[hutchibk]

Hi RB - Here is a good book that I found... and I consult with the doc who wrote it. He is in Seattle, I am in Texas, but I make phone appointments and he offers me a plan based on what my onc has me doing. He consults with my onc first and likes to be updated on my progress and/or set-backs. Of course I need to call him tomorrow due to my treatment changes.

Honestly, I have been a bit lazy about his supportive and integrative supplement plan since I last talked to him in October, but it is time for me to get serious again. He doesn't go to the fringes with anything, he sticks close to conventional supplementation (although he knows what the fringes are doing and you can ask him about it...he will give his opinion). With me, he mostly works with vitamins (dosaging is one of the most important aspects, what you can and can't take when you are on certain chemos) as well as a few extras like L-glutamine, etc. He's not much of a fan of anything that has no true regulations in place (chinese herbs) for chemo patients, and he does sell certain brands vitamins (they are formulated specifically for his dosages.) What I have found is that his vits are equal in price or less than what I used to buy at Whole Foods. And he has total control over the ingredients that go into them.

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In Complementary Cancer Therapies, Dan Labriola has written a book that attempts to bridge the gap between “conventional” and “alternative” medicine for the patient with cancer. As such, this volume meets a need that has not been successfully addressed elsewhere. Most of what is written on other books for the lay reader emphasizes one approach to exclusion (and often denigration) of the other. Yet many who have recently received a diagnosis of this dreaded disease are actively searching for all available means to relieve their suffering, prolong their lives, and (if possible) achieve a cure. I am a “conventional” practitioner, but one who is well aware that patients use “alternative” therapies. If such therapies are to be employed, it is important to recognize that they have biological effects. Some may be helpful, others harmful. Harm is an especially likely consequence when one agent competes with another and decreases the antitumor efficacy.

Unfortunately, most forms of alternative therapy have not been subjected to rigorous testing by the scientific method. Incentives to do this have been lacking since there is a little financial reward and the agents employed are not regulated by the government like prescription drugs are. Such testing is, however, now underway; some of it sponsored by the federal government. As more information based on randomized trials become available, it should be possible for the cancer patient to make more intelligent choices about what, if any, alternative therapies to elect.

In the meantime, Dr. Labriola offers what information exists regarding the potential usefulness of the naturopath’s armamentarium. He also provides pithy, readily understood summaries of how various cancers are staged and treated according to “conventional” approaches. The toxicities of the latter are well described, but fairly.

This volume can serve as a valuable reference for practitioners on both sides of the present fence. Most important, it should act as a resource and advisor for the perplexed patient or family member who is in between.

~ Forward written by Robert B. Livingston, M.D., Professor of Medicine, University of Washington School of Medicine, and Chief of the Division of Oncology, University of Washington Medical Center.

“…loaded with information for anyone with cancer.” Bernie Siegel, M.D., author of the best-selling Love, Medicine, and Miracles and Prescriptions for Living