So, what do you do if you have cancer? People with cancer may end up nauseous, finding it difficult to eat. They may lose their sense of taste, they may have difficulty chewing or swallowing because of mouth sores or lack of saliva. Or they just may have no appetite at all. The American Cancer Society has come up with a cookbook specifically for people living with cancer, called What to Eat During Cancer Treatment. The book is more than a collection of recipes. It provides advise and tips on eating well while going through treatment.

The book includes:

• 100 recipes
• advice for the caregiver
• tips to make eating out easier
• a kitchen staples list
• advice on avoiding excess weight gain during treatment
• take-along food survival kits and
• a list of organizations and groups that may help you find more information on cancer, nutrition, and eating well.

You can read more about the cookbook, including how to get a copy, at the ACS website.

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Image: PhotoXpress.com

Post from: Blisstree

Cancer Cookbook – What to Eat

Just think of that. If you could reduce the amount of chemo someone received, how much quicker they might be able to recover. This is preliminary news and more research will need to be done, but it is definitely a step in the right direction.

Image: sxc.hu.

Post from: Blisstree

Heat Helps When Treating Tumors

OTTAWA - Health Canada is warning Canadians that the use of stable cesium compounds (non-radioactive form of cesium salts, primarily cesium chloride) may pose the risk of life-threatening heart problems. Cesium, primarily in the form of cesium chloride, is promoted on the Internet to prevent various forms of cancer and as a self-administered cancer treatment.

While use of radioactive cesium in radiation treatment for cancer is authorized in Canada, Health Canada has not authorized any health products containing stable cesium compounds for oral or intravenous use, including cesium chloride. However, numerous Internet sites promote the oral use of cesium chloride as an alternative to chemotherapy. In addition to the risk of life-threatening heart problems, there is inadequate evidence to support claims of benefits with this type of treatment. The decision to self-administer cesium chloride as a treatment for cancer may also delay the start of authorized therapies that have been proven effective.

Health Canada is aware of three cases of serious cardiac arrhythmias (irregular heart beat) in Canadian consumers who took oral cesium chloride. These patients also experienced decreased or loss of consciousness. In some published foreign cases, arrhythmia following cesium chloride use has led to cardiac arrest, a condition that can be fatal. Some of these cases involved intravenous use of cesium.

Health Canada advises against any use of unauthorized oral or intravenous stable cesium compound.  Users who experience adverse events, including irregular heart beat or decreased consciousness, should consult a health care practitioner immediately. Canadians should discuss the use of any health product for the prevention or treatment of cancer with their health care practitioner prior to starting its use.

Health Canada is taking action on unauthorized cesium-containing products sold on the Canadian market. All health products authorized for sale in Canada bear an eight-digit Drug Identification Number (DIN), a Natural Product Number (NPN) or a Homeopathic Drug Number (DIN-HM). This authorization indicates that the product has been assessed by Health Canada for safety, effectiveness and quality.

Consumers requiring more information about this advisory can contact Health Canada’s public enquiries line at (613) 957-2991, or toll free at 1-866-225-0709.

Complaints involving products containing cesium chloride may be reported to the Health Products and Food Branch Inspectorate by calling the toll-free hotline at 1-800-267-9675, or by writing to:

Health Products and Food Branch Inspectorate
Health Canada
Address Locator: 2003C
Ottawa, Ontario K1A 0K9

You can also contact a Health Products and Food Branch Inspectorate Regional Operational Centre.

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Image: Newscom.com

Post from: Blisstree

Health Canada Warning: Internet Cesium

During Cancer Control Month, we honor cancer victims and survivors, raise awareness of the impact cancer has on our citizens, and underscore our commitment to battling this deadly disease.

Cancer is the second-leading cause of death in the United States, and we remain committed to making the medical advances necessary to prevent and treat this disease.

Scientists and medical professionals have made great progress in developing innovative treatments, improving diagnostic tools, and increasing our understanding of cancer. These advances have helped people with cancer live longer, healthier lives.

Cancer Control Month is April — and the word the first comes to mind (each time I think of cancer) is hope. HOPE. There should always be hope, me thinks. Despite the difficulties in finding the cure, despite the difficulties in surviving cancer.

The official website of the American Cancer Society has a little corner called Stories of Hope. Have you found that yet? If not, check it out. Right Now.

Last week, I found out about Hope Lodge. What a fitting name to accommodate (for free!) cancer patients seeking treatment away from home.

Honestly, when I found out about that wonderful service (Hope Lodge), I was really deeply touched (still is). That is really a lot of help – in more ways than one – to cancer patients.

Speaking of Hope Lodge, I found this story of a prostate cancer survivor who found HOPE in Hope Lodge.

It took several weeks for a spot to open up; until then, Learned stayed in a hotel. Although he joined a local gym and even managed to find some tennis partners, he still felt isolated.

“I was in a strange city where I knew no one and I was by myself and my treatment was 15 minutes a day and that was the only thing I had to do,” he recalls. “It was very lonely.”

That all changed when Learned moved into Hope Lodge for the final 3 weeks of his treatment.

“Everybody there was so friendly,” he says. “It’s an incredible place.”

Read on. Thank God for such places, making one’s journey to survival, bearable.

Post from: Blisstree

Finding Hope in Cancer

Last month, news broke out the Patrick Swayze has pancreatic cancer.

