Category Archives: Living with Cancer

Coping and Living Well After A Cancer Diagnosis

When you receive a diagnosis of cancer, your mental and emotional adjustment can make a difference during your course of immuno oncology treatment. Unfortunately, most people have no frame of reference for coping with such news.

The American Cancer Society offers helpful tips for coming to terms with a cancer diagnosis and continuing to live life to the fullest.

Follow Your Own Path

Your situation is unique. Others may offer ideas of what has worked for them, but don’t feel obligated to follow them to the letter. View these tips as suggestions and try out different methods to find your own best solution.

Learn About Your Cancer

Knowledge is power. The unknown is often more frightening than the reality, so take time to educate yourself about your type of cancer and the various treatment options that are available.

Stay Active

The link between exercise and mood is well-documented. Physical activity stimulates production of endorphins, which are natural mood elevators. Consult with your doctor to make sure you’re not overdoing it.

Let Your Feelings Out

Many people believe that fear, anger and other negative emotions must remain hidden, but that can make your situation even harder to bear. Talk to friends and family, join a support group or try an artistic outlet such as writing or painting.

Be Kind to Yourself

Make a point each day of doing something that makes you happy, whether it’s meeting a friend for lunch or simply meditating for 15 minutes.

Issels®: Immuno Oncology Personally Created for You

Our non-toxic immunotherapy programs are individually designed to meet your specific needs. Contact us to learn more about the Issels Cancer Treatment.

Good Nutrition Increases Quality of Life During Treatment

Getting the right vitamins and minerals from the food you eat is so important as a cancer patient. However, many people don’t realize that nutrition is seriously affected by both cancer and the treatments used for it. Here at Issels®, we care about more than just treating cancer. Our focus is on improving your quality of life during your treatments. It is our hope that these nutrition tips for cancer patients will be helpful for you.

Nutrition Tips for Cancer Patients

Prior to cancer, you may have been fairly healthy. Most people are familiar with what they need to do to eat a healthy diet. You probably focused on eating:

  • Plenty of whole grain foods
  • Less red meat
  • Lots of vegetables
  • Lots of fruits

As you know, when you have cancer your desire for food changes. You may need to make some changes in your diet too. Don’t be afraid to:

  • Eat foods that are higher in fat to keep your weight up
  • Eat high calorie foods
  • Drink plenty of milk if it tastes good to you
  • Eat ice cream because it may be soothing to a dry or sore throat

Why is Getting Adequate Nutrition So Hard for Cancer Patients?

If you have cancer, your body is going through a lot of changes internally. You have probably noticed that your throat is often dry. You may not have much of an appetite, or you could have sore teeth or gums. A number of problems can affect your appetite.

At Issels®, we can help you cope with these and other issues you may be facing. Contact us to learn more.

Sleep Disorders Can Impact Cancer Patients

The Anatomy of Sleep Cycles

While you’re not consciously aware of it, there are two distinct phases to sleep:

  • REM (rapid eye movement) sleep is the time when your brain is active.
  • NREM (non-rapid eye movement) sleep is the restful phase, which includes four stages ranging from light to deep.

One full sleep cycle lasts approximately 90 minutes, with a NREM phase followed by a REM phase. This pattern repeats four to six times during the night, depending on the total length of sleep. Any interruption in the cycle prevents the brain from fully completing its restorative tasks.

Sleep Disorders and Cancer

The National Cancer Institute identifies the five major sleep disorders as:

  • Insomnia or the inability to fall asleep and remain asleep
  • Sleep apnea, where a patient actually stops breathing for several seconds at different times during the night
  • Hypersomnia, which causes difficulty staying awake during daytime hours
  • Circadian rhythm disorder, in which the entire sleep-wake cycle is skewed
  • Parasomnia encompasses unusual behavior such as walking or eating while asleep

Chronic lack of sleep can interfere with your ability to care for yourself during treatment while it saps your energy and increases the risk of depression.

Issels® Offers Immunotherapy for Cancer Designed for Your Specific Needs

Our integrative immunotherapy for cancer treatments are focused on boosting your body’s natural abilities to fight the disease. Visit our website for more information.

Cancer Patients Can Benefit From Hands-On Therapies

If you’ve been diagnosed with cancer, “the human touch” is more than just a figure of speech. Hands-on therapies can help reduce stress, boost your spirits, and reduce physical pain.

