What should a person with lung cancer do if not chemo or surgery?
Don't have details yet as to staging, etc....but don't think could withstand chemo. Any alternatives successsful?
Cancer - 11 Answers
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1 :
I am sorry you are dealing with this situation, whether it is you or someone you love. My father is a lung cancer survivor. My Dad was diagnosed with stage 1b lung cancer at age 80. His tumor was large, thus the b. My father opted for upper lobe lung removal and then chemo. I know this is contrary to your question. My Dad was in good health for a man of eighty years old, but the question came up whether or not he could survive the treatments. The other option was to live as long as he could without treatment. For my father, that was not an option. My Dad is now almost four years post lung cancer. The treatment was rough and I won't kid you about that. Chemo was tough on his body and he has slowed down. However, he is alive and doing well. I pray you or your family member can tell your success story also in a few years.
2 :
there is only one alternative left, radiation, which is not any easier than chemo. I have heard about laser surgery, which might be possible depending on your stage.
3 :
I don't know but if you're not going for chemo or surgery.. well they are few things, but I am getting a bit tired to talk about this because every time I wrote this and no body really "act" on it. so I feels a bit waste of my time. 1) try alternative, chinese medicine and healthy, organic eating. preferr vegetarian...but be sure to choose adequate protein from the soy or health food store. along with 1) 2) go and release lives. I do that on the regular basis not for live longer but it is my passion because it help become more compassion, help me practice compassion. two, it give the lives (bait fish, bait shrimps, bait crabs, or etc) that one more chance to live, it doesn't guarrante you will live a lot longer than it was, because afterall, we don't do good deed for the cause, but it will help a lot because in Buddhism, Karma. so I hope this helpls, ck out this. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Releasing_life I have heard that ppl recovery from cancer from doing this, by of course, you should continue the medical therapy along with this. it is bit contravery at asian, but believe in yourself. if not release live, you can donate money to like vegartarian books or group like vegan outreach, they are very good, or PICA but most ppl find PICA bit aggressive..I appreicated their good works, but wish they can influence others just a little bit more softenly. good luck. if you have more question, you can email. like I said, this is just my opinions, I am not a doctor so I can't be responsible for the medical issue, just a little opinions to share. okay
4 :
NATURAL THERAPY! Holistic Healing is the way you want to handle this. The acetogenins in "PAW PAW" inhibit the production of ATP in the mitochondria of cells. Since cancer cells have a much faster metabolic rate than normal cell, this induces cancer cells to self-destruct. Scientific research demonstrates that "PAW PAW" extract is more effective than many chemotherapy drugs at destroying cancer cells, and yet is completely non-toxic.
5 :
If you are looking for magical answers . . where cancer is concerned . . there are none. Cancer is a rotten disease and there are no 'easy' treatments. There is no cure for cancer, but there is treatment that can lead to an individual remission and potential 'cure'. If chemo or surgery is out of the question for you than you may consider palliative rather than curative treatment, which may make you eligible for clinical trials. You should consider doing a clinical trial to try the newer targeted drugs being offered cancer patients (although you might also get them off trial). Many of the Tyrosine kinase inhibitors or monoclonal antibody drugs are taken orally every day, less toxic, and have very few if any side effects (except your hair turns white). Sunitinib is one of the newer multi-targeted receptor tyrosine kinase inhibitors that is in Phase II Clinical studies for Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer: Efficacy and safety of sunitinib in previously treated, advanced non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC): Preliminary results of a multicenter phase II trial. http://www.asco.org/portal/site/ASCO/menuitem.34d60f5624ba07fd506fe310ee37a01d/?vgnextoid=76f8201eb61a7010VgnVCM100000ed730ad1RCRD&vmview=abst_detail_view&confID=40&abstractID=34252
6 :
Without knowing the details of the illness, I can only give you generalized information. I can tell you though that often chemotherapy and/or surgery are the most effective treatment options (sometimes the only options), depending on the type/location of the cancer. For some cancers, radiation therapy may be used, but radiation is usually used along with chemotherapy and/or surgery. In advanced lung cancers, targeted drug therapy may be used, but again this is usually most effective when used with chemotherapy. Targeted drug therapies are newer treatments that work by targeting specific abnormalities in cancer cells. Bevacizumab, which stops tumors from creating a new blood supply, is one drug. But this drug is usually used in combination with chemo for advanced and recurrent non-small cell lung cancer and carries a risk of severe bleeding. Another is Erlotinib, used for advanced and recurrent non-small cell lung cancers when chemo doesn't work. So, in short, unless you have advanced or recurrent lung cancer, you don't really have good options that don't involve at least some degree chemotherapy or surgery. Chemo seems like torture, but it is the best choice for most patients. Nothing that you'll go through on chemothrapy will be as bad as having to suffer through as the cancer takes over your body.
