Alternative Treatment Hunt

A quick recap for those of you just joining us: when I was diagnosed with Stage IV prostate cancer in July of 2007, I was already at the point where Western medicine really had nothing to offer me. (And definitely nothing that could offer the hope of a cure.) They did offer two palliative treatments. One was hormone blockade therapy, which consists of Lupron shots that zero out my testosterone -- this starves the portion of the prostate cancer that thrives on testosterone. (Yes, this is the same shot that they give to sex offenders...and yes, it has the same scorched earth effect on my sex life.) The Lupron only works for a while...and for me that period ended sometime a few months ago, when my PSA started to skyrocket again.

The second Western palliative treatment I used was Zometa, an industrial solvent (!) that slows the growth of bone metastases. Every time I get my infusion, I have pain for a couple of days as the Zometa does its job. (I'm also taking strontium citrate, a non-radioactive natural supplement that supposedly halts metastases the same way that Zometa does.)

So, long story short: from the very first day of my diagnosis, I was forced to search for alternative treatments for my cancer if I really wanted to have an impact on it. I found a great ally in Dr. Ralph Moss, who has researched the cutting edge of both alternative and conventional treatments for the last thirty years, evaluating which ones work and which ones are hokum (and believe me, there's a lot of hokum in *both* camps!) It was his recommendation that led me to Dr. Thaller in Germany as my first treatment. This was successful, but mind-numbingly expensive ($80,000 for a combined 5 weeks of treatments over several months).

After a brief stretch on pancreatic enzymes and supplement-only therapy, I settled down to ayurvedic treatment this summer -- first at Mt. Diablo Institute in Pleasant Hill, and then at Center for Wellness in Aptos. I learned a lot, I received good care for the psychological and some of the physical aspects of my illness -- but it didn't hold the tide against the advance of the cancer. So I am dipping my toes back out in the world of researching alternative treatments to see what alternatives there might be for me.