How “Healing Hands” Boost the Fight against Cancer

There is scientific research to back up the positive claims of touch therapy. One widely publicized study involved a group of married women who were threatened with a mild electric shock, but their anxiety levels dropped instantly with a touch from their husbands’ hands.

Chronic stress and depression inhibit your body’s immune system, making it more vulnerable to invading cancer cells. Touch therapy can improve your overall wellness so you’re better equipped to fight the disease.

3 Popular Touch Therapy Techniques:

  • Body psychotherapy goes beyond talk therapy, helping you tune in to bodily sensations that uncover deep emotional traumas. Methods focus on various elements such as muscle contraction, breathing and posture.
  • Physical therapy addresses pain and limited movement in muscles, joints and other tissues. According to one study, women who had undergone breast cancer surgery and worked with a physical therapist had less pain and better quality of life than others who exercised on their own.
  • Massage therapy may seem like a luxury, but it actually triggers brain activity that increases serotonin, a mood-elevating chemical, and reduces the stress hormone cortisol.

Immunotherapy for Cancer: An Integrative Approach

At Issels®, our innovative immunotherapy for cancer uses a comprehensive mind-body approach to attack cancer cells while restoring your natural immune response. Visit our website for more information about our non-toxic, personally tailored treatment programs.

Tips for Coping with a New Cancer Diagnosis

Do you Have or Know Someone Who is Currently Experiencing a Hard to Treat Cancer? There is Hope!
Do you Have or Know Someone Who is Currently Experiencing a Hard to Treat Cancer? There is Hope!

When you receive a diagnosis of cancer, your mental and emotional adjustment can make a difference during your course of immuno oncology treatment. Unfortunately, most people have no frame of reference for coping with such news.

The American Cancer Society offers helpful tips for coming to terms with a cancer diagnosis and continuing to live life to the fullest.

Follow Your Own Path

Your situation is unique. Others may offer ideas of what has worked for them, but don’t feel obligated to follow them to the letter. View these tips as suggestions and try out different methods to find your own best solution.

Learn About Your Cancer

Knowledge is power. The unknown is often more frightening than the reality, so take time to educate yourself about your type of cancer and the various treatment options that are available.

Stay Active

The link between exercise and mood is well-documented. Physical activity stimulates production of endorphins, which are natural mood elevators. Consult with your doctor to make sure you’re not overdoing it.

Let Your Feelings Out

Many people believe that fear, anger and other negative emotions must remain hidden, but that can make your situation even harder to bear. Talk to friends and family, join a support group or try an artistic outlet such as writing or painting.

Be Kind to Yourself

Make a point each day of doing something that makes you happy, whether it’s meeting a friend for lunch or simply meditating for 15 minutes.

Issels®: Immuno Oncology Personally Created for You

Our non-toxic immunotherapy programs are individually designed to meet your specific needs. Contact us to learn more.

New Vaccine for Ovarian Cancer Improves Life Expectancy

There is New Hope for Ovarian Cancer Treatment
There is New Hope for Ovarian Cancer Treatment

No two cases of cancer are the same, so scientists are finding that cookie-cutter cancer treatment is not always the best solution. According to a recently published study, a personalized vaccine has shown promise for boosting ovarian cancer survival rates.

Ovarian Cancer: The “Silent Killer”

An international team of researchers conducted the study of ovarian cancer, often referred to as a “silent killer” because it’s usually in an advanced stage by the time of diagnosis. Chemotherapy plus surgery is the conventional course of treatment, but team member Dr. Lana Kandalaft notes that 85 percent of patients experience recurrence.

Matching Cancer Treatment to Patient

Immunotherapy is a form of treatment that uses a patient’s own immune system to attack and kill cancer cells. In this case, researchers created a vaccine by harvesting a patient’s immune cells, then exposed them to cells from the tumor so they could be identified.

All patients in the study were treated with a combination of immunotherapy drugs, while a certain number also received the vaccine. After one year, the vaccinated group had a survival rate of 100 percent compared to 60 percent of the control group.

Results continued to be encouraging after two years. The vaccinated group showed a survival rate of 78 percent, while the rate dropped to 44 percent with patients receiving drugs alone.

Issels®: A Pioneer in Personalized Cancer Treatment

Our founder, Dr. Josef Issels, performed groundbreaking work developing immunotherapy as an integrative and holistic form of cancer treatment. Visit our website for more information about how we are continuing his legacy of helping patients with advanced and therapy-resistant cancers achieve long-term remission.