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On numerous occasions in earlier blog posts I have alluded to the billions of US dollars (US$110 Billion?) to date, conservatively, that now continue to be spent on cancer research; asking where has all the money gone and where are the results in terms of cancer cures?

Also, I strongly intimated that the cancer industry is now so huge, within both business and academic arenas, employing as they do, thousands upon thousands of people in administrative and research, it could be said that the finding of a cure for cancer is not now in there best interest.

And let us not forget the hospitals and medical specialists whose wealth rely heavily on income from expensive cancer treatment modalities; particularly chemotherapy and radiation. I doubt that they would welcome a cancer cure either. More especially if that cure came directly from nature itself. Another reason, I guess, why natural cures are currently ignored by practitioners of traditional medicine.

As for the involvement of Big Pharma in all of this, that is self explanatory surely. So I don’t think I’ll go there. Not this time.

The link below will take you to the article in question, titled “Cancer Research Funding - We Need Changes” dated 29 June 09 and written by Joel T Nowak MA, MSW. The name of the blog site appears to be “advancedprostatecancer.net and is a very informative and worthy site. Certainly worth exploring more.

Billions in Cancer Research Funding - Where Are The Results?

Today’s quote:

“Chemotherapy is an incredibly lucrative business for doctors, hospitals, and pharmaceutical companies…..The medical establishment wants everyone to follow the same exact protocol. They don’t want to see the chemotherapy industry go under, and that’s the number one obstacle to any progress in oncology.”—Dr Warner, M.D.

My browsing on the www today led me to a web-site I hadn’t seen before but which would be of interest to many of you guys suffering from benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH), meaning an enlarged prostate. I’m not sure what the percentage is but I understand that a majority of men with prostate cancer also have a swollen prostate gland. Seems reasonable, doesn’t it?

Quite often, it is the inconveniences experienced from an enlarged prostate that first takes a chap off to see his doctor and the subsequent discovery of his prostate cancer. So, for some guys, BPH may act as an early warning of something far more serious.

My own prostate enlargement has a twenty year history and a transurethral resection of the prostate (TURP) on two occasions. On each occasion my relief from symptoms was only temporary, lasting just two years or so. I have read that having a TURP can, in some circumstances, actual cause prostate cancer, or at least, create an environment where cancer can take hold. I wonder if that’s what happened to me?

Anyhow gents, the article following, titled “2 Natural Treatments For An Enlarged Prostate” on the Libido and Health blog-site, makes interesting reading. For prostate treatment it suggests taking pumpkin seeds and saw palmetto, and gives a good rationale for doing so.

To read the article, go to the web-site here: Natural Treatments for Your Enlarged Prostate Gland

Today’s quote:

Cancer can be thought of as a “tap on the shoulder” by God (or the universe) saying, “the path you are on has become dangerous, consider taking another”. Thomas Lodi, MD Homeopathic Physician

My regular readers will know that I have never placed much stock in PSA results and this update on recent studies on the subject tend to support my contention, if perhaps for different reasons.

My own argument with PSA readings are that there is a number of factors effecting the rise and fall of the PSA readings, some of which the examining doctor will have no knowledge, unless of course, he has the presence of mind to ask appropriate questions of the patient. Something I have yet to experience.

PSA test results can be effected by such things as having ejaculated in the previous 24 hour period; testicular inflammation; an enlarged prostate; urinary infection; and fever. Even what one eats can have a temporary affect on the prostate.

Moreover, when given identical blood samples, two individual laboratories - more likely than not - will arrive at a different, subjective analysis. Splitting samples to get two opinions of a blood sample is not done of course, for cost reasons, but one must surely therefor wonder about the reliability of any analysis given. My understanding is that the PSA analysis of a blood sample is more subjective than it is scientific. Relying, as it does on the training, experience and observations of the examining technician as apposed to automated, scientific instrumentation.

By the way. Have you ever tried getting a hard copy of the PSA results for your retention? It has been my experience that some doctor’s simply refuse to hand it over for fear of the results being contested or in deference to the originating laboratory.

Statistically speaking, a man who has had the PSA test is no more likely to live longer that a man who didn’t. The main difference is that for the man having the PSA test, and getting an elevated reading, it will probably lead on to a biopsy (known to cause the spread of cancer) or other medical procedures, possibly surgery, leaving him traumatized and living a very uncomfortable life, suffering from various side-affects.

