Alternative Therapies

Cancer Treatments and Supplements Breakdown

This list does not include all and every treatment and/or supplement but does give a good overview of some of the most popular ones used today. Use caution when using any of these and I would recommend getting with a healthcare professional that is familiar with alternative/complementary therapies to help guide you.

A-B | C-D | E-G | H-I | J-O | P-R | S-Z

Haelan 951®
Haelan 951 is a promising and popular nutritional-based anti-cancer agent made from fermented liquid soy bean extract. Haelan’s array of benefits include blocking cancer-cell blood supplies, enzymatic activity, tumor reduction, and boosting of the immune system. It has also been found to help relieve the side-effects of toxic conventional therapies. Writing in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute, researchers at the University of Southern California in Los Angeles say animal tests have shown that genistein, found in soy-based products such as this, stops cells from making stress proteins produced by cancer cells. Those proteins help cancer cells survive attacks by the body's immune system and anti-cancer therapies, researchers say.
 
Hoxsey therapy
For over thirty years, Harry Hoxsey (1901-1974), a self-taught healer, cured many cancer patients using an herbal remedy reportedly handed down by his great-grandfather. By the 1950s, the Hoxsey Cancer Clinic in Dallas was the world's largest private cancer center, with branches in seventeen states. Born in Illinois, this practitioner of herbal folk medicine faced unrelenting opposition and harassment from a hostile medical establishment. Nevertheless, two federal courts upheld the therapeutic value of Hoxsey's internal tonic. Even his archenemies, the American Medical Association and the Food and Drug Administration, admitted that his treatment could cure some forms of cancer. A Dallas judge ruled in federal court that Hoxsey's therapy was "comparable to surgery, radium, and x-ray" in its effectiveness, without the destructive side effects of those treatments. But in the 1950s, at the tail end of the McCarthy era, Hoxsey's clinics were shut down. The AMA, NCI, and FDA organized to suppress Hoxsey's methods according to a 1953 federal report to Congress and Hoxsey's Dallas clinic had to close its doors in 1960. Three years later, at Hoxsey's request, Mildred Nelson, R.N., his long-time chief nurse, moved the operation to Tijuana, Mexico.
 
Hulda Clark's therapies
For decades, Hulda Clark has been a highly controversial healer. Although many people worldwide worship her as visionary inventor, therapist and humanitarian, just as many attack her as a quack. Parasite removal in the body is a cornerstone of her approach to almost all diseases. Patient screening for various disease conditions utilizes a frequency testing device she invented called a Syncrometer. Her principle book about cancer, which has sold many thousands of copies, is called "The Cure for All Cancers".   
 
Hydrazine Sulphate
This is a common industrial chemical that was first proposed in the treatment of cancer in the 1970s by Joseph Gold, M.D., of the Syracuse Cancer Research Institute. Its use is based on the fact that a cancer cell is known to derive its energy from fermenting sugar instead of by burning oxygen, as do normal cells. Gold reasoned that hydrazine sulfate would inhibit the liver's ability to deliver sugar to the tumor and, in that way, inhibit tumor growth. The advocates of hydrazine sulfate claim that it is also useful in combating cachexia, the extreme loss of weight that often is associated with the terminal stages of cancer. More info is at Syracuse Cancer Research Institute's website at http://scri.ngen.com/
 
Hypothermia therapy
A type of treatment in which body tissue is exposed to high temperatures to damage and kill cancer cells, or in the case of conventional therapy, to make cancer cells more sensitive to the effects of radiation and certain anticancer drugs. Local hyperthermia treatment (heat applied to a very small area, such as a tumor) is a well-established cancer treatment method with a simple basic principle: If a rise in temperature to 106ºF can be obtained for one hour within a cancer tumor, the cancer cells will be destroyed. The area may be heated externally with high-frequency waves aimed at a tumor from a device outside the body. Ultrasound is more easily focused than other energy modalities, and can be applied to tumors located from the skin to 8 centimeters (approx. 3 in.) within the body. This allows the treatment of tumors unreachable by other external modalities. Whole-body heating is used to treat metastatic cancer that has spread throughout the body.

Immuno Therapies
This is a generalized term which refers to the many ways and means there are today to boost the immune system.  In other words, this is the various treatments to stimulate or restore the ability of the immune system to fight cancer, infections, and other diseases.  Immunotherapy is also used to lessen certain side effects that may be caused by cancer treatment. Also called biological therapy, biotherapy, or biological response modifier (BRM) therapy. In general, the immune system declines with age and is the principle disease fighting mechanism of the body. Most chemotherapeutic drugs will seriously damage the strength of the immune system.
 
