alternative treatment's

[Larry]

Hi all'

This is my first time posting on this page or subject.after reading many of the post may i offer this suggestion.

For many of those who are looking at treating there Cancer differently please go to WWW.Quackwatch.com.

I too believe in using herb's and food as a pardner in standard cancer treatment and have noticed that some of the Doctor's are in agreement to the idea.But there are Unscruptious people out there that play on our desperation and fear's for of course the money.

back in 1973 my brotherinlaw was convinced if he used a certain herbal concoction for his cancer that it would cure him.These were people from his church and they sincerly believed what they said.Any way they brewed up the concoction and brought it to him regurally and he stopped his radiation and all medical treatment's and this was at a earlt stage of his cancer.And sadly he died 2 year's later from his cancer.

Just thought i would share this enfo so that in hope's we can all make better decision's.

[dave s]

Larry,

Thanks for the advice. My only comment is that even Qauckwatch must taken with a grain of salt. Everyone is well-intentioned but has their own biases to deal with. Unfortunately each of us must decide what we believe for ourselves. The path of least resistance is always to follow the views of the orthodox medical commmunity. The problem is, following the best treatment protocols available from officially recognized oncology today yields unsatisfactory results all to frequently.

You are absolutely correct. There are a multitude of scam artists and fraudulent operators out there who try their best to take advantage of our desperation.

Thank you for your post.

Regards, Dave S

[Guest bean_si (Not Active)]

Larry, I am sorry for your loss. That was very hard on you.

Yes, there are hundreds, thousands of quacks out there, eager to rip off our money, feeding off the fears of cancer patients - taking advantage of other human beings when they are most vulnerable. And I don't just mean the pharmaceutical companies.

You can usually recognize them because they make sweeping statements with little or no research or logic to back up their claims. ("This cures dozens of diseases", "the establishment is trying to keep it from you"). Their prices are always extremely high, disproportionate to the product's ingredients.

However, after reading quackwatch.com, IMHO they have also made sweeping statements and give the impression that all alternative remedies are bad. There are times I think what quackwatch.com enjoys most is inciting their visitors. Take the statement:

"Alternative medicine has become the politically correct term for questionable practices formerly labeled quack and fraudulent" Cite: Be Wary of "Alternative" Health Methods, Stephen Barrett, M.D.

Link to above: http://www.quackwatch.org/01QuackeryRel ... twary.html

I research the products I take as thoroughly as possible. I research their side effects and interactions. It takes a great deal of time but forums such as this, with a number of people bringing in information, helps. I know which supplements can cause blood thinning (garlic for one), which products have shown contamination (burdock root), etc.

The thing is to educate yourself. Many supplements and herbs are mighty factors in the fight against cancer. Most of us use them as complementary (along with conventional treatment) instead of alternative (without conventional treatment). We need to keep an open mind. Sure, there are charlatans out there but let's not throw the baby, the washclothe and the bathtub out with the bath water.

Cat

[karenl]

Hi Larry

Thanks for the warning.

I stopped visiting the Quackwatch site a long time ago. I find it to be completely biased against anything that is unorthodox. Unfortunately, one of the problems with alternative treatments is that, in the main, they lack scientifically based clinical trials, and we must therefore rely upon largely anecdotal evidence, and our own understanding of the mechanisms by which they are purported to work. So many non-traditional therapies are dismissed as being ineffective and possibly harmful - what about CHEMOTHERAPY!! I wonder if we read articles on the success rates of chemo (under the banner of an 'alternative treatment') for late stage cancer, together with the likely side-effects, whether anyone would still elect to go ahead with it??

In addition, and on a bit of a tangent, I place little faith in doing what government agencies such as the FDA, or large pharmaceutical companies recommend. A film was recently shown here, based on a true story, about a US government-run experiment in the 1930's in which they were studying the disease process of syphillus. Even though a cure was found during the trial, the medication was withheld from the African-American participants because the government wanted to track the course of the disease!!!! Needless to say, the end-result was the death of the sufferers.

I believe that we need to be very careful when deciding on treatment programmes, be they traditional or alternative. I'm not suggesting that people shouldn't view the Quackwatch site - just don't let your search STOP there.

