48 What is Cancer and Why Integrative Oncology.mp3: Audio automatically transcribed by Sonix

48 What is Cancer and Why Integrative Oncology.mp3: this mp3 audio file was automatically transcribed by Sonix with the best speech-to-text algorithms. This transcript may contain errors.

Speaker1:
Hi and welcome to the Cancer Secrets podcast. I am your host and guide, Dr. Jonathan Stegall. Cancer is like a thief who has come to steal, kill and destroy. I have personally seen it wreak havoc on patients, friends and even my own family. But I am on a mission to change the cancer paradigm through the practice of integrative oncology cancer treatment that integrates the best of conventional medicine with the best of alternative therapies backed by science and personalized to each patient. You need a positive voice you can trust. This podcast will share valuable information to give you practical hope for a better outcome. So I invite you to join me on this journey as we seek to change the cancer paradigm together. Hello and welcome back to the Cancer Secrets podcast. I'm your host, Dr. Jonathan Stegall. This is season four and episode number 48. In today's episode, we will be kicking off season four. We're going to get back to basics today and discuss what cancer is and why we embrace integrative oncology. I feel this is a really important episode because there are a lot of misunderstandings about the nature of cancer and how to treat it best. If you're new to this show, this will provide a great foundation for you as you listen to other episodes later. And if you're a long time listener, this will serve as an important review of the basics of why we do what we do. So first of all, welcome to Season four.

Speaker1:
At this point in our podcasting journey, we've had roughly 50,000 downloads from listeners in over 100 different countries. Our message of integrative oncology is reaching people, and I consider it an honor to share what I've learned and what I do with each of you. So we've been immersed in the details of cancer, including specific treatments and approaches. But now I want to zoom out a little and look at the big picture. Let's start by talking about what cancer is. And to do that, we must focus on things at the cellular level. Now, your body is comprised of trillions of cells. That's trillion with a T, and these cells have varying functions. Under normal conditions, cells grow and divide to form new cells as needed. When cells get older, they die and are replaced by new cells. However, sometimes cells become damaged and don't work properly. But instead of dying, they survive. They continue to grow and divide. And if this happens enough times growths known as tumors form, we can get tumors virtually anywhere in the body. And these are known as solid tumors. But cancer can also form in the blood. And in these cases, they generally do not form tumors. We refer to these as liquid cancers. For many years, cancer was a mysterious entity. We didn't know why cancer cells behave the way they do. But 20 years ago, in the January 2000 issue of the journal Cell Cancer, researchers Douglas Hanrahan and Robert Weinberg published an article entitled The Hallmarks of Cancer.

Speaker1:
They listed six key behaviors of cancer cells which distinguish them from normal, healthy cells. These six hallmarks were one self sufficiency and growth signals. In other words, cancer cells can stimulate their own growth. Two Insensitivity to anti growth signals. This means that they resist signals that are designed to stop their growth. Three Evading apoptosis instead of undergoing programmed cell death when they're supposed to. They continue living for limitless, replicative potential. This means that they can grow and divide in an unlimited number of times. Five Sustained Angiogenesis. They stimulate the growth of blood vessels to supply nutrients to tumors. Six Tissue invasion and metastasis. This means that they invade the surrounding tumor and are also able to spread to distant sites in the body. In 2011, a follow up paper was published to include two new hallmarks of cancer. These were one abnormal metabolic pathways, meaning that cancer utilizes special means of obtaining fuel and generating energy to evading the immune system. This means that cancer has a ways to hide from the body's immune system, thereby avoiding detection. These hallmarks of cancer have been updated to include two key characteristics. The first characteristic is what is known as genome instability. This means that cancer results from and or contributes to genetic changes which change the behavior of the cell. The second characteristic involves inflammation, which can be thought of as an irritation on a cellular level.

