Fact or Fiction. Do Alternative Medicines and Herbal Remedies Really work against Tumours and Cancer?

By Graham Maartin

Just what are the facts about alternative medicines and herbal products and do they actually work? That is the subject I am going to address. But the initial results seem to say an emphatic yes! Ask yourself the question. Are you frightened by the thought of getting cancer? Does the word "cancer" worry you? The word itself is very emotive isn't it? Well now it seems that there is some very good 'natural' help available to you, its called Graviola!

Traditionally, the large majority of medical practitioners and doctors (though not all), frown on the use of alternative or herbal remedies, often describing them as 'quack' or 'fringe' medicines, simply because they are outside the range of subjects taught in medical school. Even though some of these alternative or herbal remedies show tremendous potential and have been used successfully for generations by local shamans and practitioners.

Many of these alternative methods and herbal products have such a long history of use, that many professional studies and in-depth research has been carried out on them. One of those in particular "Annona Muricata", better known as Graviola is showing tremendously promising results.

The HSI organisation or Health Sciences Institute featured an article Way back in 2001 with the headline "Billion-dollar Drug Company nearly squashes astounding research on natural cancer killer". It goes on to say. "Breast and Colon cancer conquered with miracle tree from the Amazon found to be 10,000 times stronger than chemotherapy". That tree was Graviola! OK, so what is Graviola?

This tree Graviola, is indigenous to the Amazon and various regions of South America. It's not a big rainforest tree by any means, the fact is it' relatively small in Rainforest terms growing to only 5 or 6 metres tall. But the cancer and tumour fighting properties it has are amazing, in fact it's an absolute monster.

Plenty of research has already been done and has found that many of the phytochemicals or annonaceous acetogenins (These are the chemical compounds that occur naturally in plants) found in the leaves, seeds and stem of Graviola trees are cytotoxic against various cancer or tumour cells. All these plant parts are used in natural medicine.

This is the really good news because, quote:- (Cytotoxic: Toxic to cells, cell-toxic, cell-killing. Any agent or process that kills cells. Chemotherapy and radiotherapy are forms of cytotoxic therapy.) according to the HSI article the tree has been studied in more than 20 laboratory tests since the 1970s, where it's been shown to: Effectively target and kill malignant cells in 12 different types of cancer, including colon, breast, prostate, lung, and pancreatic cancer Be 10,000 times stronger in killing colon cancer cells than Adriamycin, a commonly used chemotherapeutic drug . It Selectively hunts down and kills cancer cells without harming healthy cells, unlike chemotherapy.

Also a plant screening program back in 1976 by the National Cancer Institute also showed that Graviola demonstrated active cytotoxicity against cancer cells, various researchers have been following up on this research ever since and have found that Graviola was a cancer killing dynamo. Herbal products have been used worldwide almost since the time when man first walked on the earth, (well for thousands of years at least.) If you or your loved ones suffer from this terrible ailment, then I would strongly recommend that you read the HSI article in full here. It's a real eye opener!

So, could Graviola help you in the fight against cancer? It appears that the answer is a resounding yes! - 30427

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Women Using Yaz, Yasmin, Ocella Birth Control Can Have Heart Attacks, Blood Clots, Strokes

By Bruce Westbrook

For oral contraceptives, millions of women place their trust in pharmaceutical companies. Those drugs are supposed to do their job -- prevent pregnancy - and do nothing to harm the user. Sadly, that is not the case with Yaz, Yasmin and Ocella.

Such birth control pills include a drug named DRSP, or drospirenone, which is believed to cause blood clots, high blood pressure, strokes, heart attacks and even death in women who take Yaz, Yasmin or Ocella for birth control.

Those suffering from these defective drugs have a legal right to press for full and fitting economic recovery for their setbacks, such as medical costs, lost wages and pain and suffering. To do this, they may need to engage a defective drugs attorney from Jim S. Adler & Associates, a longtime personal injury law firm serving Texans across the state from offices in Dallas, Houston and San Antonio.

A Yasmin, Yaz or Ocella defective drugs legal action can hold negligent pharmaceutical companies responsible in the legal realm. They include Bayer, the manufacturer of Yaz and Yasmin, and Barr, which produces the generic brand of the drug called Ocella.

