There are so many things that can cause cancer, and so many different kinds , that it might not be a simple thing to find a cure. I do think that there are things that people can do to help prevent getting cancer though, and this is where most doctors fall short, as @Ken Anderson mentioned in the opening post. Like he said, they can operate once they find cancer; but they really didn't have any helpful ideas on how to stop it from developing in the first place. I believe that eating a diet that contains anti-cancer foods is a good place to start. Some foods (like certain grapes) literally contain properties that kill cancer cells, and destroy them. Adding those foods as a preventative measure seems like a good place to start. Avoiding things that are known carcinogens is another good idea. Again, doctors might tell you to stop smoking; but probably not much more than that. It is known that cancer cells only feed on sugar; so eliminating their natural food can starve the cancer cells to death. This is far less hazardous to the body than killing them with harmful radiation would be; but a person would have to start doing these kinds of things before the cancer was extreme and it is too late for prevention. So, while doctors are probably not actively suppressing a cure that is certain to work, they definitely could be offerering some better ideas for prevention and early treatment.
I would think surgery if possible would be early treatment, Yvonne. Drs. Can't treat you for cancer before you have it. I also think most patients don't listen to their doctor's advice or there would be no smokers left. They also try to get you to lose weight and eat healthy. Also, about sugar...this is from the Mayo Clinic site. Myth: People with cancer shouldn't eat sugar, since it can cause cancer to grow faster. Fact: Sugar doesn't make cancer grow faster. All cells, including cancer cells, depend on blood sugar (glucose) for energy. But giving more sugar to cancer cells doesn't speed their growth. Likewise, depriving cancer cells of sugar doesn't slow their growth. This misconception may be based in part on a misunderstanding of positron emission tomography (PET) scans, which use a small amount of radioactive tracer — typically a form of glucose. All tissues in your body absorb some of this tracer, but tissues that are using more energy — including cancer cells — absorb greater amounts. For this reason, some people have concluded that cancer cells grow faster on sugar. But this isn't true. However, there is some evidence that consuming large amounts of sugar is associated with an increased risk of certain cancers, including esophageal cancer. It can also lead to weight gain and increase the risk of obesity and diabetes, which may increase the risk of cancer.
Oh sure.. I don't think I've ever heard anyone dispute the fact that we need to eat healthy foods and avoid too many unhealthy foods in order to help our chances of avoiding cancer. (And smoking/drinking too much, too, of course.) I do not, however, think we should expect our doctors to "slap our wittle patties" and tell us to not eat so much red meat, and to eat our veggies. We should already know that. That's what dieticians and nutritionists are paid to do, come to think of it. To blame doctors for not reminding us that we shouldn't eat too much sugar and processed foods when we end up with cancer... well I just don't agree with that. We need to educate *ourselves* and not be so co-dependent that we premeditate who to blame if our health takes a tank. Actually if my doc would go into a schpiel about what I should eat and not eat when that is something I should already know, I'd roll my eyes at him and he'd say, "okay, okay, I'm offending your intelligence again, am I not?"
Actually, I specifically asked my general physician as well as my urologist what I could do to reduce the chances of cancer returning, and they seemed confused by the question. The urologist said there was nothing I could do that would prevent it from reoccurring, and that I should just go through the radiation treatment and hope that it doesn't come back. My GP told me that keeping my overall health as good as possible would help my body fight a reoccurrence and then used that as a way to segue into a lecture about taking Lipitor, which I didn't like because it caused restless leg syndrome and other discomforts. Of course, I once scheduled an appointment to see him about an earache and he made it all about Lipitor. That particular doctor, whom I no longer see, never offered any alternatives to Lipitor, such as Crestor, which I am now taking without noticeable side effects. Quoting an established source, such as the Mayo Clinic, is certainly a valid citation but don't be disappointed when it doesn't bring the discussion to an end, particularly given the fact that the thread is about suppression of cancer treatments by the medical community. If they were doing that, they surely wouldn't admit to it in their online literature. That might do it for you, and I won't argue about that as far as you're concerned, but someone who believes that the medical community is suppressing a cure isn't going to be won over by a citation from the same medical community. That would be the equivalent of having the police investigate police wrongdoing. We do that of course, but reasonable people often discount the findings. I don't surrender the use of my own brain in deference to the experts, knowing that experts often lie, and one thing that seems clear to me is that there is something, other than smoking, that can cause cancer, and it seems quite likely that we are put at risk by things that we breathe into our lungs, absorb into our skin, and ingest into our bodies. With the billions of dollars that has gone into cancer research worldwide over the past several years, it seems like we ought to know more about what these things are. It also seems clear that likely suspects might include pesticides and genetically modified foods, but as long as our government is in bed with Monsanto, it is very hard to believe the results of government-funded research that seems to always leave Monsanto out of the loop.
