No one really needs to be given reasons to avoid cancer of course; or do they? Sometimes when you spend some time just observing people going about their daily lives you could be forgiven for wondering. Many people still smoke tobacco, a willful self-destructive act that always damages health and causes disease. Always -- got it smokers? Always; without exception. It is impossible to smoke without doing harm.
Equally, look at the pure junk that is passed off as food. Watching what people eat can also lead to thinking that perhaps they are engaged in deliberate self-destruction.
Get this message folks: almost all cancer is avoidable. For the most part, cancer is a lifestyle disease. Even when you already have cancer diagnosed there is much you can do to eliminate it, provided you are willing to make the correct changes to your lifestyle.
I say 'correct' because make no mistake, one way or another once you have your diagnosis your lifestyle is definitely going to change and if you make the wrong choices it is going to get pretty ugly and then end.
The wrong choices include continuing the lifestyle that gave you the cancer. That's just plain stupid. Is that a bit harsh? Yes it is harsh but it's time people had some plain talk.
While we're being plain, another wrong choice may be the approach to treatment that you choose. If you go the ordinary or orthodox route you can expect things to become just a numbers game. Your physician may or may not speak platitudes and dress things up for you but at the end of the day mainstream medicine treats oncology (medical cancer treatment) as an exercise in statistics. If you knew the figures you might think again about your treatment choice so they will probably be kept from you or provided in 'massaged' form.
Once you go down the orthodox path your survival rate will fit somewhere on the medical scoreboard. What you probably won't be told is that if the disease doesn't kill you there is every chance that the treatment will. And before it does finally finish you off it will probably run you close to the edge a few times due to either side effects or complications or both.
Of course these horrendous experiences will all be justified in the name of saving your life and treating the cancer. If you seriously question the worth of the treatment because of the way it actually ruins your life then the fall-back lines may be given to you that at least you are contributing to medical science and your experiences will help someone else. You will probably believe this because your mind want to grasp at anytrhing to help justify what you are putting yourself through. The truth is that your case stands little, if any, chance of making a contribution in almost all instances.
Why am I spilling the beans here? Well, I'm reacting to yet another update from the FDA and Genetech about the truly dreadful problems caused by yet another anti-cancer drug. This time it is Avastin (bevacizumab). The FDA released the following.
Avastin (bevacizumab)
Audience: Oncological and neurological healthcare professionals
Genentech and FDA notified healthcare professionals about revisions to the WARNINGS and ADVERSE REACTIONS sections of the prescribing information to inform healthcare professionals of:
- cases of a rare brain-capillary leak syndrome [reversible posterior leukoencephalopathy syndrome (RPLS)] and
- postmarketing reports of nasal septum perforation.
RPLS is a neurological disorder associated with hypertension, fluid retention and cytotoxic effects of immunosuppressive drugs on the vascular endothelium. The syndrome can present with headache, seizure, lethargy, confusion, blindness and other visual and neurologic disturbances. Mild to severe hypertension may be present, but is not necessary for diagnosis. The onset of symptoms has been reported to occur from 16 hours to 1 year after initiation of Avastin. Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) is necessary to confirm the diagnosis of RPLS.
This drug is used to reduce the vascularization of tumors associated with metastatic cancer of the rectum and colon. The idea is that tumor growth is retarded by reducing their blood flow. Th ebroad theory may be sound but the practice is barbaric.
You can read the technical details in materials made available by the drug's manufacturer here.
[September, 2006 - Updated Prescribing Information [1] - Genentech - PDF File]
[September, 2006 - Dear Healthcare Professional letter [2] - Genentech - PDF File]
Read my book that will be released online very soon to learn just what a truly healthy lifestyle involves. Discover how to cleanse every cell in your body [3] and to build your immune function, not undermine it or destroy it. Or find some other sources of sound health education. Just be sure to implement what you learn. Hopefully you will make good lifestyle choices and enjoy health and life and will never need to face having your choices made for you or limited to effectively just a rock or a hard place.