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Cancer Wellness Support Program

It is one thing to treat a cancer, but the true challenge is to meet the needs, desires, and goals of the person, to holistically support the actual person faced with cancer.  An effective approach to helping people with cancer is multi-faceted and involves more than one approach and practitioner.  I have summarized my Six Step Support Program below including the various approaches that I use.  With appropriate testing and individualization, a custom support plan can be developed to best serve the person.  See published case studies here.  I often communicate with the oncologist and hospital pharmacists to integrate naturopathic treatments with the patients’ other cancer treatments.

Step One – Basic Naturopathic Support.

  1. Help assess and encourage interpersonal and spiritual supports, such as with family and friends, community and personally meaningful places of worship/prayer/connection.
  2. Resolve Current Problems.  This may include using naturopathic treatments to control or stop nausea, fatigue, low appetite, insomnia, low blood cell/platelet counts, anemia, etc.
  3. Eliminate Harmful Factors
    1. Processed, nutrient-poor foods.  Several dietary program options may be incorporated such as a ketogenic diet, modified Mediterranean diet, food-intolerance test results, or diet based on acid-base balance.
    2. Intestinal dysfunction & dysbiosis (microbial imbalance)
    3. Address irritating/infectious foci
    4. Address residual pathogens/induce fever
    5. Stressful environment – eg: air pollution, toxins in coffee/tobacco/medicines/x-rays/ electromagnetic fields/plastics/pesticides, etc.
    6. Stressful Emotional Influences
  4. Remove Secondary Damage
    1. Clear the extracellular matrix (space between the cells) where toxins can build
    2. Enzyme supplementation
    3. Mineral, vitamin supplementation to address nutritional deficiencies – oral/IV/IM
    4. Detoxification
  5.  Remove the Cancerous Environment
    1. Promote pH balance
    2. Oil-Dispersion Hydrotherapy
    3. Exercise/Activity
    4. Homeopathy – constitutional remedies and nosodes
    5. Mind-Body Medicine

Step Two – Psychotherapy.  This involves counseling/biography, deep relaxation and self-help groups.

Step Three – Immune Therapy.

There are many approaches that help balance the body’s immune system to work in-line with supporting the patient in cancer treatment.  One of the difficulties is that regular conventional cancer treatment weakens the patients’ immune system.  Some ways to support and balance immunity is through good nutrition, glandular support, mistletoe injections (eg: Iscador or Helixor) and oral herbal medicines.  In one of the largest studies with mistletoe (Viscum album) extract, survival was shown to increase by 40% on average for a number of different cancer-types including patients with carcinoma of the colon, rectum, or stomach; breast carcinoma with or without axillary or remote metastases; or small cell or non-small-cell bronchogenic carcinoma (non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC)).

Step Four – Naturopathic Methods to Support Conventional Therapy

Optimize the benefits of surgery, chemotherapy, radiation – naturopathic supports can make these treatments more tolerable and possibly more effective.  Some examples are noted below.

  • Melatonin can protect the skin from radiation-induced skin damage, and may promote better responses to radiation overall
  • Glutathione (an amino acid nutrient) given IV can protect the body from cisplatin and oxaliplatin toxicity, chemotherapy commonly used in colorectal cancers, ovarian and head and neck cancers
  • Mistletoe (Viscum album extract) can improve quality of life and reduce side effects of chemotherapy and radiation
  • Intravenous Vitamin C (ascorbic acid) – several studies show it’s quality of life improvements while undergoing chemotherapy.  Some studies have also shown benefits for survival and effectiveness of chemotherapy.  May help arrest or regress cancer cell growth at high doses (eg: 10,000-100,000mg).  Usually given several times weekly.
  • Oral vitamin C – studies show this may have a benefit if taken hours before, or, several hours/days after chemotherapy administration

Step Five – Other Supplementary Naturopathic Support Strategies for those with Cancer

Targeted naturopathic strategies are employed to address additional factors below:

Step Six – Monitor, Retest, Adjust and Maintenance. 

It’s important to monitor your progress so changes can be made to your program to make it more effective or to adjust for long-term health maintenance.