Poll about cancer "cure"

[Tenet Nosce]

To say they will not grow back, is that considered a truth?

Yes, as testified by thousands of treated cancer patients.

Ah, then, by that logic alternative treatments are actually cures.

I don't think Western medicine's "cure rate" is determined by testimonials. Otherwise, yes many alternative treatments would be considered equal or better cures.

Now on the other hand, if an alternative treatment were investigated using the same kinds of studies used to evaluate chemo, radiation, and surgery, and found to have comparable improvements in the same end points, they could legally be called "cures" as well.

Only problem is the level of research needed often does not command the actual dollars to perform it. The treatments aren't nearly as profitable, nor nearly as potentially dangerous.

An important principle for both "sides" here is that lack of evidence doesn't equal evidence of lack. That is to say: It is unfair to summarily dismiss alternative treatments simply because certain studies haven't been done. Especially when there is enough scientific evidence to strongly suggest a benefit of certain alternative treatments.

On the other hand, it is also unfair to summarily dismiss chemo, radiation, and surgical methods. They do have more scientific evidence for outcomes. The risks are often higher, but known. At the same time, when a tumor is excised out of the body, it is physically gone. Assuming the surgeon did a good job that is.

With alternative treatments the main risk is the propensity for cancer to progress while a misguided approach fails to produce the desired result. Although a great many cancers progress fairly slowly. For example, many men diagnosed with prostate cancer are advised to do nothing past a certain age, as the symptoms are not too severe and chances are they will die of something else first.

To look at this honestly, how do we compare the percentage that died from the treatments to the percentage that died from natural "treatments"?

I personally knew 13 people that died from cancer treatment compared to zero for natural methods. I have a relative that gained another 30 years (still counting) after being given 6 months (not to his knowledge).

Brilliant idea, Pickle! I too have met many people who healed using natural methods, and many who died using allopathic methods. But the reverse isn't true. In most cases, those who healed using natural methods were already given up on by the allopathic doctors.

Pickle has the right question, but we don't know the answer to that. There's no way to separate "death from cancer" and "death from cancer treatment." Also, the mainstream treatments are as wildly different as the cancers themselves.

But the reverse isn't true.

A good friend of mine named Bill was diagnosed with stage 4 colorectal cancer at age 62. He was also high-strung, ate a primarily meat and potatoes diet, and smoked heavily. In addition to this, he was a consummate "conspiracy theorist" to the point that he spent much effort stockpiling goods in anticipation of a total collapse of society, followed by wars with the "alien reptoids."

It didn't really "come out of nowhere" as Bill had been having progressively worse digestive symptoms that he had never really attended to. Over time, the tumor grew to occlude the entire colon, and eventually he couldn't pass any more stool.

They immediately put in a colostomy bag and began discussing surgery, chemo and radiation options. Bill did not want any of them. He was set on curing the cancer naturally.

Bill started doing alternative treatments recommended by people he knew from all over the country and in the alternative health media. Black salve, infrared sauna, a Rife machine, colloidal silver, LEDs. You name it, he probably did it. And the more "fringe" the better.

He also made a reasonable attempt at diet, but IMO there was still too much sugar and flour going into the system.

In my discussions with Bill I knew that he really wanted to beat the cancer naturally, so it could be an example to the world. Often times, he asked me what I thought he should do about it.

My opinion at the time was that he should get a large bowel resection done, and gather more information about the radiation and the chemo they were offering. Just to be informed. Then watch closely and see what happens.

In the meantime, continue with the alternative treatments. Although I personally questioned the basis of some of them. But Bill wanted nothing to do with any conventional treatments. He really believed that some combination of these alternative treatments was going to somehow reverse a stage 4 tumor and unblock his colon!

Granted I new less then about digestive health than I know now. But even today, if I were faced with the same type of case I would probably say the same thing. There are many alternative treatments which would probably reduce the chances of recurrence, but not a "cure" in any sense of the word. Needless to say, Bill is no longer here to use my services.

Bottom line: Society is still here and the "reptoids" have not invaded. My friend Bill, however, died of colon cancer. The alternative treatments did not work, and the mainstream ones couldn't have killed him, since he didn't accept any.

The thing is, we're probably less likely to hear about these kinds of stories, as their surviving friends and family are less likely to broadcast them.

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It sure is popular... #2 leading cause of death after heart disease in the U.S.

From some angles, it would make more sense to break the category up into subcategories, as some cancers are very different from one another.

... and if I had it my way, I would combine heart disease, stoke, and diabetes all together under "Diabesity". I might also combine accidents with suicide under "Wrongful Death". Kind of gives the "Leading Causes of Death" list an interesting twist.

#1 Diabesity 796,960
#2 Cancer: 567,628
#3 Wrongful Death: 154,930

The "Pro Life" version is based on abortion statistics since 1973. Looks like about a million a year. So that's 40 million people, plus their kids and grandkids makes 120 million more Americans we would have right now. Just accounting for those born since 1973.

But there's a whole two centuries of abortions going on in America before 1973 to account for! I can only imagine how huge the population would be right now, had none of those abortions occurred.

Worldwide, the numbers get even more crazy! According to my calculations, there'd be another 4 billion of us here accounting from 1973 onward. Taking into account the whole of human history, the number of people we would have would be pushing a quadrillion!

I wonder if Mother Earth was built to sustain that much human life?

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"...The body is made up of millions of normal healthy cells..."'

Millions? Try a quadrillion. And 90% of them aren't human cells!

I wonder what will happen once we are able to detect cancer down to a single cell. Seeing as how cells turn cancerous every day, we would have to come up with some kind of threshold before making a diagnosis, or declaring a "cure."

For example:

Detection, Analysis of 'Cell Dust' May Allow Diagnosis, Monitoring of Brain Cancer

ScienceDaily (Nov. 11, 2012) — A novel miniature diagnostic platform using nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) technology is capable of detecting minuscule cell particles known as microvesicles in a drop of blood. Microvesicles shed by cancer cells are even more numerous than those released by normal cells, so detecting them could prove a simple means for diagnosing cancer.