Tag Archives: Chemotherapy

Five Tips to Keeping Healthy After Cancer Treatment

Immune System Building Foods
Tips for After Care

Cancer after care is a vital aspect of ensuring you or a loved one lives a happy, healthy life for years to come. Here are just a few of the best cancer after care tips to help cultivate a long and fulfilling life.

1. Maintain a Healthy Diet

Get into the habit of enjoying a wider variety of fruits, vegetables and other foods rich in vitamins. Selecting low fat alternatives when buying milk or butter can also help reduce weight gain, cholesterol and overall promote better well-being.

2. Stay Active

Along with proper diet, exercising on a regular basis is an excellent way to promote better health during cancer after care. Morning or evening walks, running and bicycling just a few days a week can have a very positive impact on your health.

3. Avoid Alcohol or Tobacco

It is extremely important to avoid tobacco products or alcohol during cancer after care. Any dangerous, potentially habit forming substances can present a major obstacle to living a healthy life following cancer treatment.

4. Visit the Doctor Often

Keeping in touch with your doctor on a regular basis is integral to successful cancer after care. Do not hesitate to discuss concerns, recent changes in health or issues with medication you may be encountering.

5. Keep a Good Attitude

Having a good attitude tends to put everything into perspective, often changing the way we see the world around us. Remaining optimistic will certainly improve health, alleviate stress and promote better cancer after care.

If you would like to learn more about alternative cancer treatments and today’s best cancer after care programs, Contact Issels® today about any questions you may have on if the Issels Treatment® may be right for you.

Three Tips to Understanding your Cancer’s Prognosis

Understanding Cancer
Understanding Cancer

Cancer is the giant bugaboo that eventually invades everyone’s life if they live long enough. Still, if caught early and treated agressively, a prognosis of cancer is not necessarily an untimely death sentence. Here are the most important things to know about your prognosis once you have defintively been diagnosed with cancer:

It is Fact Based

Though it may mystify the patient to some extent, a doctor’s cancer prognosis is thoroughly grounded in his own and his peer’s medical experience. The doctor will look at such things as the type and location of the cancer, its metastatic stage – that is, how much it has actually spread – and the cancer’s grade – how abnormal it looks and how likely it is to spread even more.

It’s Mostly Statistics

While Mark Twain facetiously opined that there are “lies, damn lies and statistics,” the actual truth is that stats really do tell you a lot about your prognosis. By analyzing various factors such as the specific characteristics of the patient’s disease, the available treatment options and any other health issues, the doctor will make an educated guess as to what will happen.

It is Not Completely Certain

While your prognosis is your doctor’s “best guess” as to the likely course and outcome of your disease, it is by no means 100% certain. Remaining positive throughout the process is always the best medicine.

As you can see, a prognosis is as much art as it is science and the best doctors combine both when making a prognosis. For more detailed information, please contact us at Issels® or you can reach us directly at 1-888-437-7357.

High Cholesterol and Prostate Cancer Recurrence

High Cholesterol
High Cholesterol

Concerns about cholesterol and triglycerides creating problems for something other than your arteries? Apparently so. A recent study suggests a tie between high blood fats and the recurrence of prostate cancer.

The significance of normal blood fat levels
A study of 843 men whose prostates had been removed revealed an association between high levels of cholesterol and triglycerides, so-called “bad cholesterols,” and an increased risk of prostate cancer recurrence. Those with high cholesterol saw a 9 percent increase for every a10 mg/dL increase in cholesterol above 200 mg/dL. Thirty-five percent of those with a triglyceride level of 150 mg/dL or higher experienced recurrence as well. Read more information from the study.

Normalization of blood fats may reduce risk
Lead researchers at Duke University explained normalization – even partial – with the help of statins or dietary changes, was tied to a reduced risk of recurrence.

Increases in HDL, “good cholesterol”, raise the bar
The Duke team also found increases in HDL reduced the risk of recurrence by 39 percent for every 10 milligrams per decilitre (mg/dL) increase in the blood.

A word of caution
Though a link was shown, this does not indicate high blood fats as a cause for cancer. Statins for protection are not recommended at this time, according to Dr. Anthony D’Amico, chief of radiation oncology at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston.

Understanding the role of blood fats is important
Heart disease and cancer are the leading causes of death, attributable to 45 percent of fatalities worldwide. Further research is warranted to further explore this modifiable risk factor and how to best effect it in order to save lives.

Looking to change your lifestyle and safeguard your remission? Learn more about Issels Integrative Oncology integrative cancer treatments.

