Defeat Cancer (22 page)

The immune system is comprised of cells that are divided into two types; Th-1 and Th-2, the ratios of which should be balanced in the
body. Basically, the body starts off with a Th-0 cell, which eventually differentiates to become a Th-1 cell or a Th-2 cell. These further differentiate to make lymphocytes, B cells, and T cells, among others. Understanding immune cell differentiation is complicated, but basically, there should be balanced numbers of all the immune cells in the body. We can determine what might be affecting the immune system based on the body’s balance of Th-1 and Th-2 cells. We then use a whole array of supplements to balance and activate the immune system, including homeopathy and homotoxicology remedies from GUNA and Heel, which are very helpful for this purpose. If necessary, we complement our cancer treatments with these agents.

Another remedy that we use a lot of is AVE (also known as Avemar), which is fermented wheat germ, to boost NK activity, because NK numbers tend to be low in people with cancer. AVE also keeps cancer from taking up sugar, and thereby prevents its growth. It has a lot of other beneficial properties, as well.

Intravenous germanium is another substance that we sometimes give our patients. This is an immune balancer that stimulates Interferon gamma (a cytokine that’s critical for innate and adaptive immunity against viral and intracellular bacterial infections and for tumor control), reduces cancer pain, and stimulates oxygen delivery to tissues. We also use herbal supports, such as ginkgo biloba, green tea extract, marshmallow, and slippery elm. These herbs support the gut, and thereby, immune function.

In addition to supporting the immune system with nutrients, we also look for other chronic diseases that our patients might have in addition to cancer, because these weigh down the immune system. For instance, some people have chronic mycoplasma and get fevers every night. Others have Lyme disease and we have to treat them with antibiotics, or natural remedies that include homotoxicolgy formulas, which we can also do as part of their IPT treatments. By using IPT to treat infections, we are able to kill two birds with one stone, because IPT makes treatments for Lyme and other chronic infections more effective, too.

To determine which infections might be playing a role in our patients’ diseases, we do tests that expose their cells to different fungi, bacterial or viral antigens, to see how they respond, which then gives us clues about what else might be triggering an immune system response. From the results of this testing, we may order more tests; a Lyme disease or stool test, for example, to see specifically why the immune system is reacting in an unbalanced manner. We find that many patients have Epstein-Barr, herpes and cytolomegaloviruses, as well as other chronic viruses. In addition, some may have Lyme and mycoplasma infections, which are sometimes re-activated in the body by chemotherapy. If they have active viruses, then they usually also have heavy metal toxicity, which further weakens the immune system. Treatment at this point can become complicated, because if they have infections and heavy metal toxicity, then they also tend to have methylation and other detoxification problems. All of these issues must be addressed if they are to fully heal.

The brain, like the immune system, has its own balancing mechanisms, which can be categorized as excitatory and inhibitory. The inhibitory mechanisms put the body to sleep; the excitatory mechanisms keep it awake and functioning during the day. It’s not good to have too many excitatory mechanisms without enough inhibitory ones and vice versa, because otherwise, people would be manic or in a coma! Most of our patients are running—to quote a colleague, Denise Marks, MD—“an SUV life on a mini coupe gas tank!” They run on “empty,” which means that they have no inhibitory-supporting neurotransmitters such as serotonin, so their mood is down, and neither do they have enough excitatory neurotransmitters, so they have no energy. From urine tests, we can obtain information on our patients’ brain chemistry, and then determine which amino acids will correct their neurotransmitter deficiencies. Green tea with L-theanine, for example, keeps people calm and has anti-cancer effects. Supporting the body’s serotonin levels, with a combination of mainly 5-hydroxy tryptophan, zinc, B6, and other
vitamins, helps patients to maintain a positive mood and good quality of sleep. Serotonin also helps to activate the rest of the brain; it’s the gateway to the entire functioning of the brain and its chemistry. Balancing the hormones also has a positive effect upon brain chemistry.

