Speaking of Cancer

Not too many days have apssed sine the big TV special - StandUP 2 Cancer.

What you did not learn on this program or in mainstream media, or mainstream medicine, is the truth about how vitamin C is effective as a treament and often a cure for many cancers -

Please read on:

Cancer and Vitamin C: Evidence-Based Censorship  

(OMNS September 15, 2010)  The very first paper in the Puerto Rico Health Sciences Journal's special issue on cancer condemns vitamin C therapy for cancer. (1) Furthermore, that Journal has refused publication of a letter correcting the article's numerous errors. We have therefore decided to provide OMNS readers with that rebuttal letter, below:
It is entirely false to assert that we do not know how much vitamin C is effective against cancer. Indeed, the opposite is true: we do know, and we are failing our duty to patients when we fail to recommend vitamin C as adjunctive cancer therapy.
There are many controlled studies that demonstrate that vitamin C is indeed effective against cancer, improving length of life and quality of life. Positive studies have typically used between 10,000 and 100,000 mg/day intravenously. As Dr. Fernando Cabanillas correctly noted, success with 10,000 mg/day by IV was initially reported back in the 1970s by Cameron and Pauling. But Dr. Cabanillas has then omitted some key information. It is important to note that the negative, much-touted Moertel-Mayo studies were not true replications of Cameron and Pauling's work, as A) they used oral doses only, and B) vitamin C was discontinued at the first sign of disease progression. Would we administer injectable chemotherapy orally, and then discontinue chemotherapy if the patient worsened? No, we would administer it properly, and stay with it.
Dr. Cabanillas also neglects to mention that Pauling and Cameron's work was promptly confirmed, first at Japan's Saga University by Murata et al. Dr. Murata employed over 30,000 mg per day and had even better results with terminally ill cancer patients. (2) In the words of Dr. Louis Lasagna of the University of Rochester Medical School, "It seems indefensible not to at least try substantial doses of vitamin C in these patients." (3)
And again contrary to Dr. Cabanillas' statements, many clinical reports from orthomolecular (nutritional) physicians including Dr. Hugh Riordan and colleagues do in fact indicate that IV vitamin C is effective. Says Dr. James A. Jackson, "Dr. Riordan's IV protocol (4) starts out at 15,000 mg intravenous ascorbate and slowly goes up. It is given twice a week. The IVs are continued until the post-IV vitamin C levels reach what our research established as the killing level of 350 to 400 mg/dL. This has been verified. (5) Once this level is reached, the frequency of the IV may be reduced to once a week, or to one or two times a month."
There is no absolutely reliable cure for cancer. Conventional chemotherapy contributes only 2.1% to five year cancer survival in the USA. (6) But with vitamin C, we are on the right track. It has been reported since McCormick in the 1950s (7,8,9) that cancer patients invariably have abnormally low levels of the vitamin. Vitamin C is vital to a cancer patient. What is dangerous is vitamin deficiency. What is even more dangerous is warning people off the very therapy that may help them, and frequently has been shown to make a significant difference.
Precisely how significant remains to be seen. But there are intriguing indications. Linus Pauling took 18,000 mg/day of vitamin C. Pauling died from cancer in 1994. Dr. Charles Moertel of the Mayo Clinic, critic of vitamin C, died of cancer the same year. Moertel was 66. Pauling was 93. Did vitamin C fail to cure Pauling's cancer? If so, then not taking vitamin C failed to cure Moertel's. Pauling lived 27 years longer with ascorbate than Moertel lived without it.
Andrew W. Saul
Editor, OMNS
Vitamin C does not interfere with conventional cancer treatment
Victor Marcial, M.D., an oncologist in Puerto Rico, says:
"We studied patients with advanced cancer (stage 4). 40 patients received 40,000-75,000 mg intravenously several times a week. These are patients that have not responded to other treatments. The initial tumor response rate was achieved in 75% of patients, defined as a 50% reduction or more in tumor size. . . As a radiation oncologist, I also give radiation therapy. Vitamin C has two effects. It increases the beneficial effects of radiation and chemotherapy and decreases the adverse effects. But this is not a subtle effect, is not 15-20%. It's a dramatic effect. Once you start using IV vitamin C, the effect is so dramatic that it is difficult to go back to not using it."
Ralph Campbell, M.D., a Montana pediatrician, writes:
"More and more oncologists are admitting that a course of chemo disrupts the immune system to the point of allowing more cancer down the pike. It would seem reasonable for post-chemo patients to enter a regimen of high antioxidants intake as soon as they can."
Abram Hoffer, M.D., Ph.D., explains why vitamin C does not interfere with chemotherapy at http://www.doctoryourself.com/chemo.html
Taking action
More and more medical doctors support adjunctive vitamin C therapy for cancer. The PRHSJ needs to publish both sides of the story. If you would like encourage them to do so, you may write directly to:
Luis M. Vil , M.D. prhsj.rcm@upr.edu
Editor-in-Chief, Puerto Rico Health Sciences Journal
Zoila Figueroa zoila.figueroa@upr.edu
Secretary
PO Box 365067, San Juan PR 00936-5067
For more information about vitamin C cancer therapy:
You can watch an excerpt from the movie FOODMATTERS discussing vitamin C therapy for cancer at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZxveVAMir4o&feature=related
Free download of the Riordan protocol at http://www.doctoryourself.com/RiordanIVC.pdf
La medicina ortomolecular en español:
1)Presentan primera guía ortomolecular para el manejo del cáncer: http://www.wapa.tv/noticias.php?nid=20100428195518
2) Video de los comentarios del Dr. Victor Marcial: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JbOXgG998fI

