Treatment modalities at Oasis of Hope, pharmaceutical and neutraceuticals, part 4 of 4

The following is a list of drugs and other neutraceuticals that Oasis docs prescribe. Reading my abstract below may seem like all of the herbal supplements do the same things. Inhibit enzymes that fend off T-cells in the tumor, cut off the tumor’s ability to increase its blood supply, enhance chemotherapy efficacy, and support immune functions such as stimulating killer T cells and white blood cells.

And that’s true, though they may have similar effects through different mechanisms. It may have value, then, to try a number of different supplements at once, because often time is not on the patient’s side. The difficult thing about this, scientifically, is that you cannot always tell which of many treatments made the difference when cancer reverses.

And you cannot, therefore, isolate one factor to publish in peer-reviewed medical journals.

However, with inexpensive, natural, nontoxic supplements, why would you try one at a time to measure the results scientifically? That could take years. Objective #1 is to save the patient. This is one of the difficult things facing integrative oncologists. All the docs I have studied with say, “There is no ONE thing.” Dr. Connealy says, “Everything is just a piece of the puzzle.”

No one is likely to have millions of dollars to fund a four-phase clinical trial on un-patentable natural extracts. Those who scorn everything-but-drugs are fond of saying, “I won’t believe it until you show me the clinical trial.” Clinical trials, though, are an invention of drug companies. They’re almost the only ones who can afford them, since they will make billions on a patented drug.

(Natural substances are temporarily useful for the drug companies to study in less-expensive lab and animal studies, though. Then they bury the research about the natural substance, and molecularly alter the natural substance to make it an unnatural substance, and therefore proprietary and potentially worth $1 billion or more. The initial research studies have value for those willing to find and utilize the findings and the original plant material. Keep in mind more than half of pharmaceuticals originate from plants in the Amazon. The original findings on the natural substance are needed to justify the expense of a human clinical trial.)

In the following list, in each case, in mice and in petri dishes, the effects were protective of healthy cells and toxic to cancer cells, with little or no toxicity.

My including them here is not an endorsement (because some are mild drugs, with side effects, though most are natural and without side effects). This is simply my summary of the purposes of the drugs and supplements Dr. Contreras uses:

AHCC: An extract of medicinal mushrooms that modulate the immune system and stimulate killer T cells to eradicate mutation.

Caffeine: Several cups a day if you tolerate it well are recommended, as Oasis docs feel caffeine’s energizing effects are evidence of blocking activation of adenosine receptors in the brain and will do the same in tumors.

Cimetidine: It’s an anti-ulcer drug shown to reduce metastasis in some cancers.

Coenzyme Q10: A naturally occurring substance involved in energy production that declines as we age. It scavenges carcinogenic free radicals and destroys cancer. It’s inexpensive and documented in many studies to be very powerful.

Diclofenac: It’s an NSAID drug that inhibits the enzyme Cox-2; Oasis uses it with low-dose aspirin (because of risk of heart attack with NSAIDs), instead of the much-maligned Vioxx and Celebrex in that family of drugs.

Fish Oil / Omega 3. Fish oil has properties that prevent tumor growth, angiogenesis (building blood supply to the tumor), and cachexia (wasting of muscles in late stage cancers).

Green Tea Extract: A drug has been derived from boswellic acid-rich extracts that has shown cancer-retardant activity in hamsters with pancreatic cancer. But Oasis chooses to use the natural extract itself because it is inexpensive and well known to be safe because of a history of use in Ayurvedic medicine. It is promising in animal studies and one human study for brain tumors.

Melatonin: Multiple clinical studies in Italy show melatonin, taken before bedtime, having a statistically significant impact on survival in patients with advanced cancer. The hormone has multiple indirect effects that stimulate killer T cells to work more effectively.

Pancreatic Enzymes: Some U.S. integrative doctors, like Nick Gonzalez in NYC, have had excellent results using pancreatic enzymes as a primary treatment modality. Research shows that taking proteolytic plant enzymes (from papayas and pineapples) and proteolytic pancreatic enzymes such as pepsin, trypsin, and chymotrypsin prolong survival time, reduce signs and symptoms of cancer, and improve quality of life.

Probiotics: These supplements introduce live, healthy bacteria into the gastrointestinal tract to stimulate the immune system. Other supplements and food can’t be absorbed effectively in the stomach if the terrain in the gut is eroded, inflamed, and controlled by hostile bacteria.

Salsalate: This a natural compound found in white willow bark used for decades to treat inflammatory conditions like arthritis, and acne. Drug companies are trying to create expensive chemical versions of it, but recent research indicates it inhibits an enzyme and consequently boosts chemotherapy efficacy, slows the spread of cancer and angiogenesis. That said, there is a side effect of temporary loss of hearing.

Selenium: Many papers in Europe I have reviewed document the natural chemotherapeutic effects of selenium at elevated doses. (A preventative dose can be obtained by eating a few Brazil nuts every day.)

Silibinin and Silymarin: These two different milk thistle extracts are liver-protective but have recently been discovered to prevent and treat cancer as well. It’s another set of natural compounds documented to increase the sensitivity of cancer cells to chemo, and retard metastasis.

Spirulina. This is well known as a high-nutrition, high-protein algae. But it also contains a phytonutrient called phycocyanobilin, another enzyme inhibitor that stops cells from being able to defend against killer T cells. Spirulina also interferes with the tumor’s ability to build blood pathways to feed it. In fact, there are at least four ways that spirulina naturally inhibits cancer growth. It’s a therapy patients can do at home, after leaving Oasis as well.

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