I need a laugh and thought I'd try you. My brother in law called my husband today and told him about this great cancer doctor he heard about who was coming to our area this weekend. He told my husband that this guy cures cancer when other doctors have given up. Well against my better judgement I called the number he gave me and he is not a doctor but an herbalist. He went on to describe how he has cured cancer with diet and excercise. What next?
Sue

You can cut your inherent cancer risk by avoiding the obvious carcinogens and by proper nutrition. Even so, you still cause massive damage to your DNA every day by simply living. There is absolutely no way of reducing this risk to zero. Most of that damage gets repaired through normal body processes, and quite often the damage is not that critical, even when not repaired. Once in a while bad things happen and the damage occurs at a critical position, and is not repaired. Then the stuff hits the fan. This gets much worse if your body's repair system is not fully functional, as is the case in some people.

The real question here is how many people have died because the believed the Rasputins and wasted valuable time in which they could have been treated. And yes, it would be nice to take a pill or two and a supplement and beat cancer! Some of the stuff you hear sounds outlandish like hyperthermia therapy for example (heating up the tissue) but it that particular case there is something to it. The point is to get accurate information from a reliable source.

Do I take supplements now, avoid obvious carcinogens and exercise, absolutely. Would I go to a herbalist in case of a recurrence.... hell no.

M

http://www.cancer.gov/cancertopics/factsheet/Therapy/hyperthermia

Markus said it all..... Just think of this, if herbs alone could cure cancer, don't you think the half million plus cancer deaths a year in the US would be stopped if it was this easy? Is there a national conspiracy to hide the fact that herbs are all it takes to beat cancer? Too many people who are afraid of the treatments go this route until they find it isn't working, and it is then too late to switch treatments, with the disease more advanced. Supplementing your life with things that have proven efficacy from nature's abundance is a good thing, and you can bet that I take some supplements. But they are to maintain good health, and not as treatments for anything. This is all a function of separating people from their money more than curing cancer. People want easy, painless answers.... those on this board know that route does not exist.

Thanks guys-I didn't want to be accused of being a naysayer but I can't believe people think there is an easy cure for this!
Sue

When word got out that I had cancer, I was besieged with well intended methods to get rid of my cancer without going thru radiation. Everything from fruits to liquids to body rubs to body cleansing to numerous web sites, etc. I just appeared interested, said thank you and did what my cancer docs said.

You know - what kills me, is I "get" the people manufacturing and marketing/selling this "crap" - they are in it for a profit. What I don't get is why friends/family (some of them) "insist" that this is the "end all be all" cancer cure. I mean are they obviously this stupid???

Sorry to sound so negative, but my BIL was driving me crazy with this kind of crap.

Michelle,

Do you think that if your BIL was personally faced with this dx that he would choose the form of treatment that he discusses with you?? It may be ignorance (in the true sense of the word) on his part, but given the same dx do you think he would research the "percentages," blindly ignore the docs, and go the herbal route??

Deb

My husband feels that at least his brother was trying to help. I think I was more annoyed than he was. I don't know why I almost took it like maybe I should have thought of it. It was not intended that way I'm sure. Maybe I'm just really sensitive right now. My emotions are all over the place. I'm literally giving myself chest pains. I've always been pretty emotional even though most people don't see that side of me.
Sue

Ive gotten my share of people being 'helpful' too. It seems there are so many 'sheep' out there who dont have a clue about cancer and are willing to believe what the quacks tell them.

Most people who offer these and other "crazy" cures really belive them and are trying to be helpful. Some people are just anti-doctor and will believe in any alternate form of healing without analyzing the source. They say that doctors are only interested in making money. Aren't we all??
It seems that ther crazier the idea, the more people believe in it without considering that other factors such as time.
What brings out the Andy Rooney in me is people who complain about "chemicals." Why aren't they concerned about electrons and protons?? Why are only "natural" and "organic" products good for us?? Most poisons are from natural sources. What about addatives? Aren't vanilla, cinnamon, sugar, pepper, parsley, etc. addatives?
One friend took her child to a chiropractor for reading problems. He happens to be very good at pain relief but this was really nuts. Another family had a child who began having what seemed to be severe asthma and finally at 17 years old took her to an allergist after she had several very severe attachs. She was allergic to peanuts and is now doing much better. I know a woman who was an engineer with NASA who saw a child get a severe injury and stop crying after the mother put a tablet in his mouth. She became interested and from there began following homopathic healing and stopped going to doctors.
Intelligence and common sense are no match for someone who doesn't know how to think.

