Category Archives: Living with Cancer

Alternative Cancer Treatment, Living with Cancer, Stress Management

Alternative Cancer Treatment Is Popular with Patients

Alternative Cancer Therapy
Alternative Cancer Therapy

Surgery, chemotherapy and radiation have dominated Western medicine for decades. But a new player on the cancer team is earning cheers from patients. An estimated half of cancer patients now include some form of alternative cancer treatment in their cancer treatment program.

Alternative Treatments Go Mainstream

Many alternative cancer treatments are not actually “new,” although their therapeutic value has only recently been recognized by Western oncologists. Acupuncture, massage, nutritional immunotherapy and meditation are just some of the alternative therapies now being employed at university hospitals and U.S. cancer centers that have a long history of successful therapeutic treatment of disease in other cultures.

What’s Old Is New Again

Traditional medicine’s focus on immunotherapy as the future of cancer treatment is another example of mainstream medicine’s belated acceptance of alternative cancer treatment. Genetic and cellular research have added scientific proof to the experiential findings of alternative therapy practitioners who have long understood the critical role the body’s immune system plays in cancer treatment. While many U.S. cancer researchers are heralding immunotherapy as “new,” integrative immunotherapy has been practiced with beneficial results at Issels Oncology Centers for more than 60 years.

Merging Two Approaches

Cancer patients are benefiting from traditional medicine’s broadening view of cancer treatment. When used in conjunction with traditional cancer treatments, alternative therapies have been shown to greatly reduce the painful and unpleasant side effects of traditional treatments. More importantly, merging traditional and alternative cancer treatments improves your immune system response and enhances the effectiveness of cancer treatment.

Issels Oncology Centers works with many patients undergoing traditional cancer treatment. Contact us today for information about adding alternative cancer therapies to your cancer treatment program.

Alternative Cancer Treatment, Cancer Research, Living with Cancer

Cancer Drug Research Will Change Lives in the Future

Cancer Drug Research
Cancer Drug Research

Cancer drug research is moving medicine toward a new frontier of personalized cancer treatment that is expected to change our lives for the better in the not too distant future. Tremendous strides in genetic and cellular research have vastly extended our knowledge about how cancer attacks and spreads on the cellular level, opening new avenues for cancer research and potential treatments.

Targeting Cancer Triggers

Focusing cancer research on genetic and cellular behavior has revealed the existence of specific genes and proteins that affect cell growth and development. When these genetic switches malfunction, uncontrolled cell growth can occur which can lead to the development of cancer tumors can occur. Recent cancer news indicates that drug manufacturers are racing to develop new cancer drugs designed to target these cancer triggers and turn them off. The first of this new wave of cancer drugs is beginning to reach the marketplace and early cancer news reports are promising.

Personalized Cancer Treatment

As cancer drugs become more effective in isolating and neutralizing genetic and cellular cancer triggers, personalized cancer treatments are expected to become the norm. If, as many believe, personal genome mapping becomes commonplace in the future; cancer specialists will be able to order personalized cancer treatments based on your own genetic code.

At the Issels Centers in Tijuana, Mexico and Santa Barbara, California, we recognize that every patient is unique and that each individual’s response to cancer is equally unique. Cancer demands an individualized response. Our highly personalized cancer treatment protocols have produced an admirable record of complete long-term remissions of advanced and standard therapy-resistant cancers. Visit our website to hear what our patients have to say.

Alternative Cancer Treatment, Cancer Care Tips, Cancer Research, Living with Cancer

Five Things to Know About Lung Cancer

Things To Know About Lung Cancer
Things To Know About Lung Cancer

Perhaps you’re feeling overwhelmed and you’re struggling to learn all you can about your lung cancer diagnosis. There is a great deal of information available online, however, we would like to offer you five facts you should know about lung cancer.

Fact #1: Smoking isn’t the only cause of lung cancer

While it’s true that smoking causes around 87% of all cases, it’s not the only cause. Lung cancer occurs when the cells in the lungs mutate, and this is often caused by breathing in toxic chemicals, but it can also be due to genetics.

Fact #2: Lung cancer symptoms usually do not appear until the cancer has spread

Early cases of lung cancer generally produce no symptoms, which is why it can sometimes take years for doctors to find the cancer.

Fact #3: Researchers are working to find ways to diagnose lung cancer early on

Lung cancer is most successfully treated when it’s found early. Researchers are looking for more ways to perform early diagnostic tests. Lose dose CT scans might be one option.

Fact #4: There are many different types of lung cancer

Small cell and non-small cell are both types of lung cancer, but there are many more variables involved that will help your doctor decide which lung cancer treatment is right for you.

Fact #5: There are many effective alternative lung cancer treatments available

Chemo and radiation are no longer your only options. Alternative treatments are getting great results.

If you would like more information about Issels, we would love to talk with you and answer any questions you might have about available lung cancer treatment options. Please contact us today.

