In the early years of my career as an oncologist, I’m learning that you really remember the patients you can’t save. Those with essentially curable cancers who refused the right treatment stand out the most.
One of those is a patient I’ll call Ruth. She was only 30 when she was diagnosed with breast cancer, as I learned later from her medical history. It was localized to her left breast and contained within the relatively small tumor; there were no signs it had spread to other parts of her body. With the right treatment, Ruth had about a 75 percent chance of staying free of breast cancer for the rest of her life.
The “right treatment,” though, wasn’t going to be easy. Ruth would need to have surgery to remove the tumor followed by several months of chemotherapy, which would cause fatigue, nausea, and hair loss. Then it would be on to several weeks of radiation, which can cause fatigue, skin irritation, and scarring of the lungs. The path would be arduous, but it offered Ruth the best chance for a cure.
Instead, she chose an alternative medicine approach with a doctor in Mexico. I never learned exactly what it entailed, but it generally consisted of getting intravenous infusions of vitamins, including vitamin C, once a week. Drinking juices and other beverages with berry and plant extracts — all with supposed anti-cancer and healing properties — was also part of the treatment. Everything was “natural” and wholesome. After several months, she returned home to Chicago. Her breast felt fine and she thought the treatment had been successful.
A year later, Ruth found herself tiring easily. She had little appetite and was rapidly losing weight. She was also having trouble thinking and remembering things. She came to the emergency room when she lost strength and balance in her legs to the point that she couldn’t walk. An MRI showed that her breast cancer had spread to the lining of the brain and entire spinal cord. A spinal tap showed that the fluid that cushioned Ruth’s brain and spinal cord was filled with breast cancer cells.
I met Ruth when she was first admitted to the hospital. By then, she couldn’t articulate where in Mexico she had received her treatment, or what exactly it was, because her memory was fading and she was increasingly confused. She had no family and refused to call her friends for support.
I explained that her breast cancer had spread widely and that she had a few weeks or months to live. We could give her a high dose of a chemotherapy drug called methotrexate to try to improve her balance, leg strength, and mental clarity, but beyond keeping her comfortable there was little else we could do. This time, Ruth agreed to chemotherapy, though it was far too late. Despite the treatment, she became more confused and her weakness worsened. She lost the ability to speak or swallow any food or water. Four days later, Ruth slipped into a coma and died alone in a hospital room. She was only 31.
It is human nature to believe that anything that is “all natural” is intrinsically good. That line of thought can lead people astray. The truth is, cancer is all natural. While some are caused by smoking or chemical exposures, most of them are sporadic, meaning they aren’t caused by any lifestyle factor, food, or chemical exposure. Cholesterol, a major cause of heart attacks and strokes, is natural and even necessary — the body requires it to build cell membranes and the protective covering around nerves. HIV, Ebola, and Zika are all caused by naturally occurring viruses.
Ruth, with her belief in so-called natural healing, thought nothing of stepping onto an airplane weighing thousands of pounds and flying at 30,000 feet from Chicago to Mexico. What could be more unnatural?
Absolute and exclusive belief in natural alternative medicine to cure cancer has devastating consequences. A study out this month in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute looked at 281 patients with non-metastatic breast, lung, colorectal, and prostate cancers who chose to be treated exclusively with an alternative approach, and compared their survival with patients who received conventional cancer treatment. Overall, those in the alternative medicine group were 2.5 times more likely to die. Those with lung cancer were nearly 2.2 times more likely to die, and those with colorectal cancer were 4.5 times more likely. Women with breast cancer fared the worst — with a 5.7 times higher death rate among those who chose only alternative therapies. Several other studies have shown similar outcomes, especially for breast cancer.
People with cancer are easy targets for naturopathic scams because they can be desperate for hope and extensively research their treatment options. “Natural” treatments with few side effects appear irresistible when compared to surgery, chemotherapy, and radiation. But it is almost impossible for most people to know beforehand that these natural remedies won’t do anything for their cancer. If the cancer returns, they are more likely to blame the cancer rather than the ineffective natural remedies they received.
There’s no doubt that alternative medicine can play important roles in cancer care. Techniques such as acupuncture, yoga, meditation, and others can greatly improve cancer-related fatigue, pain, mental health, and quality of life when they are added to standard cancer therapy.
