. Diagnosis, treatment, and prevention of cancer .

To anyone who has had chemotherapy:

We are an organization trying to assess issues that are important to
patients. Our goal is to strengthen and support patients in communicating
with healthcare professionals.
We are thus developing a tool geared towards aiding patients in their search
for the best possible medical treatment. This tool will comprise many common
conditions, situations and symptoms – chemotherapy being one of them.

We are collecting this information in order to make a statistic analysis in
respect to which needs are important to patients. We plan to publish the
results on a website, the  access to which will be free of charge to the
internet-user.

We have collected needs that people being treated with chemotherapy have
expressed, and developed a questionnaire based on those needs. It is vital
to
us to find out to what extent these needs apply, and how important they are
to chemotherapy patients. That is why we are asking you – the ‘experts’ on
chemotherapy – to visit http://www.patient.at/chemotherapy.htm, to fill out
the
questionnaire and give us your comments.

We will publish the results of this survey as soon as possible, and then
once
again ask you for your comments.

If you need further information please contact us. Our mailing address is:

Roland Ernst, MA
Siedlung Neu Florida D 13
1220 Vienna
phone: +43 0699 10376787
e-mail: a9104…@unet.univie.ac.at

We have as of now not yet decided upon the name of this project or website.

The quality of our work depends very much  on your experiences and
knowledge,
and we are grateful for your cooperation and support.

Your PATIENTS-FOR-PATIENTS Team.

Hi,
My cousin’s wife is 33 and has recently been diagnosed as having cervical
cancer. She gave birth to her second daughter in Sep 99 after constantly
bleeding throughout her pregnancy. All through her pregnancy, and her 16
scans, she was assured that this sort of thing occaisionally happens, and
even after she was given a Ceasarian, the bleeding did not stop.
It was only after this did the hospital decide to carry out further tests,
and discovered she had a tumour.
Apparently if they’d known about the tumour during the cearsarian they could
have carried out a hysterectomy, and the tumour would have been removed, but
now it is either too big, or too near the womb / kidneys to operate, and she
has undergone her first doses of radiotherapy and chemotherapy.
She has been told that it is a type 3b and she has a 30 – 40% survival
chance, and our familty are trying to help her in any way we can.
If anyone has any information / support advice could they please e-mail me,
and I shall pass on the information.
I saw on the news the other night that a chemical derived from a plant
extract seems to have been tested fairly successfully in the treatment of
tumours, in that it seems to starve the tumour of blood, and hence helps to
stem its growth. Unfortunately, none of us picked up the name of the
treatment / or plant / or where this was carried out.
I don’t want to paint a black future but a similar scenario happened to my
wife’s cousin, a few years ago. Her treatment was delayed because her case
notes were "lost" by the local hospital and sadly she is no longer with us.
We don’t want to go through this again.
Colin

OK, guys, Marky, William, Kyotee, Eidem, Larry and the others have finally
cracked my resolve, and I’ve decided to come clean.

1) Smoking isn’t at all harmful. All claims by oncologists that smoking
carries an increased risk of lung cancer, cancer of the head and neck, and
cancer of the bladder and cervix are simply self-serving hearsay, based on
no evidence whatsoever. All claims by internists that smoking causes chronic
respiratory disease, coronary artery disease and peripheral vascular disease
are just rumours spread by physicians to scare people. In fact smoking is a
healthy thing to do, and prevents many diseases, and gives great pleasure to
those in the immediate vicinity. I know someone who is eighty years old, has
smaked for sixty years, and is as fit as a fiddle, so I know it’s true. The
human respiratory system clearly eveolved into its present form in order to
facilitate the ingestion of tobacco smoke.

2) All regulatory bodies are there solely for the benefit of, and protection
of the interests of, physicians and pharmaceutical companies. There are
innumerable safe, effective cancer treatments out there which are simply
being blocked by the physicians and their cronies. The truth is so obvious I
can’t understand why I never saw it before.