One test panel that we do is based upon a recent lecture that I attended, entitled “Cancer Is a Chronic Disease,” which was given by a nutritionist at the Institute of Functional Medicine. This nutritionist stressed the importance of checking hemoglobin A1-C levels to monitor patients’ glycemic control on their diets, as well as checking fibrinogen, C-reactive protein, and free copper and zinc levels. Testing copper to zinc ratios is important, as well. Most people with cancer have an excess of copper, and not enough zinc, and excess copper stimulates tumor blood vessel growth. So we prescribe different supplements to deal with each of these imbalances: Nattokinase for elevated fibrinogen levels, for example. To reduce inflammation, we treat infections and also use a hops derivative known as Kaprex, by Metagenics.

We also do high dose Vitamin C and K-3 IVs, and detoxification therapy using phenyl-butyrate. Vitamin C appears to a cancer cell as a sugar molecule and is quickly taken up by the cancer. Once the Vitamin C connects with an iron molecule in the cell, peroxide is released, which injures the cells internally. Cancer cells have a difficult time repairing from such damage. Vitamin K-3 augments the effects of Vitamin C and helps to inhibit cancer growth.

Phenyl-butyrate is a derivative of the short-chain fatty acid butyrate, and is thought to have anti-neoplastic activity as well as the ability to assist with cancer cell destruction. It can be given intravenously as part of IPT treatments or a detoxification protocol.

Finally, many of our patients have low Vitamin D levels, so we often prescribe 10,000-15,000 units of Vitamin D per day, along with ox
bile and other enzymes to help digest fat, if they have trouble digesting these fats (since Vitamin D is fat-soluble). Some patients have a poor antioxidant status, as a result of not being able to digest fats and proteins (and hence their nutrients), so we add enzymes to their regimens which aid in protein and fat digestion. We also give them antioxidant support in the form of supplements. We have to literally restore everything in their bodies while they are being treated for cancer, and this can’t usually be accomplished in a short amount of time. Thus, we must prepare them for the possibility of doing treatments with us for an extended period of time, perhaps many months.

In summary, we look at different parameters in our patients, and if we can improve those, then it makes their bodies into a more hostile environment for cancer. We have a regimen of supplements that we prescribe, which depend upon their test results and symptoms.

We recently hired a nutritionist, who said to us, “Your cancer patients are springing up and down the hallway! They aren’t acting like cancer patients. How can they feel that good?” When we get cancer patients that have already received conventional treatments, they do look sick, but within a month of coming to our clinic, they look like normal people again, because we revitalize them and spend a lot of time doing nutritional interventions to detoxify them and improve their quality of life.

We sometimes have to do detoxification treatments on our patients before we can start them on IPT, especially if they have had high dose chemotherapy and/or radiation prior to coming to our clinic. They may require several weeks of nutritional IVs before their bodies get built up enough to tolerate IPT. Conversely, some of our other patients have done Gerson-type cleansing therapies prior to coming to our clinic, which means that their lab values tend to be normal and we can get them started on IPT treatments right away.

Some of the agents which we use in our detoxification IVs include: high dose Vitamin C, glutathione, and phenyl-butyrate (as previously mentioned), all of which cleanse and restore the body. Phenyl-butyrate is particularly helpful for restoring immune function. It also reduces inflammation as it targets and boosts immune cell production. We can accomplish a lot of different things with phenyl-butyrate.

We also use homotoxicology remedies to clean out the cells and stimulate toxin drainage through the kidneys. Oral chelating and toxin-binding agents such as powdered zeolite are also important. What we use varies from person to person. People usually come in here with a laundry list of supplements already, so we also try to work with what they are already using, if it’s beneficial for them.

Finally, we may recommend infrared saunas or far infrared mats for sweating out toxins. Infrared mats deliver heat that penetrates the body and induces detoxification of the impurities that have built up in the tissues over many years.

Since most cancers thrive in an acidic environment, we do cesium chloride therapy as part of our IPT treatments, to balance the body’s pH levels. Cesium, being one of the most alkaline elements, has a high pH value and is also readily taken up by cancer cells, and raises their pH to a level at which they can no longer survive. We make sure, however, to monitor our patients’ potassium levels while they are on cesium therapy, since it can also reduce potassium levels.

