CANCER: LIST OF COMMONEST CANCERSIt is possible to list in order the twenty commonest cancers in men: lung, prostate, stomach, colon, bladder, liver, mouth, larynx, rectum, leukaemia, kidney, brain, pancreas, oesophagus (gullet), non-Hodgkin lymphoma, testis, melanoma, Hodgkin’s, myeloma and gall-bladder.It is important, however, to note that the different cancers have different cure rates so that for the number of deaths due to cancer the order is different: lung, stomach, prostate, colon, bladder, mouth, pancreas, rectum, oesophagus (gullet), leukaemia, liver, larynx brain, kidney, non-Hodgkin lymphoma, myeloma, gall-bladder, Hodgkin’s, melanoma and testis.Among women a similar exercise is possible. The commonest cancers are: breast, colon, stomach, ovary, cervix uteri, corpus uteri, liver lung, brain, rectum, leukaemia, melanoma, pancreas, kidney, bladder, non-Hodgkin lymphoma, gall-bladder, Hodgkin’s, mouth, oesophagus (gullet), myeloma and larynx. For women, death is commonest from cancers in: breast, colon, lung, stomach, ovary, cervix uteri, pancreas, leukaemia, rectum, brain, liver, corpus uteri, gall bladder, kidney, non-Hodgkin lymphoma, bladder, oesophagus (gullet), myeloma, mouth, melanoma, Hodgkin’s and larynx.*21\194\4*

CURING BREAST CANCER In 1971, about 4,000 brave women with small cancers (less than 11/2 inches across) began signing up for a series of studies that would change the treatment of breast cancer forever. Dr. Bernard Fisher, professor of surgery at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, got 89 hospitals in the United States and Canada to test simple versus radical surgery. At random, the women were assigned either one treatment or the other. Both proved equally effective.In the years since then, studies by Dr. Fisher and his colleagues have proved the following points:•   For women with small cancers, removal of the cancer (lumpectomy) plus radiation of the breast was as effective as a simple mastectomy.•   Adding chemotherapy enhanced chances of survival for women whose cancer cells had migrated to their lymph nodes. Multiple drugs given to women whose lymph nodes were cancer-free also proved beneficial. However, when the cancer is larger than 1V2 inches in diameter, a total mastectomy still is recommended as safest.In May 1988, the NCI alerted all doctors and hospitals to give anticancer chemicals or an anti-estrogen drug, tamoxifen, to all women who have breast cancer. Doctors also have progressed in helping patients with advanced cancers to live longer, with greatly relieved symptoms, even when their cancers can’t be cured. Tamoxifen especially helps women whose cancers thrive on estrogen.With chemotherapy, doctors can treat a breast cancer so large that it is inoperable and shrink it down to a size where surgeons can remove it, sometimes with only a lumpectomy.For women whose cancers are widespread, doctors are using bone marrow transplants. As with CSF, doctors give the patients high doses of anticancer drugs. But first they remove a quart of bone marrow from the patient and freeze it to preserve it. Sometimes they might treat the marrow with a lower dose of anticancer chemicals to kill any cancer.After the chemotherapy is over, the physicians re-inject patients with their own thawed marrow, so the blood system can recover. Dr. Nancy Davidson of Johns Hopkins Oncology Center in Baltimore has treated 30 patients this way. A majority seemed to have lived longer than expected. But the treatment is dangerous: One of five may die, often of infections.Jill Gordon, 38, from Arnold, Maryland, mother of twin sons, underwent the marrow technique. In 1981, she had a mastectomy followed by chemotherapy. But the cancer returned in 1988, and she went to Johns Hopkins. “It took a long time to get my strength back,” Mrs. Gordon recalls, “but I feel really good now. They don’t know if the cancer is completely gone. Spots on my liver could be scars, or dormant cancer.”*8/266/5*

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•    Take a fibre supplement the day before the cleansing diet, to clean out the bowels. Colon cleansing or cleansing enemas are also useful.