3) All conventional oncologists are uncaring, cynical, unethical liars who
are just interested in extracting money from people with cancer, although
some of them also enjoy the spectacle of patients suffering side effects of
their barbaric treatments. It’s possible that they are all closet "Nazis"
too. All "alternative" therapists, however, are caring, empathic, ethical
and honest and are motivated by nothing other than the absolute
evidence-based certainty that their natural, clean products can cure any
stage of any cancer without any side-effects, and not surprisingly, their
natural inbuilt altruism motivates them to help as many people as possible
(understandably though, they have to recover their costs).

4) The 97% of non-melanoma skin cancers, and the 50% of all other cancers
which are cured by "conventional" slash, burn and poison medicine, would
have been cured by the "alternatives" (as would the other 3% and 50%.)

5) The tobacco companies have no vested interest in people smoking, have
never lied, do not make excessive profits, and are only in business to
enrich people’s lives and make them healthier by promoting their natural,
all-herbal product.

6) Chemicals made in a laboratory are by definition ineffective and harmful,
whereas chemicals made by plants are by definition effective and have no
harmful side-effects.

7) Smokers aren’t addicts, and therefore their views on the effects of
smoking are objective.

I feel as though I have seen the light on the road to Damascus.

My wife was diagnosed with non-small cell lung and liver cancer in
November.  One tumor lower right lung (2.7cm), one middle right lung
(.2cm).  Multiple spots on liver, largest (4cm).

She has received 2 taxol/carboplatinum chemo treatments and her most
recent cat scan (1/3/00) shows minute shrinkage of the lung tumor but
more spots on the liver.  Due to this her oncologist changed her
treatments beginning today to weekly gemzar treatments.

He also said that there are other drugs to try if this one also does
not produce significant results.  Any comments and/or recommendations
concerning her prescribed treatments would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you in advance.
Remove spam to reply via email.

Curious if anyone has had any positive or negative
experiences in treating cancer with MGN3.  My mom has renal
cell carcenoma and recently started on MGN3.  Good results
recently from oncologist but we don’t know if this should
be attributed to the drug???

* Sent from AltaVista http://www.altavista.com Where you can also find related Web Pages, Images, Audios, Videos, News, and Shopping.  Smart is Beautiful

My sister (23 years old) has Hepatocellular Carcinoma of the Fibrolamellar
variant which has spread to her lymphnodes and is currently underneath her
Pancreas amongst other places in her abdomen.  She has recently had surgery
for the fourth time. After some debulking of the tumor extremity the surgeon
tried to do a  technique called Radio Frequency Ablation.  He was
unsuccessful because of excessive bleeding from the veins near the Pancreas.
This has meant that we must look at whatever options are available for her
and pick the best one.
We have tried various treatments both surgical and through chemotherapy.
We are currently looking for more information on treatments being offered,
or any that have yet to be tested.  We are looking for a type of
chemotherapy or an alternative treatment which has shown success in fighting
this rare type of cancer.
Any information regarding this type of cancer or information regarding
experts in this field would be of great help.
We also have contacts and information to share.
Thanks,
Michael
If you like, you can respond directly to my email: mich…@metrofan.com

My friend has the breast cancer, stage II, she is under the chemotherapy.
I learned the Essiac in the http://essiac-info.org,
my question is, does anybody try it or know anyone
ever tried the Essiac and it works ?
Or anyone know about the Essiac ? Tell me more…
Thank you very much.

I can’t believe some of the posts on this newsgroup these days. Sure there
may be some people posting some "unusual" or "questionable" treatments for
cancer, but do we really need to stoop so low as to make personal attacks.
Even attacking Dr Roda when he makes intelligent and thought provoking posts
in response to these posts is going just a little too far.

I personally have been using "Alternative" treatments (ie herbs) with the
full and complete approval of my oncologist. I would never subject my body
to another method of treatment without understanding how it may react to my
regular treatments of chemo (maybe we are a little more progressive up here
in Canada). I have also done a great deal of investigation into the effects
of these herbs before taking them.

