Harnessing the placebo effect

pipers_dream

I have the feeling that this thread is going to start some eyeballs rolling around here. I know that it would have mine when this whole journey started, even though I've known for a long time that most healing is in the mind. When I got dx'ed almost 2-1/2 years ago I knew I in for some trouble. I'd had an aunt who died very badly from BC--they'd caught it early but she had a rare SE from the chemo and was burned badly from the inside out and all over her trunk. It was bad and furthermore, my mother the RN, had taken pix of this debacle which implanted that vision in my mind. I knew that I had some serious mental work to do if I was going to be able to believe that conventional medicine could heal me. I decided to have the surgery but nothing else--was going to explore the alt meds. I went to see a holistic MD--a little Chinese Dr. who is a board certified internist. His manner was very calming and he suggested that if I were willing to postpone surgery he could help me knock it down to a lumpectomy or even avoid surgery altogether. I was willing and still have not had any surgery. Now I am in much better health than I've ever been in my life but still have the tumor, which has not grown nor mets that I know of.

Some things I've learned along the way--

**you must believe in your healing modality! I cannot stress this enough. I would never in a million years attack someone for choosing to treat their disease a different way than what I've chosen. You have to have confidence or you will not heal. I see a lot of that around here and would like to urge all to support each other more and tear each other down less. Also your doc has to have confidence as well and you must have confidence in your doc. Choose the onc with the best bedside manner.

**The placebo effect is extremely powerful--so powerful that now double blind studies need to be done to account for it, and they've shown that people can heal even when they know they're getting a placebo! They've also experimented with placebo knee surgeries and people healed as well as they did with the real surgery.

**The phenomena called spontaneous remission may be "all in the mind." Our pastor healed from a pancreatic tumor (proven by tests) after being anointed. Another church member was dx'ed with end stage uterine cx and went home to make amends to all the people she'd hurt with her drug addiction and the doctor was in complete shock the next time she went in--there was no other tx, as all figured it was hopeless. These are people I personally know.

**Once I put myself in my holistic doc's hands, I relaxed and got better and better. A few weeks ago I posted something on another forum about something unrelated to BC but mentioned my holistic tx. I was badly attacked and told by at least 20 people that I'm going to die a terrible death and that I will deserve it and what about Steve Jobs, and. . . I had to leave that thread alone and go heal from that experience. During that time I began to walk in fear and I believe that my tumor began to grow and I had to do some major energy work to get myself back on track and regain confidence and it stopped. After all, everyone "knows" that the only way to cure cancer is by conventional means. Except that there are many people walking around who've healed in other ways or are still walking around 20 years later with a tumor. I have a cousin with a brain tumor that is doing quite well 20 years later.

**A thing I've begun to do lately--sometimes I go on autopilot with my food and supplements and then I will start to slip up. (Never with sugar though!) As I prepare my meal and as I'm getting ready to eat it, I bless the food and ask that it be used in my healing and I take a moment to remind myself that the phytonutrients in the fruit or veg does this or that or the selenium in a brazil nut will help fight cancer or whatever. Also as I'm laying out my supps, I remind myself what each is for and feel a spot of gratitude for how it's healing me. I just started this so can't answer for how it works but it does make me happier. A little mindfulness never hurt anyone.

**Also my holistic doc places great stock in how I feel. If I feel good, I'm healing and if I feel bad I'm not. A good reason to do whatever it takes to minimize the SE of chemo or rads. I've read that new studies are saying that fasting will do a lot to minimize those SE of chemo and will boost the healing power of the meds.

So my healing journey has moved from the purely physical, to emotional healing, and now I'm working with energy medicine and getting myself to truly believe that this tumor can disappear, rather than just not grow. This has been an amazing experience and I actually have gratitude for it.

labelle

Excellent post. The placebo effect has been proven time and time again to be effective. That's why I think it is so very important that we believe wholly in our treatment plans, be they holistic or traditional treatments, and why it pisses me off to no end when people on these boards shoot down treatments others are doing.

So glad you are feeling good and doing well.

Anonymous

Thanks so much for posting this and I agree with so much of what you said. I never understood how chemo could possibly "cure" someone when it is tearing down the body's strongest asset, the immune system. I was very scared of chemo when I was diagnosed, especially having seen its effects first hand with my brother (stage 4 breast cancer). So I prayed, a lot, that I would not absolutely need chemo. And thank God, my oncotype score came back low risk. I was so happy, because now I had something to back up my decision. I don't like how conventional medicine just lumps everyone into one big category and tells them, "Hey, do this, because there was a study that said it might work". I would much rather build my immune system up and eliminate foods/habits that were detrimental to my health, and combine it with not-so-scary medicines like Tamoxifen or Arimidex. My oncologist is now very happy with the way things are going (even though it's so early).

