Traditional and alternative, together in a common cause?

liberybell · New User Joined: 10 Mar 2006 Posts: 6

[First of all, let me apologize for my writing. Not to offer this as a justification but as a clarification, I would like for the reader to keep in mind that English is not my first language, and even though my vocabulary is plenty my grammar is terrible. Therefore I would like to apologize in advance and to thank you for your understanding.]

I think that nobody can disagree that a body in cancerous stage (at any level of criticality) has a very significant characteristic: the immune system is very weak and in many instances, shut down. Our instinctive interpretation of this is: “Oh! this means that the body can not defend itself.” But in reality there is more to that than just the defense against foreign elements. Isn’t it?

According to a common definition the immune system is:
“The integrated body system of organs, tissues, cells, and cell products that differentiates self from non-self and neutralizes potentially pathogenic organisms or substances.”

Let’s analyze this simplistic definition of the immune system:
- “The integrated body system” In plain English this means to me that organs do not act on their own but as part of an integrated system. Meaning, or interpreting, that the wellbeing of an organ is completely dependent on the wellbeing of the entire system, and therefore that the wellbeing of the integrated system has or should have a higher priority that the wellbeing of each one of the components of the system.
-“…that differentiates self from nonself…” Is really our immune system that simple? Is the immune system there just to fight foreign elements? Doesn’t the immune system also balance its efforts to preserve certain components of the system versus others in an attempt to preserve the integrity of the system when resources to preserve all components are not available?
I think it is key to understand that our immune system is a complex system of “living” rules that has as highest priority to preserve the integrity of the system [u]even[/u]... at the cost of some of its own components.

Well, even though the priority of the immune system is well understood across all medicines, when we look at the actions of most traditional medicines and many of the alternative medicines, it seems that their main priority is to preserve individual organs and components of the system, putting the overall integrity of the system at side and in many cases at risck by ignoring the damage that their actions can inflict to the overall integrity of the system.

Why is that? Why cannot we direct part of our researching and clinical efforts, both in alternative medicine and traditional medicine, to try to help the immune system to preserve the integrity of the system in its totality instead piece by piece?
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"We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men are created equal; that they are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights; that among these are life, liberty, the pursuit of happiness,...[and their right to choose and to learn about all available medical options in the pursuit of better health]”

rlee · Site Admin Joined: 15 Jan 2006 Posts: 245

You make a good point about making sure the whole body including the immune system remains healthy. The NIH has created the National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine to begin research in the area of CAM. Although only part of the research budget goes to the NCCAM, at least it is being addressed now.

Sincerely,
RLee, MD
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RLee, MD

Any information provided is NOT intended to provide specific medical advice to users but rather to provide users with information to help them better understand their health condition and related care. All readers are strongly encouraged to consult with a qualified physician for answers to their personal medical questions.

liberybell · New User Joined: 10 Mar 2006 Posts: 6

[quote="rlee"]You make a good point about making sure the whole body including the immune system remains healthy. The NIH has created the National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine to begin research in the area of CAM. Although only part of the research budget goes to the NCCAM, at least it is being addressed now.

Sincerely,
RLee, MD[/quote]
Dr. RLee, thank you so much for pointing me to the NCCAM.
I found extremelly interesting the research that NCCAM is conduction on Gonzalez cancer therapy:
http://nccam.nih.gov/about/offices/od/directortestimony/060700.htm
Thanks again
_________________
"We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men are created equal; that they are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights; that among these are life, liberty, the pursuit of happiness,...[and their right to choose and to learn about all available medical options in the pursuit of better health]”

warkar · New User Joined: 25 Apr 2006 Posts: 3

Thank you all so much for this great information - much appreciated.

Cheers,

Karen
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check out http://cancer--treatment.blogspot.com for more information.

irene roberto · New User Joined: 09 Jun 2006 Posts: 9

hi,

we must really have a healthy body to avoid the different diseases that are present nowadays...healthy lifestyle, exercise so that our immune system can fight diseases...

you may also visit this site for added info

http://besthealthoptions.com/healthy-diets/
http://besthealthoptions.com/top-diseases/
http://besthealthoptions.com/top-diseases/

Wunderchu · Regular Joined: 21 Feb 2007 Posts: 29

[quote="liberybell"][quote="rlee"]You make a good point about making sure the whole body including the immune system remains healthy. The NIH has created the National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine to begin research in the area of CAM. Although only part of the research budget goes to the NCCAM, at least it is being addressed now.

Sincerely,
RLee, MD[/quote]
Dr. RLee, thank you so much for pointing me to the NCCAM.
I found extremelly interesting the research that NCCAM is conduction on Gonzalez cancer therapy:
http://nccam.nih.gov/about/offices/od/directortestimony/060700.htm
Thanks again[/quote]

thanks for heads up.. I am interested in Dr. Gonzalez's work

here is another website with information that may be relevant to anyone visiting this Complementary and Alternative Medicine subforum: http://www.distance-healer.com/18.html
_________________
May God Bless all cancer patients and their families and their caregivers.
God is in control. God is the true healer.
"Unless the LORD builds the house, its builders labor in vain." -Psalm 127:1-3

yao wang · Regular Joined: 06 Jul 2007 Posts: 23

we should take lesser meat,more fruits and vegetables,lesser soft drinks,instant noodles, and processed foods.exercise often and detox often to keep our body healthy!

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