Alternative Medicine for Cancer

I haven’t been back to this site in months & am happy to see that the site administrator has taken out the ads. In February, there was some type of Google robot that picked out blog keywords in order to display “matching” links of possible interest. For a while at least, there was this weird situation wherein the blogger was promoting caution in the choice of cancer management tracks in a panel beside links for Chinese herbs, colonics, and such.

When reading the word “alternative” with respect to cancer treatment, I assume that the writer sits on the side of Western medicine & its data-driven standards of care. “Alternative” is a substitute for the therapies I was trained to administer, not even “complementary” to my service.  (”Complementary” seems to belong to another category altogether.)   I know so little about alternative, complementary, natural-holistic, integrative or what-have-you that, in truth, I tend to give a blanket admonition against their use while on active Western-style systemic antineoplastics, or at least until I’ve read up on specific items. Paranoid?  To be honest, my drugs are toxic enough without the possibility of further interactions with unnamed components labelled as “miscellaneous".  I have the same paranoia about Western-style medications with insufficient data on their use & side effects anyway.

Perhaps a serious look at China No. 1, mushrooms, mega-vitamins, etc is warranted on an international scale. At the moment I just say that patients can take their chances with poorly documented “medicines” when I have nothing else to offer.

 

Previous Comments

i found alot of article here -> www.cancerhelps.com

Posted by adam at August 7, 2010, 1:09 pm

That is known that money can make people disembarrass. But how to act if somebody has no money? The one way only is to try to get the loan or just bank loan.

Posted by GloverAlissa at September 21, 2011, 8:35 pm

Diagnosis = Cancer (How Does It Feel?)



Best Friends, Victor-Gabriel Gilbert.

Recently, an old pal was diagnosed to have cancer in the course of routine screening.  It soon developed that, in his panic, my every word was allowed to supersede his usually uber- methodical decision process.  This may have had more to do with friendship and trust rather than my profession as he has loudly ribbed me about being a "relentless drug pusher" in the past. Whatever, it made me antsy that he wouldn't even entertain referrals to other oncologists.  Suboptimal!  In my mind, I may have defensively screened myself off for more than just a bit in order to buy some objectivity, so much so that, in hindsight, I'd become stern.

For while the best approach may be clear as day, just how in the heck patients summon the will to stay the course is beyond me.  In the case of friends, I prefer the job of pure emotional support of that will.  In fact, its the only job I should be doing in that situation, if I'm to reach for the old "Eureka!", i.e., the elegant clarity of rational management in a complex case.  

One can so easily become overburdened by this business when the distance that a clinic desk affords is breached. 

As usual, my friend taught me a few things, and the experience highlighted some truisms in clinical practice.

• Fostering acceptance of a dire diagnosis is a major job. 
• Primary physicians should be congratulated for all their patients who actually walked into an oncologist's clinic.
• I should pat myself in my back for all the times that I was entrusted with a stranger's care.  Why I accepted it as a routine aspect of the job before now is incomprehensible.
• Patients simply don't go for a tough fix until they've overcome their initial shock.  "Me, cancer!?"
• Success at making objective assessments does not imply that the patient has overcome his subjective assessment of you.
• Your recommendations, no matter how sound, become suspect when your foibles are hilariously familiar.
• In the absence of family, peer "sharing" by cancer survivors should not be expected to take up the entire slack.
• "Sharing" among cancer patients can lead to either "acceptance" or uncontrollable fears.Support groups should have clear guidelines on how to approach individual patients.  Big sign on each forehead: Caution– vulnerable!   
• For all our sakes, I should avoid my doctor-friends when I need personal medical advice.

Local Costs of Anti-Cancer Drugs

A new comment on the post #44 "HER-2 Positive Early Stage Breast Cancer" is waiting for your approval.

• …Welcome to the ____ Family! We invite you to visit us at www.____.com and find our great medicine prices. We provide serious and first class service to all our customers 24/7. If we don’t carry a medicine you need just let us know and we will be more than glad to assist you! To show you our gratitude for past purchases and to offer you one more reason to continue purchasing with ____.com We are offering a limited time 30% discount include on all our medicines. We will keep on giving you the best price and service in the market. Welcome and enjoy your visit to www.____.com

I found this in my mailbox, along with similar North American offers for drug purchase over the Net. Its interesting to note that the list price of many drugs is significantly less in the Philippines even when 30% discounts apply overseas. We're also spared the additional costs of airmail and taxes. 

