Adjunctive Care for Cancer Patients at Pacific Naturopathic — A Brief Overview

Delicious plate of food on rustic wood table.
Photo: Our grateful thanks to Edgar Castrejon on Unsplash!

by Marcel Hernandez, ND

When I welcome new cancer patients to Pacific Naturopathic, I tell them about the four components of our program of adjunctive cancer care. Here is a brief outline of the four components that offer our patients support for the cancer experience.

  1. Marcel Hernandez, ND

    Oral Supplementation.The plain truth is that oral supplements are not going to cure cancer, despite wild claims to the contrary on the internet and elsewhere. However, supplements can perform valuable support functions – for example, by addressing relevant nutrient deficiencies, decreasing inflammation, preventing the formation of new blood vessels (angiogenesis) that feed cancer cells, stimulating the immune system, and in some cases, causing some cancer cell death (apoptosis).

  2. The Mind/Body Connection. This part of our program is the most difficult for new patients to understand and implement, since western medicine addresses illness almost entirely at the physical level. However, rigorous scientific studies have consistently shown that, for example, stress undermines the immune system and predisposes people to opportunistic illnesses. Also, excessive anxieties, worries, and obsessive concern with negative feelings of guilt, shame, regrets, and disappointment have also been shown to contribute to poor health outcomes. At Pacific Naturopathic we offer an extremely effective mind/body treatment program, though few of our patients choose to take advantage of this opportunity – addressing health issues at a mental/emotional level is not yet part of our society’s accepted approach to dealing with cancer.
  3. Nutrition. Our dietary recommendations have proved extremely helpful to support our cancer patients’ experience. Mostly, they are simple, commonsense suggestions for healthy eating which, once adopted, result in a delicious, enjoyable and vibrantly magnetic diet. They include low starchy carbs and processed sugars, lots of fresh organic fruit and vegetables and adequate non-red meat protein, healthy oils, and avoiding food additives of all kinds. The foundation of our recommended cancer fare is a modified Mediterranean diet, long regarded as the world’s healthiest diet. We are able to help our patients who love the foods of their ethnic heritages to tweak their traditional diet to be in tune with optimal cancer care.
  4. Intravenous therapy. The heart of our IV program is intravenous vitamin C, which countless studies have shown to be therapeutically effective in treating most cancers. We offer other IV formulas that address the peripheral neuropathy caused by chemotherapy, and to address nutrient deficiencies resulting from the cancer experience.

Not mentioned above are elements that we consider essential to adjunctive cancer therapy, such as consistent exercise, a dedicated support community, and integrating a spiritual component into our lives.

For information about the services we offer, we invite you to get in touch in any of these convenient ways: (1) give us a call at 650-961-1660, (2) use the Contact Form, or (3) follow the link to Consultations – Pacific Naturopathic. Thank you!