Insulin is a hormone which is prescribed to diabetics to help them manage their blood sugar levels. It’s a highly anabolic hormone as well, which does lead to muscle growth not possible with any other compound or steroid.
Can pancreatic cancer life expectancy be improved? The American Cancer Society gives low survival rates for pancreatic cancer, but survivor, Karon Beattie, has compiled a treatment reference book with more than 350 alternative treatments that have been used by thousands of cancer patients to overcome their prognosis, including pancreatic cancer.
Although it is often not diagnosed until it has spread, Beattie gives numerous accounts of people surviving pancreatic cancer by natural treatments. She states that these treatments are not covered by the FDA and usually not patentable by drug companies, resulting in low knowledge among doctors.
Beattie reports that some physicians have used a nutritional supplement to achieve complete remission of aggressive, stage IV cancers that had metastasized.
Specifically in relation to pancreatic cancer, Beattie’s book, “Natural Cancer Treatments That Work”, describes how an English doctor used a herbal mixture to treat a pancreatic cancer patient, alive four years later, long after oncologists had forecast.
Beattie outlines how a London biochemist developed a treatment 20 years ago that knocks out the mitochondria or ‘energy centers’ in cancer cells, leaving normal cells unharmed. The low-cost treatment is supported by over 50 research papers and has succeeded in treating numerous cancers, including pancreatic, yet the biochemist has been unable to get authorities to trial his method further. This seems an astonishing outcome for a cancer given a poor prognosis by oncologists.
In addition, the author provides 45 first-hand accounts of people who beat pancreatic cancer using natural and alternative treatments. If stories like this are true, why are they not used as a mainstream treatment for pancreatic and other cancers?
According to Beattie, despite the fact that the creators of the treatments listed in her book are respected health scientists, few of the treatments have been formally evaluated in human clinical trials. There is little financial incentive for drug companies in natural treatments that cannot be patented, yet thousands of cancer survivors have successfully used the treatments. Beattie also suggests that many doctors may not be aware of these treatments because they know how to prescribe treatments regulated by the FDA. Many of the alternative treatments she lists involve herbs and vitamins that are beyond the FDA’s jurisdiction.
Cancer sufferers and their loved ones will find these compelling accounts hard to ignore in their quest to survive and reclaim their lives.
Pancreatic cancer… that’s what killed my grandfather at age 75, my father at age 70, and my childhood friend at age 56. It is considered by many as untreatable. So, I’ve been doing a great deal of research on the Internet about different ways I can help myself avoid becoming a victim of this deadly cancer. Listed below is my preventive strategy.
First, let me emphasize that I am NOT a doctor or medical professional. I am not recommending anything to anybody. I can not be certain of any of the claims from the materials I have studied doing my research. I am only sharing with those of you who have an interest in my research, what I found on the Internet… and what I am doing as my “health assurance” to help me avoid future cancer – and all in all help myself to better health as I enter my golden years.
INFORMATION I FOUND ON THE INTERNET
Links to web pages and articles I found on the Internet particularly talked about using Far Infrared Radiation (heat) as a treatment for a variety of cancers – including pancreatic. It seems that when the internal temperature of the body is raised, cancer cells have a difficult time growing. Some of the other concepts I found most interesting center around better blood flow, better blood oxygenation, the release of nitric oxide from internal cells, and the detoxification and flushing of harmful elements from the body.
Some of the concepts I was most interested in are as follows:
#1 – Spending several hours under Far Infrared Radiation was helpful to raise the core temperature of the body, which in turn helped to kill and prevent future cancer.
#2 – The use of Far Infrared Radiation helped to expel toxic chemicals and heavy metals from the body. Again, a good thing to help prevent cancer.
#3 – The use of Far Infrared Radiation helped to create nitric oxide in the body. Nitric oxide has been reported to help in the treatments of Atherosclerosis, Septic shock, and Cancer.
#4 – “Fever Therapy” (often initiated by Far Infrared Radiation), in contrast to chemotherapy, can destroy cancer cells without destroying healthy cells. This is a safer alternative modality.
These concepts gave me a good idea of some of the alternatives to the typical treatment of cancers… and what conditions cancer needs to grow and survive. Like I said at the beginning of this page – I am not an expert… I am not a doctor… I am not trying to persuade anybody to do anything. I am simply someone who has a family history of pancreatic cancer, and I’m deciding for myself what course of action I choose to take to hopefully keep myself from getting cancer.
So, I have outlined below what I am doing to help protect myself – and why I believe this course of action will help me in my fight.
MY ANTI-CANCER STRATEGY
I use Far Infrared Radiation twice each day – once in the morning shortly after I wake up, and again before I go to sleep for the night. I use 45 minute Far Infrared Radiation sessions. The Far Infrared rays penetrate my skin and go several inches deep. This helps to elevate my body temperature and increase my blood circulation – both of which should help cancer from taking hold.
