Sunday, August 10, 2008

Medical Details so far this year


Here's the treatments I have been working with so far this year:

ongoing: American standard
Lupron shot (every 3 months to zero out testosterone, which is the building block for prostate cancer)
Zometa IV drip (every month to whack metastases)

January - February: pancreatic enzyme treatment
This well-regarded alternative treatment is based on 1) good vegetarian and raw diet, 2) wide range of supplements, 3) big doses of pancreatic enzymes, and 4) detox. See Dr. Gonzalez's site at http://www.dr-gonzalez.com/ . this looks great on paper but -- I couldn't handle the pancreatic enzymes! They created so much toxic sludge in my system that it overwhelmed my liver and other detox organs, and I got mind-numbingly depressed. It didn't improve even with some uber-detox ideas I got from a practitioner in Idaho, and with a second try in May.

March - June
In January I saw Dr. Michael Schacter (http://www.mbschachter.com/) speak at an alternative medicine conference, and was quite impressed with his approach. I visited his offices in March and he prescribed a great and well-researched mix of supplements, vitamin C infusions, diet and exercise. (I have the spreadsheet of all the supplements I was taking, let me know if you would like it). the combination of this regimen plus daily coffee enemas (to de-toxify my system) worked fairly well. Downside -- it would have cost $3000 per month to do everything that Dr. Schacter had recommended! I also didn't want to be dependent on taking so many supplments long-term.

July - present
In July I discovered the Mt. Diablo Wellness Institute and their ayurvedic regimens. They start with a set of cleansing rituals -- "panchakarma" -- to bring your system to a baseline, and then develop an individualized regimen based on your body constitution. This regimen includes meditation, yoga, and a number of herbal supplements. I'm starting the panchakarma cleansing in a couple of weeks, which will supplement any other treatment regimen that I decide I might need.

I already feel a lot stronger on this therapy, and I am daily thankful for the change in orientation from both standard and alternative medical practices: the emphasis is on creating your health, and knowing that the body naturally wants to regain its balance. In such an environment, the cancer is unwelcome (both physically, mentally and spiritually) and decreases in course.

Because of this change in orientation, the treatment is necessarily more oriented toward the mid- to long-term than the others that I've been doing. If I need to do a short-term intervention, I'll do it but will return to ayurveda for my long-term approach.

Links to the programs at the Mt. Diablo Wellness Institute:

http://www.mdiwellness.com/panchkarma.shtml
http://www.mdiwellness.com/preshka.shtml

1 comment:

Claude Bovee said...

I`m glad to see that you are trusting science less and eastern spirituality more, Nick."Yoga is the destroyer of pain". The Bhagavad Gita John