We sometimes give our patients DMSO, a penetrating agent that augments the effects of chemotherapy by bringing it deeper into the tissues. It also has anti-inflammatory properties.

We use many other substances in our practice, but our choice of treatments depends upon our patients’ lab test results and symptoms; whether, for example, they are exhausted, chemotherapy toxic, or emotionally depressed.

Another type of treatment that we do is magnetic therapy, because it increases tissue oxygenation, improves immune function and re-polarizes the body. It’s also relaxing. Ideally, I like my patients to have a magnetic bed that they can lay on at home, three times per day for fifteen minutes at a time. I use one myself, because I get muscle tension headaches and it quickly gets rid of them. Magnetic beds can also alleviate pain, increase energy, improve mood, and “re-set” the brain—among other things. A book written by a chiropractor named Dr. Joel Carmichael, called
Magnetic Resonance Stimulation: Using the Field to Maximize Your Health (2009)
describes one type of magnetic bed, called the MRS 2000, which was developed in Germany and which we use on our patients.

During therapy, we put our patients on a healthy, low-glycemic diet that’s high in fruits and vegetables. We don’t recommend that they go on a raw vegan diet, except for short periods, because it’s difficult to get enough protein on a low-glycemic vegan diet. Even Dr. Gerson (who recommends a vegetarian diet) used to put his patients on liver extracts so that they would get enough protein. That said, many cancer patients have a difficult time digesting proteins, so it’s important for them to take digestive enzymes with their meals. It’s also important that they get gluten and casein out of their diets. We allow them to have a little yogurt, or cottage cheese, (as prescribed by the Budwig diet), but drinking milk every day isn’t a good idea. We encourage them to eat a lot of eggs, because eggs are rich in lecithin and protein. A whole live animal comes out of an egg, which means that there are a lot of healthy ingredients in eggs, including higher amounts of healthy fats and proteins. Fat is important for rejuvenating cell membranes. Seven percent of our eye cell
membranes are new every day, which means that every two weeks we get a new eye cell membrane! Patricia Kane, PhD, mentions in
The Detoxx Book
(which she co-authored with John S. Foster, Domenick Braccia and Edward Kane) that the visual contrast function of the eye is dependent upon the amount of inflammatory processes in the body, because inflammation gets into cell membranes and impacts the ability of the eye to see contrast. Contrast can be measured by reading a card (which is found in
The Detoxx Book)
, the results of which can reveal whether there’s inflammation that’s upsetting the cell membranes. If so, then it’s important to get more proper fats into the body so that the cell membranes can repair themselves. So we try to make sure that our patients get a proper balance of Omega 3-6-9 fats, as well as other nutrients.

The duration and number of treatments that our patients need vary. We had one woman with metastatic breast cancer who needed aggressive treatment for three months. Once her PET scan was negative, and her bone and liver lesions were no longer active, we began to taper off her treatments. We didn’t stop them abruptly, because cancer cells are still present in the body after PET scans are negative. Other patients, who are highly toxic and have other problems such as viral and bacterial infections may require treatments for longer periods of time. One patient has been seeing us on a weekly basis for two years. Two years ago, she was on a ventilator and doctors had told her husband to let her go. He wasn’t ready to do that, and she was very weak when she got here, but now, she’s doing well. Recently, I hosted a women’s health lecture, and she came to the clinic to give a testimony of her remission.

A lot of people travel to see us. Many come from Los Angeles, since we are an hour and half away from central LA. Others drive from further away, but because they may require nutritional IVs or other therapies a couple of times per week, we help them to set up Vitamin C IVs and other therapies at clinics which are closer to where
they live. They can then go to these clinics in-between treatments with us. We know doctors who are part of ACAM, who can duplicate our vitamin and nutritional IVs, and who may be closer to our patients’ homes than our clinic. Therefore, we are able to help patients who live in many different places.