ALTERNATIVE CANCER TREATMENTS: CAUSES OF FAILURE

[Guest guest]

ALTERNATIVE CANCER TREATMENTS:

CAUSES OF FAILURE (updated 3/16/10)

(Compiled from Gammill's CSNO seminars)

The central purpose of the Center for the

Study of Natural Oncology, a California

not-for-profit corporation, is to help cancer

patients find the most effective, yet non-toxic,

cancer therapies that are available within their

resources and then assist in obtaining and

commencing therapies. We have no standardized

protocols, nor do we sell any product or

service. We have extensive informational

resources and we help clarify all issues pertaining to therapeutic choices.

There is a wide range of effectiveness in

the hundreds of alternative strategies and

thousands of supplements. The purpose of this

discussion is not to advocate nor denigrate any

treatment. Instead, this is a survey of the very

human factors that can undermine even the best

alternative cancer treatments. Many of these

reflections will equally apply to conventional cancer therapies.

1. Money Management. There are usually many

paths to success in cancer treatment. The

smartest choices are rarely the most expensive

choices. Don’t overspend. Often a number of

strategies must be tried before the right one is

found. Set aside funds to allow for

this. Likewise, don’t under spend. Most people

try to accrue assets for a rainy day. A cancer

diagnosis is that rainy day. Raise funds for

cancer treatment as quickly as possible in case

they are truly needed, but no cancer has ever

been cured by simply throwing money at it.

2. Silly Syllogisms. Examples: Cancer

loves sugar. Carrots contain sugar. Therefore,

don’t eat carrots. Another example: Cancer

requires iron. Beets contain iron. Therefore,

don’t eat beets. What is wrong with this

logic? First, it ignores contrary clinical

evidence. Second, simple syllogisms are not

useful tools when analyzing complex systems

containing homeostatic cybernetic loops.

3. Profit. Granting treatment decisions to

those who have motives that cater more to their

own welfare rather than your welfare. The whole

medical treatment paradigm is predicated on the quest for profit.

4. Unuseful Clinicians . Granting treatment

decisions to those whose skills are inadequate

for the task. Keep in mind that 50% of all

physicians graduated in the bottom half of their

class. Overlay that with the inexperienced, the

rigidly indoctrinated old guard, and those that

are too fearful to try any therapy that didn’t

come through, what they consider, proper channels.

5. Biases. Examples would be patient biases

(e.g., all natural, no needles, mustn’t hurt),

physician biases (e.g., casual dismissal of

anything a patient finds on the internet),

cultural biases (e.g., nothing derived from pork,

must be alkaline). Biases are like opinions:

they might be correct and useful, but there is

scant evidentiary foundation and that is why it

is a bias. Your job is to identify biases and

then consciously decide whether to retain them or chuck them.

6. Scientistic Marketing. There are tens of

thousands of medicines, supplements, herbs, and

therapies that are available to cancer

patients. Their promoters bathe them in

glory. You are rarely informed of their

limitations. Most will have skewed science, a

fanciful history, cheerful testimonials, and

weasel-worded assurances to support

sales. “Scientistic” is not “Scientific.” Real

science doesn’t describe cancer cells as

“exploding” nor tumors as “melting away.”

7. Ideological Purity. A true believer of

any simplistic theory will reflexively close the

door to any treatment or theory deigned

heretical. Examples of theories that often

ignore the larger picture would be trophoblastic

theory, candida origin, stealth viruses,

pleomorphic bacteria, mycoplasma, liver

parasites, acid pH, oncogenes, emotional trauma,

hypoxic tissues, local inflammation, nutritional

distortions, frankenfoods, and environmental

pollution. The human mind is greatly

discomforted by no explanation and is annoyed by

complex explanations, but plenary explanations can be quite satisfying.

8. Too Simple Fixes. All too often patients

drop their critical guard when it comes to the

acceptance of suggestions from well-meaning and

genuinely sincere friends. It is easy to think

that the suggestions may be innocuous, but

occasionally these can undermine more considered

therapies. If a simple fixes such as baking

soda, hydrogen peroxide, homeopathy, or zeolite

cured cancer then it would soon become a

historical disease. For a lucky few a fervent

belief in a simple fix may greatly reduce

cortisol levels thus allowing the body to heal naturally.

9. Impatience. What is essentially an

immature indulgence has become the norm in our

modern time-is-money rat race of a culture. It

leads to a loss of making subtle observations, a

lack of finesse in steering the course of a

treatment, and then a manic flitting from therapy to therapy.

10. Unrelenting Stress. Some stress is

good. It keeps us on our toes and even helps us

grow brain cells, but non-stop stress is a

merciless killer. One must routinely self

examine to determine if fruitless stress is

taking too dominant of a role in one’s life.