References:
(1) PRHSJ, Vol 29, No 3, Sept, 2010. Read the paper, or the entire issue, at http://prhsj.rcm.upr.edu/index.php/prhsj/issue/current/showToc The direct download link for the paper in question is http://prhsj.rcm.upr.edu/index.php/prhsj/article/view/518/354
(2) Murata, A., Morishige, F. and Yamaguchi, H. (1982) Prolongation of survival times of terminal cancer patients by administration of large doses of ascorbate. International Journal of Vitamin and Nutrition Research Suppl., 23, 1982, p. 103-113. Also in Hanck, A., ed. (1982) Vitamin C: New Clinical Applications. Bern: Huber, 103-113.
(3) http://www.lib.rochester.edu/index.cfm?page=3330
(4) http://www.doctoryourself.com/RiordanIVC.pdf
(5) Padayatty SJ, Sun H, Wang Y, Riordan HD, Hewitt SM, Katz A, Wesley RA, Levine M. Vitamin C pharmacokinetics: implications for oral and intravenous use. Ann Intern Med. 2004 Apr 6;140(7):533-7. Free full-text article at http://www.annals.org/content/140/7/533.long or as a pdf download at http://www.annals.org/content/140/7/533.full.pdf
See also: Padayatty SJ, Riordan HD, Hewitt SM, Katz A, Hoffer LJ, and Levine M. Intravenously administered vitamin C as cancer therapy: three cases. CMAJ. 2006 March 28; 174(7): 937-942. Free full-text article at http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1405876/?tool=pubmed
(6) Morgan G, Ward R, Barton M. The contribution of cytotoxic chemotherapy to 5-year survival in adult malignancies. Clin Oncol (R Coll Radiol). 2004 Dec;16(8):549-60.
(7) McCormick WJ. Cancer: the preconditioning factor in pathogenesis; a new etiologic approach. Arch Pediatr. 1954 Oct;71(10):313-22. Also: McCormick WJ. [Cancer: predisposition as pathogenesis; new data on its etiology.] Union Med Can. 1955 Mar;84(3):272-7. French.
(8) McCormick WJ. Cancer: a collagen disease, secondary to a nutritional deficiency. Arch Pediatr. 1959 Apr;76(4):166-71. Also: McCormick WJ. [Is cancer a collagen disease attributable to vitamin C deficiency.] Union Med Can. 1959 Jun;88(6):700-4. French.
(9) McCormick WJ. Have we forgotten the lesson of scurvy? J Applied Nutrition, 1962, 15(1,2) p 4-12.

Nutritional Medicine is Orthomolecular Medicine
Orthomolecular medicine uses safe, effective nutritional therapy to fight illness. For more information: http://www.orthomolecular.org
The peer-reviewed Orthomolecular Medicine News Service is a non-profit and non-commercial informational resource.

