The holistic approach - Just Diagnosed with Cancer

At many of the talks I give on Natural living I offer advice on natural alternatives and health and wellbeing, in recent years many people have approached me and said they had never even considered ditching the chemicals in their lives or even taking any responsibility for their own health and wellbeing until a relative or freind was diagnosed with cancer.   Here I invite Patricia Peat - a leading expert from the excellent Cancer Options a chance to give some realistic advice.   Janey Lee Grace

www.imperfectlynatural.com

Being diagnosed with cancer places us on a steepest learning curve we may ever face at a time when we are probably least able to deal with it.

We face the prospect of surgery, chemotherapy, radiotherapy, a barrage of diagnostic, intrusive tests, in an alien environment when we feel shocked, frightened, traumatised. The goalposts have been well and truly moved; our existence is under threat, our friends and family deeply affected. During all this, you have to digest large amounts of information, and rationalise the situation to make decisions amongst the most important of your life.

A tall order – Absolutely!
Confused – You will be!
Unsure of yourself, and your ability to voice your opinion – Completely!

Well that proves that you are human and feel much the same way as everybody plunged into this situation. I spent many years working at the sharp end of oncology, working with people at this stage, then through treatment, and later. I spent some years working in palliative care, when the prospect of surviving cancer had become a distant dream, and the reality and inevitability of the situation was unavoidable.
I often feel the contrast between the two, when people looked back on their experiences, treatments and choices taught me more about the importance of empowerment, control, and most importantly quality of information than anything else.

The worst scenario was with people who had not really understood the reality of their particular situation. They had not asked many questions, indeed they may have not wanted to know, but their expectation far exceeded what was achievable by oncology. If treatment was unsuccessful, the feeling of shock and bewilderment that they were in that situation was palpable.

This is one question that everyone diagnosed with cancer asks themselves..why me? and one that has only one answer… “Why not me?” Today, cancer has overtaken heart disease as the number one killer in the Western world, with one in three of us being diagnosed with this condition at some point in our lives (by 2010 it is estimated that this figure will be closer to one in two). Cancer today has become pandemic throughout the world, and the battle to have safe effective cancer treatments is still a long way from success. I strongly believe then that it makes total sense to use many diverse approaches to dealing with it. Cancer is a complicated disease and we are only beginning to learn the complexity of it, it therefore makes perfect sense not to rely on tackling it from a one-dimensional approach.
In order to maximise your chance of survival, and to come through the experience with your immune system and your sense of self-intact you need to be:

PROACTIVE
WELL INFORMED
DETERMINED
DECISIVE

Making treatment choices is never easy, nor is it often black and white, but if you feel you have been well informed, and have taken a real and active part in the process, it will help you cope in the long term. One of the most expressed emotions about cancer is the feelings of helplessness, which, if you are not able to be active, can give way to feelings of hopelessness, which is damaging and difficult to deal with.  ‘Receiving’ treatment is a very passive state, the de-personalisation that can occur, where you lose your sense of energy, power and purpose may prove to be a very negative factor. If an element of empowering and enabling takes place, choosing treatments that suit you as a person and having a sense of choice and purpose may be an important factor in how your body manages its battle with the disease.

When you are diagnosed with cancer, you need to construct a specific treatment program tailored to your unique biological and psychological profile. In addition, as we are each unique individuals, this treatment program is also likely to have many unique elements. Factors unique to your particular situation which you need to take into consideration include:

The type of cancer diagnosed
How early it is detected
Whether it has metastasised (or spread)
Orthodox treatment success rates
Alternative treatment success rates
Complementary treatment effectiveness

In England, treating and caring for people with cancer has in more recent times restricted itself to the one dimensional approach of biochemical attack via pharmaceuticals. It is measurable, approved of by the scientific world and uptake by approximately 95% of people who are diagnosed with cancer.
It is also extremely expensive, brutal and except in certain circumstances does not provide a cure. I use the word cure because that is the measure that is always applied to integrative medicine, “herbal treatments do not cure people of cancer” – we know, but they can help, often a lot. So if they don’t cure, do they help, sometimes they do bring relief of symptoms and increase longevity, but always with the balance of great impact on the person’s quality of life.
The big, and I mean big problem with the way we treat cancer (not help the person with cancer – we treat the cancer) is that we cannot afford it. There are new treatments in development which may bring greater benefits than what we currently have, but the rub is – we won’t be getting them and if we do, in a limited way.

