Alternative Treatments - Need Help, Suggestions, Information

samkhan · New User Joined: 09 Aug 2009 Posts: 1

Hi,

I had and was operated for brain tumar in cerebellum. Surgeons were able to take out tumor completely which was 3mm in size. I went through radiation for 6 weeks which had terrible side affects and I chose not go through chemo simply because doctors didnt have enough data to suggest whether it will benefit or not since my tumor was most common in little kids and I am over 40 years of age. I was told that in North America there were only 400 cases in last 30 years. So I opted no to take chemo.

I am looking for anyone who is going through alternative treatment and would like to know their experiences, recommendations and guidance.

I look forward to your replies.

Sincerely
Sam

brainman

Sam, I am very sorry about your cancer. It does sound like you have done your research. I would not say you are thinking about "alternative treatments" vs conventional since you have already had two of the three conventional treatments. You are asking about complementary treatments. If you can find safe complements to the traditional treatments, yes, you could use them. However, be aware that there are a lot of false claims... especially on the Internet.
_________________
Jim
Administrator and long-term cancer survivor
1992 Astrocytoma grade 2, left motor strip
2005 Recurrence this time said to be an Oligodendroglioma grade 3, same location.
http://cancerforums.net/viewtopic.php?t=2405
My Story Part 1: http://cancerforums.net/viewtopic.php?t=2528
My Story Part 2: http://cancerforums.net/viewtopic.php?p=7350
My Story Part 3: http://cancerforums.net/viewtopic.php?t=8029
Twitter: @JimHawkins54

hpenhey

Hi Samkhan

You ask about alternative/complementary therapies - yes there are a lot of people out there in the internet who would love you to take their pill, potion or special something at a cost to you and profit to them.

But don't let that dissuade you from researching good health. Go for the no cost things first that improve immune functioning and increase longevity (in general terms).

Start with identifying what is really important to you for the time you have left - whether that be 6 decades or whatever. If you live your life doing what you love then you will have fewer regrets later. From a biomedical perspective you could argue that if you are living by your values and principles you will be causing less stress in your life and bad stress reduces immune functioning which is the last thing you need at the moment.

Spend time with nature - research has shown that people who do much better than expected enjoy strong connections with nature.

Go for a high vegetable diet with lots of colour - eg red cabbage as the basis for salads. Brightly coloured fresh vegetables improve immune functioning. Reduce any "foods" that can survive months in packaging - you are what you eat, so be careful what you eat. Get sufficient high quality protein from grass fed animals where possible.

Reduce sugar and grain intake as close to zero as possible. These feed internal fungal infections which reduce immune functioning. Some medical people will laugh at this, but won't argue with you replacing high GI foods with highly coloured vegetables.

Check your early morning temperature with an old fashioned thermometer under the armpit for 10 mins and if it is more than a few points under normal then check out the free stuff on hypothyroidism from the patient perspective - again some doctors don't like this but some find it very helpful. If you are hypothyroid then you are likely to be vitamin A deficient - hands and feet get an orangey tint to them as the betacarotene (the precursor to vitamin A) builds up in your system. But even if you aren't going orange still check this info out as hypothryoidism is often not picked up by docs and it reduces immune function.

Develop a strong network of family, friends and contacts who can support you on your journey. And if you have any psychological issues then sort them out - they can be very draining on you and getting rid of them can improve your immune function again.

If you are looking for immune support of a more pill type, go for a general all purpose vitamin and mineral supplement plus say some extra selenium, vitamin D in hefty doses and possibly some extra zinc. Get your doctor to check your vitamin D levels and if they are low to recommend sufficient dosage to raise you to the higher recommended levels.

regards and go well
Harriet
Researcher into health and healing
Carer of sister with cancer who recovered when not expected
_________________
Harriet Penhey
Health Researcher
Carer of sister ill for 20 years cancer of cervix, now well for 2 decades.

divinechild

My dad was diagnosed with lung cancer a few weeks ago. It's hard for me to clarify the timeline because he had withheld almost all information about the "three black dots in his lung" for the last 2 or 3 weeks and my mother, sister and I are only finding out how serious and advanced his lung cancer is a few days ago when his wife and my cousin finally started to tell us the truth and advised us to go see him (in another country) asap. According to his wife, he has cancer in his right lung, left lung, diaphram, liver and lymph node. He was a heavey smoker for like 70 years (he's 84 now) and I've been reading a lot on the internet about lung cancer that small cell lung cancer is closedly related to cigarette smoking---80% of the SCLC patient has a history of being a heavy smoker. I have not found any posts here with anyone has experienced their family member having SCLC, I'm wondering if the symptoms are the same.....

Since 3 weeks ago when he was first admitted to the hospital to undergo all kinds of test to confirm he had cancer I had wanted to fly overseas to be by his side but he kept sugar-coat his real condition and told us he only had an insignificant amout of cancer cell in his right lung so my mom and my sister always thought it gotta be stage 1 but he is very frail very fast and his wife and my cousin couldn't comply to him to lie to us about his real condition anymore. From reading in this forum I'm kind of confused that the only symptoms he as is loss of appetite, lost more than 10% of his body weight in 8 months, weakness and persistent coughs. He doesn't seem to have the lung infusion like everyone describe. Does this mean that he is not stage 4? Since he's not in the U.S and the doctor who treated him overseas is not giving out diagnosis of what stage his lung cancer is, they only tell us exactly where in the body they found cancer cells----in my father's case is almost everywhere.....

