Alternative Medicine All the Way!!

I just want to support you in your Choice.  But please read and read some more the are a lot of choices and a lot of people want to sell you something.  You must know your disease. You must have proof your doctor works with cancer patients and has success. There are some great books out there but I read of 40 of them before I found the must common and well documented protocols.  You may want to try thermal-imaging for a look at your breast with no rads.  But be sure they are a very good clinic.

Best wishes that you find the right treatment for you.  I

Flalady

Looking at your pH levels and striving for an alkaline state is a good start, but it's just one component of many in pursuing alternative roads to health.  I humbly suggest that drinking alkaline water to cure cancer is kind of like thinking a diet drink with your big mac will make you lose weight.  First of all, you need to know your starting point.  If you eat meat, processed foods, and anything sugary or salty, chances are very high that your pH is acidic. 

It's my understanding that keeping your oxygen levels high at the cellular level and maintaining alkalinity of 7.4 or higher can deter cancer cells from proliferating into a tumor, but to treat an existing cancerous growth, something way more assertive is essential.  A lot of success stories are attributed to the Gerson therapy, for example, and just in reading about the therapy, it looks to be rather burdensome.  If I ever had to choose between chemo and gerson in the future, I'm not so sure I'd opt for chemo a second time.  I think I would feel a heck of a lot better on gerson, and I think it might be a success for me also, but boy howdy, it's doesn't look like any walk in the park either.  

I personally am juicing twice a day, using organic produce whenever possible, continually looking at my environment and trying to reduce products made with chemicals.  I suck at being vegan, but it seems to be the direction I'm heading, so reducing meat, dairy, eggs are all works in progress.  Drinking alkaline water is great, but I think you have a whole lot more reading to do if you think that's all that is necessary.  just my opinion.  mileage varies  

Barry...  I was a lot like you at the beginning of my journey -- found or was told by friends about all the alternative "cures" you referred to, and vascillated for many days about which way to go.  I had always favored homeopathic meds and holistic healing, and already knew if ever dx'd with a serious health condition, I would not put myself in the hands of traditional doctors and big pharmaceutical companies.

But, after being dx'd with bc, the more I realized that the really long term survivors I talked to had gone the traditional medicine route.  And some of saddest stories I came across were those who had put their faith in alternative cures.  The other thing that bothered me a lot is that, without exception, the success stories for alternative cures were all anecdotal and never had studies to back them up.  They also all seemed to lump cancer into one body malfuction, with no regard for the difference between an early breast cancer and an advanced brain tumor. 

Another thing that happened to me is, I finally found the right team of bc specialists --  doctors I   could trust wouldn't overtreat me.  And they actually have a department of complemetary medicine and incorporate proven complementary modalities. 

Of course, how any of us decides to be treated is such an individual thing, but like the others who have commented here, I would just ask you to be very discerning about anyone who tells you they can cure you because the 10 or 20 people who drink their ph water or buy essiac tea in their store don't have cancer.    

An MRI will tell you if there is a lesion, but it would still have to be biopsied to know exactly what it is.  I'm not sure, but an alternate choice might be a Petscan, which is what they do to see if there is any metastisis. Not sure if it's as detailed for the breast as an MRI, or if it still leads to a biopsy, but you might ask about it.

Please keep us posted!   Deanna

Barry... I have never heard of taking a pregnancy test to see if you have cancer, and don't think I'd put much stock in it.  If it were true, it seems like the word would have gotten out about it.  That said, there are probably some reproductive system cancers that involve highly elevated hormone levels, which I suppose could give a false positive.  But that's purely conjecture, and I don't think it would be a reliable way to evaluate your health.

Another question you might ask yourself -- and perhaps you already have -- is...  If you don't get traditional treatment, and God forbid the alternative treatment doesn't rid your body of the bc, would you kick yourself for not going the traditional route?  As pro-natural healing as I've always been, that was the question that made me realize I wasn't ready to trust my life with alternative cures, especially since I had already been doing everything I knew to do to be healthy, and yet I still developed bc.  My gut just told me that "the enemy" was likely far more formidable than carrott juice, high ph water, green tea, etc., might be able to handle.

Barry, who to tell about your bc is such a personal thing, but your gut instinct probably has steered you in the right direction.     Deanna

Dear Barry:

I know that you are agonizing. The radiologist also did an ultrasound and said, "It's not a cyst. It IS worrisome." I scheduled a needle biopsy there, then called my GYN, who asked me to come in. (He couldn't feel a lump even knowing it was there.) He said that I needed a team, and sent me downstairs to a well-known surgeon. They immediately did an ultrasound, and agreed there was something there and it probably was cancer. I hand-delivered my mammograms, and he scheduled an excisional biopsy, as he does believe a needle biopsy could possibly send cells flying.

