Crazy cancer article

[FarSideOfTheMoon]

I'm in NI at the moment, and was absolutely shocked to see this article in the local paper.

It is incredibly irresponsible, because if you don't read the article very carefully, you will think that she has achieved something. However the footnote at the bottom makes it clear that she was healed by surgery she had.

Of course we are used to seeing crap in newpapers but I felt this article was particularly irresponsible. If it takes one person away from their treatment, it has caused severe damage.

http://www.independent.ie/lifestyle/...y-1244632.html

Two years ago, Alison Kelly was at death's door. She had initially been told the lump on her left breast was benign and not to lose a night's sleep over it. Subsequently, she was found to have advanced-stage cancer and underwent a mastectomy.
But it wasn't the disease, she believed, that was in danger of killing her; it was the cure. After suffering a profoundly negative reaction to chemotherapy, the 47-year-old Drogheda woman did something that most cancer patients wouldn't contemplate.
She abandoned her treatment and walked away from conventional medicine.
By all accepted healthcare standards, it was a crazy thing to do. She was potentially signing her own death warrant. Convinced that she had little choice, she embarked on a complex 'natural holistic' programme of treatment, devised by herself, based around diet and meditation. Not only is she still around to tell her tale, she looks the picture of good health.
Her apparent full recovery from breast cancer is either a testament to her steely resolve to pursue an alternative route or it's the result of incredible good fortune. She believes that it's all down to her decision to take back control of her condition from the medical profession.
Sitting in the front room of her home this week, she declares brightly: "I actually feel healthier than I have ever felt in my adult life. I have more energy than I had when I was in my twenties."
Ms Kelly is a mother of two and a qualified psychotherapist. One of the tools she uses in her work is hypnosis. She also teaches meditation and stress management.
In March 2003, she was referred to a specialist with a lump on her breast. She was told it was nothing to worry about. She was unhappy with his assessment, but decided to accept it. A subsequent ultrasound scan found nothing. Convinced that things weren't right, she attended the breast clinic again in January 2005. Her lump was bigger and there were other changes in her breast. This time, she was found to have advanced cancer, which had spread locally. Surgery followed, with chemotherapy afterwards.
......
......

And the footnote, which I am relieved they at least printed:

It is not common for cancer patients to walk away from conventional medicine, says Dr John Kennedy, consultant medical oncologist at St James Hospital, Dublin. He would strongly urge people not to do so.
"A very large number of breast cancer patients are cured just by surgery. So you can go out and you can paint your head blue, or live under a car or go and eat twigs, and it doesn't matter, you're probably still cured by your surgery.
"In many instances, we would give chemotherapy or hormonal therapy or radiotherapy to patients who have had surgery because we know from carefully conducted clinical trials that this gives them a higher chance of being cured than people who don't have those treatments.
"If a patient who goes off and has coffee ground enemas, ground up peach pits and God knows what else, there's no evidence whatsoever, just because that patient is fine, that those treatments have done anything for her. This is the kind of thing that the alternative medicine industry thrives on," says Dr Kennedy, who is chairman of the Irish Cancer Society medical committee.
"There are quite a number of patients who take these so-called alternative treatments along with their systemic therapy. I would have less of a problem with that, because they are still getting the treatment that we know helps them."

[bobdezon]

So the cancerous breast was excised from her body, she then underwent a course of chemo which made her sick. She gave up the chemo and started meditating and changing her diet and now she attributes her cure to her own regime?

I wonder how well her regime would have helped her if she had decided to do this before the surgery and chemo. That is utterly idiotic. I applaud the paper for adding that at the bottom of the article though, because usually they just do the amazing top part.

[FarSideOfTheMoon]

Well, The article I seen was in the Belfast Telegraph. And the headline was something like "Amazing Cancer Case that everyone in the South is talking about". So I wouldn't be too kind on them.

I was really surprised to see the bit at the bottom printed though, but how many people would look beyond the headline and a picture of a cured woman?

And her final comment in the article?

"I certainly won't be visiting an oncologist again," she says.

I don't hold much hope for her survival chances if cancer returns then.

[Julia]

In a nutshell:
Surgery is frightening and unpleasant but it increases a cancer patient's chances of survival.
Chemotherapy has horrible side effects but it increases a cancer patient's chances of survival.
Alternative treatments (usually) don't involve surgery and don't have side effects but they do bugger all except line the pockets of quacks.