Immunocal®
IMMUNOCAL is manufactured and distributed by Immunotec Research Ltd., located in Canada. It is a patented 100% natural nutritional supplement, available without prescription. It is proven safe without any known negative side effects or toxicity. In experimental research and clinical trials, IMMUNOCAL has demonstrated positive results in the treatment of major diseases including AIDS, Cancer and Hepatitis, and against high-grade bacterial infections. Immunotec has been granted patents in Australia, USA and Canada. IMMUNOCAL also provides a powerful agent which delays the aging process attributed to free radical damage. Controlled studies in laboratory animals fed with IMMUNOCAL demonstrated an increase in life span of 30%-60% attributed mainly to increased resistance to disease.
IMMUNOCAL is the result of 18 years of research at McGill University. Clinical trials in North America and Japan are being conducted.
 
Indole 3 Carbinol (See also Di-indole methane)
I3C, as it is frequently called, has been tested and documented in humans and the data seems highly promising. Indole-3-carbinol reduced or halted the formation of precancerous lesions (papillomas) in 12 out of 18 people with recurrent respiratory tract papillomas. In addition, in a small double-blind trial, supplementation with 200 or 400 mg of indole-3-carbinol per day for 12 weeks reversed early-stage cervical cancer in 8 of 17 women. Preliminary studies have also shown indole-3-carbinol has significantly increased the conversion of estrogen from cancer-producing forms to nontoxic breakdown products. Indole-3-carbinol is found in highest concentrations in broccoli, but is also found in other cruciferous vegetables, such as cauliflower, cabbage, and kale. This treatment would be indicated for those with hormonal related cancers. Note: Di-indole methane is considered a stronger metabolite of I3C.
 
IPT (Insulin Potentiated Therapy)
IPT is a non-diabetic use of the hormone insulin. Cancer treatment with IPT in comparison to chemotherapeutic drugs is said to be safer, more effective, and less expensive with virtually no side effects. Research has shown that most cancer cells have as many as 10-15 times more insulin receptors on their surface than normal healthy cells. With insulin present, these receptors open cell wall channels which allow nutrients to enter the cell. As cancer cells have so many more of these receptors of normal cells, they strongly compete with normal cells for many nutrients. When insulin is administered to a cancer patient prior to chemotherapy, it opens the receptor channels of both the cancer cell as well as the normal cells. As a result, only a very small dose of chemotherapy need be used - usually 10% of the standard dose. The normal cell will be relatively unaffected by this small dose.
Good resource for more information on IPT is http://iptq.com/donato3.htm

IP6®
IP6 is a unique nutritional supplement containing the B complex vitamin inositol phosphate which is further bonded with inositol. IP6 with inositol is found naturally within every body cell.  IP6 is an effective antioxidant; it acts to neutralize the damaging effects of free radicals on body cells and has been shown to enhance immunity by boosting the activity of natural killer (NK) cells. Immune system cells (also called lymphocytes) are the body's first line of defense against a variety of diseases, viruses and other infecting organisms. IP6 has undergone extensive animal testing and human studies. No side effects have been found, either when IP6 is used on its own, or in combination with chemotherapeutic agents. According to the University of Maryland - School of Medicine, IP6 holds great promise in the prevention and treatment of cancer. It enhances the anticancer effect of conventional chemotherapy, controls cancer metastases, and improves quality of life. There are no known drug-nutrient interactions.
 
Iscador® (Mistletoe)
Iscador is the registered brand name of a product containing an extract of the Mistletoe plant which grows naturally on the barks of various trees. Iscador’s history dates back to 1917 in Switzerland, and widely used today in many parts of Europe.  The manufacturer/distributor term Iscador as a complementary medicine rather than an alternative medicine. It is prescribed in Europe by medical doctors including oncologists. This is in addition to the conventional cancer therapies radiation, surgery and chemotherapy. Its actions are many sided and complex, however it is now recognized that one side of its activity comes from stimulating parts of the immune system that can slow the growth of cancer cells. Many patients also report an improved quality of life such as feeling better and more positive, and also needing less pain relief. For these reasons, Iscador is often included with conventional therapies such as surgery, chemotherapy and radiotherapy. Iscador is available by prescription only under the brand name ISCAR in the USA.
 
Issels Treatment
A 50 year old therapeutic system originating in Europe developed by Dr. Josef Issels. Therapy includes: detoxification, nutritional support, supplementation of vitamins, minerals and enzymes, chelation therapy, acupuncture, massage therapy, counseling, oxygen/ozone therapy, vaccines, light therapy, and heat therapy. In short, a truly integrated approach to treating cancer. His approach is not necessarily meant to replace conventional care, but can be used with it. With the Issels Treatment, so-called "incurable" cancer patients have led full cancer free lives, some for up to 45 years.  As follow-up to conventional treatment, the cure rate is as high as 87%.

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