Alternative Cancer Treatment, Cancer Research, Cancer Survivors, Immunotherapy, Living with Cancer

Can Your Body Be Trained to Cure Its Own Cancer?

Can You Train To Fight Cancer?
Can You Train To Fight Cancer?

For decades, cancer patients have been limited to a trio of treatment options. While surgery, chemotherapy and radiation have their effectiveness, they also have serious drawbacks that can compromise quality of life. Continued research in the area of immunotherapy is uncovering its power to fight cancer naturally while preserving the body’s healthy cells.

The exciting concept behind immunotherapy is that uses the power of the body’s own immune system to essentially treat itself. Unlike chemotherapy, the immune system is more adaptive and able to distinguish between healthy tissue and invaders such as cancer cells. Consider the example of childhood vaccines, which remain effective over time thanks to the immune system’s memory.

One of the biggest breakthroughs came in a 2013 study conducted by Bristol-Myers Squibb. A group of 52 melanoma patients was treated with one approved and one experimental drug. Nearly one-third experienced rapid and deep tumor regression. As study leader Dr. Jedd Wolchok observed, “We have spent several decades in cancer research learning better ways to treat the tumor. Now we are learning how to treat the patient.”

Dr. David Maloney has been working on targeted cancer therapies since he was a student at Stanford in the early 1980s. He’s currently focused on a procedure wherein a patient is infused with his own T-cells that have been harvested and genetically re-engineered to become better cancer “drones”. He cites the benefit of immunotherapy as a move away from a “one-size-fits-all” approach to customized treatments.

For more than 60 years, Issels has been on the forefront of integrative immuno-oncology treatments. Visit our website to read and hear first-hand testimonials from our patients.

Alternative Cancer Treatment, Cancer Research, Immunotherapy, Living with Cancer

Cancer Has Been Linked to Popular Menopause Medication

Cancer Linked To Menopause Medication
Cancer Linked To Menopause Medication

Two new studies appear to have decided the debate over whether there is a causal link between cancer and menopause hormone therapy. The answer is YES.

Menopause Drug Linked to Cancer

In recent cancer news, a Canadian Cancer Society report concludes that a popular estrogen-based menopause drug has caused breast cancer in thousands of Canadian women.

As reported in The Star, the report states: “The body of evidence to date overwhelmingly points to a causal connection between the use of Premplus and the development of invasive breast cancer in women.”

The report has sparked a Canadian class-action lawsuit against the drug’s manufacturer, Wyeth Canada. Owned by U.S. pharmaceutical giant Pfizer, Wyeth has denied that Premplus causes breast cancer, stating that the medication is “safe and effective when used as directed.” A Vancouver court will hear the lawsuit in October.

HRT Doubles Cancer Risk

In corroborating cancer news, a large federal study in the U.S. has found that menopause hormone replacement therapy (HRT) medications double breast cancer risk when taken for five years. In women taking estrogen and progestin pills, cancer risk increased in just two years.

However, halting hormone replacement therapy returned cancer risk levels to normal in about two years. Given study findings, researchers believe breast cancer risk would not increase for most women if hormone replacement therapy was stopped within three years.

“It’s an excellent message for women: You can still diminish risk (by quitting), even if you’ve been on hormones for a long time,” Dr. Claudine Isaacs of Georgetown University told The Star.

Issels integrative immunotherapy offers personalized non-toxic treatments for breast and other cancers. Contact us for information about integrative oncology.

Cancer Care Tips, Living with Cancer, Stage Four Cancer Treatment

Tips for Telling Your Family You Have Received a Diagnosis of Cancer

Telling Your Family Of Your Diagnosis
Telling Your Family Of Your Diagnosis

Discussing cancer with your family is akin to walking in an emotional mine field. Once you make it known you have been diagnosed with cancer, you must be prepared to navigate carefully in response to different reactions.

What to Do

Take time to come to terms with how you feel. If you’re angry and afraid, that’s okay. Don’t hold it in. It’s important to have someone you trust to talk to that will listen and be supportive.

Don’t attempt to go through it alone. Decide who you will tell, first, and how much information you want to initially share. The news will have a decided effect and those you tell may not react in the same way. You’ll need to be prepared, as best as possible, for addressing each individual.

Discussing your condition, within your comfort zone, is beneficial. By talking about it, you can move forward with a plan of action.

Don’t be afraid to let people know the limits you’re willing to discuss your condition. Repeating the same information over and over can become tiring and emotionally draining for you. Delegate a friend or family member to relay the news to others.

While you may not want to talk to your closest family members, it’s important that you talk to someone. If you’re not ready to let your family know of your condition, join a cancer support group where you can discuss your feelings, ask questions, and get advice from others.

Keep your daily routine as near normal as possible and encourage and support your family in doing the same.

Contact Issels Integrative Oncology Centers for any questions or information about available treatments.