Some doctors reject alternative medicine completely, alienating patients like Ruth in the process. The unfortunate thing is that she didn’t have to choose between alternative and traditional medicine. They can be complementary approaches, not exclusive ones. She could have taken vitamin C tablets, drank berry extract beverages, and participated in yoga or meditation classes during chemotherapy or radiation therapy regimens.
Making a decision about treating cancer shouldn’t be based solely on a natural versus unnatural algorithm. We should focus on making choices that realistically have the best chance to help us. Sometimes, the “unnatural” option is the best one.
Suneel D. Kamath, M.D., is a hematology/oncology fellow at Northwestern Memorial Hospital in Chicago.
STAT should really consider screening comments for scientific quality and relevance. Strange anti-scientific rants here.
Tapani, If you had cancer and chemo plus surgery wouldn’t prolong your life – what would you do?
Because a natural cure is not scientific – I guess you just die ? Or would you try? That is my question!
Most scientific researches funded by pharmaceutical companies …they pay and get what they want
Mechthild: I feel pretty strongly about this, my father chose “natural cure” instead of medical care for his cancer and it just made him worse. If I had cancer and it were terminal, I’d just accept my fate instead of trying snake oils.
serra: This is a common misconception. Most scientific research is of course not funded by pharmaceutical companies. Not even most biomedical research. Many *clinical trials* are funded by pharma because they’re so expensive to run. But investigational medicines do not get to clinical stage without government approval (IND approval by FDA in the US) and strong pre-clinical data.
trial of life :my husband cousin`s wife from south of France, died last month from cancer , during the chemo her cancer got more aggressive ,cancer spread all over her body so quick , she was around 48, we lost her
oncolog dr Azra Raza, in her book says ” drugs are not succesful , people are suffering and dying , industry is profit base,doctors are afraid to talk ,protocols are more important than human ”
Professor of cancer medicine, David Kerr from university of oxford , once he said after attending cancer conference “ASCO meeting ” in chicago , he describe as “wall street”
many doctors say that nowadays health is a sector and control by pharma and food industry
not the mention “jose baselga” pretty SCIENTIFIC scandal!
Wow what an article! Well, let this be a part of your statistics, I was diagnosed with an aggressive sinus cancer 13 years ago, with a large tumor behind my left eye. I was told by OU medical center that I must go to MD Anderson for a cranial flap, have my eye removed, Dremel out all my eye bone to remove the cancer than grew into bone and since the margins didn’t look clean the prognosis was grim with a survival about 1 to 2 years past surgery, I also needed a prosthetic eye, left lymph glands removed and saliva glands removed. I’m not sure why but I refused surgery went home and googled alternatives, I found a holistic doctor (which my insurance would cover) and started with him, I juiced everything I could, 100% plant based diet, did the budwig diet etc. but my tumor didn’t shrink instead it quit growing, I was satisfied with it not growing because I became insanely healthy, 6 months ago I started taking black seed oil and my tumor deteriorated and oozed right out of my nose! Now my eye is completely back in shape, no tumor pinging my retina. The plus to it all is I couldn’t be any healthier! 13 long years on my all natural lifestyle! I ferment food, make everything from scratch, grow a garden, eat mostly plant based. Do I believe natural alternative save lives, heck ya!
I hate reading articles like this and have noticed so so many more of them alongside pro vaccine articles. Complete with the usual scare tactics and rhetoric. My brother was in his early 20’s when he discovered a lump on his testicle. If you know anything about testicular cancer, it’s always cancer when you find a lump. You don’t wait. It can kill you within weeks! But yet the urologist prescribed antibiotics! A UROLOGIST! within two weeks the cancer was in his lungs. We went for chemo and he was chemo resistant. We thought and were preparing ourselves to lose him. My mother did nonstop endless research and turned to the natural health community. Cause why not? Why wouldn’t you try everything, ANYTHING?? A wonderful wise woman in an old shop downtown in flint, put him on a regimen. Herbs from the amazon, food grade peroxide baths, alkaline water, natural diet. Today my brother is in his late 30’s. Married. A beautiful healthy baby daughter. Don’t you dare tell me natural health is fake. So many people die in the hands of doctors and their chemical cocktails! Vaccines and all the bs. I was in the medical industry since 1997. I saw first hand doctors googling, nurses making fun of their patients, wild stab in the dark guesses about what to do. A broken bone? Sure, then I’ll come in. Otherwise, if I get sick, I’m going to the wise woman in the little flint shop and eating my greens and other natural foods. Stop lying to people that chemicals are the only way! Meds are recalled every day and kill people more than any disease on earth every year!
