alternative medicine?

[mindovermatter]

would you consider alternative vs chemo or radiation? my uncle's prostate cancer has returned in the form of a shoulder tumor (sounds weird but it happens a lot)- he refuses conventional treatment & wants to try an alternative natural protocol. i intensely studied various methods when my mother had cancer and although they said it was too late for her by time she was diagnosed, i still felt i had to learn all i could and at least do something.
i tried desperately but couldn't save her ....talk about feeling like a miserable failure, blamed myself for her death- went through self-loathing and excruciating depression that would rival torture from the deepest, most foul pits of hell (aren't i just a bundle of sunshine?).....
but ....maybe that knowledge could be beneficial now. at his age i can understand not wanting to have chemo- he's 79.
successful natural alternative "cures" are not proven, & although some have many testimonials, there are also those who claim the same method can harm. i think if i were diagnosed and it was early stages, i would try the natural route first
before bombarding my immune system with poison

 

[loveofreason]

I think the extent to which alternative approaches work ultimately depends on the type of individual. Some of us are passive patients and well suited to conventional medicine. Some of us are active - we don't consider illness something that happens to us, rather something we create and to some extent have control over. (Whether this is outwardly evident or true is not the issue - the state of mind is.)

In a way the health outcome, whether it be death, full recovery or compromised but continuing life, is the secondary issue for the adherent of natural medicine. It becomes very much about the individual's experience; what they learn of the limitations of their power and relationship to 'ease'.

If I wanted to maintain control over my experience of disease I would choose the natural path. It does not guarantee a return to health any more or less than the conventional path. But it does guarantee the dignity of choice, of self-possession and awareness.

 

[Vrecknidj]

There was a Phase I clinical trial where those enrolled were interviewed by Mark Siegler and his colleagues at the University of Chicago. Of those who participated, 85% did so because they hoped for therapeutic benefit. The problem, of course, is that Phase I trials serve mostly to determine the toxicity of substances in human volunteers.

I know this is tangential, but, the same kind of thinking applies to alternative therapies. Don't think that I think that alternative therapies are bunk. Quite the contrary. But, anecdotal evidence isn't really medical evidence. I mean, one guy might chew bubble gum and his cancer goes away, but there's pretty much a zero percent chance that this is going to be due to the gum and so will never repeat.

However, it's often in the Wild West of medicine where the new treatments are found, so I can't say "don't do it." Just, be aware that you're wandering in a territory unlikely to yield positive results.

Dave