I recall an episode from having meningitis as a seven-year old child which virtually short-circuited my ability to respond to a simple question…
I had been admitted to hospital in Montreal with high fever and being sensitive to light - classic symptoms of meningitis. Lying in my hospital room late at night, I recall a man - a priest? - enter the room and ask me whether I was Protestant or Catholic. I will never forget my inability to reply one way or another. Because I am Jewish, I wasn’t either Protestant or Catholic, but given only these two choices, I felt confused and replied that I didn’t know or that I wasn’t either of these. At the time, I hadn’t thought to say that I was Jewish. This seminal event - the restriction of choice, the failure to say that there may be other options - has remained with me throughout my life.
This happens all the time throughout medicine, particularly but not exclusively to cancer patients, when treatment options are discussed with patients. Following a cancer diagnosis, for example, the patient is typically prescribed a combination of surgery / chemotherapy / radiotherapy, depending upon their cancer type, grade and stage. So, typically, if the patient doesn’t specifically ask about other treatment options, they will be embarked on that regimen suggested. If they do enquire regarding other treatment options - nutrition, oxygen therapy, intravenous infusions, herbal or some other type of alternative treatment, the physician will state that they don’t have sufficient research evidence regarding these treatments and furthermore don’t have an understanding of alternative approaches. The Catch-22 factor in this is that by virtue of the Cancer Act of 1939, is that it is also illegal for physicians to treat cancer with other than surgery, chemotherapy or radiotherapy. So not surprisingly, those methods are used to treat cancer, research is accumulated mainly on the results of those treatments alone, and comparatively little research is published using other alterative cancer techniques.
www.positivehealth.com/article/editorial/editorial-issue-208
This was the situation for Lord Maurice Saatchi, whose beloved wife Josephine Hart died in 2011 from inoperative and terminal ovarian cancer following chemotherapy and radiation treatments which he described as "medieval, "degrading and ineffective” in interviews and articles recently published in the mainstream media and cited in the Editorial of Positive Health PH Online Issue 206: www.positivehealth.com/article/editorial/editorial-issue-206
Lord Saatchi has currently introduced the Medical Innovation Bill in the House of Lords to change the law to enable physicians treating cancer patients to use other techniques when indicated.
www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/2013/09/11/lord-saatchi-cancer_n_3905717.html
www.cheltenhamfestivals.com/science/whats-on/2013/maurice-saatchi-s-medical-innovation-bill/
www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/2013/05/21/health-dangers-cancer-treatments-lord-saatchi_n_3310806.html
PH Online Issue 209 publishes two authoritative editorial features regarding ‘alternative’ treatment approaches to cancer: Mistletoe Therapy and Hyperthermia for Cancer by Dr Maurice Orange
www.positivehealth.com/article/cancer/mistletoe-therapy-and-hyperthermia-for-cancer-turning-up-the-heat
and Deuterium Depletion in Cancer Treatment and Prevention by Dr Krisztina Krempels et al:
www.positivehealth.com/article/cancer/deuterium-depletion-in-cancer-treatment-and-prevention-practical-application-advice
There has been of late a plethora of features widely across the print and online media regarding cancer treatments using methods other than chemotherapy and radiotherapy; such articles include the recent My Choice: How do you Battle Cancer by Ruby Warrington in Sunday Times Style Magazine 22 Sept 2013. This feature details the story of Amelia Powers, aged 40 diagnosed with brain cancer with a prognosis of 18 months, who, after one treatment round of chemotherapy, eschewed further chemotherapy and who has been using a protocol including medicinal marijuana with nutritional advice including to avoid / minimize sugar and dairy.
Another cancer patient - Laura Bond, of Mum’s Not Having Chemo book and website has been researching and applying every treatment available. Two years on from her diagnosis of ovarian and uterine cancer, she is healthy and apparently cancer free.
www.mumsnothavingchemo.com/
www.dr-gonzalez.com/index.htm
In PH Online Issue 209, we publish an obituary and honour the life and accomplishments of Pat Pilkington, co-founder, with Penny Brohn of the Bristol Cancer Help Centre (BCHC), now re-named Penny Brohn Cancer Care.
www.positivehealth.com/article/letters-to-the-editor/letters-to-the-editor-issue-209
Pat Pilkington played a seminal role in the genesis of Positive Health which is recounted in the PH Online and drsgoodman.com blogs:
http://blog.positivehealth.com/blog/
www.drsgoodman.com/blog-goodman
A considerable component of the alternative treatment approaches adopted and implemented by BCHC and Penny Brohn have included techniques for Meditation / Stress Control / Confidence / Healing, whichare all demonstrably involved in health enhancement. This issue publishes a number of meditation / stress / healing -related articles which look at different aspects of how the role of Meditation / Stress Control / Confidence / Healing-Tai Chi can exert a positive effect upon our health and life:
www.positivehealth.com/article/personal-growth/human-beings-in-the-mirror-of-the-universe
www.positivehealth.com/article/meditation/self-healing-buddha-s-smiling-meditation
www.positivehealth.com/article/meditation/role-of-meditation-in-stress-control
www.positivehealth.com/article/health-and-life-coaching/the-confidence-muscle
www.positivehealth.com/article/chi-energy-martial-arts/tai-chi-happiness-and-chi-healing-interview-by-aisling-king-with-master-choy
Meditation, grounded in time through millennia in various ancient cultures and traditions, is now being subjected to greater scientific examination; a selection of Meditation research studies can be found on PH Online:
www.positivehealth.com/researches/meditation
www.positivehealth.com/searches/type:researches/q:meditation
www.positivehealth.com/research/gross-and-colleagues
www.positivehealth.com/research/jacobs-and-colleagues-3
Several authoritative articles are published regarding the clinical application and efficacy of herbal medicine:
www.positivehealth.com/article/herbal-medicine/the-benefits-of-california-poppy-eschscholzia-californica
www.positivehealth.com/article/herbal-medicine/herbs-and-general-inflammation-co-infestation
www.positivehealth.com/article/herbal-medicine/health-benefits-of-golden-root-rhodiola-rosea
Excellent features describe the clinical application of:
Nutrition to Addison’s Disease and Hypoglycaemia
www.positivehealth.com/article/medical-conditions/a-case-study-of-tuberculosis-addison-s-disease-and-hypoglycaemia
Hypnotherapy for children to help overcome a wide range of behavioural problems
www.positivehealth.com/article/hypnosis/hypnotherapy-with-children
Bodywork – including Osteopathy and Chiropractic
www.positivehealth.com/article/craniosacral-therapy/osteopathy-it-s-only-a-model
www.positivehealth.com/article/chiropractic/special-handling-benefits-of-chiropractic-manipulation
The ethos of Positive Health PH Online is to cover the broad terrain of health approaches, not to exclude variant views. This may present readers with conflicting opinions regarding the application of treatments; however understanding the true diversity of treatment options is ultimately knowledge and personal power in each of our own personal journeys toward health and life.