Scientists Pursue Creative Cancer Detection Techniques

Cancer Detection
Cancer Detection

The earlier a cancer is found and properly diagnosed, the better the odds of effectively treating the disease. At Issels® Integrative Immuno-Oncology, we understand that different types of cancer behave differently and the best approach is individualized treatment protocols based on each person’s diagnosis. Scientists are now using nanoparticles and cancer sniffing dogs to detect cancer.

These nanoparticles (called nanoflares) connect with cancer cells in blood, causing those same cells to glow. The nanoflares are tiny gold particles that have been coated with luminescent molecules and specifically selected DNA that correlates with the RNA of different cancer cells.

Scientist are hoping to be able to identify different types of cancer by using particular DNA and various colors of molecules.

Google is looking for ways to create pills and wearables incorporating the nanoflares that would simplify the screening process and improve the accuracy of cancer diagnosis. These devices would constantly monitor for cancer cells within the individual, according to the Wall Street Journal.

Different organizations in the United States and UK are attempting to train dogs to screen patients for cancer. Many feel this non-invasive approach could be used for pancreatic and stomach cancers that do not currently have screening methods. The British Medical Journal has already published the results of successful canine scent cancer detection for prostate cancer.

For more than 60 years, Issels® Integrative Immuno-Oncology has been successfully treating cancer with innovative immunotherapy and non-toxic treatment methods. If you or a loved one is diagnosed with cancer, you do have options. Contact us for more information.

Artificial Turf and Cancer in Young Athletes

Questions About Artificial Turf as a Cancer Reagent
Questions About Artificial Turf as a Cancer Agent

Artificial turf has been a normal part of many types of sports for years, but did you know it might not be safe? There is some speculation that the turf, which is made from synthetic fabrics and old, recycled tires could actually cause cancer. Here at Issels® we’re dedicated to exploring such theories and informing you about these types of potential dangers. 

According to the article on the Washington Post website, the rubber crumbs that young athletes are constantly removing from their hair, clothes and face contain benzene, carbon black and lead, which are all cancer-causing materials. This presents a risk for anyone who plays on a rubber crumb field, but it might be even more risky for soccer goalies. 

In 2009, the associate head soccer coach for Washington University, Amy Griffin, was visiting two of her female goalies in the hospital. Both of them had been diagnosed with non-Hodgkins lymphoma. A nurse informed Amy that the number of goalies she had treated recently had risen dramatically. The coach formed a hypothesis regarding the relationship between that particular soccer position and the fields they were playing on. 

For soccer goalies, their bodies are in constant contact with the ground. Not only does that lead to cuts, scrapes and abrasions, but it also means that the rubber crumbs from the turf could be entering their wounds. Her theory is further supported by the fact that blood cancers such as leukemia and lymphoma seem to be the common types of cancer goalies are being diagnosed with. 

Perhaps you or someone you love is battling a cancer diagnosis after having played on artificial turf. Here at Issels®, we have excellent treatment options and we will design a personalized plan that can help you, even if your cancer is advanced. Please contact us today.

 

Nanoparticles: Attacking Cancer from All Angles

Attacking Cancer From All Sides
Attacking Cancer From All Sides

The second leading cause of death in the U.S., the fight against cancer needs all the weapons in its arsenal that it can get. Step-in nanoparticles, tiny but tough tools ready for battle in the war.

An enormous job for infinitesimal workers: Nanotechnology in early cancer detection
Targeted delivery of specific nanoparticles to a tumor site can induce a reaction with cancer cells, prompting the body to significantly increase the production of biomarkers necessary for cancer identification. Earlier detection and diagnosis allow less burdensome treatments, offers a faster diagnosis than biopsies, and increases chances of recovery.

Miniature mappers: Nanoparticles in imaging
Nanoparticles engineered with magnetic properties are effective imaging agents when used with MRI scans. Nanites bind particularly well with tumors, allowing a very high resolution, clear map of cancerous sites for the planning of surgical removal or treatment.

Small but mighty: Nanites in cancer therapy and drug delivery
A revolutionary new technology in the fight against cancer, nanoparticles are capable of a variety of attacks against this deadly disease. Nanites can be injected into a tumor to produce heat, allowing for the destruction of cancer cells locally with X-rays, magnetic fields, or light; They can be used to encapsulate chemotherapy drugs or genes for localized delivery and a significant reduction in quantity of drugs as well as a reduction in side effects and impact on healthy tissue; and more, including an array of up-and-coming technology (LINK TO GOOGLE ARTICLE) currently under development.

Don’t stand on the sidelines in the fight against cancer. Learn more about how technology at Issels Integrative Oncology can help you today.