I’m dubious of the medical establishments stats being accurate …….I tend to believe that natural alternatives to cancer actually have a much better survival rate
No they don’t. But you can believe what you want to believe.
Let’s not lie to each other…How many cancer patients die even after effective chemo?. sometimes patients even die due to the effects of the chemo to their systems rather than the cancer itself…what we should be advocating for is better chemo regimens with limited side effects and high potency…
Never shd you question the effectiveness of natural regimens…sometimes cancer patients who undergo natural regimens live longer than those who opt for chemo!!!
I’m so glad to read these comments and know that I’m not alone in my opinion.
I was told by an oncologist that the tumour in my uterus (the size of a 7 month old fetus) was more than likely cancerous based on it’s size and rate of growth. The solution? A full hysterectomy, likely followed by chemo/radiation.
I brought up “cleaner eating”, “healthier lifestyle” and was told flat out, these would make no difference.
I walked out of the oncologists office, made some major changes to my life and I’m happy to say that not only do I still have a uterus, the tumour is gone.
Was the tumour cancerous? I don’t know, but I can tell you, I would have taken the exact approach had I known it was cancerous. Crazy? Maybe, but having the opportunity to experiment on myself has empowered me, rather than leaving my health in the hands of someone who doesn’t have all the answers. Nor should they. That would be asking the impossible.
We will all die eventually, so that should not be our fear. For me, living a life that requires ongoing medical treatment? That’s just terrifying.
Hi Leslie,
I am really happy to hear that the tumor is gone. Can you please let us know the life style changes which you have followed . This will help many people.
Thanks
Hi Leslie,
Thank you for sharing your inspiring story, when you mention major changes to your lifestyle, please can I ask what these were? I have a growth on my cervix that the doctors believe is cancer, I am currently using chinese herbs, juicing and the elimination of sugar from my diet among a few other things, and I would really appreciate more details of your success story to give me faith, your response would really help, Many Thanks Caroline
I have the greatest respect for doctors, A,and E. Trauma units are wonderful,
but we are using the basic same medicines and treatments to cure cancer that we were 70 years ago, we have not moved on despite the Trillions of Dollars .pounds collected for research
Its no good asking why people are turning to alternative medicine the reason is obvious .
nobody going to chose the alternative if the chemo really cure their cancer yet people are suffering by the name of primitive treatment
moreover their cancer coming back more dangerous than before
i lost many people none of them had chosen alternative ,
find the cure instead of attacking alternative
Would you mind telling more about Ruth’s lifestyle choice, diet, habbits etc. After her “natural remedy” in Mexico? Do you know from of course her first visit the underlying cause of her breast cancer?
My father suffered from an enlarged prostate for years that compelled him to get up three and four times a night to urinate. His doctor told him there was nothing that could be done about it and that he would just have to learn to live with it. So, to make a short story even shorter, I got my father to eat a small handful of raw unsalted pumpkin seeds every day and after just a few days he was able to sleep all through the night without having to get up once to visit his bathroom. Also, at his next physical his doctor told him that his prostate was the same size as a young man’s. Bottom-line; sometimes getting at the cause of an ailment is better that treating the symptoms of it.
Marc, you summed up most of all, if not ALL of the problems with our medical ailments, our doctors in the U.S. are trained to “TREAT” the symptoms, not ever “KNOWING” the cause. My husband has been on dialysis for 16 years and to this day NONE of his doctors has talked about the “WHY” or “CAUSE”, when we asked about “WHY” did a young man with none of the usually medical conditions develop kidney failure they SIMPLY answered “LIFE” happens, they said SOMETIMES the CAUSE or WHY is not known. My concern with this answer is “HOW” can anyone treat effectively if they don’t know the CAUSE. I really BELIEVE there is NO WAY. I Believe this is one of the many reasons PEOPLE are looking for ALTERNATIVE. MOST of all of our MEDICINES the side EFFECTS are WORST than the actual illnesses. Marc, your COMMENT was right and on time. I am thankful that SOMEONE else get it. We ALL need to PRESS doctors for the CAUSE before the TREATMENTS.