Editorial Review Board:
Ralph K. Campbell, M.D. (USA)
Carolyn Dean, M.D., N.D. (Canada)
Damien Downing, M.D. (United Kingdom)
Michael Ellis, M.D. (Australia)
Michael Gonzalez, D.Sc., Ph.D. (Puerto Rico)
Steve Hickey, Ph.D. (United Kingdom)
Bo H. Jonsson, M.D., Ph.D. (Sweden)
Thomas Levy, M.D., J.D. (USA)
Jorge R. Miranda-Massari, Pharm.D. (Puerto Rico)
Erik Paterson, M.D. (Canada)
Gert E. Shuitemaker, Ph.D. (Netherlands)
Andrew W. Saul, Ph.D. (USA), Editor and contact person. Email: omns@orthomolecular.org

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Posted in: cancer,intravenous vitamin C

High Dose Vitamin C : SAFE

"Vitamin C: intravenous use by complementary and alternative medicine practitioners and adverse effects," Padayatty SJ, Sun AY, et al, PLoS One, 2010; 5(7): e11414. (Address: Molecular and Clinical Nutrition Section, National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Maryland, United States of America).

In a study designed to assess the use and safety of high-dose intravenous (IV) vitamin C administration by complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) practitioners, the authors found that a) high-dose IV vitamin C is widely used by CAM practitioners, most commonly in the treatment of patients with infection, cancer, or fatigue; and b) aside from already known complications of IV vitamin C in patients with renal impairment or glucose 6 phosphate dehydrogenase deficiency, high-dose IV vitamin C use was found to be "remarkably safe." Of 199 practitioners who responded to a survey, 172 administered IV vitamin C to their patients, totaling 11,233 in the year 2006 and 8,876 in the year 2008. On average, the dose administered was 28 grams every 4 days, with a total of 22 treatments per patient. Data from 9,328 patients was available, and of these patients, 101 were found to have mostly minor side effects including lethargy/fatigue in 59 patients, change in mental sta tus in 21 patients, and vein irritation/phlebitis in 6 patients. Regarding serious adverse events, the authors found that there had been 2 deaths, both in patients known to be at risk for IV vitamin C. The authors conclude, "Physicians should inquire about IV vitamin C use in patients with cancer, chronic, untreatable, or intractable conditions and be observant of unexpected harm, drug interactions, or benefit."

Reference these and other vitamin C related posts from Natural Health News -

http://naturalhealthnews.blogspot.com/2009/12/vitamin-c-and-healing-disease.html
http://naturalhealthnews.blogspot.com/2009/06/vitamin-c-facts.html
http://naturalhealthnews.blogspot.com/2006/10/dr-levy-on-vitamin-c.html
http://naturalhealthnews.blogspot.com/2010/01/iv-vitamin-c-saves-man-with-flu-damaged.htmlhttp://naturalhealthnews.blogspot.com/2009/03/vitamin-c-cancer-study-challenged.html
http://naturalhealthnews.blogspot.com/2008/11/vitamin-c-effective-in-reducing.html

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Posted in: cancer,intravenous vitamin C,IV Vitamin C,vitamin C

IV Vitamin C Saves Man with Flu Damaged Lungs

If only US medicine was this open minded!

After 20 days of life-sustaining ECMO treatment and other critical care, the patient, who was unconscious by induced coma, had not responded. The ICU team advised the family of the likely outcome and had prepared them for the possibility of the patient’s death.
Family members approached Centre for Advanced Medicine Limited (CAM) for advice on the clinical use of intravenous vitamin C for such cases.
At the family’s request, information was provided to ICU doctors including ISO 9001:2008 registered protocols, safety data, dosages and access to vials of IV vitamin C under CAM’s license for wholesale medicines.
The ICU team agreed to administer intravenous vitamin C according to the family’s wishes. This decision acknowledged the family’s rights, in compliance with the New Zealand Health and Disability Act, 1997.
The patient received intravenous vitamin C starting on the evening of 21 July, continuing until 29 July. 25 grams was provided on the first day increasing over the first three days to 50 grams twice daily which was sustained for a further six days.
By 24 July x-rays indicated increasing lung function and ECMO external oxygenation was discontinued on 26 July. After several days of assisted ventilation and critical care for ongoing secondary conditions, the patient was able to commence his recovery and rehabilitation.

Read more about the benefits of Vitamin C by searching Natural Health News.