Speaker1:
This inflammation contributes to cancer cell growth and development. I know I just went over a lot of technical sciency information, but I feel that it's crucial to understand this. Even if you don't care about the details, I do want you to understand that cancer is complicated. It arises from a multistep process of cells being damaged, changing their behavior and surviving when they should not. Cancer is almost like a parasite creating its own ecosystem inside the body, ultimately taking whatever it needs to continue to survive and thrive. Now, if this sounds scary, it should. Cancer is serious business, but by understanding its complexities, we are better able to treat it. So now that we understand the basics of cancer, let's talk about how we treat it. The standard of care currently consists of treatments like chemotherapy, surgery, radiation and immunotherapy. We can refer to these as conventional oncology or mainstream oncology. They represent what modern medicine has to offer if you go into most any oncology office today. These are all potentially valuable treatments supported by significant amounts of research. They're documented to effectively kill cancer. However, these treatments are certainly not benign. They carry with them a large list of potential side effects, many of which are severe and can be permanent. Let's go back to the early 1970s when President Richard Nixon declared war on cancer. At that time, cancer had emerged as a significant public health issue. President Nixon earmarked a significant amount of money for research to find a cure.

Speaker1:
A lot of money has been spent and a significant amount of research has happened since then. So where are we this year? Nearly 10 million people throughout the world will die from cancer. Cancer represents the second leading cause of death behind only heart disease. It is estimated that cancer will soon overtake heart disease as the leading cause of death in many countries, including the United States. So we clearly aren't winning the war. Sadly, the number of people who are diagnosed with cancer continues to rise. The number of people dying from cancer also continues to go up. However, it's worth noting that the five year survival rates are improving overall. This means that more people with cancer are making it to the five year mark since diagnosis. But this doesn't necessarily mean that their cancer is gone, but it does mean that they're alive. Improved five year survival rates are likely due to better detection methods, which allow us to diagnose cancer earlier as well as improved treatments. So we can see that conventional oncology works. It definitely has an effect on cancer, but I would argue that it's incomplete. There are many additional treatments and interventions we can and should incorporate. If we want a more well rounded approach to cancer treatment, we've discussed many of these in prior episodes, including nutrition supplementation, stress reduction and repurposed medications just to name a few. These interventions all have substantial research showing anticancer effects, so why aren't they routinely used by conventional oncology? The answer is because the standard of care is based on a rigid set of requirements for declaring a treatment effective.

Speaker1:
To meet this requirement, an intervention typically needs to be studied for 8 to 10 years in the form of large scale clinical trials. These trials take a long time to conduct and require significant amounts of money. Such studies are often funded by companies which have a vested financial interest in seeing if the treatment works. If it does and the FDA grants approval. Then these companies stand to make a significant amount of money. Now I mention this not to start any conspiracy theories, but to illustrate what is required for a treatment to make it into the mainstream. As a scientist, I absolutely understand this approach. We need as much good data as possible to prove that a treatment works. Conventional oncology has decided on a specific level of proof in order to adopt a treatment as part of the standard of care. Anything less than this is deemed anecdotal and uncertain and assumed to be ineffective. If you are a large medical center relying upon insurance approval and government funding to provide these treatments, then you simply cannot allow for anything less than that to be a therapeutic option. Not taking off my scientist hat and putting on my oncologist hat. Here is my concern with that. What if we're leaving out some really beneficial treatments simply because the amount of research into them, though significant, isn't quite significant enough.

Speaker1:
What if the high quality study needed to prove that something works hasn't been conducted yet? What if it never will be conducted? What about the patient sitting across the table for me with stage four cancer? Who has tried most or all of the standard of care treatments with little to no success? What about the patient with stage three cancer who took a conventional approach only to have such horrible side effects that she couldn't continue? What about the patient with stage one or two cancer who was just diagnosed and wants to try a different approach? This is where integrative oncology comes in. In integrative oncology, we don't abandon treatments like chemotherapy, surgery and radiation. Why would we when they have so much research into how they work? But let's not stop there. Let's try to make those treatments better. Let's use chemotherapy as an example. What if we made it better in the way we administer it? What if we made it safer? Let's deliver chemotherapy using what's known as IPT insulin potentiation therapy. And let's do that with the patient fasting and let's combine it with local hypothermia to enhance blood flow to the area. All of these efforts are a way to better target the chemotherapy to where we want it to go. In other words, we want as much chemotherapy going to the cancer cells as possible, which means less goes to other healthy structures.

