New Clinic
Announcement
I'm excited to announce that my
practice has moved to a beautiful new location. The clinic is called NatureMedica and is located near the Tucson Mall.
(Click for Map) Along
with Naturopathic medical care, we now offer a variety of services including
massage therapies, acupuncture, colon hydrotherapy, Infra-Red Sauna therapy
and more. To contact myself, schedule visits, purchase supplements or other
services, please call us at our new number 520-887-4287. Looking forward to
seeing you there!
~Michael Uzick, N.M.D.
Flaxseeds Against
Breast Cancer
This past February "Naturopathic
Doctor News & Reviews" published my article on the powerful evidence for
flaxseeds in the fight against breast cancer.
You can read the full article by
clicking here
(Flaxseeds Against Breast Cancer).
I was prompted to write the article
after several of my breast cancer patients told me they were advised to
avoid flaxseeds by their nutritionists and oncologists. Being well
acquainted with the impressive
evidence for flaxseeds and breast cancer, I was bit shocked to hear of this
mistaken advice. It's likely that these
supposed experts were simply having women avoid any food containing "phytoestrogens"
without having actually looked at the research.
While there may be some evidence for caution in the case of soy phytoestrogens, nothing could be further from the truth for flaxseeds. I
finally had enough when one of my breast cancer patients showed me an
article published in "Natural Health" - a popular nationally distributed
health magazine - which repeated this same misguided warning. Consider this
article my rebuttal.
My article details the published
research to date, all of which strongly demonstrate that ground flaxseeds
are one of the most important natural substances for prevention and
treatment of breast cancer.
If you know a woman with breast cancer
or one that would like to prevent the disease - I assume that would include
every women - please forward them the article.
I should mention, like breast cancer, there are a number of studies showing great
benefit for the prevention and treatment of prostate cancer. Perhaps I'll
write a part II.
Colon Cancer Case
Report
John is a 66 year old
man who was diagnosed with metastatic colon cancer in October 2007. His CT scan
showed a large mass in the large colon and several masses in his liver.
He also had the results of PET scan. PET scans measure the
tissue uptake of a radiolabled sugar. Since cancers are fast growing they take
up more sugar than other tissues and thus light up on the PET scan
films. Unfortunately, in John's case the masses in his colon and liver
all lit up brightly on the PET scan. It seemed clear that he had colon
cancer which had spread to his liver. His cancer was classified as stage IV and the
conventional prognosis poor.
Typically stage IV colon
cancer patients are indefinitely treated with chemotherapy and sometimes
radiation. They stop when it stops working. John's other doctors told
him the majority of patients in his position lived 6-12 months. According to
the statistics only 5-9% of stage IV patients survive 5 years.
Of course John was looking for something
better than that. His close friend Susan told him about me. Susan had come to my
clinic several years ago with another friend who had cancer. She believed I
could help John too.
I talked with John's oncologist and he
gave me the exact regime of chemotherapy that was planned. I explained briefly
what John would be doing with me. The brief explanation was that I would
prescribe specific vitamins and herbs that have been shown to enhance the
effectiveness of these chemotherapies and at the same time, reduce the damage to
healthy tissue.
For example, there are about 15 human
studies showing that high dose melatonin improves the response rate for a
variety of chemotherapies and radiation by about 2.5 fold. Further, the survival
rate for a number of cancers is also increased by about 2.5 fold, compared to
just using chemotherapy or radiation alone.
Another approach I used with John was
taking a high dose of a specific amino acid 3 days before each round of
chemotherapy. The reason chemotherapy often fails is that it can only destroy
cancer cells that are actively dividing. However, a small percentage of cancer
cells are dormant - not dividing - at any given time. It is these dormant cells
which are untouched by chemo which are responsible for the typical re-growth of
cancers and failure of chemotherapy.
The high dose amino acid does two very
important things. Firstly, it makes dormant cells begin to divide. Normally, we
wouldn't want to do this. However, if we do it just before chemotherapy, it's a
great thing. It enables the chemotherapy to destroy cancer cells that it
normally could never touch. It gives us a much greater chance of having a
complete response to chemo. The other great thing is that this amino acid
dramatically increases Natural Killer cell activity. Natural Killer cells are
white blood cells that destroy viruses and cancer cells. Research shows that if
we can boost NK cells during chemotherapy, patients have more favorable
outcomes. This technique has been examined in several studies with breast cancer
patients. What they found was a dramatic increase in tumor destruction.
Another part of John's regime was the use
of Iscador. Iscador is an extract of mystical plant mistletoe (viscum album). It
is the most commonly prescribed adjunctive treatment to chemotherapy and
radiation in Germany and Switzerland. Iscador has more human clinical trials
showing significant benefit for cancer patients than any other alternative
therapy for cancer. Most of the clinical studies show that mistletoe
significantly enhances the effectiveness of chemotherapy and radiation and
reduces the side effects of those treatments.
After 5 rounds of chemotherapy John had a
repeat CT and PET scan. The results were unusual and caused a bit of commotion
from his conventional doctors. The PET scan showed no signs of liver or colon
tumors. While the radiologist's report on the initial CT scan said the liver
lesions were the result of metastatic colon cancer, the new report said the
liver lesions were most likely benign cysts. While the CT scan did show the
colon tumor, on the PET scan both the liver and colon lesions were invisible. In
other words, they were not taking up any sugar. They appeared completely dead on
the PET scan.
As a result of these findings John's
oncologist referred him for surgery to remove the colon and liver tumors. This
is a bit unusual because normally when colon cancer that has spread to the
liver, surgery is not done. It's believed that since the cancer has spread
beyond the colon that surgery will not be curative. They usually just place a
stent in the colon to keep the opening from being blocked by the tumor.
As evidence of this referral for surgery
being unusual, according to John and Susan, the surgeon reacted very negatively
during the consult. Again, according to them, the surgeon told John that surgery
was a waste of time. That he was going to die with or without surgery. He also
said that he would likely have a bowel infection because of the surgery. I was
very shocked by the story they told me. While I have heard many stories of
horrible behavior by allopathic doctors, it's a little hard to imagine a human
speaking to another so insensitively. I asked John and Susan questions to see if
they provoked the doctor in some way. They both insisted that they hadn't even
spoke a word and the doctor told them repeatedly that John was going to die and
nothing would change that.
Whether the story was as it was told to me
or not, I could only advise John not to let this surgeon touch him. I told him that we
would find a new one. After this I spoke to the oncologist about a new surgeon
and wanted his opinion on the results of the CT and PET scan. He said that it
appeared to him that John has had an unusual and exceptional response the
chemotherapy. After a short pause he said, "Or perhaps to the combination of
chemotherapy and 'Naturopathic' therapies."
We found John a new surgeon and surgery
was completed about 1 month ago. The surgery report states that there appears
to have been a complete response to treatment. There was no evidence of cancer
in the liver. There was no evidence of cancer in multiple samples taken from
tissues near-by the tumor in the colon. All surgical margins were also clear of
cancer. Of the 17 lymph nodes removed, 4 of them were positive for cancer.
Still, it appears the cancer could be restaged as stage III rather than stage
IV, which certainly makes a big difference in terms of prognosis. There is no
further chemotherapy scheduled. John also told me that his new surgeon was
fantastic. He was kind, very positive and professional. Of course, John did not
have a bowel infection either.
John and I will soon begin the process
of keeping him cancer free for years to come. Rather than being sent home and
hoping for the best, I will help John take charge of his health and utilize the
most effective natural approaches to prevent any reoccurrences of his cancer.
All the names and identifying information
in case reports have been changed to protect patient privacy. Patients are
always informed if their case is chosen for a report..
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