•    It is best to avoid taking supplements while on the cleansing diet. The only recommended supplement is vitamin Ñ powder with bioflavonoids.

•    Have an epsom salts bath every night before bed. Contains magnesium sulphate to relax muscles and aid detoxification. Use a dry skin brush and use long strokes all of your body towards your heart, before every bath.

•    Make sure you relax and get plenty of sleep. Do not overdo the exercise. Light, gentle exercise such as stretching, yoga, tai chi and slow walking are very beneficial.

•    The vegetable consomm? recipe also known as the ‘cleansing broth’ featured in the Purification Diet earlier is easy to make and store, and should be drunk as often as possible throughout the day, especially if hungry. Kelp can be sprinkled on top of vegetable consomme for flavouring and extra cleansing benefits.

•    An energizing shiatsu or a relaxing Swedish or aromatherapy massage is very useful while cleansing.

•     Herbal teas are cleansing and rejuvenating. Good herbal teas to use include dandelion, red clover, rosehips, chamomile, lemongrass, milk thistle or peppermint.

•     Symptoms you may experience while cleansing include body odour, bad breath, dizziness, fatigue, mood swings, irritability, aches and pains and other detoxification symptoms.

•     Make sure you eat or drink at least six times daily to keep blood sugar levels balanced.

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Life is too short to be serious. We have such a limited time in this world, so why waste a single minute? Every single day, a beautiful and completely different sunrise and sunset blesses our presence. How many sunrises and sunsets do you miss? So often we become caught up in the demands and stresses of life and we forget the magic of the world right under our noses.

Children and puppies have so much fun, absorbed in every moment! We can learn a great lesson from these little wonders of life. Keep your inner child alive and have fun, enjoy yourself, take part in activities that make you happy. Keeping a playful attitude is a definite way to maintain a positive mental state.

Reward Yourself with Treats

Everyone loves to receive a gift or present. You deserve a treat for achieving your goals and having the courage to follow your dreams. It’s a great sense of satisfaction and fulfillment to have attained a goal, no matter how small, so reward yourself for this achievement. Dogs get treats for performing tricks, many children receive money or presents for getting good marks at school, a sportsperson receives a medal for performing well – so you should receive a gift for attaining one of your goals. No matter how old we get, we all deserve recognition. Be proud of yourself!

Take Time Out for Yourself

In today’s fast-paced world it can be quite a challenge to avoid the ‘rat race’ of work appointments, social commitments, family obligations and meeting deadlines. To maintain a positive attitude, you must never forget about yourself and your relaxation time. By putting aside ten minutes every day to sit down and contemplate or even meditate, the mind has time to assimilate your experiences and the physical body has time to rejuvenate and restore its delicate functions.

Without this time, your mind actually becomes a ‘whirlwind’ of crazy, jumbled thoughts and your body’s immune system begins to suffer the consequences of non-recovery time. Ten minutes of meditation or relaxation daily will provide the ‘key’ to optimal wellness and positive transformation in every facet of your life.

Important Point!

How much time do you spend working? For most people it can be anywhere from 35 to 70 hours a week. That’s a fair amount of time out of your life every week. Now what if you are working these hours and you don’t like your job? Do you think you will be able to keep a positive attitude while doing something you dislike? It’s very unlikely. If you do not like your work and you have dreams to do something else, never give up on your dream. If you are going to put 70 hours into doing something you don’t like, why not put 70 hours into something you do like?

By striving for this your work life can become a pleasure, allowing you to bring the happiness and positivity home to your loved ones and family. If you are unhappy in your work life, no doubt you will bring this discontentment home to those you love and other areas of your life will begin to suffer. Dreams are attainable at any age; you just have to have the willpower and desire to try. Positive affirmations, goal setting and creative imagery are great ways to begin.