11. Mixed Psychological Intention. Everyone

consciously wants to get well, but there are

often influential naysayers doing a little

back-seat driving from the netherconscious

regions of the mind. It should be suspected in

patients who find fault with every proposed

treatment no matter how benign, and in those

patients who consistently forget to take their meds.

12. Fighting Nature. Every med that produces a

seemingly desirable effect also affects many

other pathways and quietly contributes to the

lessening of effectiveness of nature’s default

healing pathways. Parsimony in prescribing has

faded from the healer’s lexicon.

13. Conflicts in Mechanisms of Action. This is

far more common than one might think. An example

would be the use of stroma-digesting enzymes

along with matrix metalloproteinase

inhibitors. It is very common that effective

cancer medications often become far less

effective when combined, thus the importance of clinical trials.

14. Secondary Benefits. This is most

uncomfortable for most cancer patients to think

about. It is human nature to enjoy or even

expect the sympathy, attention, and even

pampering that is often bestowed on cancer

patients. For many this is hard to give up. It

is attractive enough that there are cases of

people who have feigned cancer just for the

attention, the donations, and the opportunity to

turn their friends into a coterie of servants.

15. Inexperience With Cancer. Few cancer

patients realize how quickly their condition can

become acute. Inexperience with cancer has

patients making treatment decisions too quickly

or too slowly. Either way it lessens the chance

of a favorable outcome. As soon as you know the

stage and grade you should determine how much

time you have to make smart treatment decisions.

16. Emotional Distracters. Go ahead and

squander energy on blame, bitterness, fear,

revenge, guilt, etc., and see how long you

last. The same goes for argumentativeness in personal relationships.

17. Quality of Life. Poor QOL is a

killer. Give serious consideration to QOL

consequences of treatment options. A pyrrhic victory is no victory.

18. Rationalization of Bad

Habits. Self-discipline is a common trait of

winners. Some patients have little

self-discipline. The job of the practitioner is

to find a protocol that is doable for the

patient. Most cancer patients will lie about

their weaknesses, so the cautious practitioner

works around this reality. Say, for example: “I

have cancer diets that can include sugar. I

prefer those that exclude it. What is your

preference?” This invites candor. Among the

worst patients are those who pride themselves on

their discipline. Example: “You just tell me

what to do, Doc, and I’ll follow it to a T. I am

the world’s best patient.” Do you see what just

happened? The patient just abdicated all

personal responsibility and made you the fall guy

in case his expectations are not met. This is

why the effective practitioner always, always,

sets up the relationship as a partnership.

19. Over Reliance on a Therapy. If a therapy

is not working it is not working. The prestige

of the institution or the physician, the past

financial investment, the desire not to offend or

disappoint the doc are all invalid reasons to

continue with a therapy that is not working.

20. Therapy Fixation. Too often a person

becomes overly focused on obtaining a single

therapy. Once a person called me and desperately

asked, “Where can I get Laetrile? Only Laetrile

can save my mother!” People who think this way

will overlook other therapies that might work much better.

21. The “Cure” Word. Few words are better at

clouding judgment in a desperate cancer

patient. Few words are more effective at

separating a person from his money. Few words

are more certain to disappoint. It is human

nature to be seduced by treatments that claim to

cure. One must always examine the evidence with a critical eye.

22. Driving Blind. It is well known that

ionizing radiation is mutagenic. It is amazing

though how often we at the cancer retreat center

hear program participants tell us that they have

no idea if their treatments are working as they

fear diagnostic x-rays, PET-CTs, etc. They do

not stop to consider that the evidence of the

harm is statistical. That is, there is evidence

that there is a demonstrable statistical risk of

getting cancer years from now. For so many of

these patients I can only say: if they can only

be so lucky. These diagnostic tools can be a

major factor in selecting treatments or in

discontinuing treatments. There are often other

ways to get much of the same information and you

can inquire about this, but don’t automatically

rule out conventional assessment tools.

23. Burning Bridges. All too often a patient

will say things to a physician that will make

him/her back away. Sometimes a patient may want

this, but it is usually a mistake. Negative or

cautionary comments might find their way into the

patient’s chart and this will put other

physicians on guard. There are times when you

need a physician to do you a favor such as a

blood test or a prescription. It is good to

nurture your relationships with any and all healthcare providers.

24. Proprietary formulations. The euphemism

“proprietary” in this context means the purveyor

is more interested in protecting profits than in

helping patients. Proprietary on the label also

means that purchasers implicitly accept

faith-based medicine. Their faith is in the

integrity of the marketeers and the skills of

formulators who operate in secrecy.

25. Heaven Bound. For those of a strong

religious faith, the existence of an afterlife is

just as real as our familiar physical

world. Sometimes that faith can help shepherd a

patient through rough patches, but at other times

it does quite the opposite. When each passing

day brings only increasing misery and decreasing

financial resources, throwing in the towel can be

quite attractive. “Transition” offers eternal

peace, a homecoming with family and friends who

are gone, communion with angels and saints, and

the presence of the Almighty. Most religious

faiths have equivalent life-after-death

teachings. It is very difficult to help such a

patient because of their tendency to rationalize away their obligations.