I had the excision which was actually a lumptectomy with clear margins. Due to family history, being post-menopausal, etc., he recommended double mastectomy with immediate reconstruction with tissue expanders. We had already decided to be aggressive and I wanted surgery ASAP~~~I chair a cancer charity and our annual luncheon took place 2 1/2 weeks later. I saw my adorable PS immediately; he works closely with my surgeon. I had my team!

There was no node involvement and my oncotype test score low~~~I really didn't want chemo either. If I were a lot younger, I may have done lumpectomy and radiation, with chemo if needed. My oncologist recommended Arimidex for 5 years, and I hope that does it!

I have been reading and paying attention to the threads on alternative and complementary treatments, as well as healthy eating.  I think once the tumor is gone, you and your oncologist determine your best treatment~~~and then you investigate naturopathy and holistic healing, being sure that nothing is counter-productive or even dangerous.

This is just my story, and I hope your fears are for naught. Good luck, dear.....

It's really a lumpectomy, unless perhaps the tumor is too large. It seems from what I've read here that many women have chemo first to shrink the tumor, maybe in an effort to save the breast, or part of it. You and your surgeon will talk about all the possibiities.

It seems that in the cancer business, sometime the right hand won't talk to the left~~or it may just be the nature of medicine in a litigious world!

Keep us posted~~~you will know what's right for you, and you'll do it!

barry, do you know when the results will be available?  This must be a very trying time for you.  Biopsy seems to be the only definitive way to know if the sample contains cancer, and let's hope that yours doesn't. 

Meanwhile, have you measured your pH levels to see where you are now?  I use a thin strip of paper made for testing pH levels, and I haven't done it in weeks.  I'll have to go check it.  It won't be a surprise if you start with an acidic reading.  Striving for alkaline pH is a good place to start.  A lot of the green veggies will also help you be more alkaline also, esp cucumber and celery if I recall correctly.  Let us know what your biopsy results are.  One time around with the beast is more than enough.

barry,

I'm sorry to say you will not find anyone on this site you used this treatment. This stories are not welcomed here.  I also have read of this treatment.  But the people were not just using this.  All alternative should be done with multiple alternative tx at once.    It sure will not hurt to try this.  But make sure you are backing it up with other treatments.

I hope you get the good new of NO new disease!

Flalady

I am so sorry you got bad news.  Damn!  I'd suggest you get a hard copy of your path report.  It will contain details about the grade and what type of bc you have.  Some are slow, some are aggressive.  You need this information as you decide how to proceed.  Take some time to absorb what you've learned.  You have a lot of processing to do.  {{{hugs}}}

Natural treatment is what they used before they developed chemo, radiation, and targeted therapies. Do you know offhand what the survival rate was in those days?

http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/41594.php

Jenni,  when I read about the apricot seeds I was just going to mention the cyanide, but checked your link.  Thank you, good article.

I just want to share a little about my experience.  I didn't even have a Dr. and never got sick. I always chose CAM over prescription and when I found out I had BC, I immediately wanted to do CAM.  I did lots of research and have friends involved in the field who natually expected me to go the natural route.  But you know when I tried to get hard data of the success stories, there was always a problem getting specific info.  And the numbers just weren't there.  I swallowed my pride and went the traditional route because I wanted to live more than I wanted to say I cured it with this or that.  But I did use Co-Q10 with my epirubicin (Adriamycin) to help protect my heart.

When my husband got colorectal cancer in 2001, we went the CAM route first.  I was in the kitchen just about all day, cooking organic food and preparing raw food.  The counter was covered with supplements he was taking and not one thing went into his mouth that didn't have a scientific basis to it in cancer fighting properties.  Essiac being one of them.  I got the herbs and cooked it myself.  He lost weight and felt fabulous, and his tumour was happy too.  The only thing that cured him was surgery, rads and 5-FU.  He was almost stage iv, meaning it had started to invade his prostate and he's still here today.

You often hear, this cures cancer or that does.  All cancers aren't the same.  What may work for one type can fail another.  If you're curious about a herb or supplement go to the published journals. Pubmed is one that gathers info from around the world.  Through this, I decided to take flax seed and avoid soy.  Essiac contains red clover.  It's a phytoestrogen as well and there is little evidence that it prevents the growth of breast tumours.  Burdock is in it too and it's been noted that it can prevent tumour growth but it can also bind your iron.  I wouldn't use it myself.

Barrie, if you are a stage 0 and pr+, please use some sort of hormone therapy.  To have such an early stage cancer that is curable, it would be heartbreaking to lose you. You can make it through this esp with the help of your bc sisters.

Best of luck to you, let us know how it all goes

jan