Cancer, referred to as the “king of maladies” in Siddhartha Mukherjee’s book, has been one of the final frontiers of medicinal challenges. No less than 10 different branches of medicine, including Allopathy, Psychotherapy, Neuroscience, Virology and others have tried their hand at an absolute medicine, sometimes attempting it on their own, and sometimes combining their resources at the hope of this cure – but we are still encountering hurdles in treatment and therapy, as this resilient alpha of diseases continues to be a deadly scar on the health of many individuals.
The most common form of treatment, widely known to even the layman, is that of chemotherapy. Radiation therapy often goes hand in hand with this, along with immunosuppressants (medicine which suppresses immune system functions) and painkillers. Its risks are well known, ranging from a complete breakdown of the body – it is described as “a drop from a cliff with a thread tied around your ankles”. A medical practice so disastrous that it is on par with the lethality of the disease itself makes alternatives necessary – and yes, we do possess alternatives to this bane.
While the lethality of chemotherapy and the like equals its possibilities of cure; and while it is also the standard medical protocol for cancer (medically sound); there are other treatments which show promise, without the involvement of a high risk factor. Do note that quite a few treatments in the alternative category provide palliative treatment (treatment for pain) and help in coping with cancer and not curing it. Yet other alternative treatments aim at curing it – let us run through a brief of both types.
Palliative and preventive types include treatment such as: Aromatherapy, Acupuncture, Massage therapy, Homeopathy, Psychotherapy – to name a few. The dangers of alternative medicine lie in their lack of experimental, clinical validity – and if governmental and pharmaceutical standards are to be the authority on health – then there is no reason to wholeheartedly ratify these treatments. This is based on the premise of educating as concerns alternative treatments, and not on the premise of backing them.
The curative type of treatments include many newly discovered ones, such as: Cellect-Budwig Protocol, the Caesium protocol, the photon protocol and so on – curative research claims probabilities of cure from 3% – 90%, which is a dubious margin at best; even shabby research would not go so far as to make a bold, absolute claim. Alternative medicine seekers have shown to be individuals motivated by two reasons: one, the need to try any and all available treatments and not exclude the slim chance of cure; and two, the tendency to commit to a belief system which necessitates practice. If you believe in natural (not artificially synthesized) cures, your tendency would be to adhere to that cure. This article simply mentions the types of natural and other alternative treatments, and for the sake of cohesiveness, urges seekers to perform adequate research on the type of alternative treatment they seek. If one’s belief system garners a suspicious of institutions, then one is bound to seek treatment via alternative channels. While mainstream practices are dangerous, they are informed, backed dangers – is it better to step into an abyss of light, or pitch darkness?