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Diet

• Eat a healthy wholefoods diet rich in fruits, vegetables, adequate protein, sprouts, whole grains, nuts and seeds and fresh vegetable and fruit juices.

• Avoid nicotine, caffeine, alcohol, sugar, processed foods and fried foods — these are all harmful to the body’s sex glands.

• For men, increase intake of oysters and mussels (these contain high amounts of zinc) to protect the prostate and sperm. Onion juice and honey mixed together encourages the production of sperm in men.

Vitamins and Nutrients

• Selenium is important at (400 – 800 meg/daily). Sodium Selenite drops can be obtained from a chemist on prescription from your doctor. Deficiency of selenium leads to reduced sperm count and is linked to sterility in men and infertility in women.

• Vitamin Ñ (2000 – 6000mg/day) is important in sperm production.

• Vitamin E (400 IU – 1000 IU/day) is needed for balanced hormone production and carries oxygen to the reproductive organs.

• Zinc at 80mg/day helps with the functioning of reproductive organs.

Herbs

• For men – Siberian ginseng (100 mg 3 times/day before 4 p.m.). Astragalus protects the immune system and aids with sperm motility.

• For women – false unicorn root and vitex in tincture (1 teaspoon 3 times/day) or royal jelly (1000 to 2000 mg/day) is helpful. Other good herbs include licorice root, dong quai, yarrow, blessed thistle and sarsaparilla.

Toxicity

Diet

Chlorophyll inhibits the toxic effects of radiation therapy.

Cabbage has a protective effect against the toxicity of radiation and helps to detoxify the body, due to its high indole content.

Kelp acts as a chelating agent and protects against the toxic effects of radiation.

Consume avocados, lemons and safflower, linseed and olive oil. Miso paste and soy sauce/tamari/shoyu protect against the toxic effects of radiation therapy.

Vitamins and Nutrients

Glutathione, beta-carotene and vitamin E protects against the toxic effects of radiotherapy.

• Alkylglycerols (fatty acids) when consumed prior to the commencement of radiotherapy prevent some of the toxic effects of radiotherapy.

• Vitamin A (35 000 to 60 000 IU/day) minimizes the toxic effects of radiation therapy.

• Coenzyme Ql0 protects against the toxic effects at 90 to 270 mg/day.

• Vitamin B5 protects against radiation (200 mg before and after exposure) and B-complex vitamins.

Herbs

• Garlic supplementation limits the toxic effects of radiation therapy.

• Kampo (Juzen-taiho-to) a Chinese herb, decreases the toxicity associated with chemotherapy and radiotherapy.

• Astragalus and cat’s claw are believed to protect against radiation damage and toxicity.

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Chemotherapy is a form of cancer therapy which uses drugs to treat cancer. These specially designed drugs are commonly called cytotoxic (‘cyto’ meaning cell and ‘toxic’ meaning to ‘injure’ or ‘kill’). Many of these drugs are obtained from natural sources, such as plants. Other cytotoxic drugs are man-made. There are over sixty different drugs used in chemotherapy and many of these are used in different strengths and combinations.

Combination chemotherapy has been found to be more effective than treatment with a single drug. Doctors combine drugs with different mechanisms of action, different metabolic pathways, different times of onset of action and recovery, different side effects and onset of side effects. The cytotoxic drugs are inserted into the body by a number of different methods, and work at destroying cancer cells, as well as normal healthy cells.

How Chemotherapy Works

Chemotherapy drugs enter the bloodstream and travel throughout the body to most tissues. The drugs kill certain cells but mostly cells that are rapidly dividing i.e. cancer cells. This means that the drugs affect both cancer cells and normal cells (this is the reason hair loss often occurs).

Generally the effect on normal body tissues is temporary and they recover quickly from the drugs because of the body’s normal process of repair and healing. Cancer cells recover slowly and with more difficulty than normal cells. By the time the person is ready for the next chemotherapy treatment, the body’s normal cells have mostly recovered, yet the cancer cells have not. They are then killed with further treatment. If the chemotherapy treatment can kill all of the cancer cells, the cancer is curable. However, this is not always the case.

