Could Cancer Patients Benefit From Integrative Oncology?

by Connie Hernandez, ND

As many of you know, a cancer patient in the United States MUST be under the care of an oncologist.

Other practitioners may offer adjunctive care, but the care they are allowed to provide is limited by conventional care standards, as well as by strict FDA restrictions on therapeutics, and even outright bans as to what can and cannot legally be publicly said about these therapies.

Non-conventional pharmaceuticals and protocols commonly used in Canada, Mexico, and Europe may be prohibitively expensive, unavailable, or outright illegal in the U.S.

Dr. Connie Hernandez, ND
Dr. Connie Hernandez, ND

Compounding pharmacies that offer formulas not included in the conventional pharmacopeia are under constant attack by the FDA and the media, with the result that the cost of such basic ingredients as intravenous vitamin C and selenium can vary exponentially from day to day.

This is the disconcerting reality in which we are living. The real tragedy is that it has sorely affected the availability of effective therapies such as I.V. curcumin and mistletoe, as well as photodynamic therapies and the off-label application of existing pharmaceuticals.

We’ve heard stories of parents being threatened by child welfare officials when their parents’ chose treatment protocols that weren’t sanctioned by the conventional medical community.

One of the presenting MDs at a recent conference that Dr. Marcel and I attended, a former ER doc who subsequently trained as an ND, related the story of his young daughter who contracted a deadly form of cancer.

One of our well-known naturopathic colleagues had somehow managed to hurdle the bureaucratic fences in order to provide lifesaving adjunctive I.V. therapies during the young girl’s harrowing traditional medical treatment.

With persistence and the right connections, it seems that help IS possible.

But it’s also true that integrative cancer care differs from conventional care in ways that don’t even actually threaten the conventional standards of treatment.

For example, our patients’ oncologists routinely tell them that what they eat will make no difference at all in their treatment or prognosis, even though hard evidence shows that eating the right foods can powerfully support the body’s own healing powers. Never mind the drugs you gobble, what you eat, and the timing of your meals, is critical to successful treatment.

Daily intermittent fasting also has huge benefits. The standard American diet with its overload of trans fats, salt, sugar, and carcinogenic additives, curtails the effictiveness of any cancer treatment and increases its side effects.

Improving our diet improves our overall health – that’s a no-brainer. And it also improves the efficacy of therapeutic interventions.

Mental and emotional health are also paramount to successful treatment, hence our advocacy of the Emotional Freedom Technique, and the patient-friendly atmosphere in our clinic.

Basic holistic naturopathic care facilitates positive outcomes in cancer care!

To learn about Dr. Connie’s work, follow the link to her Naturopathic Health Consultations website.

For information about the services we offer at Pacific Naturopathic, please give us a call at 650-961-1660, or use the convenient Contact Form to get in touch. Thank you!