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Dr Bob's Newsletter September 2004
Additional Treatment for Prostate Cancer May Enhance Improved Outcomes A recent article in the Journal of the American Medical Association showed improved survival in men who underwent a combination of androgen suppression and radiation therapies....
Medical Error Crisis
The unfortunate truth about medical errors is that they plague the poor and uninsured, reflecting the great medical inequality in our country. For those who do not consider medical errors to be a problem, consider this: medical errors kill between...
My First Thermographic Experience
I had been a bit nervous all day wondering what my thermogram procedure would entail. Would I need to undress completely? Would I be given one of those paper gowns that opens in the front and barely covers me? Would there be any heat coming out of...
The Wonderful World of Vitamins...Part 2
In Part 1 of this article I discussed the importance of vitamins
in our diet and focused primarily on fat-soluable vitamins.
Today, I will explore water-soluable vitamins and their
importance in our daily diet.
Water-soluble vitamins such...
Womens Health
WOMEN'S HEALTH : Consider one of the most potent forces now marketed to rapidly aging baby-boomers: Replacement hormone therapy. Estrogen is touted to alleviate symptoms from hot flashes, prevent osteoporosis (the so-called "brittle bone" disease...
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What Is Cancer, Anyway?
Cancer is not some foreign invader which has to be cut, burned
or poisoned in hopes that it will die before the patient dies.
No, cancer is simply a temporoary malfunction in your normal
cell division process.
Each of has about 75 trillion cells in our body. Virtually all
of them replace themselves many times during our lifetimes. How
many cells? Well, it's 75,000,000,000,000. That's a lot. They
have various life cycles, but in about 7 years, they have all
been regenerated. Amazing? I'll say!
So, on an average day, about 29 billion cells in your body
replace themselves by dividing in two. One of the cells
resulting from that division dies off.
CELL DAMAGE OR "MUTATION"
In our bodies all day every day are lots of "free radicals."
These little rascals are molecules which have one unpaired
oxygen electron in their atomic makeup. They are produced by
our digestive system, the air we breathe, the food we eat, the
water we drink and so on. In other words, we can't avoid them.
These "free radicals" bounce around, bumping into normal cells,
and, in the process, damaging the normal cells DNA. Literally
millions of our dividing cells get damaged every day -- some
by free radicals, some by viruses and some by just normal cell
breakdown due to aging or inherited gene mutation (this latter
is rare). Fortunately, our cell division policing process
recognizes these "incorrect" cell divisions and kills them off,
most of the time.
HOW WE "GET" CANCER
About a million or so of the damaged cells each day are damaged
in such a way that the "oncogenes," the hundred or so genes (out
of the 33,000 or so in each cell's DNA) which control cell death,
get damaged. When this happens, the cell begins to grow out of
control. It becomes a cancer cell. Our immune system (about 20
trillion cells strong) normally recognizes this and takes care
of it every day, until it can't anymore. Then, we "get" cancer.
Actually, all of us "have" cancer every day. It is controlled
and gives us no symptoms. When symptoms (a tumor, for example)
show up, it means that our metabolism (cell division and cell
death)has temporarily broken down. A tumor with a billion cells
is about the size of the period at the end of this sentence. By
the time a tumor is diagnosed, it has usually been growing for
from 5 to 12 years. Far from a death sentence or something
requiring instant, emergency, radical treatment, this "getting"
cancer is a wakeup call.
The key to understanding and controlling cancer is that it is a
"systemic" problem. Our entire system has broken down. Killing
the cancer cells (with chemotherapy and radiation, for example)
is not going to restore our system to its normal balance. In
fact, those "treatments" simply make the condition worse by
severely damaging what is left of our immune system.
Once one understands this, our current conventional cancer treat-
ment system makes no sense.
WHAT DO ONCOLOGISTS DO?
An "oncologist" is supposed to be a cancer doctor. But their
training and practice does not include studying and understanding
the cancer cell and its relationship to the rest of the body's
cellular mechanics and communication. Cellular biology is a very
complex and fascinating body of knowledge which is growing rapidly.
If the oncologist understood the above, they would be looking for
a way to reverse
that cell physiology gently and in a non-toxic
way (assuming they were honest and open-minded). That is how
cancer is brought back under control -- gently and permanently.
One M.D. who has "broken the mold" and treats cancer in a gentle
and understanding way says that the docs calling themselves
"oncologists" are actually "chemotherapists," not oncologists.
Radiologists attempt to deal with cancer using radiation. This
always has harmful effects on our body's ability to control our
health -- our immune system.
"BUT I KNOW SOMEBODY WHO WAS CURED..."
All of us have heard of people who have been "cured" of their
cancer using chemotherapy. Remember Lance Armstrong? The chemo-
therapy poster boy? It so happened that Lance had one of the few
rare cancers (testicular cancer) which can be effectively con-
trolled using chemotherapy.
In October, 1971, Dr. Gordon Zubrod, a leading researcher at the
National Cancer Institute, presented a list of the cancer malig-
nancies which were "highly responsive" to chemotherapy. All of
these are rare in adults. But, most important, the list has not
changed since 1971. Here it is:
Burkitt's lymphoma; Choriocarcinoma; Acute Lymphocytic Leukemia;
Hodgkin's Disease; Lymphosarcoma; Embryonal Testicular Cancer;
Wilms' Tumor; Ewing's Sarcoma; Rhabdomyosarcoma; Retinoblastoma.
That's it. In the 33 years since that list was published, there
is no solid evidence that chemotherapy for the other, more common,
cancers results in significant increased survival.