26. Treatment Consensus. “Alternative” cancer

treatment is a catch-all phrase for everything

that is unconventional. Proponents of the many

therapies are often very opinionated and there

can be strong disagreements among

practitioners. If a cancer patient has a number

of holistic/alternative advisors, it can be very

disconcerting that there are few core

agreements. They will disagree over muscle

testing, homeopathy, marijuana, meridians, diet,

and if prescription meds should be allowed. Any

patient who waits for agreement among his

therapists will eventually watch the clock wind

down. Keep in mind that the practitioner MUST

advise something different from other

practitioners so he won’t be seen as a totally unnecessary co-signer.

27. Testimonials. You can be sure that the

purveyor carefully selects any testimonials used

in advertising. The deceased, of course, are

unavailable to tell their side of the

story. Testimonials can be useful if YOU are the

one who tracks down several

patient-consumers. You can ask the one question

that never seems to get asked, “What else were you using?”

28. Lower Wattage Patients and Advisors. At

least once a year I hear some version of, “My

holistic practitioner muscle tested me and said

that you can cure me!” It has always been our

goal to put major healthcare decisions in the

hands of those who would benefit or be harmed by

those decisions, that is, the patient. But how

do we help those whose critical thinking skills

are so low that they are probably unteachable? I am open to suggestions.

29. Anthropomorphizing Cancer. Cancer is not an

intelligent foe. It is all too easy to see the

struggle against cancer in metaphorical terms

that ascribe intelligence its behavior. The

exchange of moves in ridding the body of cancer

is usually characterized in the adversarial

language of the military, of sports, of chess, or

of outsmarting a clever rogue. This is a lazy,

but picturesque way of thinking. “The tumor has

not yet metastasized, but I think it is dodging

our bullets so we have to head it off at the

pass. Lets just remove the other breast while

you are still under anesthesia.” To a great

extent productive thinking and successful

communication must rely on metaphors, so pick

metaphors that bump up against the reality, e.g.,

“Your case is very similar to several cases we had last year…”

Rather than envisioning cancer as having human

attributes (“Biopsies just make cancers mad and

then they really go on a rampage!”) we are far

better served if we think of a tumor as a

recapitulation of evolution. It would be a very

accelerated evolution because of its aneuploidy,

its genetic instability. Many/most cancer

cells within a tumor are reproductive

failures. Their effeteness make them easy

targets for our immune system, and their

pathological variances offer us attractive

targets for therapy. Those transformed cells

that we can’t so dispatch will, through brute

mitotic fervor within a hostile milieu, blindly

and mindless self-select their own path to

impunity. This is possible because of the

massive numbers of cancer cells involved and the

fast speeded up mitosis. It is called survival of the fittest.

30. Egregious

Misdiagnosis/Mischaracterization. Most

alternative treatments are based on conventional

diagnosis. If the follow-up alternative

treatment provider is a one-trick pony, for

example, “Alkalinize everyone!” then misdiagnosis doesn’t really matter.

Both diagnostics and pathology are difficult

sciences and it behooves the cancer patient to

always inquire exactly how the diagnosis was

arrived at. Get copies of all pathology reports

for later scrutiny. If a treatment that should

work, doesn’t, then it would be a good time to

further confirmation of type, grade, and

stage. Misdiagnosis and erroneous assessment of

progress are very, very common.

31. Abstractomancy. One of the most useful

tools to track scientific research is the perusal

of Medline abstracts, but after you read tens of

thousands of abstracts you see a sameness about

them: The science is usually reductionistic to

the point of irrelevance, findings commonly

conflict with those in other abstracts,

researchers never look outside their own

indoctrinations, and they kowtow to those who issue grants.

It is against this backdrop that patients,

practitioners, and marketers search for a novel

idea that they just know will give them a winning

combination. Their incautious enthusiasm quickly

yields creative and superficially plausible

ideas. Coalesce a few puzzle pieces and you have

a new potential cure that would have patients

become guinea pigs. It doesn't seem to matter

that this is a crazy quilt that gives equal

weight to cell cultures and to different animal

models. None of this hinders many practitioners

from exercising their dime-a-dozen theories on

naïve patients, and then charge them for the privilege.

I have listed many weaknesses in overall strategy

that can undermine one’s chances to

recover. There are many more that I will lay out

in the future, but this is a start. If anyone

has any amendations or additions that I can

utilize, I will send you a free T-shirt that says, " I'm smarter than ! "

(Excerpted from the Monday afternoon

seminar. As the Center for the Study of Natural

Oncology, Inc. owns my seminars, all rights are reserved.)