[Blue Wode]

This sort of thing seems to be very closely related to the nonsense that HRH’s woo outfit is encouraging. Here’s the latest from the newly re-styled Foundation for Integrated Health website:

CAM offers opportunities for patients to gain control over and participate in treatment. Qualitative studies suggest that people who use CAM are attracted to and value the opportunities it affords them to regain a sense of control over their illness and treatment. Similarly patients value the participatory therapeutic relationships that are usually fostered by CAM practitioners.

http://www.fih.org.uk/integrated_health/empowering_the_patient/why_do_patients_turn.html

Interestingly, it doesn’t seem to offer a solution to the CAM ‘lying dilemma’:

·In the absence of specific research, it seems reasonable to suppose that individuals who are susceptible to placebo effects, will get the best results if their treatment is surrounded by as much impressive mumbo jumbo as possible.
·This suggests that, in order to maximixe the placebo effect, it will be important to lie to the patient as much as possible, and certainly to disguise from them the fact that, for example, their homeopathic pill contains nothing but lactose.
·Therein lies the dilemma. The whole trend in medicine has been to be more open with the patient and to tell them the truth. To maximise the benefit of alternative medicine, it is necessary to lie to the patient as much as possible.


http://dcscience.net/?page_id=10


The new site also carries articles on ‘nature’ prescribing on the NHS and town planning for health. You have to wonder if it’s pushing these ideas in order to justify its existence once the sCAM fad (hopefully) starts to fade.

http://www.fih.org.uk/index.html

Getting back to CAM for cancer, here’s a couple of great skeptical articles by prominent oncologists:

Alternative medicine ‘intellectually dishonest’ – cancer specialist
http://www.irishmedicalnews.ie/articles.asp?Category=news&ArticleID=15417

Cancer Quackery Examined
http://www.skeptics.com.au/journal/2001/1_lowenthal.pdf

[Cuddles]

CAM offers opportunities for patients to gain control over and participate in treatment. Qualitative studies suggest that people who use CAM are attracted to and value the opportunities it affords them to regain a sense of control over their illness and treatment. Similarly patients value the participatory therapeutic relationships that are usually fostered by CAM practitioners.

Interesting that it doesn't even bother pretending that sCAM works. It's just a blatant appeal to popularity.

[Fiona]

I am old fashioned perhaps, but to be perfectly honest I don't want

to gain control over and participate in treatment.

. This is because I am not a doctor, and my opinion is worthless.

[Nasib]

In a nutshell:
Surgery is frightening and unpleasant but it increases a cancer patient's chances of survival.
Chemotherapy has horrible side effects but it increases a cancer patient's chances of survival.
Alternative treatments (usually) don't involve surgery and don't have side effects but they do bugger all except line the pockets of quacks.

I wouldn't rule out all alternative treatments altogether and place them in this category, though.

I've had the surgery, although lumpectopy, not masectomy.
Alongside the intensive 8 week daily radiotherapy that followed, the hospital offered complementary alternative therapy to those that wished to avail, all carried out freely on a voluntary basis by experienced practitioners.
Probably the worst side effects with surgery and chemo & radiotherapy are those of a psychological nature. Many of the patients receiving this complementary therapy were terminal. Aromatherapy massage was one of the options on offer and one found to offer great benefit, both physically and psychologically, especially for those diagnosed as terminal, due to the its "nurturing" effects alone. The aromatherapy, given immediately after the radiotherapy session, left me feeling very relaxed (and nurtured). I also chose to have a couple of Reflexology sessions. Never before having experienced this I wasn't quite sure what to expect from it. The first few seconds into that session, from my feet alone, the Reflexologist was able to pinpoint an imbalance in the lumber region resulting in a long-suffering back problem of mine - and work directly on that area just by manipulating the specific connected pressure points on my feet. A trapped nerve in my neck was also located and worked on in the same way. Diagnosis and instant relief all in one, not connected (directly) to the reason why I was there in the first place. For those people, like myself, who are physically allergic to certain toxins and drugs, (e.g. Penicillin), an alternative holistic approach can certainly have a huge benefit on a person's wellbeing.