And, I make sure to take at least 10 very deep breaths at the beginning and end of each session. I breathe in through my nose as deeply as I can – forcing the air into my abdomen rather than just small breaths into my chest area. I hold my breath for the count of 10, then I slowly exhale through my mouth until all the air is out of my lungs. I then repeat this process until I have finished 10 repetitions. This deep breathing really helps in oxygenating my blood – which is a good thing overall… and a deterrent to cancer forming.
Also, every Saturday I devote 2 1/2 – 3 hours to relaxing under the Far Infrared Radiation. From my research, it seems that this extended time will increase the hyperthermic effect on my body, which may help even more.
I understand this is a large commitment of time (I invest 13+ hours weekly), but my health is very important to me, and I much prefer to set aside time each day to help my body defend itself. I really do look at it as my best “Health Assurance” and long term strategy.
YOU CHOOSE YOUR OWN STRATEGY
No one can force you to help yourself to better health. It is a decision you make based on your commitment to help yourself. I believe Far Infrared Radiation will assist you in developing a healthy body.
Colorectal cancer can be cured in most cases, when it’s diagnosed in early stages. It is the medical oncologists, gastroenterologists, radiation oncologists and surgeons, who specialize in treating such cancers in women.
Colorectal cancer may be treated depending upon the exact location of the tumour present, its stage and size. Although surgery and chemotherapy (radiation therapy) are the most common treatment methods, many women receive a combined treatment of both these methods. However, recent studies show that there are many side effects of radiation for colorectal cancer.
Radiation Therapy for Colorectal Cancer
Radiation therapy uses high energy rays for killing cancer cells. In fact, it affects the cancer cells lying only in the affected area. Two types of radiation therapies, namely the internal radiation and external radiation, are used for treating colorectal cancer.
Side-effects of Using Radiation Therapy
Although radiation therapy has been mostly successful in the treatment of colorectal cancer, there are many side effects of this technique. These side effects usually depend on the part of the body and the dose of radiation given to the patient. Some common side effects of radiation for colorectal cancer treatment are vomiting, hair loss, extreme tiredness, bleeding, easy bruising and increased susceptibility to different infections.
Women undertaking radiation therapy may experience symptoms like vomiting, nausea, bloody stools, urinary discomfort and diarrhea. The skin where radiation is given may even become tender, dry or red.
Radiation therapy may also cause alopecia (hair loss) in the area, where treatment is carried out. It may result in partial or full loss of hair on your scalp.
Many women have experienced the side effect of having low white blood cell counts when they have undergone radiation therapy for colorectal cancer. However, this side effect of having low levels of WBC due to radiation is comparatively rare. These cells prevent bleeding and fight your body infection. Radiation therapy can even affect your ability to have children (the same is in the case of your part, if he undergoes the therapy). Hence if you notice this side effect, it is recommended to delay the therapy for about a week.
Some of the other possible side effects resulting from radiation therapy may include discomfort or pressure in the excretory region, burning sensation during urination, fatigue, skin irritation, abdominal cramping, frequent bowel movements and nausea. However, these side effects are temporary, as they tend to resolve after the termination of radiation therapy for colorectal cancer.
Measures for Controlling Side Effects of Radiation Therapy
Although these side effects vary with different patients, they can be controlled by using different medications and inflicting changes in your diet. Try to give plenty of rest to your body during this treatment, as you are more likely to get fatigue and feel tired. Do not wear tight clothes and avoid scrubbing, rubbing and putting adhesive tapes on the skin where treatment is done.
Take special care to protect your treated skin from direct sunlight. Since your skin becomes very sensitive during this time, cover it with a dark cloth if possible before going out.
Cancer is nearly the leading cause of death in the U.S., and more and more people need help in treatment. Luckily in recent years there has been a good deal of technological headway that has come about. From identifying and treating the tumors in the body, new radiation technology and techniques have already come into use with a lot of promise.
New technologies include IMRT, IGRT, radio surgery, and TomoTherapy.
The field of radiation therapy employs several means to irradiate tumors and cancer masses within a patient. For the most part, beams of x-rays or other atomic or sub-atomic particles are the most common used means to disable the cancer cells within the body, which enter the body in wave-form so it’s non-invasive.
This field of application is also known as external beam radiotherapy. There are several other techniques in radiation therapy, such as sealed source radiotherapy and unsealed source radiotherapy where application can be done through injection or ingestion.
External Beam Radiotherapy
The external beam technology uses charged particles, mostly x-rays, and sends these wave forms through the skin to the affected area. Linear accelerator machines are used in these therapy types to emit the beams. The major advancements have been more in the planning stage of the therapy.
The patient’s tumor mass is the trickiest part. Computers and software have come along to help map out and plan the route where the beams are directed. 3-D mapping software and hardware, such as the multileaf collimator which alters the beam’s shape with varying metal leaves near the laser eye, have made this process easier.
