Should Alternative Treatments and Orthodox Treatments Be Combined?

Written by Webster Kehr, Independent Cancer Research Foundation, Inc. | Last updated on | Filed under: Orthodox vs Alternative Medicine, Treatments

Why Alternative Treatments And Orthodox Treatments Are Sometimes Combined

There are two reasons that cancer patients combine alternative treatments with orthodox treatments (this is sometimes called: Complementary Medicine).

First, a person may secretly (or with his or her doctor’s permission) take alternative treatment plans designed to treat cancer in conjunction with orthodox treatments. Their logic I suppose is that two treatments for cancer is better than one. “Cure rates” for cancer will certainly go up over the next decade because more and more people are mixing orthodox treatments with alternative treatments, and the alternative treatments are extending the lives of the patients, but the orthodox treatments are taking the credit.

But is it smart to take substances that are killing your immune system (orthodox) with substances that are trying to build your immune system (alternative)? The two treatments are not working together, they are working against each other.

Second, people are mixing alternative treatments with orthodox treatments to treat the symptoms of chemotherapy and radiation. The type of natural treatments recommended by orthodox medicine to be used during chemotherapy to treat symptoms, are generally designed only to mask the symptoms of chemotherapy, and if they extend life, it is only a coincidence.

The types of alternative treatments used in the first case are vastly different than the kinds of alternative treatments used in the second case. In the first case, the alternative treatments, by themselves, are capable of treating the cancer. In the second case, the alternative treatments are used to mask pain and sickness, and have nothing to do with treating cancer.

The pharmaceutical industry is quietly and slowly allowing (i.e. not fighting) alternative treatments to be mixed with orthodox treatments to treat the symptoms of chemotherapy and radiation. But as you might suspect, their interest is not in what is best for you, their motive is what is best for them. If you are in less pain and are less sick from chemotherapy, by taking alternative medicines, you are less likely to stop taking chemotherapy in the middle of the program, which many people do. If more people last the entire treatment program, this means more profits for Big Pharma.

It is very, very important that you understand the difference between using alternative treatments with orthodox medicine, versus using alternative treatments instead of orthodox medicine. The pharmaceutical industry is somewhat agreeable to using both treatments together (especially if it is to treat the symptoms of their toxic poisons), but they are vehemently opposed to you using alternative treatments instead of orthodox medicine.

What is disturbing is when a person goes to a hospital web site and finds out that the hospital encourages complementary medicine. This gives the impression that orthodox medicine and alternative medicine are working side-by-side in a cozy relationship. Nothing could be further from the truth. I can guarantee you that the alternative treatments they recommend to treat symptoms are not on the “top 100” list of alternative treatments. They are designed to mask pain and suffering, not kill cancer cells. Do not be deceived into believing you are an expert at alternative treatments for cancer by reading their web sites.

The real issue is not whether you should use both kinds of treatments together, the real issue is whether you should use orthodox treatments at all! In other words, you should not ask whether alternative treatments should be combined with orthodox treatments, you should ask whether orthodox treatments should be combined with alternative treatments.

In other words, you have several choices:

  • First, take chemotherapy treatments and radiation therapy and nothing else.
  • Second, take chemotherapy treatments and radiation treatments and alternative treatments designed to kill the cancer cells, stop the spreading of cancer, etc.
  • Third, take chemotherapy treatments and radiation treatments and alternative treatments designed to mask the symptoms of chemotherapy and radiation.
  • Fourth, take alternative treatments designed to treat cancer instead of chemotherapy and radiation.
  • Fifth, take nothing.

In one survey, most oncologists specializing in lung cancer reported that they would not take chemotherapy if they had the disease. Yet, everyday these doctors give their patients chemotherapy. In conversation with an investigative reporter, one brain cancer specialist admitted that he would never submit to radiation if he had a brain tumor. Nevertheless, he continues to send patients for radiation, because he would be kicked out of the hospital if he didn’t follow the accepted protocol.
Based on information in: Townsend Letter for Doctors & Patients, Jan 1998; Spectrum, Mar/April 1998

In other words, most oncologists in this survey said they would take nothing. Taking nothing is better than chemotherapy and radiation. But there is an even better option. Take no chemotherapy, take no radiation, but do take alternative treatments designed to treat the cancer.

In other words, why would you take something that is killing your immune system and is not curing your cancer (orthodox medicine) with something that is trying to build you immune system and cure you?

A person gets cancer because their immune system is too weak to routinely kill cancer cells and stop the metastasis of the cancer. Chemotherapy and radiation further destroy a patient’s immune system. Is that good? Chemotherapy and radiation do not stop the spread of cancer. Is that good? Chemotherapy and radiation do not kill all of the cancer cells, and what cancer cells remain, have no immune system to kill them, thus they can proliferate uncontrollably. Is that good?

Nevertheless, for those who wish to learn more about CAM, there are two important books on the subject:

How to Prevent and Treat Cancer with Natural Medicine
by Dr. Michael Murray

Herbal Medicine, Healing & Cancer – A Comprehensive Program for Prevention and Treatment
by Donald R. Yance, Jr., C.N., M.H., A.H.G.