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Posted in: flu,intravenous vitamin C,IV Vitamin C

MRSA - Alternative Cure For 'Flesh-Eating' Bacteria

UPDATE: 26 December 2009 -

A new study reports a surge in drug-resistant strains of a dangerous type of bacteria in US hospitals: Acinetobacter strikes patients in Intensive Care Units (ICUs) and others and often causes severe pneumonias or bloodstream infection, some of which are now resistant to imipenem, an antibiotic that is reserved for last-line treatment. 

Read Complete Story - New Strain of Resistant Bacteria Reported

I'm not sure how many times we have to read similar articles over the 16 years I have been involved in this issue in me effort to get some repsonse from MS medicine and MS media, while thousands suffer or die.

Once again I'm posting my challenge, a repost originally from August 2006.  I'm expecting a response, as I usually do. 

"How many times...? "as the song goes.

Alternative Cure For 'Flesh-Eating' Bacteria
From Gayle Eversole, DHom, PhD, MH, CRNP, ND, Creating Health Institute
4-8-5

A CHALLENGE TO MAINSTREAM MEDICINE TO VENTURE OUTSIDE THE BOX

Reported today by Gene Emery of Reuters, flesh-eating bacteria is once again making headlines.

Emery reports, according to Loren Miller of UCLA Medical Center and Scott Fridkin of the CDC, that skin infections are now found outside hospital and include a new strain of antibiotic-resistant Staphylococcus aureus.
Emery writes that doctors need to be aware of this and "switch to different antibiotics at the first sign of trouble."

He quotes Fridkin saying that "the alarm does need to be raised to people and clinicians that if you have a staph infection and it's not getting better, you'd better go back to your doctor." Later reports on findings from Miller's team saying that "doctors must shift their attitudes toward cases of necrotizing fasciitis -- the "flesh-eating" part of such a bacterial infection -- and check to see if methicillin-resistant staph is to blame."

Almost a decade ago, when flesh-eating bacteria were beginning to be reported, I called upon my experience as an intensive care nurse and manager of a burn center. I wanted to address this serious health problem from a natural healing perspective because I knew of the decades old problem with antibiotics that were not effectively treating the condition.

Emery's article further defines the problem of antibiotic resistance.

Consulting with a colleague of mine from the herbal traditions of Korea who spent a number of years at Dana Farber Institute at Harvard, I developed a protocol using a combination of his formulas that could be used for this condition. I submitted a package to a Washington State Department of Health researcher with clinical findings on the use of the formulas.

Time has passed quickly, yet at no time did I ever receive a reply, or even a glimmer of thought from this man about the possibility of a trial.

In response to a public health problem, I believed my approach deserved consideration because people were dying.

Subsequently, during the past decade I have responded to numerous media reports of flesh-eating bacteria, asking only for consideration. The closed minds locked in the Newtonian model prevalent in mainstream medicine never once gave consideration to a different way of seeing.

In addition to the herbal protocol I developed a series of fully referenced papers using pure essential oils to attack these bacteria. One of the texts I used as a reference is a medical textbook written by two French physicians. In France physicians are educated in the use of herbs and essential oils as therapeutic modalities.

Essential oils have a very long history and several have very effective anti-bacterial and anti-fungal capacity. Herbs used throughout thousands of years have this same capacity as well.

Seriously hoping to at least have one response, I am saddened to say that not one reply has ever been received.

One would now have to ask the question: What drives these health professionals to so totally disregard non-traditional treatment possibilities?

Today, I am placing my challenge on the table.

Doctors, if you are truly interested in treating and curing this problem, my protocols await.

NB: In early 2006 I was able to connect a research physician at Georgetown Medical School who is doing invetigation 'outside the box'. He advised me that "mainstream medicine is not ready to accept this." Of course, I do understand his comment but I have to wonder about the unwillingness to change and the cost of lives!

Related posts, 2 of about 2 dozen other similar articles in Natural Health News
http://naturalhealthnews.blogspot.com/2006/08/mrsa.html
http://naturalhealthnews.blogspot.com/2007/10/it-isnt-stopping-and-you-need-to-get.html
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UPDATE: 11 January 2009 - A new product, Allicin-C, and Alli-Derm, add to your anti-MRSA arsenal. Purchase via our link in the right column.
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More than 10 years ago this issue was repeatedly reported in the press. More than 30 years ago this was an issue discussed often by medical practitioners such as me. Thirty plus years ago doctors used to test anti-biotics in a test called 'C & S' (culture and sensitivity) not utilized too much today.

