Better thinking about cancer must exist

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gshm50
gshm50 Member Posts: 5
edited June 2014 in Caring for Someone with Breast cancer
Better thinking about cancer must exist
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  • gshm50
    gshm50 Member Posts: 5
    edited May 2014

    My Mom’s encounter with breast cancer had a happy outcome.
    Well, that is if you think a double mastectomy is a happy thing. She has
    remained cancer free in the years that have passed since then and seems to have
    totally moved on, but I am the one who seems to be stuck. At the time, I liked
    the fact that she took a very proactive approach by requesting the surgery
    instead of doing a bunch of really horrible treatments like chemo or radiation.
    I just remember thinking at the time how unimpressed I was with the overall
    level of thinking about cancer from the traditional medical community. I recall
    that Albert Einstein said something like this: The kind of thinking that has made
    things the way they are is not the kind of thinking that will solve the
    problems. That’s kind of where I’ve been on breast cancer and cancer in general
    for years. If decades of research haven’t come up with better solutions for how
    to understand and treat cancer, it seems that some new and fresh thinking is
    probably what’s needed. I have yet to come across anything that fits the bill.
    I’m wondering if anyone else has come across such material. I’d love to hear
    about it if you have. – Sherman Morrison

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  • Moderators
    Moderators Member Posts: 25,912
    edited May 2014

    There are many interesting discussions going on in our boards regarding diagnosing, treating and thinking about breast cancer. Take a look specifically at the alternative and complementary treatment forums. Alternative Medicine

     
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  • leggo
    leggo Member Posts: 3,293
    edited May 2014

    Couldn't agree more Sherman. 

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  • gshm50
    gshm50 Member Posts: 5
    edited May 2014
    Thanks to both of you who weighed in. I have explored some
    of the alternative medicine information, and some of it is pretty good. Then I
    stumbled across something that really does seem pretty promising. Dr. Frank
    Arguello seems to be making some real headway for Stage IV patients. His
    approach is really very innovative and actually uses common drugs already
    approved by the FDA. Specifically, he’s treating even late-stage cancer’s with
    antifungal and antibacterial drugs. And it’s working, even for Stage IV people.
    His basic idea is that cancer cells are actually behaving more like
    single-celled organisms than regular cells. This behavior must be triggered by
    the various toxins and carcinogens in our environment, but his point is to then
    treat those cancer cells with the same drugs we use against fungi and bacteria
    and other single-celled organisms. There’s a section of his website that I
    think says it all – before/after photos of late-stage patients who received his
    treatments. Anyone who wants to view these amazing photos (and I’ll just
    mention that they are difficult to look at because it is late-stage cancers,
    after all) can see them at http://www.atavisticchemotherapy.com//content/cancer_treatments
    as well as explore other areas of his website that give more detailed
    information about his approach and why he thinks it’s working so well, even for
    late-stage patients. I think it could offer a ray of hope to those who are
    struggling with Stage IV diagnoses and all the pain and anguish that comes with
    it.

    Sincerely,

    Sherman Morrison

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  • leggo
    leggo Member Posts: 3,293
    edited May 2014

    Very interesting article Sherman. Thanks for posting. I happen to be one of those women who ran out of chemo options and agree wholeheartedly, that off-label drugs can be very effective in cancer treatment. Thank gawd I was fortunate enough to have a doctor with an open mind willing to prescribe those drugs. It's not as easy for some. So far, I'm doing relatively well, all things considered, but when the time comes to change treatment, I'm glad to have the above info in my back pocket. 

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  • mjm1
    mjm1 Member Posts: 139
    edited May 2014

    Some other interesting developments are the targeted treatments for HER2+ (so far still given with chemo, but maybe in time...), cancer vaccine trials which are showing promising results, plus a very new little piece of research suggesting a way to put healthy fast growing cells 'to sleep' during chemo so that it wouldn't have the side effects on these cells (e.g. all the digestive upsets and hair and nail loss etc).

    I also went to a talk recently by a researcher who's looking into combinations of other 'non-cancer' drugs (such as beta blockers) and genes, plus another project looking at the idea of using chemo at very low doses (described as 'non-toxic') at closer intervals.

    The researchers haven't got the full answers yet, but there are some really interesting things going on.

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