Important Note

Chemotherapy as a form of cancer therapy does not work on all types of cancer. At first, the use of chemotherapy drugs may cause an initial disappearance of weaker cancer cells killed directly by the cytotoxic poisons and by the body’s own immune system. Hence, the tumour may seem as if it is regressing. When this happens, you may feel a little better for the next few weeks.

If the chemotherapy is continued during this period, the immune system becomes weakened even further. There may be a fall in white blood cells. In many cases, the tumour may become resistant to the chemotherapy drugs and it may begin to grow again. If this occurs, the oncologist generally changes the type of cytotoxic agent being used. However, the second course of drugs is usually less effective than the first.

Finally, the body’s immune system is so weakened, that it becomes susceptible to infections or even secondary tumours. Energy levels fall, symptoms increase and the doctor often recommends a small break from treatment to allow the body’s white blood cells to re-grow. However, this can be dangerous as it can cause the stronger cancer cells to increase.

Alternatively, they may recommend injections of a hormone to push white blood cells out of the bone marrow. Either way, the body is in a dangerous position. The body’s immune system is extremely weak and may be unable to fight off the onslaught of cancerous cells.

Therefore, chemotherapy as a traditional and conventional form of cancer treatment is only effective on particular types of cancer.

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Biopsy

A biopsy involves surgically removing a small section of suspected cancerous tissue. A pathologist then examines it under a microscope for abnormal cells. The extent of the operation depends on individual circumstances and varies with the type of cancer and area of the body affected. X-Ray guided needle biopsies are simple and effective and can be done under a local anaesthetic. For a liver biopsy, a small needle is inserted into the liver through a numbed area of the skin.

Blood Test

Blood tumour marker tests are only used for certain types of cancer. The most common being colon or rectal cancer (tumour marker CEA – carcinoembryonic antigen), prostate (PSA – prostate specific antigen), ovarian cancer (CA 125 and CASA), multiple myeloma (paraprotein), testicular cancer (HCG and/or AFP hormones), germ cell carcinoma (alpha-beta proteins) and choriocarcinoma (HCG and/or AFP). None of these blood tests are specific, as many of these substances are normally present in the blood in small amounts anyway. For instance, a woman menstruating will show higher than normal levels of CA125, as will conditions such as endometriosis and inflammation.

Endoscopy

Endoscopy involves using an internal telescope instrument to view internal organs. A specialist can insert a tube through the mouth into the gullet (oesophagoscopy) and/or stomach (gastroscopy) or through the back passage or anus into the lower bowel (colonoscopy). You are able to watch this on the screen with the doctor and it is also possible to take a biopsy with this equipment.

Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI)

This is one of the newest methods. It works by making use of the fact that different molecules produce different patterns of magnetism, which can be recorded on sensitive equipment. MRI scanning is relatively harmless and revolutionary.

Nuclear Scanning and PET Scans

The doctor injects a radioactive ‘tracer’ substance and after a waiting period, special equipment scans the organ to pick up radioactive emissions. This must be analyzed carefully, as other conditions can give a similar appearance.

PET scan technology has been available for many years. However, since the year 2000 it has become more available. It helps to evaluate in the staging and response to medical treatments in lung cancer, solitary pulmonary nodules, colon cancer, oesophageal cancer, malignant melanoma, head and neck cancer and lymphomas. It involves using a combination of bone scanning and CT Scanning at the same time. You are given a radioactive material that is absorbed and then metabolized at the specific tumour sites. A camera then takes images of the entire body to detect the size and location of the tumour.

Pap smear

A pap smear involves the doctor inserting a small instrument into the vagina and taking a small scraping of cells from the wall of the cervix. A pathologist then examines the cells under a microscope for abnormal cells. This is used to detect cancer of the cervix and other abnormalities.

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