Surviving
Breast Cancer with Herbs
Alternative Treatment are Natural Choices
Who
cares if it's proven - as long as it works...
That's the
attitude of many breast cancer survivors. They are on the lookout for
herbs, vitamins and other nontraditional treatments that will help fight
this disease.
Most Survivors
Are Self Medicating
A study reported that eight in ten patients at the University of Texas
M. D. Anderson Cancer Center used complementary or alternative medicine
(CAM), although most did not inform their oncologist.
Besides spiritual
practices and exercise, many breast cancer survivors said that they were
using products that included:
- melatonin;
- shark
or bovine cartilage;
- homeopathic
remedies;
- essiac
tea;
- mistletoe;
- and other
folk remedies.
Not Only
In America
This trend toward the use of CAM is not isolated to the United States.
A survey of 411 breast cancer patients randomly selected from the Ontario
Cancer Registry found that 67% of the women reported using CAM.
Cleansing
diets, macrobiotic foods and other natural ways to combat cancer are high
on the list of discussion topics on most Internet breast cancer sites.
What Are
They Thinking?
Why are educated women spending money and risking their health with unproven
medication and folk remedies?
The survey
results show that they are being used because, in the opinion of the breast
cancer patients, they work.
Whether the
results are due to a patient's beliefs or a real clinical action is not
important.
In the absence
of any real movement toward a scientific cure, breast cancer survivors
are writing their own experimental protocols.
As soon as
someone reports a positive result with anything - there will be others
willing to experiment with it to find out if they can get the same results.
Do Doctors
Agree?
These anecdotal results do not carry much weight with the medical establishment.
There are too many other factors that may have created the results attributed
to a non-tested remedy.
Due to this,
the scientific community has traditionally ignored any alternative treatments,
but that is changing.
Attitudes
Are Changing
There is enough anecdotal evidence to make some researchers curious.
The University
of California at San Francisco and other prestigious institutions are
beginning to study these treatments in a scientific manner.
Drugs
Were Once Herbal Cures
Many drugs on the market today are the product of analyzing herbal remedies.
- Digitalis
- a potent heart medication - was discovered by experiments with compounds
found in foxglove.
- Penicillin
was originally found in mold.
Some studies
are finding that the herbal remedies actually have chemical compounds
that work to inhibit tumor functions.
Herbal
Remedies Carry Risks
There are two dangers in using unproven folk therapies.
One is that
they may not have any real effects, in which case you spend a lot of money
on useless pills or remedies.
The other
is that they may have effects that are harmful or that interfere with
the traditional treatments necessary to cause tumor remission.
The medicines
of tomorrow may well be a marriage of biochemistry and herbal medications,
but for today it's still a good idea to check with your doctor before
taking any drugs - natural or otherwise.
July 24, 2000
Last
updated April 15, 2006
Elsewhere
on the Web:
Alternative
& Natural Cancer Remedies
A
Cure for Cancer?
Herbal
remedies 'do work'
