A Question That Just Won’t Go Away
“Has anyone gone through, or known anyone who has gone through, ‘natural’ treatments and beaten Hodgkin’s Lymphoma?” Across the many social media pages that I follow, this question comes up at least once a month. It is an innocent enough and understandable question to ask, and is likely asked to the patient’s oncologist directly.
But stereotypes, stories, and misinformation, only add to the desire to find something easier to tolerate or be treated with than “what we’ve heard.”
The answer, simply, anecdotally, and scientifically, is “NO.” Before I explain, I want to preface my position. I support the use of anything supplemental or “alternative,” if approved by the treating oncologist. But because of possible interactions with the treatments, strict adherence to the advice of the oncologist is necessary to produce the best chance at long term remission.
I also need to state, I have several friends who study Chinese medicine and other holistic means of treatments for various maladies. Some of the things they have come up with, do provide benefits for their patients. The problem, through no fault of their own, there is no large amount of data to support their efforts as those results from NIH backed studies. That is not to say they do not work. The numbers just are not there to support the risk.
I was diagnosed with Hodgkin’s Lymphoma 35 years ago this month (called Hodgkin’s Disease back then). Over these four decades of my survival, Hodgkin’s has been celebrated for having one of the higher remission rates for any cancer, ranging between 86% to 92%, but with scientifically proven treatments. Chemotherapy, radiation, or both, are the best options for remission of Hodgkin’s Lymphoma. End of discussion.
The question came across my feed yesterday, but also had another qualification, the patient in question was stage 4, the worst stage for any cancer. But across all of the pages that I participate in, I have never heard one person try to be treated 100% “natural” or “alternative” for Hodgkin’s Lymphoma, or even survive. I am not saying that it cannot happen. But as I have said, I have been at this a long time, and I know of thousands of survivors around the world over all of these years. Not one has done it by “natural” or “alternative” treatments alone.
Now while 86%-92% still means that 8%-14% do not survive even from standard treatments, it is more than likely there were other circumstances complicating the treatments.
So what happens if someone decides to ignore a likely 99.9% advice response to take the oncologist’s opinion to proceed with chemo, radiation, or both? One factor that has not been discussed yet in this post, is “time.” It may be cliche, but when it comes to treating any cancer, especially Hodgkin’s, “timing is everything.”
With the exception of yours truly, and the delays I caused by my denial (you can read about it in my book “Paul’s Heart – Life As A Dad And A 35-Year Cancer Survivor”, hopefully being published soon), doctors do not waste any time getting diagnosed, staged, and beginning treatments. Doctors know the importance of getting the treatments started as soon as possible.
So, let’s say, this person will be the first person I am aware of to ignore the unanimous advice to go the standard treatment method, and go “natural” or “alternative.” What follow ups and protocols are being used to determine any progress because likely, if you are not going through standard treatments, insurance will not pay for the monitoring that is typically done? I will play Devil’s advocate, and say that all monitoring will be the same as with standard treatments, just because. But the one factor that cannot be guessed upon, is will it work. And unless there is a major study somewhere, and I am not talking about the conspiracy and false information sites that are out there, there is not likely to be success. How much time will have been wasted, trying a futile “treatment?” And now, how much further or worse has the cancer grown? Likely, a lot.
Look, if you happen to be in the 8%-14% that do not respond to the treatments and you want to try any other means possible, then of course you go for it. But when the numbers are that overwhelming, you need to go with what has been proven and works.
No, chemotherapy and radiation are not easy to go through. I have no problem stating this fact, my treatments are no longer used today because medicine found that they could still have the great results of remission, by using less than what I was treated with. And there are survivors in remission longer than me, who went through worse treatment than I did. But patients have something today that my fellow long term survivors and I did not have back then, mitigation for the side effects to make the treatments more tolerable, and social media for support.
Of course, then the next situation that comes up, being told you are in remission and still have more treatments to go. What do you do? But that is for the next post.
Paul's Heart 