Chemotherapy: Which is worse – the disease or the cure?
August 17, 2010 by Mark Thurston
Filed under Traditional Therapy
It’s certainly understandable that someone’s reaction, when being given the initial diagnosis of breast cancer, might be panic and fear. You would expect them to be afraid and panicked because they think they’re going to die. But in some cases, they’re more upset because they’ve heard of some of the terrible side effects of chemotherapy. To a lot of people, the cure is far more terrifying than the disease itself. The cure rate for cancer is much higher these days but in most cases you still need to suffer through chemotherapy in order to get to that other side.
Although it certainly doesn’t alleviate the symptoms, knowing what’s going on inside your body during chemotherapy treatments does make it a little easier to tolerate.
Chemotherapy refers to a combination of chemicals, or drugs, used to treat the breast cancer. It’s not one specific drug and the combination varies from patient to patient depending on their type of cancer, the stage the cancer is in, and how much the patient can tolerate. This variation from patient to patient is why you’ll see some people completely lose their hair and others that have no hair loss at all, or some patients who can’t tolerate solid food and others who have to have a heavy meal every day.
These chemicals are designed to attack the cancer cells in your body and, because those cancer cells are tough, the chemicals are very harsh. And, unfortunately, while they’re attacking and getting rid of the cancer cells, they’re also taking out a few of your good cells in the process.
The good cells that are most often affected are bone marrow cells, hair follicle cells, cells in the reproductive tract and cells in the digestive tract. Which explains why people undergoing chemotherapy often lose their hair and suffer severe nausea and/or diarrhea, have painful urination and just a general, overall feeling of ill health. Also, our digestive tract is where much of our immune system is located, so things like a common cold can turn into worse conditions much easier.
The bone marrow is where white blood cells are produced and chemotherapy often attacks the white blood cells. This causes people on chemo to be particularly susceptible to any kind of infection. Symptoms include fever, chills, swelling, pain, etc. and if the white cell count drops too low, the doctor may have to discontinue treatment until the patient’s counts recover.
It’s important to know that while undergoing chemotherapy you may suffer from any or all of these painful side effects but there are medications and treatments to help alleviate most of them. If you’re having a difficult time, make sure you talk to your doctor to see if there’s anything he can do to ease your discomfort.
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Thank you so much for this blog post … when I was recently diagnosed with Breast Cancer, the very first thought that entered my head was “oh no, chemo”. That gripped me with fear, even ‘tho it truly has never entered my head I won’t kick BC well and truly into touch.
After 2 bouts of breast conservation surgery – and as a fervent believer in CAM & alternative therapies – I have made the decision to glide as gracefully into chemo as I can, supported by an incredible nutritionist and homeopath, as well as hypnotherapy and a belief that just like the peacock, I will use the chemo-cocktail to make myself even more beautiful once I’m through the “treatment plan”.
Thank you for offering support and knowledge, enabling us – “the patients” – to make the best, most well-informed choices we can make as individuals during a fearful time in our lives. I am touched beyond words at Liz’s brave story of her friend’s fight for survival.
Eight years ago my best friend was diagnosed with Inflammatory Breast Cancer.
The outlook was bleak and the treatment options even more so.
Being her best friend and ‘sister’ I went to every appointment with her, so I heard and read what her prospects were and the choices she was given.
We consulted with a very knowledgeable man who advised us that the chemo treatment laid out for her, which was the strongest thing offered in the chemo spectrum, was as likely to have her die of a heart attack as it was the cancer itself. With this harsh protocol she could expect to be extremely sick, and if I recall correctly, it could only offer her about a 5% chance of living 5years.
With a little searching we confirmed what he told us. Armed with this information she decided she would rather just live out her days in whatever health she could muster on her own. Her doctor agreed that given the diagnosis she would probably make the same decision.
Some guardian angel was watching over my dear sister, allowing her to meet up with a woman who had used immune boosting to completely do away with her breast cancer (she did NOT suffer from inflammatory; I know not what kind she had). She was very knowledgeable about CoQ10, enzymatic therapies, ph balancing and immune boosting products, whole foods and such. Most importantly this woman had escaped the fate of having a double mastectomy (& still healthy & cancer free 15yrs later)! While my friends case was far more dire she was willing to do what she could to improve her final months (as predicted by the doctors who said inflammatory would take her quickly).
