Right now, there are about 400,000 people receiving chemotherapy in the U.S. Who gets what drug, how that drug is administered, how often and at what dose are the questions that the prescribing Dr has to answer. In relationship to drugs as toxic as chemo, those questions gain greater mass. If we do not gain enough preliminary information: how can the right decisions be made in such a critical area?
Results of the method of application of chemo have been far less than desirable. Short and long term side effects are the rule and not the exception. Side effect can be lethal, as has been shown by the amounts of chemo patients who die as a direct result of the therapy. One of the more blatant side effects of quite a number of chemotherapeutic drugs is to hyper-coagulate the blood, inducing clot formation and possibly resulting in a stroke or heart attack. This is not an uncommon scenario. What is uncommon is that the patient is tested before hand to see if they are at risk for that problem before they are given the drug. The testing to determine this is neither difficult or expensive and yet the results of not doing it can be disastrous.
Now let’s watch a short video:
Now let’s watch a short video:
Another area worth examining is how many chemo protocols fail to get the desired result. It is not infrequent that a chemo patient is on their 4th or 5th round of chemo agents because the first 3 or 4 failed. Why is the failure rate so high? Is it possible to know before hand which drug or group of drugs fit the person and the cancer? Is it possible to know which person’s cancer has developed Multi Drug Resistance (M.D.R.)?
Although cancer is opportunistic , it is still has to follow certain steps in order to attain its aim. With our present technology we can ascertain a large amount of information about the person and the cancer and in doing so create much more accuracy in protocol.
Many of the things that are supporting the cancer in its present condition can be revealed through testing. Two areas that can be of great help are testing for genetic mutations(classic) and/or what are known as single nucleotide polymorphism ( functional ) and a variety of growth factors that support and create M.D.R. This can and should be done before any chemo is administered. If the person is positive for the things that support M.D.R than there are a couple of options. Either choose a more suitable drug or ( this is my preference ) reduce the M.D.R through Natural Medicine and possible avoid the use of the drug altogether or administer the drug at a lower dose, less frequently( pulse dosing ).
Yet another possibility, one that can and should be used as well, is fresh tumor testing. There are a number of labs that do this. The way it works is that if you are having a surgery to remove a tumor, that part of that removed tumor is sent to one of the above mentioned labs. The labs will then test a variety of drugs against the tumor sample to see what drugs the tumor is sensitive to. A great and simple idea that is rarely used unless the patient requests it and is willing to pay out of pocket.
Herceptin is a common drug used on about 1/3 of Breast Cancer patients. It is given to women who test positive for HER2/ neu receptor. Prostate Cancer can also express HER 2/neu, but it is never tested. This is strange! Why is it true? Breast cancer patients are also pathology tested for estrogen receptivity. The prostate also expresses estrogen receptors ( excess estrogen is a growth factor in cancer) but is never tested for ; just as breast cancer is never tested for androgen receptors. Whoever determined the criteria for making these kinds of decision must have been short on the much needed and now available information. These are big red flags that are not being attended to. Unfortunately, examples of this kind of fractured thinking is common in standard practice oncology. The list can go on for a long time and reach into a number of areas of testing .
Our present day physiologic model of the body can and should be viewed as a holistic model. When this holistic model is used in conjunction with a diagnostic technology and the applied protocols are a combination of Natural Medicine and Allopathic Medicine results of treatment will be far superior.
Harry Chrissakis Herbalist, M.H. Natural Healing
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