Defeat Cancer (21 page)

Two patients with the same type of cancer can be sensitive to a whole different array of chemotherapeutic agents, so instead of grouping all of our patients together and giving them all the same agents, we do chemotherapy sensitivity tests. These determine the specific chemotherapy agents that their tumor cells may best respond to. There are two labs that we use for this purpose; one is
in Greece, the other is in Germany. The lab in Greece is called Research Genetics Cancer Center (RGCC). Here, they extract circulating tumor cells from patients’ blood samples, culture them out, and then expose them to different chemotherapeutic agents. Results are then calculated according to the percentage of cancer cells that are killed by the agents, which may be 50 or 80 percent of a culture—or none. Then they choose the agents that the cancer cells have the highest response rate to and recommend that these be used for treatment. The labs can also provide comprehensive information on the genetic makeup of people’s cancers, which helps us determine appropriate therapies for our patients. Once we have this information, ideally, we will put together two different treatment regimens for each of them, with each regimen consisting of three different medications, which we alternate. The purpose of doing this is to reduce the cancer cells’ resistance to the drugs. It takes ten days for the results of the Greek test to come back. Another advantage of this test is that only a blood sample is required to do it, rather than tissue from the tumor itself, so unlike some types of chemotherapy sensitivity testing, it’s safe to use in those with metastatic disease.

Most doctors in the United States won’t even look at this type of testing, though. But those that do, find it helpful, and are discovering that drugs that most doctors ordinarily wouldn’t even think of using to treat certain types of cancer are effective for those cancers. For example, many conventional doctors use a drug called Gemcitabine to treat pancreatic cancer, but the RGCC test demonstrates various breast cancers to also be sensitive to this agent, and recent breast cancer studies confirm this. We use agents that aren’t commonly prescribed to treat certain cancers and yet we find that they work.

So not only have we been able to figure out how to best treat our patients through chemotherapy sensitivity testing and the IPT process, but we have also figured out strategies to make treatments more tolerable for them.

Additionally, we use a bioresonance device called the Asyra on our patients, which detects areas of stress in the body, even before those areas of stress manifest as symptoms. We have found a strong correlation between the chemotherapy agents that patients test positive for with the Asyra, and the ones that they test positive for on the RGCC test. So the results that the Asyra provides help us to determine useful chemotherapy agent combinations for our patients. The medical community needs to learn more about devices such as the Asyra, but they thus far appear to be quite useful.

In addition to IPT, we give our patients pre-chemotherapy nutritional IV’s, comprised of nine nutritional supplements, which we administer prior to IPT. These substances make the chemotherapy more effective by keeping the drug(s) in the cells longer. They also prevent the cancer from repairing itself after it has been damaged by chemotherapy, and reduce its resistance to the chemotherapy. Also, while the pre-IPT nutritional IV is intended to have its greatest effects at the site of the cancer, it has the additional benefit of boosting the immune system at the same time.

One of the substances that we use in the pre-cancer nutritional IV is glutamine. We give patients this amino acid both orally and intravenously before they start treatments. Other substances that we include in the IV are L-arginine, L-proline, resveratrol, quercetin, niacinamide, acetyl-L-carnitine, and L-theanine. We also give a green tea extract known as EGCG. Each one of these substances has a different effect upon the cancer and patients’ symptoms. For instance, acetyl-L-carnitine reduces brain fog and glutamine boosts neutrophil, macrophage and other immune cell counts and is a source of food for them. Glutamine has additional anti-cancer properties, and protects the GI tract against the side effects of chemotherapy.

A lot of oncologists struggle to overcome the MDR-1(multi-drug resistance-1) gene in cancer. This gene codes for a pump in the cancer cell called the Pgp pump, which removes chemotherapy
drugs from the cell. Nutrition can inhibit that pump and thereby reduce the cancer’s resistance to chemotherapy.