The following article, titled “Prostate Cancer Screening’s Benefit, Costs Questioned (Update1)” dated June 29 and written by Elizabeth Lopatto for Bloomberg.com takes a different approach. She reports on a study questioning the value, and cost, of wide-based PSA screening which, ultimately, leads to exceptionally high rates of men screened, the unnecessary identification of prostate cancer or other medical symptoms, which, if left alone, would be unlikely to cause the patient any problems.

I have mentioned this study in earlier postings but it doesn’t hurt to revisit it again.

The outcome of all this is that far too many, costly, medical procedures are being conducted with little or no direct benefit to the patient. On the contrary. he may well be left with considerable financial cost as well as debilitating and lasting side affects.

You can read the article, at: Prostate Cancer Screening’s Benefit, Costs Questioned (Update1)

Today’s quote:

There are some people who live in a dream world, and there are some
who face reality; and then there are those who turn one into the other. - Douglas Everett

Click below to go to a nicely laid out blog, titled “My Cancer Adviser” and authored by Dr. Charles Balch, and view the eight minute video exploring Prostate cancer treatment options. It is of particular value in as much as it openly discusses the issue of side-affects following particular treatments and doesn’t gloss over them.

All too often men are not told the extent of such outcomes prior to their treatment.

Treatment options for Prostate Cancer

Today’s quote:

“Do not go where the path may lead, go instead where there is no path and leave a trail.”
Ralph Waldo Emerson

This next article is as alarming in its new findings as it is for its complexity. Selenium has been one of the most recommended supplements of all for warding off cancer and also, as a prostate cancer treatment. Now we’re told that for some people selenium is a good thing but for others it may be a bad thing, producing results contrary to that expected.

But seemingly, if you want to know if it is good for You, or not, you must first know your gene type, or more accurately, whether or not you have a particular gene variant. Apparently, for 75% of men with high levels of selenium and also the gene variant, it means a doubling of the bad result risk element for his prostate cancer, whereas, for the other25%, having the variant and having high levels of selenium means a 40% decrease in their risk of aggressive prostate cancer.

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Coconut Oil has been receiving some very popular press in the past twelve months or so as food scientists are now getting a better understanding of its make-up and medicinal qualities. I know from my years in Asia that Coconut Oil is used profusely there for cooking and all sorts of good-health producing applications. Australia is now catching on and Coconut Oil has become widely available.

In light of this article I will be sure to add Coconut Oil to my arsenal of prostate cancer treatments.

The article is published in the Prostate Cancer Victory blog and you can read it here…

Coconut Oil Prostate Cancer Treatment

Today’s humour:

A doctor calls a patient to report on a bone scan and biopsy. The patient is out so the doctor leaves a message to call. As usual, no medical details are left.
After a day of telephone tag, the doctor and the patient finally get together on the phone.
Says the doctor in a matter of fact voice, “I have good news and bad news. Which will you have first?”
“The good news.”
“OK. The reports say that your cancer has metastasized all over and that you have 48 hours to live.”
“You call that good news? It must be the bad news. What could possibly be worse?”
“Well, the bad news is that I tried to call you yesterday.”

The following article, titled “Why women in China do not get breast cancer” written by a scientist, Professor Jane Plant, is based on her own experience curing - YES, CURING - her late stage, medically incurable, breast cancer. With her husband, also a scientist, she set about questioning why it is that women in China do not get breast cancer at anywhere near the rate of Western women. The answer? The Chinese simply do not consume dairy products; cheese, milk, yogurt or indeed any product containing dairy ingredients.

Similarly, it is mentioned that the same can be said about men in China not consuming dairy foods and the frequency of prostate cancer being sparse when compared to Westernized countries.

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The title of the following article, from the Atlanta Wellness Examiner is a bit misleading in that it has less to do with, as it says “A Woman’s Guide to Understanding Prostate Cancer” than it does with suggesting that cancer is caused by psychological trauma immediately preceding the cancer.

From my own perspective, having personally experienced a number of catastrophic events both as a soldier and, in civilian life, as a crisis manager handling extortion, bombings, kidnappings and other terrorist and major crime activity in Australia and overseas, I can readily identify with the contention that such events can lead to the early development of disease, including cancer. I have a pretty well defined time-line for each of my major illnesses following psychological trauma of the kind mentioned.

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