Speaker1:
And let's administer the chemotherapy in lower doses so that we can give it more often reducing the risk of the cancer becoming resistant, allowing us to hit cancer more often, and even reducing the risk of side effects in moving beyond chemotherapy. Let's utilize repurposed medications. This means we prescribe various medications in off label fashion for their unique anticancer effects. And these are effects which have been discovered since these medications were originally approved for another indication. And let's make sure we support the immune system through things like lymphatic drainage therapy to address congestion within the lymphatic system. Let's use intravenous saline indium to help the immune system see cancer better. Let's administer mistletoe to give the immune system a helpful anti-cancer boost. And let's make sure we also have an optimal level of vitamin D so that the right portion of the immune system is active and able to fight cancer. Let's provide great nutrition to support the body well during treatment. And let's not forget to also address stress, anxiety and fear using mind body therapy. As we know, the mental state plays a significant role in the body's health and thus the outcome from treatment. These alternative treatments I just mentioned, as well as others, round out our integrative approach. We combine conventional medicine with natural and alternative therapies. We do this in a way that is personalised to each patient and his or her unique diagnosis and specific needs.

Speaker1:
I believe that this is the best way to treat cancer. This is based on the research as well as in my clinical experience. Many people ask why I do this. The short answer is because I feel called to do it. When I was five years old, my grandmother was diagnosed with advanced stomach cancer. She wasn't given a very good prognosis, and through the course of chemotherapy and radiation, I saw her deteriorate physically, mentally and emotionally. She ultimately passed away, but I was never able to forget the way her cancer diagnosis and her cancer treatment in her subsequent death affected her, as well as myself and my family. Fast forward about 20 years later when I was in medical school and I found myself drawn to cancer patients, I would often go visit them after my shift was over, even on weekends. As I progressed through my training, I felt that I could support them emotionally, but often felt helpless to do more for them from a medical perspective. I decided then that there had to be a better way to treat cancer, and I believe that answer lies in integrative oncology. Since I started my integrative oncology practice over six years ago, I've been on a wonderful journey to find and use any treatment which I feel is both safe and effective for the treatment of cancer. I am humbled by the patients who have shared my enthusiasm for an integrative approach. I'm also overjoyed by the great outcomes I've seen in my practice as a result of implementing these treatments.

Speaker1:
Many of these patients weren't given any hope by their conventional oncologists, but they're cancer free today. So when people ask me why I do what I do, that's why. So wherever you are in your cancer journey, whether you have a cancer diagnosis and are seeking answers or you're supporting someone else as they go through cancer, I applaud you for taking the initiative to learn more. That's why I started this podcast to provide valuable information for those who seek it. That's why we call it cancer secrets. Much of what we talk about isn't commonly known. My desire is for these secrets to be shared because this approach works. In addition to this podcast, I also have a few other resources I want to tell you about. The first is my bestselling book, Cancer Secrets. I strongly encourage you to read it. If you haven't already, it will be very helpful to you on your journey. You can learn more about it at Cancer Secrets. The second resource is my integrative oncology practice, the Center for Advanced Medicine. This is my day job treating cancer, using the integrative approach we just discussed. Our website is TCF AM. That's the acronym of our practice, the Center for Advanced Medicine. That's T as in Tom, C as in Charlie, F as in Frank, A as in Amy and M as in Mom. Finally, I'm excited to mention, of course I'm in the process of developing.

Speaker1:
It will be an online cancer course for patients and their families. It will take a deep dive into cancer and the many different therapies out there, ranging from conventional to alternative and everything in between. I'm excited because there isn't anything else like it. It will prove to be an invaluable resource when it comes to cancer. We're planning on releasing it later this year and I'll be sure to let you know when it's available. That brings us to the end of today's episode. I know we covered a lot, but this information is foundational for our purposes. I hope you enjoyed it. As a reminder, please subscribe to the Cancer Secrets podcast to be notified when new episodes are released. We have some excellent shows planned for season four and I can't wait to share them with you. For example, in our next episode, we will be hearing from a brave young woman who is winning her battle against stage four cancer. Using an integrative approach, we will be talking about her journey in detail, including her experience as a cancer patient and the treatment she utilized. You won't want to miss it if you're enjoying these podcasts. Please take a minute and provide a review on iTunes, Spotify or wherever you listen to podcasts. Finally, please share this podcast with your family and friends. All previous episodes are available for free on our website, Cancer Secrets. Until next time, bye bye.

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