Well, a year and a half later my friend’s tests were reporting no signs of cancer (not the same as cancer free of course). This woman’s all natural regimen bought my friend a total of 5 years* of life!!!
My lovely friend and sister did finally have the cancer take over her body, but I’ve got to tell you, she was up walking around, living by herself until the week before she died. If you had bumped into her a week before she passed you’d simply thought she looked a little tired. She was her old self, not a ‘cooked’, aged, shell of a woman I’ve seen my chemo friends become before passing.
My friends journey taught me the MOST important lessons of my life: live today because that’s all we’ve got; Don’t believe that our western medicine is all there is. Far from it! There are people who are far more knowledgeable about optimum health and wellness and generally they are NOT our medically schooled ‘God’ doctors for they have been trained in the narrowest scope of what the human body & spirit is about.
* At 2 years of medically awe inspiring success my friend felt she was ‘cured’, voluntarily reducing the amounts of products she was using. The aggressive cancer took the advantage and ran with it. I believe if she had maintained the recommended doses she may have gotten many more quality years out of her life.
The most disturbing thing to me about this journey is that ALL the doctors saw how she was beating the odds by HUGE margins and yet not one, even within the university ‘study’ hospitals or clinics asked her what she was doing to be so healthy for so long. THAT fact has made me repel from traditional western medicine and instead follow more holistic (whole person) healers. So far it’s working and I’m healthy and youthful at 53yo. =)
Thank you so much for writing about this topic. Chemo is such a harsh thing to experience. It is indeed different for everyone as I found out!! I finally had my port removed after a year and half. People asked why I had it in so long and needed so much chemo. Even as a cancer patient, it is difficult to answer the questions about chemotherapy, but it is a torture we endure in hopes of survival!
Laura recently posted..Sense of Direction
I really appreciate your post and you explain each and every point very well.Thanks for sharing this information.And I’ll love to read your next post too.
Wheelchairs
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Thank you for you comment and your work! Chemo and radiation is many times a ‘damned if you do, damned if you don’t’ proposition. The premise being one ‘hopes’ the cancer is killed before the patient. The side effects are horrendous, yet there are many therapies that CAN be implemented to ease those.
We try not to ‘suggest’ one form of treatment over another, being as one’s health is ultimately one’s own responsibility, but is good to have choices and a support group (family, friends, co-workers and health-care professionals) to help one make a better, ‘non-emotional’ decision. Our purpose is to comfort and educate. Thank you again,
~Mark
Mark Thurston recently posted..Who Are The Heroes Of BreastCancer Fighters
Thank you for this article. As a patient coordinator for our ‘one of a kind’ Cancer Clinic, I speak with cancer patients every day – and I also speak with their families. The words I hear most often are “I wish we had known about your treatment sooner”. These words are heart-wrenching to me each time I hear them because they either come from families who have already lost their loved one’s despite the debilitating trauma associated with common cancer treatment. They watched as their loved one struggled through the pain, nausea, radiation burns, hair loss, rapid aging & also emotion/spiritual loss-of-heart.
I also hear these words from patients who are in very late stages of their condition and are at the point of being bed ridden with very little hope for their survival. Their families are devastated to watch the painful passing of their loved one, even though they did everything their doctors told them to do. For some it is indeed ‘too late’. For most it is NOT too late. Please help me to stop hearing these words from these precious patients and families. Look into our treatment, and share this new USA initiative to bring Medical yet nontoxic treatment to cancer patients.
http://www.pdtcancertreatment.com
Help me help them to the best of my ability. There is no magic wand cure for any cancer, however, there is a a medically viable and proven treatment that will strengthen the body, revitalize the immune system, oxygenate and help stop blood flow to the cancer… this is it and it’s been successfully applied to cancer in other countries such as Australia, Mexico, UK, Russia and China.. now it’s finally made it to the USA – after more than two decades. Stopping or reducing blood flow to tumors/cells has been successful in many cases, at a rate of approx 70%-90% within the first week of this treatment.
We may not be able to STOP cancer from forming.. however, we are now able to treat it successfully and in a far kinder & more humane manner than ever before.
With great love & respect to all those families who ‘wish they had have known sooner’.
Gabriella P
gab@pdtcancertreatment.com
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