Strategy Options

As engineers, we tend to be overly-analytical and we tend to over plan as well. So, instead of telling you to just jump in and get started with an alternative treatment protocol that you've discovered, we prefer to step back for a few minutes and think about the big picture: the overall strategy and plan to treat your cancer (or any disease for that matter).

I believe that this step is critical, because if you just jump in and select the wrong program for your specific needs, then, you will be wasting valuable time.

There are basically 4 strategy options that you need to consider, based your specific needs, personality, motivation, etc.

Option 1 [Conventional]: Take the conventional treatment with nothing else, e.g. chemotherapy.

Option 2 [Conventional + Alternative]: Take the conventional treatment along with an alternative treatment program — an integrative approach.

Option 3 [Alternative]: Go for a completely alternative treatment program.

Option 4 [Nothing]. Choose to do absolutely nothing and keep going as you are.

The option that you choose will depend on your condition, your temperament, your belief systems and your social support structure.

Option 1 is generally for those who prefer to transfer responsibility for their health to a doctor, and prefer to defer choices to "the experts". Generally speaking, if you are this type, go to the orthodox medical profession and follow their treatment programs and advice, for you will not have the motivation or focus to take a complimentary or alternative path.

If you are in this category, as the majority seem to be, then alternative treatment options are not for you.

Option 2 is generally for those who either want the best of both the orthodox or alternative worlds (they hedge their bets) or have a very aggressively developing cancer that needs the orthodox treatment to give the body more time by rapidly reducing the number of cancer cells. These types of people may or may not take responsibility for their health — often they will give up responsibility to both the doctor and the alternative practitioner.

Integrative approaches have shown a lot of promise and are more accepted by the orthodox medical profession because they do not dismiss orthodox treatments. If you are in this group, please consider some of the supplementary practices outlined in Option 1 as this will minimize the side-effects of the conventional treatment component.

Please note that a few leading conventional cancer experts are starting to use low-dose (5% of normal chemo amount) intermittent chemo first priming the body with insulin to increase the uptake by cancer cells. This is called Insulin Potentiation Therapy (IPT) is much less destructive on healthy cells, but it will unfortunately take a while for this practice to become standard.

Option 3 is generally for those who really do take full responsibility for their health. These types of people often have done the research on conventional treatment success rates and have decided to take other options. That said, a portion of those in this category choose it because they like the idea of taking the alternative route but lack the real focus and gumption needed to follow it through. Such individuals should not follow this option themselves but should really be under the supervision of an alternative practitioner.

Option 4 is generally for those who are either in complete denial, have a very slow developing cancer (often associated with cancers in older people), are option 1 type people with a cancer that is untreatable by orthodox means, or are too old or frail to go through the often long and draining conventional healing process. Even if you choose this option you should really consider basic lifestyle changes to increase general health, well-being and longevity.

Overall, choosing either option 2 or 3 gives the best chance for survival (although some alternative practitioners like Andreas Moritz believe that option 4 gives a person better survival chances than 1 or 2). As to which option — 2 or 3 — is the best one for you, that depends on what you have uncovered with your research into survival rates and which you believe will be most effective (the mind plays a huge role in survival so you must feel out what you are most comfortable with).

As a general rule, according to Dr. Nicholas Gonzalez, an orthodox cancer treatment like chemotherapy is only worth trying for Hodgkin's disease (70%-80% of cases cured although secondary tumors return years later), testicular cancer, childhood acute lymphocytic leukaemia, some adult lymphomas, and choriocarcinomas. All other types of cancer do not respond well, if at all — the common metastatic cancers such as breast, colon and pancreas can't be cured by chemo, despite the billions of dollars spent on chemo research in these areas.

Indeed, there is evidence that chemo can encourage cancer cell proliferation. And an article recently appeared (25 Oct 2012) in the New England Journal of Medicine proclaiming that chemotherapy does more harm than good. So we would be wise to really look at the benefits of the type of chemotherapy we are considering, if that is the choice that we are making.

It is always extremely beneficial to have the counsel of a medical doctor open and knowledgeable with regards to alternative approaches, and therefore able to advise you on many different options you can take. (There are relatively few of these but you can find them on the internet or by visiting some of the sites mentioned above.)

You are strongly advised against making any decision based solely upon information given to you by an orthodox medical oncologist — always consider alternative approaches and perspectives, even if you end up not following them. Remember, almost all oncologists will not have the scope to be able to recommend anything outside of orthodox treatments that, quite frankly, do more harm than good in the majority of cases.

You always have to dig a bit to find the viable alternatives. This is because the law will be working against you on this one because it is illegal for anyone other than a medically trained oncologist to promote the treatment or cure for cancer.

In the UK, for example, there is the 1939 Cancer Act which is still being used today to suppress life-saving information. For example, two of the largest UK supermarkets were taken to court by Trading Standards a few years ago for illegally promoting cancer treatments under the 1939 Cancer Act. (For more info on the Cancer Act see: www.energygrid.com/health/2012/04ap-canceract.html)

What they had done is to state on some of their labels that increasing fruit and vegetable intake can help reduce the risk of cancer, something that is patently true (even the government officially stated this a few years earlier). But such promotion of the truth is illegal — the medical monopoly in the UK (and in every other developed nation including the US) has been conspiring for decades to keep you ignorant of alternative and complementary cancer treatments, and this is unfortunately firmly encoded in the our legal systems.