Mainstream medicine refuses to take my challenge, previously possted on this BLOG. I have added it in below for ease of reference. Maybe now someone might take a chance. Nothing to lose, and maybe save some lives along the way!...

Maybe intravenous high dose vitamin c might be tried. And at least you know this would not hurt you. This treatment saved a client of mine from liver and kidney transplant. Interferon treatments did not work and she developed liver and kidney failure. UW docs were baffled, yet they wouldn't ask...

Wash any suspicious area with pure soap and water and allow to dry thoroughly. Using specific pure essential oils will be very effective in treating and resolving this problem. Above all avoid the use of anti-bacterial soaps. These contain Triclosan and will kill off naturally occurring bacteria on your skin that serves to protect you from infection.

Many non-effective anti-biotics are on the market today and some of these have very serious side effects. Avoid fluoride based products for this reason.

Make sure you ask your doctor what kind of treatment is being prescribed. It is your right to know under the law.

Staph skin infections on rise in U.S.
By MARILYNN MARCHIONE, AP Medical Writer

A once-rare drug-resistant germ now appears to cause more than half of all skin infections treated in U.S. emergency rooms, say researchers who documented the superbug's startling spread in the general population.

Many victims mistakenly thought they just had spider bites that wouldn't heal, not drug-resistant staph bacteria. Only a decade ago, these germs were hardly ever seen outside of hospitals and nursing homes.

Doctors also were caught off-guard — most of them unwittingly prescribed medicines that do not work against the bacteria.

"It is time for physicians to realize just how prevalent this is," said Dr. Gregory Moran of Olive View-UCLA Medical Center, who led the study.

Another author, Dr. Rachel Gorwitz of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said: "I think no one was aware of the extent of the problem."

Skin infections can be life-threatening if bacteria get into the bloodstream. Drug-resistant strains can also cause a vicious type of pneumonia and even "flesh-eating" wounds.

The CDC paid for the study, published in Thursday's New England Journal of Medicine. Several authors have consulted for companies that make antibiotics.

Researchers analyzed all skin infections among adults who went to hospital emergency rooms in 11 U.S. cities in August 2004. Of the 422 cases, 249, or 59 percent, were caused by methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, or MRSA. Such bacteria are impervious to the penicillin family of drugs long used for treatment.

The proportion of infections due to MRSA ranged from 15 percent to as high as 74 percent in some hospitals.

"This completely matches what our experience at Vanderbilt Children's Hospital has been," said Dr. Buddy Creech, an infectious-disease specialist whose hospital was not included in the study. "Usually what we see is a mom or dad brings their child in with what they describe as a spider bite that's not getting better or a pimple that's not getting better," and it turns out to be MRSA.

The germ typically thrives in health-care settings where people have open wounds and tubes. But in recent years, outbreaks have occurred among prisoners, children and athletes, with the germ spreading through skin contact or shared items such as towels. Dozens of people in Ohio, Kentucky and Vermont recently got MRSA skin infections from tattoos.

The good news: MRSA infections contracted outside a hospital are easier to treat. The study found that several antibiotics work against them, including some sulfa drugs that have been around for decades. A separate study in the journal reports the effectiveness of Cubicin, an antibiotic recently approved to treat bloodstream infections and heart inflammation caused by MRSA.

However, doctors need to test skin infections to see what germ is causing them, and to treat each one as if it were MRSA until test results prove otherwise, researchers said.

"We have made a fundamental shift in pediatrics in our area" and now assume that every such case is the drug-resistant type, Creech said.

And, doctors need to lance the wound to get rid of bacteria rather than relying on a drug to do the job.

"The most important treatment is actually draining the pus," Gorwitz said. Many times that is a cure all by itself, she said.

The study was done in Albuquerque, N.M.; Atlanta; Charlotte, N.C.; Kansas City, Mo.; Los Angeles; Minneapolis; New Orleans; New York; Philadelphia; Phoenix; and Portland, Ore.

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Posted in: Alli-Derm,Allicin-C,essential oils,garlic,health news,independent health news,intravenous vitamin C,MRSA,natural health expert,natural health news,natural news,vitamin C