Alternative Cancer Treatments Double Mortality

Health Wellness

If you look at the risk factors for many forms of cancer, you will find that one of those risk factors is unavoidable – it’s called aging. Yep, the older we get the greater the chances of our developing some type of cancer. Some cancers that especially increase with age are breast, colon, prostate and skin cancers.

Depending upon the type of cancer one gets, determines the treatment. Many start with surgery and then are followed up with chemotherapy and/or radiation therapy and we’ve all heard the horror stories of how sick people get from the treatment, especially from chemotherapy. This is natural since chemotherapy usually involves some kind of strong drug or drugs that are toxic to the cancer and sometimes to the other parts of the body.

I’ve know people undergoing chemotherapy that were sick for days following treatment. One friend told me that he honestly thought of stopping the treatment and letting the cancer take his life because of how sick he got after chemo. He just wasn’t sure how much more treatment he could take. He added that being so sick from the treatment, left him with very little quality of life, so why bother living?

The stigma that goes with standard treatment for many cancers is enough to drive many to seek alternative treatments. There is no shortage of doctors who think and operate out of the box of normal and in some cases, they may have success, but that’s not always the case. And, there are many alternative treatments as there are doctors willing to use them.

In my younger days, many cancer patients flocked to Mexico to get laetrile treatments. Laetrile is obtained by processing the seeds and pits of apricots, bitter almonds, peach, plum and apples. Laetrile contains cyanide anion, a toxin, which was believed to cure cancer, but was later proven to be a false claim.

Some cancer patients today are turning to marijuana and marijuana products to treat the cancer in hopes of avoiding having to undergo chemo and/or radiation.

Some alternative treatments have worked and some people will swear by them, but for the most part, they don’t, according to a recent report:

“Cancer patients who choose alternative medicine over standard, proven cancer treatments are more likely to die, researchers reported Thursday.”

“Complementary medicine did no apparent harm if people used it alongside conventional surgery, chemotherapy and radiation, the researchers found. But when people opted out of proven treatments to choose herbs, homeopathy or other alternative treatments, they were twice as likely to die of their cancer.”

The study looked at close to 2 million cancer patients. The study noted that not many admitted to using alternative treatments, but they found 258 who did admit and then compared them to over 1,000 who did not use alternative treatments.

Seven percent of those who chose complementary treatments refused surgery, for instance, they found — compared with just 0.1 percent of patients who just went with standard treatment. More than a third declined chemotherapy or hormone therapy, and half refused radiation therapy.”

They also found that those most likely to turn to alternative or complimentary treatments were younger women, with more money and more education.

Dr. James Yu of the Yale Cancer Center, commented:

“I think it is a very human response — when faced with a treatment that is potentially disfiguring or toxic with real long-term effects — to wonder whether there is another way.”

“I totally get it. Unfortunately, people who have cancer are very vulnerable to unscrupulous or perhaps well-meaning but ill-informed practitioners who offer a nonmedical treatment that is unproven but, on the surface, seems very desirable.”

“If you could cure cancer with baking soda, who wouldn’t want to do that? Or if you could cure cancer with healing power crystals or positive thinking, who wouldn’t want that? I completely understand and empathize with patients.”

Dr. Yu is not totally dismissing complimentary or alternative treatments, saying:

“Past research has shown that complementary therapies such as massage, acupuncture, yoga and meditation can improve quality of life. Thus, it is estimated that between 48 percent and 88 percent of patients with cancer have reported the use of complementary and alternative medicine as part of their therapy.”

But, as far as curing the cancer, these alternatives or complimentary treatments by themselves are often insufficient and lead to a much higher mortality rate. If you have cancer and are contemplating some type of alternative or complimentary treatment, make sure you do your research. You may want to add it to your standard treatment to help improve the quality of life, but to solely rely on it betting your life on a long shot, especially as your get older have less body strength and energy to withstand these treatments.

Alternative Medicine cancer Mortality

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