I have always wondered why most people I see who end up progressing have done everything their doctors recommended, including chemo. I think the "benefits" of most drugs are overstated, and their side effects are minimized to get us to take them. I was shocked to learn that some women never regrow their hair, and that some women end up developing leukemia from chemo! I actually heard once that 1 out of 10 tumors can spontaneously regress without treatment.

I have been looking for a good integrative doctor, but for now I've been taking supplements on my own after researching them with the help of my son. Always make sure what you're taking doesn't interact with medicines or have side effects. One relative recommended graviola (soursop) to me, but I decided not to take it because it can cause neurological problems. I stick with the more "standard" supplements and vitamins. Take a look into Beta Glucan if you haven't already. Practically no side effects and can strengthen the immune system against "rogue cells".

Please take care and God bless you for being so strong.

pipers_dream

One thing we need to keep in mind here too is that not everyone wants to be cured--not everyone wants to go on living. I don't know that it's a weakness so much as that they're tired of fighting and they're homesick so I don't judge that either. This may be why treatment sometimes fails. I was sort of this way in the beginning--I was so unhappy in my early life that I saw this as a possible way out, but I've discovered that I do very much want to live. And I would love to fall in love--at 56 I never have--if nothing else, that desire makes me want to live. It's not easy however finding a man who is willing to deal with this. He's out there--I know he is.

chef127

I look at my dx as a wake up call, sort of. In the beginning I was in shock even tho I had a 4-5cm lump (fibroadenoma) in my breast for a long time and the skin surrounding it totally dimpled during peri meno so I attributed the change to my hormones. I ignored the changes for a year? or so. I was pretty cool, but shocked when the pathologist said"You have beast cancer" Yes it was the hormonal change and wacky unbalanced hormones that caused the fibro to become BC. I accepted that fact and was ready to do what ever it took to get back to normal....til

I went to a well respected BS who told me my only option was a MX and LND of level I and II. I had very large breasts so the 4.5cm area was pretty minor in comparison. Why remove the whole thing and maybe both????and all those LN's with no evidence of spread. I moved on to another BS at a very well known BC Center and she told me that neo chemo was the way to go to shrink the tumor and attempt a LX "IF" it shrank, "To make the surgery easier for her". Really?

I went to the MO and we(she) planned neo DD ACT. I was set to go and something told me I was not being looked at as an individual and the SOC was the easiest way to go. Not.

Then, and only then did the fear of my dx set in. The med community scared the shit out of me. So I took a deep breath, researched my options, and knew the mx and chemo was not for me. I found a BS and he did a LX via laser sx. Left me looking pretty normal. I did do the rads, kicking and screaming, only bc the skin removed had a positive margin that he lased prior to closing me up and said it was clean????

Many people thought I was on a suicide mission, even my new MO and PCP. I know I may be taking a real chance with my life but I know I made the right decisions for me and I stay positive and try to live as clean as possible. I declined HT. Can't wrap my head around that tx. So far I feel good about my choices and try not to look back.

The SOC would have set me back. I am disabled and BC is the least of my problems, but I do respect the fact that it may come back. But I remain without the fear. My attitude being positive keeps me in my happy place. I believe my stress free life is keeping me as healthy as I can be. Placebo effect............It's a good thing.

xoxMaureen

pipers_dream

I'm reading a great book right now called You Are the Placebo: Making Your Mind Matter by Dr. Joe Dispenza. I'll come back later with links but wanted to say that when he was 23 he got into a bad accident that should have left him a paraplegic at least, but every day for at least 2 hours, he laid there and visualized his back bones knitting themselves back together, and by 10 weeks after the accident he was back to working out again! Studies have shown that if you just imagine lifting weights every day, you will get stronger. Isn't that wild? Why can't we just imagine our cancer away? I think it's more possible than anyone has imagined up till now.

pipers_dream

An article by Dr. Lissa Rankin, author of Mind Over Medicine: 10 Myths About Self-Healing Debunked

"1. It's "just the placebo effect."

Just the placebo effect? Why do people say "placebo" as if it's a four-letter word? Don't they understand that the placebo effect is proof positive that the body is brilliantly equipped with natural self-repair mechanisms that can fix broken proteins, kill cancer cells, fight infectious agents, and retard aging? And don't they realize that even if a clinical trial fails to demonstrate that a drug or surgery or alternative medicine treatment is better than a placebo, that doesn't mean it doesn't "work" when 18-80% of the time, the body heals itself when given a sugar pill or saline injection in a clinical trial. And that's GREAT NEWS!

The placebo effect needs a major image overhaul. I suggest we call it the "self-healing effect" to remind ourselves that it's just a measurable phenomena related to the body's known self-repair mechanisms. . . "