We used to have patients who would become resistant to their chemo drugs somewhere between their eighth and tenth treatments, and we found that if we switched their drugs from time to time and did pre-chemo nutritional IVs, we got better results. So now we rotate their drug regimens, and use three different chemotherapy drugs at a time, so that their cancers don’t have a chance to develop resistance to them. Since we have employed these strategies, it now takes 16-25 treatments before patients might become resistant to their treatments. Drug resistance is something that all IPT practitioners, as well as traditional oncologists, must address.

Whether or not we recommend IPT depends upon the patient that we’re treating and the type of cancer that they have. For instance, we may recommend that a twenty-year-old with lymphoma see a conventional oncologist, because conventional medicine tends to have good results with lymphomas, leukemia, and testicular cancers. Lymphoid tissue replicates quickly and responds well to full-dose chemotherapy, so doctors can get away with using higher dosages of medication for this type of cancer. For an 80-year-old with ovarian cancer, which isn’t a very metabolically active cancer, we may recommend IPT treatments once per week, or even less frequently, since older patients aren’t as metabolically active and therefore, their cancers don’t replicate as quickly.

As another example, recently, we had a patient come to our clinic who had just been released from the hospital. She had lost forty pounds over the course of six weeks. We wouldn’t immediately give this kind of person chemotherapy until we figured out what her nutritional status was. We know that patients who have a weakened antioxidant and nutritional status are set up for failure in their treatments. If we were to give this woman low-dose chemotherapy through IPT, she would wind up in the hospital for a blood transfusion, because she would be too weak to tolerate the chemotherapy,
even at lower dosages. Considering patients’ unique situations helps us to determine appropriate treatment protocols for them.

Determining whether IPT treatments are effective for our patients is also very important, so we do a PET/CT scan on them after they have done six weeks of therapy. We also measure their tumor markers on a weekly basis, and observe the trend in the markers, which helps us to discern their response to treatment.

When patients’ cancers respond well to conventional medicine, as in cases of leukemia, lymphoma, or testicular cancer, we refer them to a conventional oncologist. We will continue to see them to give them nutritional support, which helps them to get through their conventional treatments and also reduces the side effects of those treatments. We can do IPT for these cancers too, but the IPT organization of doctors as a whole supports conventional treatment for certain types of cancer. IPT does work on most types of cancer, though, so we will use it on patients with the above-mentioned cancers if they prefer to not receive conventional care.

When chemotherapy is given in smaller, gentler and more frequent doses we have observed that patients respond well with fewer side effects than if they had done full-dose chemotherapy. Some patients that have stopped conventional care due to its side effects have re-grown their hair while undergoing IPT. We, along with other IPT doctors, have also observed that patients have less deterioration in their quality of life than if they had done conventional treatments.

The kinds of people who walk through our door are generally very educated and don’t want conventional care, anyway. Many others have already been through conventional care. Either the side effects of their conventional treatments were intolerable or they didn’t respond to the treatments. They are the type of people who make their own decisions regarding treatment (rather than allowing someone else to dictate what they should do), so we don’t usually have to discuss whether IPT or conventional medicine is best for
them. We don’t participate in any insurance plans, so patients don’t get assigned to us for treatment. They are here because they want to be here. We are a cash-based practice and most doctors who do the type of treatment that we do are also cash-based, because IPT is generally outside of the health insurance system. People look for us; we don’t look for them. They call us because they don’t want conventional treatment. At times, I may suggest that they see an oncologist to see if they can offer them an effective treatment option that we might be unaware of or unable to provide, and I have no qualms about making such referrals. I have no animosity towards mainstream medicine. I just prefer to do things “outside of the box.” Fortunately, I believe that IPT may become a mainstream type of treatment as more and more people become aware of its benefits.

It’s important for us to treat our patients’ hormone imbalances, especially if they have hormonally-driven cancers, such as of the breast, prostate, ovaries, and uterus. To determine hormonal status, we do 24-hour urine tests, which provide us with a comprehensive breakdown of the body’s hormone levels, and clues about what we need to do to treat them. If women have hormonally-driven cancers, it’s important that we get their estradiol (and some of their other hormones) into a less proliferative state. Estradiol is one of three types of estrogen that the body produces which contributes to cancer growth. Estriol, or E-3, is a less proliferative hormone than estradiol, E-2. E-2 is a great hormone for females to have at age thirteen when they are becoming women, but women in their 50s and 60s need more estriol, not estradiol.

