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By Dr. Randy Wysong

(If one were to judge by television advertising and news reports, it would seem that the “war on cancer” is all but won. What are the weapons being heralded? Drugs, research, tests and exams. They miss the point.

“Prevention” is promoted as meaning catching the disease early. Really. That also misses the point. Is it “prevention” if you call 911 when you come home and see smoke billowing from all your windows? Do we just live with a carpe diem philosophy and wait for the doctor to tell us we have a lump in our breast or a swollen nodular prostate? Is the cause of cancer a lack of one of the new cancer drugs? Is the cause of cancer really unknown, requiring endless research?

First, let me put to rest the propaganda that the war is being won. Since President Nixon declared the war (1971) and after over 200 billion dollars have been spent on research (remember, one billion is a thousand million), more Americans will die of cancer in the next 14 months than have died in all U.S. wars ever fought combined! (Where are the protest marches?) Soon, cancer will overtake heart disease as the number one killer.

Decades ago, early in the war, there were some dramatic successes such as with Hodgkin’s disease and some forms of childhood leukemia. There can be little doubt that debunking (surgical removal) of large cancers brings benefits. But the big killers such as colorectal, lung, prostate and breast cancer remain as threatening as ever. Survival gains are measured primarily in additional months (not years) added to life, not in cures. The placebo effect is by and large ignored. (People getting a sugar pill placebo in cancer studies have been known to lose their hair and some actually cure themselves by simply thinking they will be cured.) A percentage of people can experience remissions spontaneously and from simple lifestyle adjustments, but the cancer therapy is always credited with the cure. (Investigations, “Placebo Learning: The Placebo Effect as a Conditioned Response,” 1985; 2(1):23. O’Regan B, et al. 1993. Spontaneous Remission: An Annotated Bibliography. Sausalito, CA. Talbot M. 1991. The Holographic Universe. New York. Harper Collins Publishers. Townsend Letter, 2004; 251:32-3.)

Statistics can always be massaged to create the result desired. This practice is rampant in cancer research. Animal models (euphemism for real living and feeling caged creatures being tortured by the millions) do not prove effectiveness across species boundaries to humans. Neither do laboratory cell lines. That’s why all the “breakthroughs” based on tumor shrinkage never pan out. For-profit drug companies and National Cancer Institute grant-based research ignore metastases (the spreading cells of cancer through the body) in their positive reports.  Instead they highlight and focus on more easily obtained lab results, such as “tumor shrinkage,” and on easily manipulated clinical data such as “five-year survival.”

Twelve new “improved” drugs introduced in Europe between 1995 and 2000 were no better than the drugs they replaced. But the prices were all higher, in one instance by a factor of 350 times. One new “revolutionary” drug, Erbitux™, found to “shrink” tumors but not extend the lives of patients at all costs $2,400 per week. Avastin™, another costly chemotherapeutic, by the best calculation, extended the lives of 400 colorectal patients by 4.7 months.  Tamoxifin™ is proven to be effective in decreasing breast cancer.  Risk is decreased by about 15% but what is not equally heralded is the fact that it increased the risk of endometrial uterine cancer by about 15%.  (Patient Information: Nolvadex, Zeneca Pharmaceuticals)

Are such results worth the financial devastation and miserable life that chemotherapy, radiation and surgery impose? Is that the way to spend one’s remaining days? If such therapy does add a couple of months, are those couple of months really worth the poking, prodding, pain, unrelenting nausea, disfiguring, destruction of the immune system and increased susceptibility to other diseases? “Yes” would be a hard answer to justify.

In the face of a cancer diagnosis most people just throw up their hands in terror and surrender to the conventional cancer therapy death process. The feeling is that something must be done, and, since “doctors know best,” one must begin the “fight” by following the advice of the doctor. But fighting does not mean surrendering to the will of another person who has their own personal agenda and narrowed field of view dictated by the club they belong to. That misses the point. You must do something.

Here’s the on-point best approach:

1. Prevention means adjusting your life right now so that you are living in tune with your design. Cancer is, quite simply, the reaction of cells subjected long enough to an environment they are not designed for. The genetic apparatus loses its bearings, becomes insane, if you will, and regresses to embryonic infancy and just begins multiplying recklessly. What is the proper environment? It is that food, air, water and lifestyle you are genetically designed for. The proper healthy preventive living context is encapsulated in the Wysong Optimal Health Program™.

2. If you get cancer, don’t panic. First thing is follow #1 advice. Learn. Gather as much information as you can from all resources, not just what the medical establishment provides. We try to gather such information for you in The Wysong Directory of Alternative Resources.

3. Think about what has happened in your life that has caused the disease. It is caused, it does not just happen. Correct your life.

4. You take control of your own body and you make the decisions. Determine to set right what is wrong and do it. Taking control is essential to not feeling like a helpless victim and sinking into hopeless despair – a sure mindset to speed the disease along.

5. Think long and hard before submitting to unproven cancer therapies. If the doctor cannot prove effectiveness (at least prove that you will be better off with the therapy than without) and if you are not willing to take the risk of all the contraindications, then don’t submit because you think it is “all that can be done.” It isn’t. See #2 above.

All good things in life are hard. In our modern world, good health takes effort and attention. Preventing and reversing disease also takes effort – your effort. Begin today to take charge of your health and be the best you can be. Most chronic degenerative diseases have long latency periods, the time between when the disease begins and it manifests in overt symptoms. Most everyone reading this has such disease brewing within at this very moment. So take advantage of the window of opportunity and give your body a chance by living the life you were designed to live. That will not only prevent disease from gaining a foothold, but reverse disease that is incubating within.