[quote=Malka]
Intelligence and common sense are no match for someone who doesn't know how to think. [/quote]

Oh I like this quote !!!

Somebody gave my wife 2 bottles of WATER (in old fashioned style milk bottles) with claims that it cured cancer (and about 3 dozen other diseases). I sent a copy to Quackwatch. These people are shameless. At least the old Lydia Pinkhams Elixer from the late 1800's had opium in it. Noni juice anyone??? (sigh)

Yes I too had idiots coming up to me with all of this new age homeopathic bullshit (and I told them so too).

And I also have to wonder why is Farrah Fawcett being treated in Germany?

Suemarie, if you are overly sensitive right now, you have every right to be. I can only imagine the amount of stress you feel. Hang in there and say what you need to say.

That's exactly why I come here! No BS
Sue

Deb - my BIL is one strange nut. I believe in his narrow-minded world that he thinks this "juice" would honestly help Dan. He also believes that cancer treatment is poison and that if you take this juice and pray more, etc. then you would be ok. He also does not have health insurance - moran. Dan told me tonight that he guessed he was just going to have to call Blue Cross and sign his brother up and we would pay it for him. His wife has MS so she is covered by Medicaid? or Medicare? I get the two of them confused. Reading between the lines I also think my BIL believes that Dan did this to himself by not being "as good of a Christian" as he is... Pretty insane and the kind of person that gives Christianity and hypocrisy, etc. a bad name. Dan's always been a very loving and loyal son, brother, father and husband and even though he may not attend church every sunday he has very good morals and family values... His BIL attends every Sunday, but has been in jail for a couple of years. Has done drugs, is an alchoholic (sober for a year though!!), has abandoned two of his children and is lazy as the day is long. So it irritates the crap out of me for him to say this stuff and when he says it to Dan it's like he's second-guessing Dan. And for all his faults - Dan loves him. And of course Dan hates the treatment and the further we go the harder it is and he's human so of course on occasion he wants to quit and then his BIL feeds into that. (Don't worry though - we're not quitting.)
Sorry that went so long - he gets my BP up and I just go on and on :-) and I've only shared about 1% with yall.

If we could round up all of the religious zealots and extremists and kill them ALL, most of the worlds conflicts would be OVER (gas prices would probably go DOWN). It is basically a fundamentalist view (no matter which religion you want to look at) that sin and disease are linked, and that is total bullshit - show me the scriptures that say that - bring it on!

Love the sinner but hate the sin. Even Jesus hated the Pharisees which were the 600 rule (that they had to obey daily) fundamentalists of their day. But they crept back into the the organized church and spew out crap like your BIL. Any idiot can be an extremist -to be in the middle of the road takes a LOT more work.

Cancer treatment is toxic - as are many herbal remedies. It's all about risks and benefit... and the ratio between them.

[quote=Gary] Any idiot can be an extremist -to be in the middle of the road takes a LOT more work.[/quote]

Very well said!!!

Hi All,
I have read and watched this and have until now bitten my tongue. (I know...many of you can't belive it.)
I have always had a problem with people trying to profit and provide false hope from the misfortunes of others. Unfortunatly, it is a mutlibillion dollar industry. Many of you have posted with the same displeasure that I have. I was told by a friend when I was diagnosed with sarcoma over ten years ago that "shark cartilage", would cure me. Of course, I had to check it out. After many inquiries I found a clinic that answered my questions and informed me what this treatment entailed.
I was required to discontinue any medical treatment, go to the clinic, follow their treatment plan, pay $15K and for that I got to eat salad, do yoga, meditate and have shark cartilage administered by (get this) retention enema for three hours a day for ten days. I'm not a genius but, when I took human physiology and human anatomy your colon was only able to absorb water and essential minerals. I am not aware that that has changed. Cartilage molecules were way to big to be absorbed and for that matter unable to be broken down in the colon and rectum. You want to put 3 feet of hose where?...and then 5 litres of fluid are going where? I of course laughed my head off and reported these people to the local authorities and other government bodies.
There will always be "Snake Oil Salesman". People in, what they consider, desperate situations are willing to give up everything to live for another day. These organizations continue to thrive by spreading false hope, not by spending the money they recieve on scientific research but by spending it on marketing and advertising. Shame on them!!
I don't discount that a healthy lifestyle low in stress high in fiber with plenty of exercise and rest will certainly benefit everyone no matter what stage of health they are in but, if a magic cancer cure was out there our Doctors would know about it especially in the age of the internet.
Sorry to rant...just had to get my 2..OK 5 cents out.
God bless you all,
Mike