Unfortunately, we live in a society where all of the chemicals and toxins that we are exposed to, such as phthalates and Styrofoam (polystyrene), are mimicking and creating more estradiol in our bodies. As a result, men are becoming more feminine, gaining weight, developing insulin resistance, and getting bigger chests. The chemicals which are stored in their fat are estrogen-aggravating, which perpetuates the problem. Women face similar problems as a
result of excess estrogen. Also, estrogens interfere with thyroid function, so the thyroid becomes more sluggish, and in turn makes the rest of the body more sluggish. Then the liver can’t process all the estrogen and the result is a condition of estrogen dominance in the body, which worsens insulin resistance and creates a tendency for people to put on weight. This then creates even more problems in the body. For example, when women become overweight, their bodies produce more testosterone, which leads to polycystic ovarian and masculine-type problems, such as facial hair and acne.

Doris Rapp, MD, an environmental doctor who has written several books and who is still practicing in Arizona, said at a recent conference that there is such a pollution problem in some of the lakes in England that some of the male fish are now carrying eggs! The male fish are no longer male fish.

Excess estrogen not only has an effect upon cancer, but upon the immune and nervous systems, as well. We have a model that we use in our practice; a triangle diagram, which illustrates the integration and interrelationship between the nervous, hormonal and immune systems. The nervous system sits on the top of the triangle, the immune system sits off to the right, and the hormonal system is on the left. We address and treat imbalances in each one of these systems so that they work together better as a whole.

The body’s hormonal system is based primarily on the thyroid, adrenal gland, and sex hormones. It’s important to make sure that all of these hormones are functioning properly, because they affect cancer growth and patients’ overall health. We have many patients who have low thyroid and adrenal function, and their sex hormones are also in disarray. So, for example, we may look at their thyroid function and treat them for hypo or hyperthyroidism based on their body’s basal temperature and symptoms, not just their test results. If patients have a body temperature of 96.8, are freezing cold, and have a pulse of 50 bpm, but their thyroid tests are normal—sorry, I don’t think that their thyroid function is normal! If I give them thyroid hormone and they perk up, then it means that they had a thyroid problem, regardless of what their blood tests showed. It’s
because blood tests can be inaccurate that we prefer to diagnose based on the body’s temperature and functioning.

When we do use thyroid tests to support a clinical diagnosis, we don’t just look at T4 values, but also free T3, free T4, and reverse T3. It’s important to properly balance all of these levels. We don’t give thyroid hormone to people who have depleted adrenal glands, though, because then their livers will metabolize cortisol that’s produced by the adrenals too fast, and they will get tired. So we first support their adrenal glands with adrenal glandular extracts, homotoxicology formulas, and products such as AdreCor, by NeuroScience, which contains various vitamins, amino acids, and the adrenal-balancing herb rhodiola rosea. One liquid glandular formula that we use is called CF Support, by Xtra-Cell, which contains proteins and peptides, as well as other growth factors and signaling molecules from porcine adrenal and mesenchyme tissue (the latter is a type of loose, connective embryonic tissue). We use a lot of other agents for adrenal and thyroid support, as well.

We don’t just do tests to determine the status of our patients’ cancers and hormones; we also look for any other problems that might be impacting their health. Through additional testing, we often find that we need to detoxify them and clean up their immune systems. For instance, in the early stages of treatment, we measure their inflammatory mediators, such as cytokines, to determine what’s causing the inflammation in their bodies. We check the status of their immune cells, to see what, for example, the T-cells and natural killer (NK) cells are doing. We want their immune systems to be active and balanced, and will prescribe remedies to accomplish that. Many patients have chronic infections that weaken their immune systems and impair their ability to effectively fight cancer.