Not only are such drugs dangerous, but Bayer received complaints from the Food and Drug Administration and the attorneys general of 27 states due to its advertising. Bayer's ads suggested that its birth control pills eased PMS (premenstrual syndrome), PMDD (premenstrual dysphoric disorder) and mild acne. None of these claims was true, and Bayer was forced to run additional advertising to counter them.

Users of Yaz, Yasmin or Ocella should be alert to these side effects and symptoms: confusion, sudden dizziness, fainting, sudden shortness of breath, tingling, weakness or numbness in the legs or arms, weakness on one side of the body, slurred speech, severe headaches, vision problems, coughing up blood, pain, warmth or swelling in the groin or calf and chest pain or pain in the jaw or left arm.

Those with such symptoms should see a physician immediately. At a later time they also should consider alerting a defective drugs attorney to seek the economic recovery to which they are entitled under the law. - 30427

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Reishi - A Traditional Chinese Medicinal Mushroom

By Markho Rafael

Reishi extract is commonly used in Oriental Medicine as almost a cure-all. Both medical practitioners and regular people use it for things as innocent as stress and the common cold to more serious afflictions like asthma and cancer.

One of the strongest proponents for the use of reishi as a medicinal mushroom is Dr. Fukumi Morishige. He works with the Linus Pauling Institute of Science & Medicine on treating cancer with reishi.

Below follows seven cases described by Dr. Morishige during a speech, later reprinted in the publication, Chinese Traditional Medicine Part III.

Being a native of Japan, Dr. Morishige was familiar with reishi before becoming aware of its potential in cancer treatment. But his attitude was essentially the same as any other trained medical professional. He believed it might have some marginal effect on certain non-terminal conditions but dismissed any claims regarding cancer as exaggerated. That is, until two of his cancer patients related their stories of using reishi to self-remediate their conditions.

The first case he encountered was a woman in her late 30's with lung cancer. A number of hospitals had told her the cancer was too advanced to be treatable. There had also been secondary complications in the form of edema of the chest. However, when she came to see Dr. Morishige half a year later, all those symptoms had disappeared. The woman insisted her recovery had come as a result of 4 gm of reishi administered daily by her husband.

After that, there was the case of the young boy with congenital liver cancer. Four years before he came to see Dr. Morishige, the boy's original doctor had sent him home with his parents, claiming the condition was terminal and there was nothing he could do to help. But when Dr. Morishige examined the now 9-year-old-boy, he could find no trace of the tumor. The boy's parents said they had been giving their son reishi via his naso-gastric feeding tube. This is when Dr. Morishige decided that reishi deserved a closer look.

Below are five cases using reishi in combination with Vitamin C (to prevent side effects):

Case 1: A 70-year-old male patient who had lost consciousness due to a 5 cm (2 in.) brain tumor was administered 6 gm of reishi per day starting in June of 1986. By September, he had regained consciousness. He continued to take reishi orally after regaining consciousness, now 3 gm/day. By December of that same year, brain scans showed the tumor had diminished in size. Once the size of the tumor had been reduced to 1 cm, the patient was released from the hospital and returned to live with his family.

Case 2: A 50-year-old woman who had lung cancer and was coughing up blood was put on 6 grams of reishi per day. After six months, the tumor had disappeared. At the onset of treatment, she was unable to climb stairs. At the end, she was able to climb stairs with little effort.

Case 3: A woman with breast cancer and metastatic bone cancer suffered excruciating pain and an inability to move below the neck. Dr. Morishige started her out on 9 gm/day of reishi and then increased it to 20 gm/day. In two months, the patient was free from pain, able to walk, and was released from the hospital.

Case 4: A man with rectal cancer metastasized to the liver was placed on 6 grams per day of reishi. Six months later, CT scans revealed that the tumor had shrunk. The patient showed improved health.

Case 5: A male patient aged 60 was diagnosed as having terminal pancreatic cancer and short life expectancy. Dr. Morishige placed him on 9 gm/day of reishi plus 30 gm/day of Vitamin C. A year later, the man was free of any symptoms and back working. After leaving the hospital, he continued taking 5 gm of reishi per day.

Note: This article is provided for informational purposes only. The product mentioned herein has not been approved by the FDA for use in treating cancer. Never use this or any other herb to treat a life-threatening disease without consulting a licensed physician.