Third world pricing– what a huge mercy! Somebody Up There must feel pity about the absence of government subsidies because the costs of the newer drugs indicated for systemic cancer treatment seem to be miraculous hereabouts. In many instances, we can even afford to ignore the small differences between "original" and "copy".

As for the mindboggling biologics… patients who sourced or once contemplated importing cetuximab from the US gasped when the product was finally entered into the local market. With their subsequent savings, they could afford a US trip each month had they wished it.  Et tu, Neulasta?

 

Previous Comments

Dear Sir,

How much is Cetuximab in the Phils?
How effective is it for those who have the metastatic colorectal cancer?

Posted by carlo at January 12, 2008, 5:13 pm

Sorry for the late reply.
Cetuximab is expensive relative to other therapies for metastatic colorectal cancer. That fact holds true for the entire Planet Earth. Its use as a single agent or in combination with chemotherapy is supported by solid evidence for specific colorectal cancer disease settings but… yes, in those settings it affords benefit in terms of response & survival time. It is not curative.

Posted by oncodoc at February 18, 2008, 11:05 am

A Filipino Cancer Blog

I was looking through the usage statistics of the cancer blog just now.  Its interesting to note that 3/4 of all visitors access the site from the US, Canada, and Germany.  The balance hail from China, Malaysia, Indonesia, and the Philippines.  So what would increase local traffic?

Frankly, the blog was started out of a frustration with certain aspects of care as noted in my own Philippines-based oncology practice:  the lack of adequate health benefits & frequent misallocation of limited personal funds, the fairly low level of cancer awareness amongst patients, and the absence of true multidisciplinary professional interaction. It seemed to make sense to point the Filipino public to the peer-reviewed sites via links, overriding the impact of any primary physician biases by the weight of evidence. Its not working very well, as half-expected. Its easy to see why, but how can a government agency or NGO help?

• Write in Filipino & major dialects.  But how to describe breast cancer surgery in the vernacular? A pro job.
• Terminology & level of technical info.  Editor needed! I suspect that even my own patients think I’m glibly opinionated and nerdy.
• Improve access.  Can you imagine a typical Tarlac farmer resorting to the Net for info?   Perhaps print, video, or health center lectures would be more effective. Getting high-profile non-doctors to educate the public would be a dream scenario.
• Identify & target high risk populations. Cancer prevention is always the best & cheapest path.
• Neutrality.  I did say that I was opinionated.
• Focused agenda & constancy.  My life isn’t all oncology, much less blogging. Dissemination of cancer info for local consumption would be a major full-time undertaking, albeit a worthy one.

Dietary Fat and Breast Cancer

I have a sister who prefers to be described as Rubenesque.  Indeed, Peter Paul Rubens would have surely loved her, and we won't have her in any other way!  But...

R.Ventura, Instrument, 2004

Women (who serve as an inspiration to us all as our mothers, sisters, partners, daughters, friends, & associates) are still hounded by a deadly disease.  The big 2006 Breast Cancer meeting has just concluded, however, and a few new findings of great interest were presented, adding to our present understanding of our common enemy.

Notable among many others… The WINS Womens Intervention Nutrition Study interim analysis was reported & subsequently published in the JNCI.  This was a low-fat dietary intervention trial conducted among women diagnosed with early breast cancer after completion of surgery, postoperative hormonal &/or chemo treatments, with or without radiation, as indicated.  It seems that reduction in dietary fat to the point that sustains a modest weight loss may reduce cancer relapse rates.  While merely an initial report, these findings combined with the now-familiar fat phobias of the cardiovascular & metabolic folks speak for habitual caution from the general public.  A lifestyle shift may be needed for some– an overwhelming thought!– but, at the very least, its time that we started reading the nutritional facts on food jars.

 

   Previous Comments

Breast cancer is the most common cause of cancer in women and the second most common cause of cancer death in women in the U.S. While the majority of new breast cancers are diagnosed as a result of an abnormality seen on a mammogram, a lump or change in consistency of the breast tissue can also be a warning sign of the disease. Heightened awareness of breast cancer risk in the past decades has led to an increase in the number of women undergoing mammography for screening, leading to detection of cancers in earlier stages and a resultant improvement in survival rates.
Posted by Dentist Fort Myers at February 26, 2010, 2:24 pm