7 :
my dad had stage 4 lung cancer and went to MDAnderson cancer hospitol in texas.He inrolled in trials and it gave him along time.he had chemo and radiation but they gave him medicine to where he didnt get sick,just more tierd then he was use to being.that was 5 years ago and they have made some far advances, get to a good hospitol and go with your gut and God. i will pray for you, i have breast cancer.
8 :
I am sorry you are going through this - I have been through it with my dad and it is NO FUN at all and quite physically and emotionally draining. I would hope and pray that it is operable and that would be my first advice FOLLOWED by chemo. One can never truly know how they will react to chemo and it is worth trying, even one round of chemo will help. Best of luck and health to you and your family!
9 :
Definately need more info but don't rule out chemo/radiation. My mom was dx w/stage 4 lung cancer and she was completely against treatment until the doctor told her that she still has a chance to live several more years comfortable. She did have treatment and is doing great, the tumors are gone for 1 which is dead and she feels really good. There are lots of stuff you can do with or without treatment, the biggest being your DIET. Look up on Oprah about the girl who wrote a book "Crazy Sexy Cancer" not sure if that is the title but she was considered in curable and has kept her cancer at bay with a strict diet of organic all natural foods. There are tons of homeopathic treatments out there, just try what you think will work for you. I hope everything works out, Good Luck.
10 :
I'm glad you're looking at alternatives, and thousands have had success. See http://www.hacres.com, http://www.pcrm.org, http://www.cancertutor.com and other alternatives people offer on this site from a natural perspective. Optimum health through nutrition is an ND's speciality. Others may also have experience here. Please don't listen to scare tactics that alternatives don't work. My own experience has seen extremely positive results. Click my avatar and see my response to the thread "What is the cure for breast cancer?" as well. The bottom line is that optimum health is not easy, and a lot of the stuff we're either ingesting or using can wreak havoc on our lives. We just have to be careful and look for the CAUSE of these problems and not just look to most in the medical community to address the SYMPTOMS. In the natural health/alternative field, the goal is to address the cause of your illness/disease and actually help you get well, not be dependent on drugs and managed care!!! Good luck! Also, people try to scare you that alternative is unproven. Thousands of people with success is not unproven. Check out the mass of testimonials at http://www.hacres.com. The two in my church that essentially went with the hacres.com diet are well, thriving, and feel great. People who went the drug route don't feel well for a very long time after they've been poisoned. My aunt has lupus and they put her on the chemo plan, she's felt bad to very bad for about 6 or 7 years. She just survives. As the lupus comes back because she refused to go alternative, they must hit it again with another round of chemo, because IT'S NOT A CURE. I don't even know how many rounds of chemo she's been through. Others will try to discredit alternatives. That doesn't mean they don't work, that means they don't trust them because they weren't proven in a lab. Again, they are proven, just not the way "science" would prove them. They won't ever do a double-blind trial on a properly administered diet because they KNOW the result. Better health. Alternatives are still science. They're just not created in a lab. They're grown naturally. You just have to ask yourself whether you want natural and live food or dead chemical poisons to treat your disease. What makes the most sense to you? Look, cancer is a known western disease. Does that mean people on a vegan diet can get cancer? Sure they can. Look at Colin Campbell's work and see the stats. But, like I've already told the poster below in a personal email that she still hasn't answered, there may be other things that caused her breast cancer. I've asked her what kind of hand creams and shampoos has she used? Were they in part responsible for her cancer? Low quality substances may contain synthetic hormones that can have a major impact on her hormone levels. What's her weight? Linus Pauling proved that too much fat can keep oxygen from reaching cells, which causes them to mutate and turn anaerobic. They then go beserk and start multiplying like crazy, ultimately forming a tumor. If your