Alternative treatments?

"They mentioned hyperthermia, and rigvir. Hyperthermia, is where they raise your body temp to 105 degrees for a couple of hours, it's suppose to kill the cancer, (if it doesn't kill me???)"

Yep. That's usually how alternative treatments work. The treatment Can kill the cancer by one of two means. Either the treatment kills the patient outright, or the treatment directs the patient away from a benficial treatment. I guess either way the cancer does die.

There are a number of "alternative treatments" out there. Most have been researched and proven to be frauds - many folks here have done that research.

Often these treatments designed to separate you from your money. They often make claims not found in science or fact.

The only "alternative treatments" that really work are a healthy diet, proper exercise and good mental/emotional health.

Andrew

Not to be crass, but if one trusts FDA approved treatments less than "alternative" treatments, he is free to follow any path he wishes.

There are a number of useful U.S. government publications available online that warn against health treatment frauds (including many for cancer) and which offer tips to the public on how to avoid them.

Here's an example of one, designed to raise fraud awareness. It's a short read (just a few screens) and is particularly useful for the "For More Information" webography that it has at the end.

It's worth a look, especially for the webography.

https://www.fda.gov/media/77211/download

Heard one just yesterday. A guy with advanced disease used dog ringworm medicine recommended by his Vet to kill all his cancer cells. Yikes!!! Now he writes a blog about it! I aint about to do that! arf arf.

duke48 said...
Sorry about the problems you're having. I was G 8 and also had robotic surgery at MD Anderson. Surgery was 3-31-2015. I knew almost nothing about prostate cancer but trusted the Doctors at MD Anderson. They know more about cancer than I ever will. I exercise a lot. I've lost weight. I eat a lot of broccoli, walnuts, and of course drink pomegranate juice. This is my alternative medicine. I try to stay as healthy as possible to help fight cancer.

Duke, I do the same as well. When I went to MDA it was after I had been diagnosed. I got a blood infection from the biopsy, the dr who did it, went on a two vacation afterwards, and left me waiting for the results. I have had hernia surgery, and I knew the mesh could pose a problem with the RP, so I ask the dr if he'd ever worked around hernia mesh, he said "No". My supervisor who worked in Houston, told me to quit effin around, and get my ash down to Texas. I went to Dr Pister. he is ok, his staff is always changing, for some reason. I did just what they recommended. The first time my PSA became detectable I started using medical marijuana, it went back to undetectable, they did not want to hear that, and suggested I see a local urologist. I quit the medical MJ, because I don't like it, and my PSA came back up??? I wasn't too worried until it jumped from .4 to 3.3 in 4 months, needless to say I went back on it, and retested in 6 days because I thought the 3.3 may have been a miss print, It dropped back to 1.2? I just tested yesterday, and I'm waiting patiently to here what it is.

Buddy Blank said...
"FDA approved cut, poison, and burn, does a pretty good job of killing the patient as well."

That FDA burn has kept me alive for the past seven years.

"I started using medical marijuana, it went back to undetectable, they did not want to hear that, and suggested I see a local urologist. I quit the medical MJ, because I don't like it, and my PSA came back up???"

LOL

LOL because they didn't want to hear it, and suggested I see some one else, or LOL because my PSA came back up?

10drum said...
Is being chemically castrated and radiated up the anus, both with adverse side effects, worth living longer? So, my questions is; do I want to feel lousy longer?
Phil

Yes!
I'm 73 and have been treated for PCa since I was 55. It's now 18 years since surgery, 8 years since SRT. I'm now on break after a year on ADT, but know I'll be back on ADT sometime in the next year or so. Meanwhile I'm active and have a good quality of life. I manage a 62 acre town-owned conservation land - meaning I and a couple of volunteers spend considerable time doing heavy physical work outdoors in summer heat and winter snow. I'm treasurer and a director of a small non-profit and I'm an appointed member of a town conservation sub-committee. My wife and I take frequent trailer-camping trips every summer including an annual 2,000 round-trip to the Merlefest music festival in North Carolina. And after a lifetime of playing mostly 3 and 4 chord guitar, I'm now expanding into jazz and American standards - Gershwin, Cole Porter.

Without medical treatment for my recurring PCa I'd have had bone, lung or other mets years ago and would have nothing like the life I've lived these past 18 years.
Jim

If your PSA is going up after RP then the surgery failed to get all the cancer. Thus the urologist/surgeon is done. Next person is a radiation oncologist to determine whether salvage radiation therapy (SRT) is warranted. If so, that is your quarterback and you get the treatment. if not, then get an excellent medical oncologist.

It looks like you knew three years ago the surgery failed. Plus you are high risk G8. How in the world could any urologist not get you to a RO immediately? I am wondering why you haven’t had SRT yet. Statistically it is more effective when used as soon as possible. By waiting so long the probability of developing systemic disease increases. Have you ever been assessed by a radiation oncologist? And why would you have a four month wait for the scan? I don’t understand. And, in my opinion, if your chiropractor suggests going to Mexico, I would be looking for a different chiropractor as well.

So your effective alternative treatment is medical marijuana. Your trial seems to indicate it reduced the PSA but didnt kill their PCa because the PSA went back up after you stopped. Correct? Looks like you are on to something.

In your shoes I would be seeing an excellent radiation oncologist that does a lot of prostate work to get assessed for SRT. One item that is confusing to me is the last line of your signature “3.3 to 1.9 10/19”. Does that mean your PSA went up to 3.3 and then has come back to 1.9? That is very strange. At .2 PSA you are defined as a recurrence of the cancer, or that not all the cancer was cut out and the surgery failed. According to the AUA guidelines a PSA of .4 following RP can be predictive of metastatic disease. You have been over the recurrence definition for three years and over the last six months over the .4 threshold. These are not good signs....and your urologist cant get you to a scan for four months? Seek a better doctor with the proper specialty. Waiting only lets the cancer grow and spread.

A few top hospitals that use alternative treatments
Yale, Duke, Johns Hopkins, Cleveland Clinic, Georgetown, Mayo Clinic, MD Anderson, UCLA Medical, Mass General, Michigan Medicine, Penn Medicine, UCSF Medical.
Agree or disagree, this study that study, the question becomes are we really helping anyone here by saying its all fake?

NotBubba said...
A few top hospitals that use alternative treatments
Yale, Duke, Johns Hopkins, Cleveland Clinic, Georgetown, Mayo Clinic, MD Anderson, UCLA Medical, Mass General, Michigan Medicine, Penn Medicine, UCSF Medical.
Agree or disagree, this study that study, the question becomes are we really helping anyone here by saying its all fake?

Thanks notbubba.

I have seen that Cleveland clinic appears to be the most active, trying alternatives. MD Anderson not so much. They ask me what I was doing when my PSA went detectable. I told them medical cannabis, Dr Pister's PA did not want to hear that, and he told me to find a different urologist.

Some of the replies on this thread have that "freak out" tone, I'm trying to avoid.

Here is a good article, that sort of made me step back, and think a little bit:

https://ascopubs.org/doi/full/10.1200/EDBK_200319

Notbubba, I don't think a laundry list of institutions that use alternative treatments for various ailments is particularly helpful. If you think that the alternatives that Phil mentioned might help him then pointing to the science that is supportive might be useful. Likewise if you have specific info on other alternatives that might be helpful in his particular case then by all means please share them and the science.

What JNF, myself and others were trying to do is to emphasize that there are PROVEN options for Phil that he should probably consider ASAP. If Phil wants to pursue other alternatives that's obviously up to him but we are simply trying to be helpful...again with options that have been proven to be useful and perhaps curative.

Jim