Intensity-Modulated Radiation Therapy, or IMRT, was a recent advancement in external beam technology. This incorporates the use of the linear accelerator beam and the 3-D mapping software. The IMRT uses software to map and find the tumor, as well as generate different doses of radiation to the tumor to reduce the harmful affect of radiation on good tissue that surrounds the cancer.
The IMRT process uses CT scans for much of the mapping and planning, however CT scans need to be constantly made for each session, making the process quite lengthy for the patient and therapy workers.
Image Guiding Beam Technology
The next step in external beam radiotherapy is the release of the Image Guided Radiation Therapy, or IGRT. This new process has only been actively used within the past several years by clinicians.
The IGRT technology will use real time CT or x-ray imaging while using a linear accelerator’s beam to do the work. This not only saves much time for patient, but also becomes more accurate. While the IMRT technology would have to compensate for any shifting of the mass within the body by firing a wider area beam typically to mass, the IGRT methods can calculate any shifting so when the beam is emitted less healthy tissue is affected. This helps bring down side-effect problems in the long run, such as deadly secondary cancers from radiation.
Targeting Brain Cancer
Radio therapy has proven effective to many deadly brain cancer masses. This again is a non-invasive means to treat abnormalities and tumors. Radio surgery is often the term used for many radiation treatments for the brain. The linear accelerator is used to treat the brain in radio surgery, as well as photo beam accelerators and the new proton beam accelerator technology.
One form of hardware and suite software that is used to treat brain cancer that uses the x-ray linear accelerator is TomoTherapy. This is quite new as well. This incorporates IMRT beam use; however it also will operate in a full circular “helical” manner around the patient.
The beam can be applied in a full 360 degree manner. The ring “gantry” holds both the beam eyelets as well as the CT scanning imagery, so the 3-D mapping of the skull in brain surgery can be done. The helical application that TomoTherapy can deliver makes it powerfully accurate in all many different cancer treatments, especially those of the brain.
Unlike other forms of lung cancer, metastatic lung cancer is the result of a cancer from another part of the body spreading to the lungs. When a malignancy develops in the body (most often in the breasts, colon, prostate, or bladder, though almost all cancers have the ability to spread) it can sometimes spread through the blood stream. When these malignancies settle into the pulmonary tissues, such as the alveoli (the final vein-like branches of the respiratory system) and the supporting tissues of the respiratory structures, the cancer has metastasized to the lungs.
Unfortunately, treating metastatic lung cancer presents significant challenges. Since the cancer has spread from another part of the body, treatment not only involves addressing the cancer in the lungs, but also the original cancer and any other areas of the body that may have also become affected. In some cases, if the primary tumor is successfully removed and if the spread of the tumor cells to the pulmonary regions is relatively localized, then the management of the cancer by surgical techniques may do the job. However, if the metastatic lung cancer is extensive, because so many areas of the body may be under the influence of the cancer, certain treatments (such as surgery, and in many cases, radiation therapy as well) may prove ineffective. Which leaves most patients with chemotherapy as the primary treatment of choice.
Chemotherapy often uses a combination of drugs (often referred to as “anti-cancer” drugs) to kill cancer cells, though a single drug may be used as well. While the aim of these drugs is to stop cancerous cells from multiplying, they also can damage healthy cells. This is what creates the side effects that are often associated with chemotherapy, such as the loss of hair, nausea and vomiting, and fatigue. The good news, however, is that the healthy cells will generally repair themselves once the chemotherapy process is over.
Chemotherapy can provide a cure (when the cancer disappears and does not return) or help to control the cancer (to keep it from spreading and perhaps kill cancerous cells that have already spread to other areas of the body, such as is the case in metastasized lung cancer) or relieve the symptoms of the cancer (to provide the patient with a better quality of life, even in the face of a poor prognosis). How it’s used in any particular situation is dependent upon the type of cancer, the stage of the cancer, the prognosis, and the plan as set out by the patient and his or her physician.
In addition, there are complementary and alternative treatments. These can include everything from proper nutrition to pain management, from spiritual approaches to natural herbs and supplements. Of course, such alternative plans will vary much the same as traditional treatments, depending on the location and size of the tumor, the age and general health of the patient, and other factors.
Metastatic lung cancer is certainly more challenging to overcome than other forms of lung cancer because the fight against the cancerous cells is not confined to the lungs. And while a cure is unlikely in most cases, in rare instances (usually when the primary tumor has been removed and the spread of the cancer has been limited), the lung metastases can be removed surgically, with a prognosis of long-term survival.
Please note that the information provided in this article is for information purposes only. It should not be used during a medical emergency or for the diagnosis or treatment of lung cancer or metastatic lung cancer. Such situations should always involve the expertise of a physician or health care provider.