conan1017

A recent thread considering natural medicines/therapies has prompted me to highlight a few items from my reading as a catalyst for further discussion. As I said in that thread, I cannot advise anyone in this area but I can share what information, sources and my perspective on my wife’s treatment. Neither am I an authority on cancer or natural medicines, but I can read, reason and apply formal logic. My primary source is:

An Alternative Medicine Definitive Guide to Cancer
(W. John Diamond, MD, W. Lee Cowden, MD and Burton Goldberg) -37 top physicians explain their explain their proven, safe, non-toxic and successful treatments)
Future Medicine Publishing, Inc; 1997, Tiburon, CA

Unfortunately the topic at hand can be as confusing as it is controversial. Even so, consider a quote from chapter 26 of “Alternatine Medicine…” in regards to the Cancer industry:

By definition, a profit oriented pharmaceutical company in not going to pursue non-patentable products such as laetrile, maitake mushroom and other alternative medicines, because they cannot be registered as patented drugs and thus cannot be controlled in the marketplace (p.662) (emphasis mine)

(Might I add, for the same reason we are unlikely to see the use of alternative medicines in clinical trials and thus the same will likely not be considered along with standard treatments.) What you can expect from this book is the medical opinions, basic treatment plans and success stories from 37 physicians concerning specific cancers, not just lung. With that said, there are only 3 lung cancer success stories in the entire book (I expect there is others). The physician’s credentials, address, fax, phone, etc. are provided. For example: Emanuel Revici, MD (Revici Therapy) offers what he calls “a biologically guided, non-toxic, true chemo therapy.” If brief, Revici claims: “Cancer results when the body’s defense system is arrested in the lipidic phase… When this occurs either fatty acids or sterols are produced in excessive quantities and this, in turn, promotes the development of cancer.” (p.309)(this makes sense to me in respect to my limited knowledge of microbiology). In his chapter, his treatment claims to have reversed an advanced stage of adenocarcinoma of the lung in 5 years for a 62 year old woman (clear for 6 years) as well as in colon, bone and brain cancers.

As for my wife Patsy (43), she has never been a smoker and has stage IV NSCLC which entails a semi-obstructive (was completely obstructive) tumor in the primary lobe of her left lung, a small tumor in the bronchial of her right lung, 2 liver mets and 1 in the bone (head). I started her on some supplements while she was doing radiation, prior to chemo. However, it was not until she started chemo that we saw any noticeable difference in her scans, symptoms of the post-obstructive pneumonia she was suffering with at the time.

At the moment, we plan to continue with the current chemo line and a modest supplement regimen which includes a multi-vitamin in addition to vitamin C & vitamin A, Echinacea-Goldeseal, Max 3 immune/killer cell booster (cat’s claw, maitake mushroom, IP-6 and inositol) and Bromelain (enzymes from pineapple) and an amino acid nutritional shake with a fatty acid oil blend. I can’t say that for certain “what” if any of these has been effective, but we are getting some positive results. My current regimen is an attempt to boost her defenses and healing process without conflicting with chemo therapy –so I intend to move slowly and with caution. There are also a few supplements that I have read a lot of interesting things about but haven’t yet tried like B-17, apple pectin and shark cartilage.

In the event that we arrive at the place where conventional treatments are no longer effective for whatever reason, I hope to go strictly to a natural treatment plan that has been successful under similar circumstances (keeping in mind all cancers and people are different). I am certainly not a physician or nutritionist, but I am simply giving my best effort in giving my wife every opportunity to beat what are insurmountable odds and hope the same for everyone here (which includes more than just medicine).

No matter what the outcome or courses we choose, let all we do be motivated by our love for our family and one another. I personally respect the opinions and whatever treatment decisions others make because I don’t have hope in “one-size fits all” approaches, neither would I say that my current view is fixed or best. But I do believe this topic merits our consideration and hope that others may contribute what they have learned, tried or experienced in some detail.

Thanks for reading and God Bless,

conan