Tuesday, October 21, 2008

Unravelling the Mystery of Cancer Treatments

By Dane Masters

Let's face it: cancer is scary. It can happen to anyone of any age, and it doesn't matter if that person is healthy or not. Sometimes cancer seems to strike the person whom you'd think would be immune from being sick. Whether you or someone you know has cancer, the best way to make it look less scary is to understand that it is just a disease, and it has tried and true treatments that have great success rates. While no one has a one hundred percent chance of surviving cancer, the odds are way higher than they were even 10 years ago thanks to modern medical developments.

Some people opt not to proceed with any type of cancer treatment, which is also their choice. If the going through all the pain and suffering just isn't worth it to them for whatever reason, they are allowed to make this decision. Some aggressive cancers have advanced so quickly that whatever type of therapy chosen may just not be able to stop the cancer from spreading, or it has progressed so far that treatment is not even an option.

When most people think of cancer treatment, they think of chemotherapy. Chemotherapy is used to treat the majority of cancers; there are over 100 different drugs that are used alone or in combination with others, that work systemically throughout the body. There is always a great chance that cancer cells have or will migrate to other parts of the body, which is why chemotherapy is used as the first line approach.

Chemotherapy medication can be given to the patient orally, be injected into a muscle or be supplied intravenously. Depending on the cancer and the treatment course it may be given over a few days, weeks or even months. Of course there are many side effects associated with chemotherapy, although most of these can be managed with other medications to make the patient more comfortable over their course of treatment.

There are also a number of alternative cancer treatments that are very effective when used in conjunction with traditional approaches. Some of these alternative therapies include herbal supplements like various herbal remedies, but care must be taken to not use these treatments in any other way than prescribed, and plenty of research should be conducted first to make sure it's not just a scam.

When undergoing cancer treatment, the patient should advise their doctor and oncologist of any medications they are taking, whether prescribed or natural. The physician will want to make sure that anything that is being taken by the patient will not conflict with the cancer treatment or cause any undesirable side effects. - 15437

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