Reference: Morishige, Fukumi, 1987. Chinese Traditional Medicine Part III, Page 12 - 23, ISBN4-88580-053-6 C-0077 - 30427

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Reishi - A Traditional Chinese Medicinal Mushroom

By Markho Rafael

Reishi is frequently prescribed in Traditional Chinese Medicine as a panacea. It is widely used by both laymen and professionals in the Orient as a treatment for things as innocuous as stress or weight loss to more serious conditions such as arthritis and even cancer.

One of the most ardent proponents of reishi is Dr Fukumi Morishige, a Japanese medical doctor working with the Linus Pauling Institute of Science & Medicine in researching the use of reishi for cancer.

Re-printed in the Chinese Traditional Medicine Part III was a speech by Dr. Morishige that included the case studies listed below.

Growing up in Japan as Dr. Morishige did, it was impossible not to have heard of reishi. But he dismissed it as a mild herbal remedy to be used with limited results for non-terminal illnesses, not as a viable option for treating terminal conditions such as cancer. His curiosity arose when two of his cancer patients showed signs of remission, which they themselves claimed were due to their use of reishi.

First was a 39-year-old woman with lung carcinoma. The hospitals she had visited all told her she was too far gone and there was nothing they could do to help her. As a serious secondary complication, she also exhibited chest cavity edema. None-the-less, by the time she had her first appointment with Dr. Morishige, the symptoms of her illness had disappeared. The woman credited her recovery to the use of reishi, which her husband had administered to her at 4 grams per day.

After that, there was the case of the young boy with congenital liver cancer. Four years before he came to see Dr. Morishige, the boy's original doctor had sent him home with his parents, claiming the condition was terminal and there was nothing he could do to help. But when Dr. Morishige examined the now 9-year-old-boy, he could find no trace of the tumor. The boy's parents said they had been giving their son reishi via his naso-gastric feeding tube. This is when Dr. Morishige decided that reishi deserved a closer look.

The following are five of his case studies using reishi and Vitamin C (for prevention of side effects):

Case 1: A 70-year-old male patient who had lost consciousness due to a 5 cm (2 in.) brain tumor was administered 6 gm of reishi per day starting in June of 1986. By September, he had regained consciousness. He continued to take reishi orally after regaining consciousness, now 3 gm/day. By December of that same year, brain scans showed the tumor had diminished in size. Once the size of the tumor had been reduced to 1 cm, the patient was released from the hospital and returned to live with his family.

Case 2: A 50+ female with metastatic lung cancer and hemoptysis (coughing up blood) began a regimen of 6 gm/day of reishi. Six months later, the tumor had disappeared. And whereas before she had experienced severe shortness of breath, she could now effortlessly climb stairs.

Case 3: Patient with breast cancer that had spread to the bones was in unbearable pain and immobilized below the head. An initial dose of 9 grams of reishi daily was increased to 20 grams per day. Two months later, the woman was pain free and released after demonstrating improvement in her ability to walk.

Case 4: A patient with rectal cancer, which had metastasized to the liver, was administered 6 gm/day of reishi. CT scans taken 6 months later showed tumor shrinkage and patient reported feeling better.

Case 5: A 60-year-old male diagnosed with terminal pancreatic cancer with a short remaining life expectancy began 9 gm/day of reishi orally, in combination with 30 gm/day of Vitamin C intravenously. One year later, he was completely symptom free and back to work. He continued using 5 gm/day of reishi after being released from the hospital.

Note: This article is provided for informational purposes only. The product mentioned herein has not been approved by the FDA for use in treating cancer. Never use this or any other herb to treat a life-threatening disease without consulting a licensed physician.

Reference: Morishige, Fukumi, 1987. Chinese Traditional Medicine Part III, Page 12 - 23, ISBN4-88580-053-6 C-0077 - 30427

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Breast Cancer Research Info

By Jason Myers

Breast cancer is considered as a killer disease and it is famous to be the top cause of cancer fatality among women. According to American cancer society, an estimated 1.3 million new breast cancer cases are identified each year which consists of 465,000 deaths. In order to productively tackle this devastating disease, we should push revolutionary scientists to study cancer at its most basic stage. In other words, breast cancer investigation work must be done at its molecular level. Additionally, other than the governments, private organizations should offer flexible budget to scientists who will be conducting breast cancer research work.

Proper financial support of breast cancer investigation projects; can not only lead to improved prevention techniques but it can also help towards earlier detection techniques and new anticancer medication and treatments.

