Dr. Jeanne Galloway is Naturopathic Oncologist, who has some important tips to share that may help you or family members who are in the process of dealing with cancer, in any phase. These are the notes from a talk Dr. Galloway gave on Five things Cancer patients should know.
Generally, when a person hears they have cancer they either: relinquish responsibility and let the doctor have control over their life OR get very busy finding out everything they can that might help. I encourage every cancer patient to become involved in their own decision making and to ask questions. Often my work with a patient is to help them figure out what their questions should be.
The treatments for cancer are somewhat limited from a standard medical position. The drugs (especially chemotherapy) are pretty much the same as they have been for many years. New ideas are surfacing, and benefits are found, but we have a long way to go. Chemotherapy, radiation and surgery are designed to kill the cancer, yet in the process healthy tissue is sacrificed along the way. Side effects of standard treatment are typically not the concern of oncologists. There is a huge gap in cancer care when it comes to addressing the concerns of the person undergoing treatment. The oncologist is focused on the cancer, not really on the wholeness of the person getting treatment. Naturopathic doctors with training and experience in complementary and integrative cancer care fill the void with an emphasis on the wellness factor of the whole person. We:
improve nutrient consumption and intake
Treat side effects of cancer treatments
Improve the response of standard treatments
Improve immune function
Improve quality of life
Speed healing processes
Educate patients and their families, and their oncologists on natural medicine's
Reduce recurrence of cancer
What a Naturopathic doctor is NOT; we aren't just "green doctors" who replace a drug with an herb.We aren't interested in just treating symptoms of disease, we do not believe that drugs are always bad or that cancer can be treated without standard medicine. We do believe that there is an ability of the body to heal itself if given the right building blocks and that addressing the underlying cause of a disease is the important thing to do, instead of just treating symptoms. We also believe that all of medicine has an appropriate place... at times drugs and surgery are needed, at times herbs and meditation are needed. There is a whole spectrum of medicine available to the ND.
Five Natural Treatments
1) Blood sugar/Insulin
2) Vit D
3) Green Tea
4) Cortisol
5) Dangerous side effects
First, blood sugar and insul If a cancer patient has high blood sugar and high insulin levels in the blood they are much more likely to have a more aggressive form of cancer and to have a high rate of recurrence. I encourage all the people I work with who have a cancer diagnosis to be sure their physician is checkingtheir fasting blood sugar and their insulin levels.
If there are troubles with high blood sugar or insulin there are great ways to impact this; dietary, exercise, supplements such as cinnamon, bitter melon, gymnema have been shown to have effect, and chromium supplementation, too.
Secondly, it is becoming very clear that Vitamin D levels should become part of every person's "annual physical" blood workup. Vitamin D deficiency is being linked to a tremendous amount of disease processes and we are particularly concerned with cancer patients as they have been shown to have lower levels in many cases. If you have cancer, or if you don't and want to prevent it, have your doctor check your Vitamin D status. There are clear guidelines around what these levels should be. Your doctor should know these or s/he can find them out easily.
Thirdly, green tea is part of any natural approach to the cancer fight. Cancer cells turn into tumors by continually dividing even when they should just die. Green tea, among many other important cancer fighting properties, is able to shut down cancer cell division... thus slowing the growth of tumors.
Fourth, stress is a killer. Cortisol levels are associated with increased insulin levels, with decreased melatonin levels (a natural cancer fighter) and with increased inflammation which can drive cancer formation. Treating the adrenal glands, reducing stress, using techniques such as Tai Chi or Qi Gong are great ways to reduce the stress response and see a more positive influence of the body.
Fifth, there are extremely dangerous side effects to chemotherapy. Yet, the use of chemotherapy is highly recommended by Naturopathic Oncologists for many forms of cancer. Sometimes the body needs to have the disease eliminated forceably in order to provide a clear path for healing. The leading side effects that can have long lasting impact are: nerve damage, heart tissue damage and digestive tract symptoms. In each case there are natural treatments that have been shown to reduce the side effects safely. The damage that can be done may be irreparable, and the cancer patient needs to take action to understand the risks and to find a practitioner who can help them avoid side effect damage.
You can listen to the podcast of this show by following this link:
Dr. Galloway
For more information you can find Dr. Galloway at :
http://www.gallowaynaturalhealth.com/
512-347-1859