Dr. Wysong is a former veterinary clinician and surgeon, college instructor in human anatomy, physiology and the origin of life, inventor of numerous medical, surgical, nutritional, athletic and fitness products and devices, research director for the present company by his name and founder of the philanthropic Wysong Institute.  He is author of The Creation-Evolution Controversy now in its eleventh printing, a new two volume set on philosophy for living, several books on nutrition, prevention and health for people and animals and over 15 years of monthly health newsletters. He may be contacted at Wysong@Wysong.net and a free subscription to his e-Health Letter is available at http://www.wysong.net

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Dr._Randy_Wysong
http://EzineArticles.com/?Cancer—The-Missing-Point&id=53387

I came across a helpful post at the Cancer Blog on Erbitux and metastatic colorectal cancer. This is a short but informative post on Erbitux, with lots of outbound links to other sites of interest.

By Bill Ransom

The treatment depends on the staging of the cancer. When colorectal cancer is caught at early stages (with little spread) it can be curable. However when it is detected at later stages (when distant [[metastasis|metastases]] are present) it is less likely to be curable.

Surgery remains the primary treatment while chemotherapy and/or radiotherapy may be recommended depending on the individual patient’s staging and other medical factors.

Surgery

Surgical treatment is by far the most likely to result in a cure of colon cancer if the tumor is localized. Very early cancer that develops within a polyp can often be cured by removing the polyp at the time of colonoscopy. More advanced cancers typically require surgical removal of the section of colon containing the tumor leaving sufficient margins to reduce likelihood of re-growth. If possible, the remaining parts of colon are anastomosed together to create a functioning colon. In cases when anastomosis is not possible, a stoma (artificial orifice) is created. While surgery is not usually offered if significant metastasis is present, surgical removal of isolated liver metastases is common. Improved chemotherapy has increased the number of patients who are offered surgical removal of isolated liver metastases.

Laparoscopic assist resection of the colon for tumour can reduce the size of painful
incision and minimize the risk of infection. As with any surgical procedure, colorectal surgery can in rare cases result in complications. These may include infection, abscess, fistula or bowel obstruction.

Chemotherapy

Chemotherapy is used to reduce the likelihood of metastasis developing, shrink tumour size, or slow tumor growth. Chemotherapy is often applied after surgery (adjuvant), before surgery (neo-adjuvant), or as the primary therapy if surgery is not indicated (palliative). The treatments listed here have been shown in clinical trials to improve survival and/or reduce mortality and have been approved for use by the US Food and Drug Administration.

Adjuvant (after surgery) chemotherapy. One regimen involves the combination of infusional 5-fluorouracil, leucovorin, and oxaliplatin (FOLFOX), 5-fluorouracil (5-FU)
Leucovorin (LV), Oxaliplatin (Eloxatin®), Capecitabine (Xeloda®).

Chemotherapy for metastatic disease. Commonly used first line regimens involve the combination of infusional 5-fluorouracil, leucovorin, and oxaliplatin (FOLFOX) with bevacizumab or infusional 5-fluorouracil, leucovorin, and irinotecan (FOLFIRI) with bevacizumab, 5-fluorouracil (5-FU), Leucovorin, Irinotecan, Oxaliplatin, Bevacizumab and Cetuximab.

Radiation Therapy

Radiation therapy is used to kill tumor tissue before or after surgery or when surgery is not indicated. Sometimes chemotherapy agents are used to increase the effectiveness of radiation by sensitizing tumor cells if present. Radiotherapy is not used routinely in colorectal cancer, as it could lead to radiation enteritis, and is difficult to target specific portions of the colon, but may be used on metastatic tumor deposits if they compress vital structures and/or cause pain. There may be a role for post-operative adjuvant radiation in the case where a tumor perforates the colon as judged by the surgeon or the pathologist. However, as the area of the prior tumor site can be difficult (if not impossible) to ascertain by imaging, surgical clips need to be left in the colon to direct the radiotherapist to the area of risk.

Immunotherapy

Bacillus Calmette-Guérin (BCG) is gaining prominence as a complementary theraputic agent in the treatment of colorectal cancer. A review of results from recent clinical trials is given in Mosolits et al.

Support Therapies

Cancer diagnosis very often results in an enormous change in the patient’s psychological wellbeing. Various support resources are available from, hospitals and other agencies which provide counseling, social service support, cancer support groups, and other services. These services help to mitigate some of the difficulties of integrating a patient’s medical complications into other parts of their life.

William Ransom provides information of Colon cancer screening, diagnosis and treatment at http://colon-answers.com

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Bill_Ransom
http://EzineArticles.com/?Treatment-Options-for-Colorectal-Cancer&id=189675

Welcome to ErbituxChat. On this blog, I will be discussing and reporting on developments pertaining to cancer treatment, particularly through the use of monoclonal antibodies such as Erbitux. I’ve recently had first-hand experience with both cancer and Erbitux, and have learned much more than I ever wanted to know about:

• coping with the big C
• treatment options
• the digestive system
• chemo
• surgery
• the magazine selection in doctor’s waiting rooms
• monoclonal antibodies
• Erbitux

This blog is my project to pass on some of what I’ve learned, and hopefully to learn more along the way. You are encouraged to leave comments and to suggest items for coverage.