Recently, researchers who are researching towards breast cancer research project, have developed and successfully tested a breast cancer vaccine which is possibly to treat women with treatment - resistant HER2 - positive breast cancer and therefore be able to prevent cancer re ? occurrence. Breast cancer scientists anticipate to use HER2 DNA vaccines for cancer-free women, in order to avoid early development of such tumours. Now therapies such as trastuzumab and lapatimib are used towards treating breast cancer patients. However, it was recently observed that a huge group of patients build up a resistance towards trastuzumab and lapatimib. HER2 receptors are known to promote a specifically destructive kind of tumour that affects an estimated thirty percent of breast cancer patients. The latest breast cancer vaccine is created by the body's own cells. It offers a cancer combating gene into cells, which subsequently produce immune system proteins and also cancer ? destroying cells.

According to the primary researcher Wei - Zen Wei, a professor of immunology and microbiology at the Karmanos Cancer Institute, the vaccine is created by utilizing so - called naked DNA from genes that produces the HER2 receptor. This DNA is combined with an immune stimulant. The process involved in the creation of the vaccine, is named as electro oration.

In this method, pulses of electricity were utilized in order to inject the vaccine into the leg muscles in rats. The genes moved towards the cells, which then produced HER2 receptors that directed to activation of antibodies and immune cells called Killer T cells. - 30427

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Cancer Research: The Beginning

By Jason Myers

In 1938, the cancer scientist and researcher Paul Gerhardt Seeger, M.D., disclosed that the true culprit of the cancerous degeneration of a cell is traced from from the destruction of a specific respiratory enzyme, cytochrome oxidase. In other words, cell malignancy is caused by disruption of oxygen utilization, or cell respiration.

Dr. Seeger fulfilled experiments with hundreds of histo-chemical methods in the Department of Cell and Virus Research in the Robert Koch Institute of Berlin, Germany. Later work at Humbolt University in Berlin in 1956, after around 10 years of work at Charite Hospital, affirmed his earlier research results of 1938. What Dr. Seeger discovered was that deactivation or damage of the enzyme cytochrome oxidase triggers a dysfunction of the metabolism in the early phases of the generation of energy in the mitochondria.

Mitochondria accomplish their role of producing energy through an oxygen intensive process known as oxidative phosphorylation. Resulting from a series of biochemical reactions, carbohydrates, fats, and proteins are chopped down into smaller units. Carbon dioxide and hydrogen are discharged along the way. The carbon dioxide, a type of toxic waste, is rapidly removed. The hydrogen ion is carried by the electron transport chain, ultimately blending with molecular oxygen to form water. The energy sourced out from our food components is then saved in the form of a universal energy molecule called adenosine-triphosphate (ATP).

When the enzyme cytochrome oxidase is inactivated or extinguished, excess hydrogen accumulates in the cell as oxidative phosphorylation comes to a stop. The cell still needs energy, however, and is drawn to shift over to a less efficient method of energy synthesis taking place in the area around cytoplasm. This results in the transformation of only about 20% of the potential energy that could be available, and only about 1/5 of possible ATP storage. Low energy is generated for the cell's usage, and less energy is stored.

With the cell's main energy generators, syntheses now greatly diminished, laying down the foundation for cancerous degeneration. Any issues concerning the operation and functioning of the mitochondria have a bad implication on all energy-requiring functions of our body. More than just the cell in which the malfunctioning mitochondria is situated can be affected, the lower energy level can affect other organs, or even the entire body. - 30427

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Quit Smoking Today With These Easy Steps!

By Casey Wigwire

All of us are aware of the fact that smoking is not good for health. Still we find it very difficult to quit this bad habit. If you are concerned about your health the best thing you could do is to give up smoking. Your health plays an important role in determining the quality of your life; still you will find it pretty hard to say no to smoking immediately. If you have to choose between a big promotion and an effective way to stop smoking without a second opinion go for the second option.

When you make the decision to use Hypnotherapy Hertfordshire to help you quit smoking, we initially want to make sure that you are completely motivated to do so and that you want to give up smoking for all the right reasons. For example, one of our clients said that he really enjoyed smoking but that his wife hated it and that he wanted to stop smoking for her. Fortunately, the hypnotherapist identified this mans lack of motivation to achieve the goal for himself. If they'd have carried out the hypnotherapy there is little chance that it would have been successful due to the fact that the client didn't have the desire to want to quit smoking.

