state that does require licensing. I assume Virginia does allow the IVC since that one lady (who had all the bad references) offered it. I have a phone appt with someone from the "wellness center," tomorrow and hopefully he can answer some of these questions re: what VA allows and doesn't allow.

    Yes, I am sooooo happy to be off the chemo. That last dose was a doozy for me. I, too, hope my scan is clean. The prospects of going back on the chemo in the immediate future would be horrible. Obviously I'm trying to do everything I possibly can do to keep this monster at bay and to get some semblance of good health back. I'm going to research the stem cell therapy a bit more...that sounds very interesting too.

    Thank you again! Melanie

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