I'm getting my passport renewed but it's going to take 2-3 weeks even with an expedited service, 4-6 weeks with regular processing time. I'm afraid I won't be able to see him before he head on to transition to another plane if I don't go in the next week or two.

I talk to my mom and sister daily to keep track of how he's doing. Last night they told me his wife told them to buy airplane ticket to go see him asap because she has doubts how long he's going to last. She also said he couldn't eat anything everyday. Ate very very little. When he walked he couldn't walk by himself without help. But today she told my mom and sister that my dad slept very well last night without the nasty coughs, and he ate a lot for lunch and had a lot of energy, completely different from the day before. This alarms me because I remember reading in this forum that "when the final days came, it came VERY quickly" and also "Some cancer patients had a surge of energy hours or days before they passes" and this "surge of energy" from what his wife described to my mom and my sister today really worries me. Right now there's nothing I can do though because my passport is expired in less than 12 months and I need at least 12 months before expiration date on my passport in order to apply for a visa to the country he's getting treated.

I also have one more question: My dad is 84 years old so his other relatives all suggest that he does not go the chemo route because he's so old and frail it might kill him. Now he's getting complimentary healing--Traditional Chinese Medicine which is non-invasive. I am not sure what to think of the Alternative Medicine route but agree that it's true that considering my father's age and health condition whether he was going to be able to benifit from chemo without being killed by it.

Thanks SO MUCH for reading....

Sending warm wishes and healing energy to who may need it...

Shannon

hpenhey

Hi Shannon
You are going through a very difficult time and it is all the more difficult because you can't be with your father. Make sure you look after yourself during this time. If you can become accepting of your Dad's condition rather than fighting it you will be much more comfortable in yourself and more use to your family.

If you can think of dying as being part of life, especially in the case of the elderly, then you can develop a greater sense of inner peace over it all. I know it is hard but we do have to face the fact that none of us lives for ever and for each one of us, including our loved parents, the end-time will come.

You ask about whether the chemotherapy option should be taken up. Chemo is nowhere near as effective as most of us believe. For small-cell lung cancer at stage IV chemo only adds 1.2% to survival. Think of it like this. 80 people have to be treated by chemo for one person to live another 5 years. I'll give the reference below if you want to follow this up.

With such a low response to chemo then you might like to consider recommending the family stay with the Chinese medicine and encourage your father to aim for the best quality of life for the time he has left.

By this I don't mean to be fatalistic. One of the people in my study had secondaries "everywhere" (Stage IV-V)and he still went into remission when he decided he would go for the best quality of life he could. We never know how long someone will last, however it is good to enjoy the time we all have left.

regards
Harriet
Health researcher and carer

reference
Morgan, G et al. The contribution of cytotoxic chemotherapy to 5-year survival in adult malignancies. Clinical Oncology (2004) 16: 549-560
_________________
Harriet Penhey
Health Researcher
Carer of sister ill for 20 years cancer of cervix, now well for 2 decades.

divinechild

Hi Harriet,

That is so wise and helpful...Thank you so much....

Shannon

[quote="hpenhey"]Hi Shannon
You are going through a very difficult time and it is all the more difficult because you can't be with your father. Make sure you look after yourself during this time. If you can become accepting of your Dad's condition rather than fighting it you will be much more comfortable in yourself and more use to your family.

If you can think of dying as being part of life, especially in the case of the elderly, then you can develop a greater sense of inner peace over it all. I know it is hard but we do have to face the fact that none of us lives for ever and for each one of us, including our loved parents, the end-time will come.

You ask about whether the chemotherapy option should be taken up. Chemo is nowhere near as effective as most of us believe. For small-cell lung cancer at stage IV chemo only adds 1.2% to survival. Think of it like this. 80 people have to be treated by chemo for one person to live another 5 years. I'll give the reference below if you want to follow this up.

With such a low response to chemo then you might like to consider recommending the family stay with the Chinese medicine and encourage your father to aim for the best quality of life for the time he has left.

By this I don't mean to be fatalistic. One of the people in my study had secondaries "everywhere" (Stage IV-V)and he still went into remission when he decided he would go for the best quality of life he could. We never know how long someone will last, however it is good to enjoy the time we all have left.

regards
Harriet
Health researcher and carer

reference
Morgan, G et al. The contribution of cytotoxic chemotherapy to 5-year survival in adult malignancies. Clinical Oncology (2004) 16: 549-560[/quote]

divinechild

Dear Hpenhey,

Thank you so much for your sage and encouraging insight....you're right....nobody knows how long we last on this plane.....should live each day to the fullest as if it was our last day on earth....live it to the fullest!

Thank you SO MUCH for this insight and reminder....I really appreciate it....

Sending you warm light,

Shannon

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