The volume of misinformation and myths on the Internet is staggering. And I don't really have a problem with people choosing to believe the misinformation *if* they don't go around preaching it as gospel and it ends up hurting others who are vulnerable and/or grasping for answers and thus gullible. It's one of my pet peeves... injustice. And when it comes to health care, I can be a mama tiger when I see hurting individuals being fed information that is inaccurate.
I'm sure there's not a doctor alive who doesn't wish he or she would have the ability to predict when there will be a recurrence or mets to other parts of the body. There isn't a way. Your GP and urologist, sadly, were right. Keeping the health in tip-top shape *is* the wisest thing we can do... because no one 'cept the Good Lord Himself knows if it's going to come back or spread. Keeping health stellar *is* all anyone has to offer. Now of course, if it had been a kind of cancer we know more about, I sure hope your docs would have had another answer... if you're asking about lung cancer, I hope they'd mention smoking... or talk about sunscreen if you're asking about preventing skin cancer. If doctors could tell anyone how to prevent cancer from returning, there'd be no cancer, I suspect... or a lot less of it.
I agree Mari. I've also given up on here even bothering. I have a great dr. And I'm doing what I feel is best for me. I try and follow a healthy way of life...I may still get cancer and if I do I'll do everything possible to beat it. The meds I take work for me and that's what matters in the end I guess. I'm healthy, I'm not overweight, quit smoking, I'm not going to go crazy reading and buying into a bunch of useless info. I get most of my vitamins and minerals from the food I eat, which is the best way. Too bad you got some bad Drs Ken. I haven't had that experience. Also, how anyone would risk their life reading God knows what sources and relying on that I don't understand. Anyone can say anything on the internet and they do. Scary!
Maybe I should do the same... sometimes being such a stubborn cuss doesn't serve me very well. But I'm a protector and protecting the "unsuspecting" has been part of my life for 35 years... not very easy to just put a lid on it. But tonight I must find that lid because I'm going out in half an hour and running dreadfully late. Catch ya'll tomorrow! --Signed White Rabbit (I'm late, I'm late.)
Our government was in bed with the tobacco industry for decades. When it found that it couldn't bleed the industry anymore, and the lies about tobacco not being harmful were falling apart in front of everyone, the same government spent the next few decades attacking the tobacco industry and those who were addicted to the product, enriching itself beyond imagination at both ends. One day, I am sure that the pesticide industry's days in the sun will be over, and the government that now supports them, at a profit to itself, will then attack them, also at a profit to itself. I don't know how much health figures into it.
Just want to add that if eliminating sugar would kill cancer cells then all the people on Atkins wouldn't get cancer but they do. You can't get much lower sugar than Atkins.
The Medical Profession are mainly taught in School about disease and how to treat it with prescriptions. They aren't taught much about how to prevent it with good nutrition and regular exercise. Their job is to tell us what is wrong with us and then to write us a script to treat our sickness. It used to be that our regular Doctors knew a little about everything...but now there are so many Specialists that treat specific areas like cancer that our regular Doctor has become like a Pit Stop before going on to the Garage. Even the Specialists are taught how to treat the disease instead of how to prevent it. They further their education by learning about the latest advances in treatment, etc. not in research on how to prevent these diseases. If we all knew how to prevent illness and disease our Doctors would be out of a job...and Drug Companies would go bust too. So I do believe there is some suppression going on with how to prevent cancer...at the same time if a person is willing to do their own research....the information is out there...but it won't be your Doctor in most cases who will share that information or even steer you to it.
Don't you think they should be? Given the insane amount of money that goes into cancer research, don't you think we should have more to show for it? I don't believe that the percentage of the population dying of cancer has been reduced. The number of people dying of some cancers goes down, while the number of people dying of other kinds of cancers rises.
If I remember right it took some big lawsuits to make them all "fess up" to the harmful effects too. I never did any research on this but I often wonder how much more harmful tobacco, etc. has become since they started spraying the crops with chemicals, etc.
I think they do have more to show for it...but that knowledge does not include what makes all of them money...so it is not important to them...and definitely not shared with us. So while they might not be suppressing a Cancer cure all...I do believe they are suppressing some information that might help us prevent cancer in the first place.