[JJM]

I wouldn't rule out all alternative treatments altogether and place them in this category, though.

You should. You have no idea how things would have gone without "alternative" treatments. You wasted time and money, even if your insurance paid for it. Massage is the one practice you mentioned that provides comfort that was not born in quackery.

[Nasib]

You should. You have no idea how things would have gone without "alternative" treatments.

No, I have no idea how things would have gone without, and would certainly not have attempted trying to find out. I think you misunderstood me, JJM. These treatments were being offered on a complementary basis - i.e. as well as the other regular treatment.

You wasted time and money, even if your insurance paid for it. Massage is the one practice you mentioned that provides comfort that was not born in quackery.

My time was definitely not wasted; the aromatherapy served to ease and relax the effects of a pretty traumatic session of radiotherapy treatment, and from the Reflexology alone I received instant beneficial relief for pre-existing conditions not connected to the cancer.

My money was not wasted, as here in England we are very privileged to have the benefit of the free National Health Service which is readily available to every single citizen, whatever their financial status. Granted, every employed individual contributes to the system (National Insurance) where a nominal sum is taken out of their salary/wage packet. Having been in continuous employment and contributing to that system for 36 years, and the first time ever having to avail of it, I think my entitlement may have some justification on that occasion.
The complementary alternative treatment was also offered by the Hospital - free, I did not have to part with one penny - but having said that, now that I have the positive experience of how the reflexology worked for me, I would be quite happy to pay out in the future for such a service should I find the need to do so.

[seren]

Fiona:

I am old fashioned perhaps, but to be perfectly honest I don't want to gain control over and participate in treatment. This is because I am not a doctor, and my opinion is worthless.

Just interested to find out if you have a chronic condition or are otherwise under the long-term care of health professionals? If so your input is interesting to me professionally.

Many long term health care users say the opposite; one quote I use regularly (paraphrased) is someone saying they felt they had ceded control of their life to clinicians, and that for people like him involvement in their own care is crucial, because their quality of life depends on it.

In general there's a remarkable lack of appreciation of patients as people amongst healthcare professionals. Going through the process- presentation to GP, referral, investigation etc, it kind of dehumanises people, seeing hundreds like healthcare professionals do it kind of inevitably makes them into "cases" rather than individuals with lives outside their condition. One other quote I use a lot is from a professional who, when asked what patient involvement means, replied "it's about them doing what they're told, when they're told, and that's it".

In short, doctors know about diseases and pharmacists know about medicines, but you also have to think about the people that have the diseases and take the medicines; their circumstances and lives. Your opinion on your condition is not worthless, in fact in one sense you are an expert because you live with it every single hour of every single day; you live the disease and you live the treatment. Your doctor does not.

You as a patient should seek to know your condition, your GP and your PCT, so you understand the restrictions you may have on the availability of medicines locally and the thinking behind some of your doctor's decisions.

Furthermore, understanding your condition, how your treatment works and what you can do to help also helps you feel in control of it. Depression is a major feature of many long term conditions and (don't ask me to provide stats cos I'm not googling at this time of night but I'm sure it's broadly true) feeling that you are not in control will exacerbate that.

That's not to say there aren't times when you just accept expert opinion; I certainly wouldn't argue with my GP over which antibiotic to take as I haven't a clue, but if you're living with a long term condition and taking medicines with side-effects and contraindications, dealing with pain every day and having your life impinged upon, I don't think it would be a good idea to just passively accept whatever your doc tells you to do.

[JJM]

{snip} The complementary alternative treatment was also offered by the Hospital - free, I did not have to part with one penny - {snip}

You idiot, you paid for it in your taxes and the "nominal fee" in your "wage packet."

[Nasib]

You idiot, you paid for it in your taxes and the "nominal fee" in your "wage packet."

I hope you can justify the idiocy referred to there.
How was my time wasted?
How was my "money" wasted?

[Cuddles]

How was my time wasted?

Did the "complementary" therapy take any of your time? Yes? Then it was time wasted.

How was my "money" wasted?

You pay taxes? Is so, you wasted your money. If not, you wasted someone else's money which is even worse.

[Julia]

Oh, fer pete's sake! NO form of treatment from the NHS is free, it's paid for by your taxes. That's precisely why sceptics are opposed to complementary medicine being available through the NHS.