From what I have seen over the years the best results come from taking the best that orthodox treatment is offering you and build on that to create your own treatment programme.
Dietary, lifestyle and psychological changes according to your philosophy Get the program combination right for you, and you maximise your chance of a complete cure. I appreciate not everybody will want, or be able to deal with their situation in this way, and will just want to put themselves in the hands of the doctors, and be guided by them. That is fine, what is important is that everybody adopts an approach they feel comfortable with, and is going to help them cope, there is no right and wrong way, there is only your way.
We have two services designed to work with you individually and help you to achieve this:

For help in putting yourself in charge, impartial advice and information on all approaches to cancer so you can make your own decisions, not have them made for you: www.canceroptions.co.uk

Recovering and wanting to find your own path back to good health? The Pathway Programme provides unrivalled support and resources for an holistic approach to life after illness: wwww.pathwayforhealth.co.uk


In England, treating and caring for people with cancer has in more recent times restricted itself to the one dimensional approach of biochemical attack via pharmaceuticals. It is measurable, approved of by the scientific world and uptake by approximately 95% of people who are diagnosed with cancer.
It is also extremely expensive, brutal and except in certain circumstances does not provide a cure. I use the word cure because that is the measure that is always applied to integrative medicine, “herbal treatments do not cure people of cancer” – we know, but they can help, often a lot. So if they don’t cure, do they help, sometimes they do bring relief of symptoms and increase longevity, but always with the balance of great impact on the person’s quality of life.
The big, and I mean big problem with the way we treat cancer (not help the person with cancer – we treat the cancer) is that we cannot afford it. There are new treatments in development which may bring greater benefits than what we currently have, but the rub is – we won’t be getting them and if we do, in a limited way.

Professor Karol Sikora revealed the true folly of heading into the perfect storm that is so many more people being diagnosed with cancer, treatments massively expensive and this country having less money to buy them. Increases in the incidence of cancer and price of drugs means that in 20 years time we shall need to spend the whole NHS drug budget just on drugs for people with cancer.
Hopefully this government will lead to some sense in the health service as Karol said 2000’s NHS Cancer Plan had led to a ‘highly bureaucratic way of doing things that lost huge amounts of money without trace”. ‘We’re spending the same amount on cancer as our European colleagues, but the care people are getting is of a lower quality.

So, why are we going to continue sailing into the eye of the storm? Because, as Fiona Goodlie pointed out last year medicine is currently run for the doctors benefit.
We are facing a situation where more people will have cancer for much longer periods of time as it can be controlled as a chronic illness like diabetes and heart disease. Unfortunately our current model does not suit or support people to cope with living with cancer and keeping them well whilst they do so. The focus is the cancer, blast it, then come back when it grows again, totally reactive and unempowering at a time when fear and vulnerability is at it’s highest.

So what is the answer, to parody the man who left this country in ruins Tony Blair – Integration! Integration! Integration!.  Help people find the best ways of helping themselves, relieve symptoms with natural compounds and herbs,  good dietary programmes to help the immune system fight cancer, not deplete it and support towards a healthy life after treatment,.
Change the environment of the body in which the cancer started, don’t just sit there!

Snake oil?
Is it all baloney, is everything complementary a lot of  useless overpriced rubbish pedalled by people desperate to make a quick buck – no. Some of it is, sometimes a lot of it is but there are treatments, approaches people can use to enhance their health, lead to greater quality of life and sometimes longevity.
They do it in Europe, much more so, here our doctors frequently try to cut us off from everything apart from their approach, in Europe they integrate with greater confidence and success. They think that we are crazy in our narrow mindedness and the fact so many people here die with malnutrition from our poor dietary advice. The survival league tables for cancer where we languish with less developed countries is not all about having expensive drugs, it’s about treating the whole person not just the cancer. It can be done, it can be very beneficial and it can save the NHS a ton of money!

Janey Lee Grace is one of the Patrons of Yestolife - offering alternatives for people with cancer, they work closely with Patricia Peat.   www.yestolife.org.uk