Has anyone been cured via the holistic route?

yes I did do surgery, I was so glad to have the physical tumor removed. When I woke up after my mastectomy I felt it was gone. I did do several years hormone therapy but I refused chemo. My doctors, the surgeon and oncologist, really thought my cancer would come back because I refused chemo. Well so far it hasn't and I thank God I did what I felt was right.

To be really honest, I believe in the surgical removal 100%, but the chemical treatment I trust about 20%. We know chemo kills cells especially fast growing cells but does it get it all, really doubt it. Hormone therapy was downplayed to me, not sure how effective it was. Do the drugs cause other problems, hmmm maybe. We need better treatment that doesn't damage the otherwise healthy body. I sure hope immunotherapy is the answer.

In some situations, it makes sense to do everything to hope for many more cancer free years.

1redgirl, I have to disagree. Strongly disagree. While there is no cure for breast cancer, many of us are completely cured by our treatments. In fact, I believe it's been estimated that approx. 70% of us are cured by surgery alone.

As a disease, it's unfortunately true that there is no cure for breast cancer. This means that there is no single treatment or combination of treatments that is guaranteed to cure everyone. There are no magic bullets that ensure that all patients survive and never have their cancer recur.

But any individual can be successfully treated, and therefore cured, either by surgery alone or by surgery combined with treatments (rads, chemo, hormone therapy) that kill off any cancer cells that remain in the breast and the body after surgery. The problem of course is that cancer cells are microscopic, and if a few hardy cells survive treatment, there is no way to know. So while many of us are cured by our treatments, some of us are not, and there is no way to know who is who. The only way we know is when we do develop a local or metastatic recurrence, or when we die (hopefully of old age, peacefully in our beds) without ever having developed a recurrence.

Of course even a patient who is completely cured can develop a new breast cancer in 10 years or 20 years or 30 years, but any other type of cancer can develop too, or heart disease, or anything else. Having breast cancer one time, even if successfully treated, doesn't make us immune from developing breast cancer again. We are still living, our cells are aging and cancer can develop. Having a new primary develop does not mean that cancer cells have been sitting dormant in the body since that first diagnosis. Developing a new primary does not mean that the first diagnosis was not successfully cured.

My opinion is that access to internet stories give a lot of women a false sense that if they listen to their bodies, they can cure breast cancer via holistic medicine. It's sort of along the same lines as how nowadays, some parents refuse to vaccinate their children because they feel they've read up on all the pros and cons, via the internet of course, and they believe vaccination cons outweigh the pros. And a disease once eradicated has cropped up into our population again.

What happens is too many women don't consider the sources from where they get their information, how reputable it is. Where is the scientific data?

I'm a big believer of tuning into our bodies, sure. But how about some honest to goodness studies of women who went the holistic route to cure their breast cancer, and ended up needing treatment because it progressed and may even have metastasized. Because no one is collecting that data. It's a case of “oh my friend, a friend of a friend, a relative, a neighbor did this that and the other thing and the cancer went away. Why isn't someone doing a study and gathering this information over the course of a number of years?

And some of the same women shunning conventional treatment for breast cancer run to the doctor for antibiotics to clear up things like sinus infections and strep throat. Why not try curing those with holistic meds, too?

I was diagnosed stage iv from the start 8 years ago and wouldn't be here now without conventional treatment. But another phenomenon I see is that more women with breast cancer metastases claim they're going for a cure, that they think they could be “ogliometastatic" meaning since their bc traveled to only one or two places in the body, a cure is more possible. I had a long stretch of stability with the disease after initial treatment and ongoing hormonal therapy, about 8 years, so I rode the wave of enjoy it while it lasts, not oh I'm cured.

Without modern medicine, we would be looking at sooo many more deaths of women from breast cancer.

Congrats edwards750!  8 years is great!  I agree that the word "cured" can be loosely used.  When at the cellular level, it is impossible to know whether there is a single cancer cell that may be left alive or not.   

I agree with you WC3, "There is no right or wrong but there's odds against you or odds with you."  The trick is knowing where the odds lay.

It will be a year on the 19th of April since I had a ductal papilloma removed from my right breast.  It had biopsied negative for cancer but when sent to the lab, it came back positive.  My oncologist wanted to do another lumpectomy with sentinel node removal, as the margins were not clean, and follow that up with radiation and possibly chemo and anti-hormone drugs.  My choice was to reject all of that and follow a strict regime of extremely healthful eating and juicing, getting more exercise and sleep, taking herbs, vitamins, and minerals that increase my body's immune system and that are known to kill cancer cells, and I'm actively detoxing the main organs in my body that get rid of toxins.  I lost 30 lbs in the first 3 months, without even focusing on losing weight, and have kept it off without effort.  My blood work has greatly improved, as has my appearance and attitude.  I am not stressed out like I used to be before my diagnosis.  Meditation and music have also brought me to a place of real contentment.  Holistic means not only body, but mind and soul too.  I really encourage people to make positive changes in these 3 areas.  Whether it is done to compliment traditional Western medicine or is done to replace it, either one will leave you better off than "going with the flow" and feeling powerless to improve your situation.

Lori

Yes.

My treatment was not Standard of Care but I'm unsure if it you could really consider it complimentary or Holistic. I was diagnosed in Feb 2018 and underwent cryoablation and immunotherapy in April 2018, against the advice or my physician and oncologist. I received no chemotherapy, no radiation, no masectomy, no lumpectomy. In April 2019, one year later, I had 3 core biopsies which confirmed there is no longer evidence of cancer. My MD/specialist also had a list of other supplements and drugs to use before, during, and after to compliment the immunotherapy and treatment.

If there is anything I could recommend to anyone diagnosed with cancer, I would encourage you to watch the documentary, THE TRUTH ABOUT CANCER, available for free on Youtube.

Hi IslandGirl123, I watched this series, "The Truth About Cancer" even before I was ever diagnosed, which was the end of April, 2018.  I watched it again a few weeks ago, the updated version, and again found it amazing!  My IDC was found unexpectedly when having a ductal papilloma removed last year.  Margins came back unclear so I was expected to undergo more tissue removal and sentinel node removal, followed by radiation, as a start.  I refused all suggested treatment from my doctors and immediately I started to do everything possible to improve my immune system and detox my body.  5 months later I had testing done via mammogram, ultrasound, and MRI, at a well known cancer research hospital in Toronto.  My Breast Surgeon wanted the radiologist to biopsy the most suspicious lump, as my breasts are naturally dense and fibrous, with some lipomas as well.  The biopsy was an awful experience and I was left black and blue!  All I could think was "If this lump is cancerous, it has just been torn apart and will spread for sure"!!  Fortunately, the biopsy came back as a fibroadenoma.  After that biopsy came back clean, the doctor wanted several more lumps biopsied.  I did the further tests and one biopsy basically to appease my husband, but I was not willing to go any further.  I do breast self-exams daily while massaging my breasts with caster oil under infrared heat and have not noticed any additional lumps or bumps in just over a year.  Time tells everything but of all of the holistic treatments I have decided to do, none of them are known to be cancer-causing.  

Lori