Larry, I understand you posted your warning out of concern for others well-being, and I sincerely thank you for that.

Karen

[Larry]

Wow what great and well informed replies to my posting.I'm in total agreement with all of you,my main intention was not to uphold Quack Watch as the final word on all this but to suggest that if some one was thinking of giving up there current medical treatment to be sure as to not be taken in by some evil greedy person or group who is interested only in there money or as in my late brother inlaw's case a well meaning group of people who just i'm sure were positive they had the cure.

I recieve numerous health letter's and had recently in a Bottom line letter read that the Chinese medical Establishment in Cancer had been using standard normal treatment for Cancer along with using the herb Astralgulas and claiming that in there double blind test the one's not recieving the herb were still the same statiscally but the one's recieving the herb had a 2 to 1 survival over the non recipient's.

So i researched and so far what i've learned is Astralgulas does indeed enhance the T-cell's or Killer Cell's and seem's to help Chemo recipient's tolerate or in so many word's make the after effect's less harsh.The reccomended dosage is 2,000 mg daily for optiman effect.Wife took the bottle of the Herb to her ONC and he told her he had no problem with her taking it,and so far since starting it and she has only been taking 500mg aday she seem's to be handling at least this time her second round much better.

Here are the improvement's i've noticed,only laid around for 3 day's and got her appetite back right away.Also seem's more alive with some improvement in energy.And she has not this time gotten the cold chill's she had last time.

Now one last comment and this is about logging on.I've noticed i can log on in the morning's but can not for the rest of the day.Rick seem's to think it's my computer in which he probaly is correct as i am a computer illiterate,my computer is a e-machine 2.6 ghz with dial up on aol..

Thank's for all your replies and i would love to see and hear more on alternative treatment's and hopefully some one will log on that has been cured or still in remission year's out with lung cancer.

[john]

Yes Larry I thought you were right on. You said yourself that you use herbs, but it is important to really question everything - get as many sources of information both FOR and AGAINST the use of something and then decide.

It is probably smart to run it by a doctor or pharmacist to make sure there aren't any potential dangers, such as taking an chemo that lowers platlets and then taking a herb that thins the blood creates major problems

[Guest bean_si (Not Active)]

Try this link for info - not anti but not pro

http://www.mskcc.org/mskcc/html/11917.cfm

[Jana_W]

Hi all

Interesting topic. I do refer to Quackwatch from time to time. I do find it hilarious that they even suggest the Gerson diet should not be followed, so am extremely skeptical about their reports. However I like to read both the pros and the cons to any treatment I am researching. Therefore I know that quackwatch will be totally biased against alternative treatment and therefore provide me with cons in multitudes. I actually find the memorial sloan kettering website to be quite opposed to alternative treatments (under the guise of being impartial) and I often think that these supposed impartial websites really are the most harmful, as they are supposed to be presenting an unbiased view, but in reality I have not found that to be the case.

We are having great difficulties over here in Perth, Australia with our local cancer council who will not publish any links to alternative therapy websites, so I find this discussion most interesting.

I guess all we can do is research as much as we can and then make up our own mind about what we read, and not be swayed by a government body such as the FDA who have their own agenda.

Cheers

Jana

xxx

[Guest bean_si (Not Active)]

I agree that SK does not seem to be impartial. But from the information I've already researched, they give accurate facts as to the POSSIBLE interactions of various herbs and the side effects. For instance, when they say a herb can cause increased bleeding - well that's probably not a problem for most people. OTOH, I bruise very easily, can bleed forever from a simple injection, etc., so when I'm facing a needle biopsy or something similar, I stop those herbs for a week prior.

Yeah, they do seem to exaggerate but when making a decision, I take into account the fact that they pro-conventional medicine.

Cat

[Jana_W]

Hi bean_si

Thanks for the information on the website. They do seem to be a good source of information on the interactions of the herbs etc with other medications, so are a good reference for that. I had a second look at it and realised if you just ignore their biasedness and just read the facts about interactions it is pretty handy stuff. Cheers!

Wishing you well

Jana

xx