immune system is healthy, you get rid of that junk on your own. What's her immune system like? Is she healthy and thriving or does she get sick a lot? What's her family history look like in terms of others getting cancer? When did she switch to a vegan juicing diet? I've NEVER heard of anyone getting cancer on a juice diet. Does she eat twinkies and garbage a lot? You can be on a vegan diet and still hurt your health. What kind of balance did she have with her diet? If she was mono-directional in how she went that's not a healthy diet. Did she monitor her blood work and hormones? What did her lymphocytes and granulocytes look like? What kind of work does she do, and has she ever had chemical exposure? Does she use pesticides in her home, garden, or has pesticide exposure at work? This is no attack on her, but I'd love to have more information about the REASON she got cancer. I'd love to know if she's like one my wife's client's friends and tried black salve to get those tumors out of her breasts first before chemo. Yes, it works. And to my knowledge my wife's client's friend has not had a mastectomy and does eat a good diet, my wife and I do not know how good it is however. So why did she get cancer, and apparently they come back, but she says she always removes them with black salve. They just come out through the skin. She just lets her body handle them naturally. No need for drugs. The question you have to ask yourself is do you want to handle it naturally or go bankrupt and handle it with drugs? Ask yourself how you want to feel in a year? If you want to thrive, feel better than you have in years, clear up any liver spots or skin conditions like my wife's grandmother, go natural with live food. If you want to have fatigue issues, feel like death, have memory loss and concentration issues, go with drugs. I just hope you don't contribute to a profit machine that doesn't work. My experience has seen 20 out of 20 that went chemo and were dead in short order, vs. 2 in my church that went natural and are thriving for many years by going with essentially the hacres.com diet. It's your choice. My only request is that you educate yourself and decide for yourself if it's really hocus pocus and unproven. Sure, some of the methods I've never heard of, and maybe they don't work. But find someone who has done kicked cancer naturally and see what they say.
11 :
There is no magical cure, I'm sorry. I understand your reluctance to undergo chemo, I was terrified of it too and my desperation led me to research 'alternatives' thoroughly. My conclusion was - alternative is just another word for unproven. Wherever there is cancer there is someone waiting to make money out of people's misery by offering them unproven, useless and sometimes dangerous 'cures'. Many of those scams - including Essiac, Laetrile, hydrogen peroxide and Rife machines - are recommended uncritically on the 'cancertutor' site recommended by Steve above. Invariably this hocus pocus is accompanied by 'testimonials' from people who have 'cured' their cancer; remember you have no way of knowing if these people ever had cancer, much less that they are cured or still alive (or ever existed). Orthodox treatments have extensive data to back them up. Alternatives have anecdotes. Often of course these alternatives will be urged on you by people who care and want to help you. But ALWAYS they are recommended by people who have never had cancer and usually have a pet theory about what they would do if they did. In the end I opted for conventional treatment because my research showed me that a) alternatives don't work and b) orthodox treatments had been properly tested in clinical trials and shown to be effective, either at prolonging life or effecting a cure in some cases (alternatives have not been so tested; if they had been and had passed they would no longer be 'alternative medicine', they would just be 'medicine'). I was a vegan (still am) who juiced and ate masses of fruit and veg, mostly organic so I felt I had disproved the diets recommended by alternativists when I got stage 3 cancer. Chemotherapy is no picnic, although people's reactions vary and some people find it easier than others (I know people who continued to work throughout); I'm not saying it's the perfect treatment, and I believe that one day people will look back on it with horror. But for now it's what we've got and we know it saves some lives and extends many many others. Four years after being diagnosed with stage3 grade 3 breast cancer I am fit and well following surgery, chemo and radiotherapy.
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