Questions to Ask Your Oncologist

Before you give your oncologist complete authority over your treatment selection, please keep in mind that most doctors only know about pharmaceuticals and not about natural therapies.

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Many parts of modern medicine are complicated, but treatment selection is not. Ask your doctor the following six questions about the treatment he or she is recommending and you will know enough to make an informed decision.

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1. Please explain why you selected a particular treatment and how it works. What is the success rate of this treatment?

2. If the tumors return, do you test for Multiple Drug Resistant (MDR) cells? (Note: Chemo cannot kill MDR cells. Some alternative cancer treatments can. Recurring tumors can be all MDR cells, making chemo the wrong choice. If you are getting a biopsy, test for the percentage of MDR cells. MDR cells are what chemo leaves behind in the body).

3. What are the side effects and what percentage of patients experience each side-effect?

4. What medications are usually prescribed as a result of each of those side-effects?

5. What are the side-effects of those medications?

6. Since chemo often causes fatal complications such as pneumonia or kidney failure and death due to these complications is usually not credited to chemo, can you give me an estimation of the actual fatality rate for the treatment you are recommending?

 

Doctors usually don’t talk about these things because they want the patient to have the most positive attitude towards the treatments they recommend. However, if you are considering all options, including alternative cancer treatments, you must learn the reality of the recommended conventional treatments in order to compare them fairly to alternatives.

 

Do not be intimidated by the doctor, it’s your right to know the details before accepting any treatment. Do not be rushed into making a rash decision. Take your time and make your decision based on facts and not on fear.

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Approaching Your Oncologist with Information on Alternative Cancer Therapies

Before discussing alternatives with your oncologist, please make the doctor aware that he/she:

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• Should realize that clinical trials have been conducted on several natural treatments but not on all because natural substances cannot be patented and therefore no company is willing to make the large investment to conduct such trials (This in no way invalidates the treatment)

• Has received completely distorted information about alternative therapies from the pharmaceutical industry and certain special interest groups.

• May not be in a position comment about contradictions between alternatives and conventional medicine since that is not part of their training.

• Will most likely get upset at you and insist that you do not take the alternative treatments even though he or she knows little or nothing about alternatives.

• May be biased against such therapies on principle and that he/should put aside such bias and consider what’s in the best interests of the patient.

• Should be willing to work with the Naturopath if that is what the patient desires.

• Should be willing to play a marginal role such as just helping with pain management, if the patient chooses to go for alternative treatment.

 

If you want to discuss alternative cancer treatments with your doctor, consider that your doctor should give you at least as much control over "repair decisions" as your automobile mechanic.

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If your doctor ridicules alternative therapies, show him/her an example of the hypocrisy of his sources of information: Show him the page entitled: Fraudulent Comments on the NCI (US National Cancer Institute) Test Summary.

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If your doctor agrees that NCI tried to deceive, then your doctor should realize that there are other viable treatments that he or she does not know about. Then you might be able to discuss alternatives without your doctor getting angry or discouraging you.

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Questions to Ask Your Naturopath on Cancer Treatment

Before you give your Naturopath complete authority over your treatment selection, please keep in mind that while most Naturopaths know about surgery, chemotherapy and radiation, their opinion may be biased based on principle. This is not good medical practice. Therapies should be judged on their merits and not based on medical dogma.

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Ask your Naturopath the following questions about the treatment he or she is recommending and you will know enough to make an informed decision.

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1. Why did you select this particular line of treatment?

2. What is the success rate of this treatment?

3. Is there a scientific basis for this line of treatment and if so, how does it work?

4. What are the side effects and what percentage of patients experience these side-effects?

5. How will you deal with these side-effects?

6. Can I take chemo therapy or radiation while I’m on your treatment? If not, why not?

7. How will you know that the treatment is working?

8. What will you do if the treatment does not work?

9. Will you support me if I opt for surgery, chemo or radiation? How will you support me?

 

The public has been brainwashed by the allopathic community into questioning the scientific validity of natural therapies due to the lack of clinical studies proving their effectiveness. The public needs to understand that natural therapies cannot be patented and therefore no company wants to fund clinical trials. This does not mean that the therapies don’t work! However, it is important to have an open discussion in order for you to make an informed decision. But do not discard a natural treatment merely because no clinical trials have been performed.

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Approaching Your Naturopath with Information on Allopathic Cancer Therapies

Before discussing conventional treatments with your Naturopath, please be aware and make the doctor aware that he/she:

• May be biased against such therapies on principle and that he/should put aside such bias and consider what’s in the best interests of the patient.

• Should be willing to work with the Oncologist if that is what the patient desires.

• Should be willing to play a marginal role such as just helping the patient minimize the side-effects of chemotherapy if that is the patient’s choice

If you want to discuss conventional cancer treatments with your naturopath, then he/she should give you at least as much control over "repair decisions" as your automobile mechanic.

If your Naturopath is dead against conventional treatment, find someone who is more flexible.