20 minutes after you quit smoking your blood pressure and pulse return to normal. 8 hours after you stop smoking, the nicotine and carbon monoxide levels in your blood are reduced by fifty percent. Oxygen levels in your body return to normal after you stop smoking. 24 hours after you quit smoking, your body rids itself of carbon monoxide. The lungs begin to clear out mucus and smoking debris after you quit smoking.

Compared with traditional therapies it has proved to be a great success. Ive seen studies, which show 30% success rate after a year, among people who used Zyban alone compared to 15% among those who chose nicotine replacement. These percentages can be improved even more by trying a combination of both.

Moving towards techniques- We also have lots of information about the positive impact quitting smoking and remaining a non smoker has. At Hypnotherapy Hertfordshire we are keen to set goals for the future that wouldn't have been attainable whilst you were a smoker. Now that you are a non smoker you can explore new ways to relax, to exercise and to spend your money. - 30427

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Prostate Cancer And Pomegranates

By Jason Myers

Pomegranates have long been utilized in conventional folk remedies to treat sore throats, inflammation, and rheumatism. And latest scientific research study has suggested that they are also possibly responsive in both the prevention and treatment of prostate cancer.

One study, conducted on human prostate cancer cells in lab dishes, at the University of Wisconsin, found that there existed dosage dependant improvements. One more study at the same facility occurred wherein mice were injected with human prostate cancer cells. Resklts showed that these mice acquired malignancies. Some mice were fed with plain fluid, whilst two other groups of mice were given water mixed with different concentrations of pomegranate extract.

Those mice subjects that had water only had tumours that developed much faster than the pomegranate and water groups. The quantities accorded to the mice were identical to that which individuals might take in if they drink pomegranate juice everyday. And although pomegranate juice hasn't yet been tested on human beings with prostate cancer, the results are indeed encouraging.

The study did not identify what areas of pomegranate juice were responsible for slowing down prostate tumour growth. But the scientists involved mentioned the antioxidant polyphenolic compounds, which are more effective than green tea and red wine.

Pomegranate extract not only inhibited the development of cancer cells, it also worked by another means - apoptosis.

Apoptosis relates to a way that cells can break down. Cancer growths are characterized by an uncontrollable growth of cells without following the the normal procedures of cellular differentiation of regular healthy cells. Cellular differentiation means that the characteristics of a cell change and acquire the functions that a mature, healthy cell would. For example, liver cells have specialized liver functions, that holds true in the case of prostate, breast, kidney, and all other cells types. This is right and healthy.

In tumour growths, though some cells fully differentiate, many just differentiate partially, and some not at all. And the tumors with greater undifferentiated cells grow at a faster pace. So, inducing cellular differentiation is one path towards cancer treatment. One more way being tried by medical specialists and researchers in treating cancer is by causing the death of cancerous cells. They do this through apoptosis, as stated above, and necrosis.

In General, prostate cancer grows at very slow pace, though it is unpredictable and can advance and spread quickly. - 30427

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Cancer Research: What Are The Results So Far

By Jason Myers

The intransigent, self serving, close mindedness of some members of organized medicine is being shattered by sharp truths fired by scientists from all parts the country.

It is turning out to be preposterously apparent to the big "Cancer Research" associations, that no matter how many guinea pig volunteers at U.S. penitentiaries they immunize with liver cancer cells, the volunteers do not get cancer. Regardless of how much time is wasted repeating this experiment and how much public money is consumed in a benighted attempt to square a circle, the lustre of the words, "There is no cancer in normal metabolism," becomes brighter.

This viewpoint is no longer as controversial as it was before. Today, a doctor from the Mayo Clinic and Mayo Foundation can inform the board of trustees of the Allergy Foundation that allergy is thought to be very related to the natural process of immunity, which include the body's creation of antibodies to combat invasion by germs, and that proof of many types has revealed that factors in the body's resistance are associated closely with the inception and succeeding course of human tumor.

Theorists have suggested that cancer cells may develop from time to time in the normal body, but that a lot of these are adequately not normal to be striked effectively by the body's natural defenses. Today, it is becoming increasingly hard to reject the role of the liver in cancer, especially ever since the detection of the TIP - Tumour Inhibitory Principle - which is produced by this organ. The regular liver produces a chemical factor that effectively inhibits growth of experimental cancer in mice. The part is imparted both to the blood serum as well as to the bile and has never been found in cancer patients.

The evidence implies the hypothesis that shortage, either inherited or obtained, of such inhibitory factors may be elemental to the cause of cancer. - 30427

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