One of my daughters was cured of Wilms' Tumor, a rare kidney tumor,
when she was three using chemotherapy. But for all the other
common forms of cancer (breast, colon, prostate, lung, ovarian, etc.)
chemo may show a temporary shrinking of the tumor, what the cancer
docs call a "response." Most of the time, the chemotherapy treatment
eventually kills the patient. It killed my former wife ten years ago.
WHAT DOES CHEMOTHERAPY DO?
Chemotherapy targets dividing cells. The multitude of tests of new
chemotherapy drugs test toxic (actually carcinogenic, or cancer-
causing) substances against particular kinds of cancer cells in
live patients. Usually this is done with half the cancer patients
in the test taking an older chemotherapy drug. When there is even
slightly more "response" with the new drug, and over 50% of the test
group on the new drug survives, a new cancer drug is approved.
Unfortunately, no cancer drug has "eyes" for only cancer cells.
These drugs kill any dividing cell. Where are some of your fastest
dividing cells? In your hair and your gut. That's why chemotherapy
causes you to lose your hair and get nauseous. But these drugs also
cause long-term damage to your organs -- kidneys, liver, heart, etc.
Doesn't it seem like there should be a better way? There is. More
coming soon in another article.
I am a "reporter," not a medical professional. Any treatment for cancer or any other illness should be discussed with your medical professional.
About the Author
Bill Henderson is the author of "Cure Your Cancer" and "Cancer-Free." His books and 70 newsletters have helped over 600 people in 51 countries overcome their cancer in the last 4 years. He provides phone and e-mail answers to his individual reader's questions. His web site is: http://www.Beating-Cancer-Gently.com
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| BreastCancer.org - Breast Cancer Treatment Information and Pictures |
| Breast Cancer Information from a Nonprofit Organization. |
| www.breastcancer.org |
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| The Breast Cancer Site |
| Founded to help offer free mammograms to underprivileged women nationwide. With a simple, daily "click" visitors help provide mammograms to those in need. |
| www.thebreastcancersite.com |
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| Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation |
| The Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation is dedicated to education and research on breast cancer causes, treatment and the search for a cure. |
| www.komen.org |
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| Breast Cancer Information from National Breast Cancer Foundation Inc |
| Breast cancer information including early signs and symptoms of breast cancer, myths, early detection, breast cancer research and more from National Breast ... |
| www.nationalbreastcancer.org |
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| BreastCancer.Net: http://www.breastcancer.net |
| A clearinghouse for the latest news and information on the prevention, detection and treatment of breast cancer. |
| www.breastcancer.net |
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| Breast Cancer Treatment with Traditional Chinese Medicine |
| Educational resources on using Traditional Chinese Medicine to treat and prevent breast cancer. |
| www.breastcancer.com |
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| Breast Cancer Care - Homepage |
| Breast Cancer Care is the UK's leading provider of information, practical assistance and emotional support for anyone affected by breast cancer or breast ... |
| www.breastcancercare.org.uk |
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| Breakthrough Breast Cancer |
| Breakthrough Breast Cancer is the UKs leading charity committed to fighting breast cancer through research and education. |
| www.breakthrough.org.uk |
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| MedlinePlus: Breast Cancer |
| Search MEDLINE/PubMed for recent research articles on Breast Cancer: • Breast Cancer ... Select services and providers for Breast Cancer in your area. ... |
| www.nlm.nih.gov |
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| Breast Cancer Research | |
| Online and print journal covering topics of basic and clinical research relevant to breast cancer. Research articles are free to all users. |
| breast-cancer-research.com |
|
| National Breast Cancer Centre - Evidence based information for ... |
| The National Breast Cancer Centre of Australia providing information about breast cancer for consumers and health professionals. |
| www.nbcc.org.au |
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| Canadian Breast Cancer Foundation: Run for the Cure: Select Language |
| Charitable organization which raises money to advance research, education, diagnosis and treatment. |
| www.cbcf.org |
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| Breast cancer - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia |
| That is why you will see breast cancer patients wearing braces, ... [5] Men can also develop breast cancer, but their risk is less than one in 1000 (see sex ... |
| en.wikipedia.org |
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| End Breast Cancer from Care2.com and TBCF! |
| Help stop Breast Cancer by clicking daily - free! Supports efforts by The Breast Cancer Fund. |
| breastcancer.care2.com |
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| National Breast Cancer Foundation |
| The ultimate goal of the National Breast Cancer Foundation (NBCF) is to raise enough money to fund a cure for breast cancer. As Australia’s leading national ... |
| www.nbcf.org.au |
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| Y-ME National Breast Cancer Organization |
| Support and information about the condition from this non-profit entity. Headquartered in Chicago, Illinois. |
| www.y-me.org |
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| Breast Cancer Home Page - National Cancer Institute |
| Information about breast cancer treatment, prevention, genetics, causes, screening, clinical trials, research and statistics from the National Cancer ... |
| www.cancer.gov |
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| What You Need To Know About™ Breast Cancer - National Cancer Institute |
| Information about detection, symptoms, diagnosis, and treatment of breast cancer. NIH Publication No. 05-1556. |
| www.cancer.gov |
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| Breast Cancer Campaign - Researching the cure |
| Breast Cancer Campaign is the only charity that specialises in funding independent breast cancer research throughout the UK. |
| www.breastcancercampaign.org |
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| NBCC - NBCC - National Breast Cancer Coalition |
| The National Breast Cancer Coalition Fund is a grassroots organization dedicated to ending breast cancer through the power of action and advocacy. |
| www.natlbcc.org |
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