OP Patient Advocate (1000+ posts) Joined: Mar 2003 Posts: 1,384 Likes: 1 | Ok, Disclaimer time: Just cause I put it here dosn't mean it is the way YOU should go. YOU should talk with your Dr's about anything you want to do that is outside their plan. The reason is simple; adjunctive therapy ideas you read about may interfere and reduce the effect of your medical treatments.
Second, I am not a trained medical expert. I do have some knowledge about how things work and I have a pretty good Bull S. sensor. This should qualify me as dangerous so here goes.
I do believe generally the food we eat is too processed and relatively void of nutrients. If you are going to help your body fight disease you need to be sure you give it all the tools you can. Eat lots of fruits and vegetables the fresher the better. I hated the drink-in-a-can food products so I used a blender to prepare my own drinkable meals.
I took vitimin suppliments (check with your DR's) including extra vitamin E. I took flax seed oil, I ate raw almonds, I took MGN 3 (yes I know it's on the Quackwatch site), I stopped eating anything with sugar added. If you would like to look into nutrition ideas read "Beating Cancer with Nutrition" by Patrick Quillen (look in the Amazon link found on the OCF site) The title would probably be better as "helping to beat cancer with nutrition" because it is not likely you will cure cancer with nutrition alone. (I am sure good nutrition will not hurt)
I prayed and continue to pray. I had groups praying for me many of which I didn't know about until later. I had many things happen to me that I cannot explain without a spiritual connection. It would seem perhaps weird to mention them here in detail but several were profound. I know faith and religion are potentially dangerous subjects to discuss. Boiled down, I have found that there is good and I have seen evil. I believe the good we do comes from our soul. You can wonder about the rest on your own time.
I stayed active. I always felt better if I was moving around (even if it was slooow) I did as much hard manual work as I could without hurting myself (sometimes it wasn't much). I believe an active body is a faster healing body, and a busy mind dosn't have time for worry.
I tried to laugh as much as possible, and I cried without shame.
I off-loaded as much stress as I could, I realized most of it didn't matter. Yes you really can get by without stress!
I took a multi-week Meditation class with my wife. (it was very different for me but it had and has continued value)
I made sure I thanked every one of my professional caregivers. (I wish I knew more of their names)
I wish I had done more with massage.
Another book I found had excellent ideas "cancer the 50 essential things to do". The book is full of how to live thoughts and is very uplifting.
I am not sure if these ramblings represent adjunctive therapies or not but here they are for your consideration.
Mark, 21 Year survivor, SCC right tonsil, 3 nodes positive, one with extra-capsular spread. I never asked what stage (would have scared me anyway) Right side tonsillectomy, radical neck dissection right side, maximum radiation to both sides, no chemo, no PEG, age 40 when diagnosed.
|