Tough decisions.

I would like to go on record and say I am STILL a HUGE fan of alternative and natural medicine. I have always hated taking any sort of medicine. Until this happened, the only thing I ever took was my thyroid medicine (the natural kind of course! And don't think I didn't first try "home remedies" before I finally gave in to the prescription) and advil only when my headache was intolerable. I took amino acid supplements to regulate my body chemistry and I have written pretty extensively in my personal blog about how well it worked. It changed my life! I have taken various vitamins and natural supplements at times but not regularly. I nursed my Dad through alternative cancer treatments and did his cooking for his anti-cancer diet. Although he did die of cancer, I believe his choices DID help him live a good life (the doctors said he was incurable).

I had wondered, at the time I was helping Dad, what I would do if it were me. Of course I hoped I would not have to decide. When I was diagnosed my greatest hope was that I would not need anything other than surgery. By the time I was told otherwise I had taken the time to consider my options and make what I believe to be a highly informed decision.

So there is a link going around on Facebook recently: Scientists Cure Cancer but Nobody Notices. I have seen this posted on a few of my friends' pages. Each time it's accompanied by a statement something like this:

"Read it, this isn't an exaggeration. Anyone who can still say that big business is looking out for it's consumers is delusional. Read this and tell me with a straight face that the pharmaceutical companies have your well-being in mind instead of your cash in their wallets"

and

"It's such utter evil to sacrifice people's health and lives over money."

Neither statement I disagree with, by the way! But is there perhaps MORE to the story?

I didn't even notice the date on the piece until about the third time I read it. It's not an official news article, for one thing. The original article (linked in this piece) is not even there anymore! This bit is over FOUR years old. Not that the date matters if it's true, but it is something to consider. It's interesting to me that Dad never mentioned anything about this theory - and he was up on all the latest "alternative" ideas.

Anyway, the last time I saw this I did post a reply to my friend's page. But before I share that, here is another of his friends' replies.

I hate to see one of my friends go through this.http://scienceblogs.com/insolence/2010/05/dichloroacetate_dca_and_cancer_deja_vu_a.php Long story short: more tests are needed to know if it even is effective. As of the date of that article I linked (1 year ago) only 1 human trial had been done, and it only involved 5 patients and wildly dissimilar regimens. However, it shows promise, and maybe one day the ACS and the FDA will put their stamp of approval on it.

Be wary of 'cures', especially in the age of the internet. Cancer is hard, treating it even harder.

The article linked is very interesting and presents a rational answer to the first one.

So here is my reply to my friend:

It's a really tough choice to make. There are SO MANY "simple cures" out there but with six children I had to go with the statistics. If I find out later that I could have popped a simple, cheap pill, I am going to be extremely pissed off!

(snipped his reply)

I'm getting it taken care of right now - have had 1 of 8 treatments so far. Do you have any idea how many "cures" there are out there? My Dad had every book ever written - and tried most of them out. He did alternative treatments through a place in Canada and while "all natural" they were NOT cheap, either (and of course not covered by insurance). He went to a "natural" treatment center in Mexico that cost him $20K - there are others besides the drug companies that want our money! I have seen the article you posted several times but believe me, there are myriad others floating around and all blame the big drug companies for "holding back the truth". I have no doubt that there is a relatively simple answer out there, and I have no doubt the drug companies will want to hold it back, but they are all a gamble. It is an agonizing decision and it seems we are at least temporarily screwed - physically, financially - no matter what we do. One of the hardest parts for me is they got all the cancer out and the treatments are to prevent it coming back or worse. I have lost a lot of sleep over the decisions I've had to make and will likely lose a lot more before it's all over. I am a huge believer in alternative medicine so I consider myself more informed than the average person on this topic...in the end it just comes down to (hopefully!) making the best choice we can for our situation - and really never knowing if it was the best or not! Sorry for the verbal diarrhea on your post - guess I should blog :-)

...so, I am blogging. :-)