You Have Cancer, What's the Best Treatment?

Cancer Diagnosis…now what?

Cancer is one of the most complex and sophisticated diseases with a host risk factors, symptoms, and causes. It’s natural to feel worried and even fearful because of the uncertainty. Many equate cancer to death, pain and suffering, depression, change of appearance, side effects from treatments, financial burden, or pressure on family and friends. In light of all this challenge, many turn to personal research Googling everything they can about their respective cancer.

One of the most common searches is how best to treat the cancer or what’s the best treatment? Although cancer is as personal as each individual, there are various therapies from conventional methods to more leading-edge alternative medicine that one can try. However, the more targeted and personalized the therapy, the higher the likelihood of efficacy.  How to treat one’s cancer depends on many factors including the type of cancer, its development, a patient’s health, and their treatment preferences to highlight a few. In this blog, we’ll outline some of the most common therapies to provide a broad selection to help patients identify and determine what potentially would work best for them.

Conventional or Alternative?

Common conventional treatments include surgery, chemotherapy, and radiation. Most of these are covered under traditional insurance so patients are often presented with these treatment options. Additional advances in medicine push the envelope on cancer therapies to also include immunotherapy, hormone therapy, and many other alternative options. It is important to note that because a majority of leading-edge therapies push beyond the realm of conventional medicine, traditional insurance does not cover them, so patients need to factor this in when deciding. Here are some additional considerations on these two treatment directions.

Conventional Cancer Treatments

1. Surgery: When a tumor is perhaps isolated to a location or is in an early stage, surgery may potentially be an option for certain types of cancers such as breast cancer or colon cancer. All surgery inherently includes risks of complications like bleeding, infection, and adverse reactions to anesthesia. Additionally, surgery may not remove all of the cancer if the cancer has spread to other locations of the body prior to a procedure. 

2. Chemotherapy: This treatment utilizes drugs to eradicate cancer cells. It is usually administered through an intravenous infusion (IV) and can be used in conjunction with other conventional methods like surgery or even radiation. A common issue with chemotherapy is it does not selectively target cancer cells so treatment also affects healthy cells. This therapy has common side effects like nausea, fatigue, and hair loss, and can suppress the body’s immune system making patients more susceptible to infections.

3. Radiation: Entails using a high dose of radiation targeted at the cancer or tumor location. Similar to chemotherapy, radiation affects both healthy and cancer cells so depending on the type of cancer, location, dose of radiation, and individual factors, outcomes need to be balanced with some of the downsides. Radiation can cause skin degradation at the treatment area, induce fatigue and hair loss as well as nausea and vomiting. Other negatives can be long-term tissue damage or changes to other bodily functions so one needs to weigh the benefits and costs of this therapy.

Alternative Therapies

There are a myriad of therapies that have been studied and applied beyond convention that utilize the body’s natural ability to fight disease. Because conventional medicine has constraints such as chemotherapy having a 90+% failure rate for stage IV cancer, alternatives in medicine innovation continue to be practiced with positive results. Here are only a few of many to start your research.

1. Immune Support: This therapy is designed to specifically target cancer cells without affecting healthy cells thus reducing the impact of side effects and damage to surrounding tissues. Immune support has been known to demonstrate effectiveness in advanced-stage cancers that do not respond to conventional treatments and in certain cases, have lowered the risk of recurrence.

2. Intravenous Vitamin C: Vitamin C is a non-toxic therapy that targets cancer cells without the negative side effects of chemotherapy drugs, according to an NIH 2005 study. It is selectively toxic meaning that it reacts with oxygen around tumors creating large amounts of hydrogen peroxide which is harmful to tumor cells while leaving healthy cells unharmed.

3. Locoregional Hyperthermia: Advancement in technology allows doctors to harness the power of heat to create an inhospitable environment for tumors. By heating the tumor with minimal effect on surrounding healthy cells, the optimal heat delivery kills the cancer cells and can also trigger a healthy immune response. The continued heat stress applied to a tumor also tends to collapse the blood supply further inhibiting the cancer’s ability to survive.

Conclusion

When it comes to your health and your cancer, it’s important to ask questions, do your research, explore all options including those that have evolved from conventional methods, and not rush into therapy without a clear thought-out plan. Science continues to find alternatives that are peer-reviewed and tested that focus on improving the efficacy of targeting cancer while limiting the negative impact on the healthy cells and tissues of the body. To find out more about your options, talk to Dr. Andrew Dickens, a leading expert in alternative medicine therapies at all stages and types of cancers by calling 480-699-7400 or schedule a consultation at https://www.dayspringcancerclinic.com/contact.