Patrick Swayze has had an “excellent response” to his cancer treatment, a doctor for the actor told People.

In addition, Swayze told People the outpouring of support since announcing he had pancreatic cancer has been nothing short of spectacular.

“We’re thrilled and grateful for the positive response Patrick has shown towards his treatment. Also, we can’t help but feel that all the prayers, meditations and good thoughts sent his way by everyone has made a difference. Thank you!,” Swayze and his wife, Lisa Niemi, told People.

Indeed, it is good to hear an update. We wish you well, Patrick Swayze!

Post from: Blisstree

Patrick Swayze Cancer Update

However, in Europe and  Canada, that is already the case and people just complain of long lines in hospitals and doctors’ clinics.

I guess it is better to wait in line, than shoulder partial or all of your healthcare bills or not having the chance for the best treatments and Specialists.

Where I am – The Philippines – if you are poor and have no health insurance, JUST PRAY that you won’t be contacted by any serious disease, because either you have no health insurance, or you have one but will not cover your cancer treatments.

No kidding, that’s true!

Finally it has been reported by the American Cancer Society which found substantial evidence that lack of adequate health insurance coverage is associated with less access to care and poorer outcomes for cancer patients.

The report finds the uninsured are less likely to receive recommended cancer screening tests, are more likely to be diagnosed with later stage disease, and have lower survival rates than those with private insurance for several cancers.

The new findings on stage at diagnosis and survival by insurance status use data from the National Cancer Database (NCDB), a hospital-based registry sponsored by the American College of Surgeons and the American Cancer Society, the only national registry that collects information on patient insurance status.

Find more details from the American Cancer Society.

The abovementioned report appears in the January/February issue of CA: A Cancer Journal for Clinicians, a peer-reviewed journal of the American Cancer Society.

[Hat tip: Paul McGee - Senior Director of Communications & Marketing for American Cancer Society]

Post from: Blisstree

Your Insurance Status Determines Cancer Outcomes

Although I know one person in this world (my best friend) who was quite comfortable wearing a shaved head at one time in her life (not because of chemotherapy, she just decided that shaved is the in thing and got away with it), most women wouldn’t be as comfortable with a shaved head or an almost-shaved head, even as a consequence of cancer treatments.

Some cancer patients though, in time have learned to love having less hair, and some look good with it as well.

But if you are one of those who wouldn’t be caught dead in public without your crowning glory, wearing bandannas or wigs are the only solutions (as opposed to not going out at all!).
Somebody (a reader, I think) pointed me to COUTURE FOR CANCER™ – a non-profit organization that donates custom made non-surgical hair replacement systems completely free of charge, to any person suffering hair loss due to cancer and chemotherapy treatments.

For free! I wonder if there is no hitch?

Anyway, you can check out their website www.coutureforcancer.org if you are interested and then tell us if the manes are really free of charge for cancer patients.

Post from: Blisstree

Made-to-Order Manes from COUTURE FOR CANCER™

According to the article, maintaining a healthy body weight is crucial when preparing for cancer treatment.

While a thin underweight body may not be able to tolerate cancer treatment, being overweight could increase the chance of cancer recurrence.

More than anybody else, a cancer patient’s nutritional and diet needs are complicated – it’s like walking on a very thin thread.

Lifted from Women and Cancer Magazine, the article discusses weight-can guidelines, tips and food choices specifically for cancer patients.

Post from: Blisstree

Cancer and Diet

Period.

Though selective targeted therapies (selective in a sense that the treatment would only kill the cancer cells and spare the good ones) are under works, a non-toxic treatment would have been bliss.

With University of Kentucky’s newest discovery, non-toxic cancer treatments may soon be a reality.

The compound, dubbed UK-101, inhibits LMP2 while not attacking normal cells, indicating that it could be an effective cancer treatment that does not produce the kinds of unpleasant side effects reported by many patients currently treated with broadly acting proteasome inhibitors and chemotherapeutics.

The study findings have been reported in the April 30 issue of the academic journal Chemistry & Biology.

Read the full report.

Post from: Blisstree

Non-toxic Cancer Treatments, Discovered

The said study, entitled: “Effect of Concomitant Naturopathic Therapies on Clinical Tumor Response to External Beam Radiation Therapy for Prostate Cancer”, conducted by researchers of Cancer Treatment Centers of America reviewed PSA levels of prostate cancer patients after receiving radiation therapy and found no difference between patients taking antioxidants and those who did not.

The antioxidants used in the study included the following: green tea extract, melatonin, high-potency multivitamins, vitamin C and vitamin E.

According to Timothy Birdsall, ND, vice president of integrative medicine for Cancer Treatment Centers of America and lead author of the paper:

“This study provides evidence that antioxidants as a complementary therapy in cancer treatment do not interfere with external beam radiation Therapy. Antioxidants are one of many complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) therapies that are crucial in today’s fight against cancer.”

Sure, advanced radiation, chemotherapy and surgery remain the best medical option for patients against treating cancer. However, there are the devastating side effects that debilitate the patient, physically and emotionally.

Therefore this new study combines the best of traditional medicine with scientifically supported complementary and alternative therapies, via a fully integrated whole person care model, providing patients a chance to live a better quality of life.

Find more details from the press release.

Post from: Blisstree

Antioxidant Therapies Do Not Interfere with Radiation Treatment in Cancer Patients