This is the main reason why most people are ignorant of the alternatives available to them: they are being systematically suppressed by laws that were passed decades ago that ensure the medical monopoly (and ridiculed by orthodox doctors and journalists and TV producers influenced by the massive pharmaceutical PR machine).

It is also important to bear in mind that with cancer treatment it is not a question of the more treatments you have the better – option 2 may include the same alternative treatments as in option 3, except chemotherapy or radiotherapy is added as well, but this does not mean it is a better treatment because chemotherapy and radiotherapy can be a negative factor in the equation for many (but not all) patients. (Most cancer sufferers today die as a result of conventional treatments such as chemotherapy and radiotherapy rather than from the disease itself.)

This is why some alternative cancer practitioners report far higher success rates with their treatment programs when the patient comes to them before trying conventional treatment. (The late William D. Kelley even claimed a 93% success rate with cancer patients, provided they had not previously had conventional treatment. Dr. Gonzalez who examined Kelley's work over a five year period found that, overall, he had an 80% success rate, which is phenomenal when you consider that the average conventional treatment success rate at best is below 7%.)

That said, there is sometimes a place for conventional treatment, especially in very aggressive cancers and those cancers mentioned above, and of course for those who are too afraid to try anything remotely unconventional.

There is, however, a major downside of taking the alternative cancer route: it will involve you having to make extensive dietary and lifestyle changes. You have to learn how to eat healthy foods every day, 4 to 5 times a day probably for the rest of your life. Therefore, compliance is the major stumbling block for most alternative treatment regimes.

If you are someone who finds it difficult to change your lifestyle because you feel it defines you, then the alternative cancer route might not be the one for you and you might have to take your chances with allopathic programs (1) or doing nothing (4). Lifestyle changes are not something you can just dabble with — you have to throw yourself into them with an "all-in" mentality -- a 100% commitment for life!

Remember that whatever treatment option you select, ask your doctor or alternative health practitioner for 5-year survival statistics with and without the treatment being advised. And be very wary about "relative risk" statistics.

For example, you doctor might tell you that chemotherapy for your breast cancer can reduce your risk of breast cancer by 50% — but that impressive-sounding figure might hide a absolute reduction of only 2%, (the chemotherapy might only be reducing the risk of getting breast cancer from 4% to 2% in the study).

Now that absolute figure does not sound so impressive, which is why orthodox oncologists almost invariably sell their treatment programs to their patients on the back of relative risk statistics. (Which is understandable: if they quoted absolute risk statistics, which are more meaningful to the patient, they would soon find themselves out of a job because no patient in his or her right mind would go through so much for so little benefit.)

Note: If you select Option 1, then, in most cases, your chances of survival will diminish greatly. At a minimum, you must include some kind of diet program to help fight your cancer and help to nourish and repair your body.

Note: For more details, refer to the blog post about developing a get-well or wellness plan.

Resources
Here are some of the best information sources that we have found for alternative and complementary cancer therapies and treatment protocols:

www.thenewmedicine.info — Patrick Kingsley is a highly respected English retired medical doctor who, in his last 25 years of practice, did not prescribe a single pharmaceutical drug.

To the Cancer Patient: Natural Cures vs. Traditional — This article by Dr. O'Shea is highly recommended and gives very useful advice to cancer patients.

www.peopleagainstcancer.net — People Against Cancer (PAC) is one of the best places to go for an alternative assessment.

www.dr-gonzalez.com — Nicholas Gonzalez is doing some of the most important research on effective nutritional cancer treatments.

www.energygrid.com/health/2005/08tt- hirneise.html — Lothar Hirneise, founder of the German People Against Cancer, has researched cancer treatment in depth. This is an important article to read if you are considering chemotherapy.

www.self-helpcancer.org — This self-help cancer solutions site was put together by writer, John Davidson, and gives a great introduction to the alternative cancer treatment scene.

www.cancerdecisions.com — The Moss Reports are Ralph Moss's excellent cancer reports that give you the low-down on both conventional and alternative cancer treatments. Also look out for his fantastic book: Questioning Chemotherapy.

www.canceractive.com — Cancer Active is run as a charity in the UK and provides excellent information for treating cancer naturally, alternatively and effectively. Here you will also find the book mentioned above: Everything You Need To Know To Help You Beat Cancer (Third Edition).

www.cancertutor.com — Cancer Tutor contains a great deal of information both on alternative cancer treatments and the politics of cancer. You can find some great information here with links to specific products and vendors who are actively involved in helping people with cancer.

www.cancercontrolsociety.com — The Cancer Control Society is a Californian organization that arranges weekend alternative cancer conventions, inviting some of the leading lights in alternative cancer therapy. This is a good site to visit if you are look for an alternatively minded medical doctor.

www.cancerbackup.org.uk — Great information resource for those undergoing conventional cancer treatments. (As with many conventional sites, alternative treatments are only covered in a superficial and condescending manner.)

www.preventcancer.com — The Cancer Prevention Coalition (CPC) is a US coalition of leading independent experts on cancer prevention and public health.

www.canceroptions.co.uk— More of a cancer consultancy but certainly one of the best. It was founded by ex-nurse Patricia Peat.