Tag Archive for: breast cancer

How Does Alternative Medicine Affect Cancer?

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The final study this week is an analysis of survival data on people who selected only alternative medicine as treatment after being diagnosed with a non-metastatic cancer. The subjects declined any conventional cancer treatment defined as surgery, chemotherapy, radiation, and hormone therapy. Let’s take a look at this observational study.

Researchers used the National Cancer Database to identify people who selected “other unproven cancer treatments administered by non-medical personnel”; 281 were identified over a 10-year time span. They were compared with 560 randomly selected subjects who chose conventional treatment. All were tracked for an average of 5.5 years.

The results were dismal. Over the 5.5 years, those who chose alternative medicine were 2.5 times more likely to die than those who chose conventional treatment. The rates were worse for individual forms of cancer such as breast, lung, and colorectal cancer. The only type of cancer for which had no significant differences in mortality was prostate cancer; that’s to be expected as most prostate cancers are slow growing and rarely cause death quickly.

This was simply an observational study. We don’t know the types of alternative medicine used nor whether any people returned for conventional treatment when the alternative medicine wasn’t working. However, I still think it speaks volumes: If you’re diagnosed with cancer, don’t play games. Get the strongest treatment possible; if you don’t, it could cost you your life sooner rather than later.

If you want more information about the study and the place of complementary and integrative treatments if you have cancer, listen to the newest Straight Talk on Health MP3, Alternative Medicine and Cancer. Normally you’d have to be a Member or Insider to listen to Straight Talk on Health, but because this topic is so important to your health, I’m making it available to everyone if you click on the link in this memo (I’m asking you to share it only when appropriate). If you like it, that’s one more reason to join DrChet.com.

What are you prepared to do today?

Dr. Chet

 

Reference: JNCI: doi.org/10.1093/jnci/djx145.

 

Breast Cancer Follow-up Options

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After treatment for breast cancer, you have a decision to make: do you take the medication to prevent reoccurrence? The decision always lies with the individual after considering all options; my role is to explain the options based on the current research. It goes without question that everyone should try to have the healthiest lifestyle possible including diet, exercise, and supplements. Those will help improve the outcome, medication or not, but this is about whether to take the medication, so here we go.

 

The Medication Option

Basing the decision on current research, taking the letrozole would seem . . .

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Research on Breast Cancer Reoccurrence

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This week, I’m providing my answer to a long-time reader who asked what I thought about taking the estrogen-receptor blocking medication letrozole in light of some side-effects she had. One of the important considerations is how much the medication will help prevent breast cancer reoccurrence. It just so happens that the American Society of Clinical Oncology had their annual meeting last week, and one of the papers presented addressed the issue of long-term use of letrozole (1). Here’s what the abstract said.

Researchers recruited close to 2,000 women who previously had early-stage . . .

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A Breast Cancer Question

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If you’re a long-time reader, you know Paula had breast cancer that was successfully treated about 18 months ago. We’ve been through the process, so we know there are no easy answers when it comes to cancer treatment. The same is true for what to do after treatment. This week, I’m going to talk about a question someone recently asked me about post-cancer treatment for breast cancer. The question applies to Paula as well as the person who asked the question, and I think it may help any woman faced with the same question.

A . . .

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Who Decides?

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After the past two messages, I hope you’ve taken the time to think about screening tests. There are many ways to respond, from outrage to “Who cares what some obscure researchers say?” To me, it’s complicated but it always comes back to statistics.

In Tuesday’s message, the opinion voiced the concern that going against the evidence presented by the USTFPS by a political body was opening the door to more intervention based on emotion rather than fact. The facts were that more women would be faced with the stress to their minds and their bodies if they . . .

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Too Old to Test

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The next comment on excessive testing concerns unnecessary prostate and breast cancer screening in people who are 65 and older. Based on the current U.S. census, that would be about 40 million Americans.

Researchers used data from the 2012 Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS) survey. This telephone survey is a minimum 190 questions and can be up to 410 questions. As the title suggests, it asks about all aspects of health from diet, exercise, previous conditions and diseases, and current conditions and diseases. The researchers were interested in the number of people 65 and older who responded to . . .

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Too Many Mammograms?

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An interesting opinion article this past week concerned mammograms and whether they should be done as frequently as they are. The authors commented on what they view as politically mandated care instead of evidence-based care.

The U.S. Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF) had traditionally recommended that based on the evidence, mammograms should begin when a woman turns 40 and then every two years. In 2012, the recommendation was changed to mammograms beginning at 50. The reason for the change was statistics: few lives would be saved by beginning tests earlier. Needless to say, women were not happy. The . . .

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Exercise and Breast Cancer Treatment

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Cancer treatment isn’t for wimps. Surgery can be difficult as can radiation treatment. But of all the common treatments that really seem to knock people for a loop, chemotherapy is tops. Nausea. Fatigue. Hair loss. Fortunately, there are some medications that can help with those side effects, but one of the things that may help the most is exercise. Let’s take a look at a study published just this month.

Researchers in Germany put women undergoing chemotherapy on a weight-training program, an endurance program, or continued with standard care that included neither. They were interested in how . . .

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Breast Cancer: A Professional’s Story

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Since I began this series on Tuesday, many more readers have shared their stories. Please keep them coming; I will share more of them at some point. Paula asks that I thank the many people who have told their stories and wished her well; they all help maintain the positive attitude that aids healing.

I chose this response because it’s from a healthcare professional who is a survivor; she raises some important issues that you should know more about. Please read this final story from a breast cancer survivor because it’s really designed for you from someone who . . .

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Breast Cancer: A Man’s Story

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We usually think of breast cancer as a woman’s disease. For the most part, that’s true, but men get breast cancer as well. An estimated 2,360 or about 1% of all the diagnosed new cases of invasive breast cancer were estimated to be found in men in 2014. We’re more aware of breast cancer in men after some famous men talked about their experience with the disease: Edward Brooke, former U.S. Senator for Massachusetts; Peter Criss, Kiss drummer; Ernie Green, former NFL football player; Rod Roddy, announcer for The Price is Right, and Richard Roundtree . . .

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