My mother wears a copper bracelet because she feels that it helps with her
arthritis. Who am I to disclaim or discredit how she "perceives" it to help
her. The same goes for any other form of non-invasive therapy. If somebody
obtains relief by using magnets, then by all means use them. They won’t
cause any harm and they may not do any good – BUT if the person believes
that it gives them some relief then what is the harm.

HOWEVER … when somebody makes a statement that these treatments can cure
any number of diseases or that the medical community is standing together to
banish these cures, then the red flags should go up. My oncologist (and I
imaging most if not all of the others) would celebrate the day that an
absolute cure was found for cancer. The same can be said for those doctors
working with all horrific diseases. ANYBODY that states otherwise is living
in a world void of reality. We humans are a clumsy and careless bunch, and
will continue to keep doctors busy all day long.

So go ahead and post information about alternative treatments, but don’t
make outlandish claims without providing reliable scientific information –
not some obscure study from some off shore medical clinic that nobody has
ever heard of.

Stephen Hall
Still here thanks to the medical community.

Hi Everyone,

I use to read & write to these newsgroups three years ago when I was
undergoing chemo (& surviving!!) for ovarian cancer.  Now I am writing
again on behalf of my mother who is fighting her own colon cancer battles.

I have found out that my mom is going to start chemo tomorrow.  I promised
her I would look into toxicities that occur when combining vitamin
suopplements, common over the counter drugs & common herbs with her
paticular chemo.

My mom said
"> The chemo is (Calcium) Leucovorin(e) and 5 FU."

Now I am looking for information regarding herbs,
vitamins and supplements that are toxic when mixed with Leucovorin chemo.

My mom’s oncologist does not support her use of herbs because he
admits he does not know anything about herbs (Makes me want to kiss my
oncologist when I go back to see her later this week for my own post
cancer follow up appointment, because she is supportive of herbal usage.)

I told my mom I would offer her herbal information that is at nutritional
levels rather than medicinal levels & that is how she should discuss
herbal usage with her oncologist if she wants him to be receptive to her
herbal usage.  I find that doctors are supportive of patients who educate
themselves about what they are eating and who want to improve their diet.
Also I told her I still want to offer her information about herbs where
evidence that these herbs can help patients fight cancer.  Then she can
choose what she wants to do, because knowing she has options may empower
her towards her long term survival.

I have already sent her various herbs including Chai with ginger, pepper,
licorice, cinnamon, cloves, vanilla, anise, & fennel; allergy teas with
green tea & mullien, & nettles with elder flower; astralagus with cinnamon
(but Paul recommends mixing astralagus with mint); and Pau D’Arco.  I have
also sent her shitake mushrooms with recipes for use.  I want to send milk
thistle/tumeric capsules too, after I check toxicities.  If anyone has
info to share with me regarding any common supplements or herbs that
should not be taken with Leucovorin chemo, or about sites where I can find
toxictiy info please write to me privately at am…@io.com or
amberbarb…@yahoo.com

I already know to check with some pharmacists, I will be looking at the
medline files, & I guess I need to look into actually buying a PDR.

Thanks in advance!

Barbara

A friend of mine, aged 55 has been diagnosed with breast cancer in 1989 and
underwent breast amputation in the same year. In 1999 metastases have been
found in her bones, liver  and soft tissues. Following the operation in 1989
she has been treated with chemiotherapy (doxorubicina and navelbine).

Since recently chemiotherapy doesn’t appear a feasible option due to her
heart condition. The current therapies are as follows :

- radiumtherapy (4 cycles)
– ormon therapy (tamoxifene, formestan, letrozol)

My friend is resident in Turin, Italy and she is currently assisted in the
Cancer Research Institute in Candiolo, near Turin.  She inquired about US
researchers such as Dr Falkman (?) and she would be prepared to travel to
the US to undergo more advanced therapy.

Plaese advise

Thanks in advance for any help (including pointers, links etc )

Joseph

Joseph Pareti
IT Consultant, High Performance Technical Computing
COMPAQ Computer Corporation
Muenchen, Germany.
Telephone + 498995911093
Fax + 498995912015
Mobile 0171 2252907
e-mail joseph.par…@compaq.com