You have a problem!
Your biopsy confirmed the cancer diagnosis. You trust and believe your Oncologist. For many people, that diagnosis sounds like a death sentence, or at best it is the beginning of a long, hard ordeal. But you are curious about cancer treatment options beyond standard care.
Laughter is the best Medicine
You, on the other hand, are a strong positive person who looks a problem in the eye and is ready to fight to put the odds in your favor. Believe it or not, that’s the best thing you can do after a positive cancer diagnosis. A positive mental attitude, PMA, is one of the prime indicators of a healthy outcome. Laughter has been shown to have a great positive effect on the health of cancer patients.
With your PMA you listen to your oncologist as he lays out the protocol for your treatment. Some combination of Surgery, radiation, and/or chemotherapy. He might even mention immune therapy. You ask about the side effects. Your doctor explains what they all may be like, but makes the point of the importance of starting treatment as soon as possible. It is understood that the side effects just come with the treatment.
You listen. You ask your questions. You trust your doctor.
But you have heard the horror stories of the side effects of cancer treatment. You may have a friend who has gone through it. They told you about the trials of chemo.
1st week feeling so sick you want to die.
2nd week feeling so sick you don’t want to do anything
3rd week feeling sick but able to start living again
4th week starting to feel a little bit normal again.
Then the next dose of chemo and you start the process all over again.
Then you think about the $2,000 co-pay per treatment.
That’s why many cancer patients, having gone through a few cycles of chemo, say it is not worth it. They say “I’m not doing any more chemo., I’ll take my chances. The “cure” is not worth it.”
The Dilemma of Unconventional Cancer Therapy
OK. You’ve heard those stories. You do your research. There are lots of stories of alternative treatment protocols out there. Some have great success stories. You dig deeper. You start to change your lifestyle to eat better, take better care of yourself, and find some alternative treatment that makes sense to you.
All the advice you hear says, to consult your doctor before starting any treatment regimen.
Now we get to your problem.
You ask your doctor about the unconventional cancer therapy risks and benefits you discovered. Then your doctor says whatever information of alternative treatment plans you bring to him doesn’t work. There is no proof. There have been no clinical trials showing that it works. Then your doctor says you will have the best results by following the standard-of-care protocol he recommends. Your doctor may also tell you you may lose your insurance if you use an alternative treatment.
Now what do you do???
What Can Your Doctor Do?
Your doctor’s hands are tied. Cancer treatment controversies and medical licensing are out of your doctor’s hands. By law, in some places, a doctor can have his medical license canceled if he prescribes any procedure other than the standard of care. Surgery, chemo, radiation, and now immune therapy. What’s your doctor supposed to do? Lose the practice that he worked so long and hard to build, to go against what he is told by the drug companies, the medical community, and in some places the law so that you can try something against protocol.
On Nov. 8, the Medical Board of California revoked Dr. Kenneth Matsumura’s medical license, effective Dec. 8. The headline in an article by Catherine Ho in the San Francisco Chronicle reads, “‘Despicable’: State revokes Berkeley doctor’s license for using ‘sham treatment’ on cancer patients Medical board says the physician was either “profoundly dishonest” or ‘profoundly delusional,’ but he says families praised his care.”
Google the doctor to get more of the story, but it sounds like he was using approved chemotherapy drugs, but outside of standard-of-care protocol. Three of his cancer patients died and complaints were filed. But he also had praise from patients who claimed they were very happy with the results received from his treatment.
We are not here to defend or crucify the doctor, it is all too common for doctors to lose their license when prescribing alternatives to the standard-of-care protocol for cancer treatment. It is likely there is more to the story. People die from cancer. At the end stages of cancer, the quality of life is horrible for patients, even when they are getting standard medical treatment.
What is important for you is that Doctors are afraid of losing their medical licenses for prescribing something they may even believe can help. Doctors have been heard to say, “I don’t know what you are doing, but keep it up. Just don’t tell me about it.” This is when they see good patient results using an alternative treatment.
Medical Professionalism and Alternative Treatments
It is true that clinical trials for these alternative treatment protocols do not prove they work. Clinical trials a very expensive. They cost in the millions of dollars. Most of these alternative treatments are primarily natural, and therefore cannot be patented. Therefore clinical trials are very expensive and there is no way to recover the costs of clinical trials. So they are not done. They are not done for financial reasons, not medical reasons.
So we are left with the drug companies researching new drugs they can patent, so they can make enough money to pay for the trials and make a profit. Simple economics.
But where does that leave you? You still have cancer. Your doctor can’t suggest or even approve your interest in trying some alternative treatment plan. But you just want to get rid of the cancer but without all the side effects. Quality of life is important to you.
Your doctor’s hands are tied.
But yours are not. You have to do what is best for you.
There are treatment protocols that have been researched and have strong results in combating cancer.
Have You Heard of Artemisinin?
One such treatment is Artemisinin from WorldHealthSource.com
Here are four studies published in the National Institutes of Health.
- “Improvement of quality of life and survival of cancer patients will be greatly enhanced by the development of highly effective drugs to selectively kill malignant cells. Artemisinin and its analogs are naturally occurring antimalarials which have shown potent anticancer activity.” NIH
- “Naturally occurring anti-cancer compounds: shining from Chinese herbal medicine.” NIH
- “Anticancer Activity of Artemisinin and its Derivatives.” NIH
- “Artemisinin and Its Derivatives as a Repurposing Anticancer Agent: What Else Do We Need to Do?” NIH
The studies all say that more research must be done to verify the results. That is true. But clinical trials are not likely to happen because of the expense and the lack of a means to pay for them. So it is likely that there will never be clinical proof that any alternative treatments work, even though real-world evidence shows that they do work.
So as a strong positive person, what are you to do?
University of Washington Artemisinin Studies
Dr Henry Lai led a team at the University of Washington that studied Artemisinin. They showed that Artemisinin killed 98% of breast cancer cells in the lab in 18 hours. Further research has shown that Artemisinin kills cancer cells in the body, without harming healthy cells.
So the choice is yours. Do you follow your doctor’s advice or try something that has scientific proof that shows it works?
One good thing that came out as a result of COVID-19 was a study published in the Journal of the American College of Surgeons that showed delaying surgery for breast cancer patients did NOT hurt the outcome. Not that that means it is OK to delay treatment. What it does mean is that you have time before starting standard treatment to try a less invasive treatment with fewer side effects first. If it doesn’t work you still have time for what your doctor is allowed to prescribe for you.
Your Choice.
Then there is something else to think about. If the standard of care is so good, why is there still a War on Cancer to find a cure after 50 years?
Your Quality of Life Solution
So the question is, “What gives you the best chance for a high quality of life?” The hands-tied doctor with the continuing war on cancer or the evidence-based medical studies that have shown success but without the financial incentive to do the clinical studies to prove their worth?
The choice is yours. You could even do both.
Finding a Balance Between Standard Care and Unconventional Treatments
In conclusion, the issue of medical license cancellation for doctors who prescribe unconventional cancer treatments raises important questions about the balance between standard care and alternative therapies. By understanding the risks and benefits of unconventional cancer therapies and the importance of medical professionalism in alternative treatments, patients and doctors can make more informed decisions about the best course of treatment.