Any complementary / alternative treatments?

[ssim]

My mother was diagnosed with advanced stage Ovarian cancer in the spt '06. She has had 2 recurrences, and will start her third chemo regimen next week.This time it will be doxil and carboplatin.
We're desperately hoping this treatment is  'the one' and that she has an extended remmission after this one.But I NEED to explore other treatments out there, and know if there is anything effective that has worked for people in the past. There are loads of websites on the internet that talk about complementary and alternative medicine, but most of them look like money making schemes to me. I am sure there are some genuine ones out there, but it's very difficult to tell them apart from the others.
Has anybody here benefited from any unconventional treatment?
Please do let me know, so that I can try for my mother.I want to leave no stone unturned and try everything to rid her of this disease.

[ceca]

Try www.minadobic.com

[sassysurvivor]

I don't comment on here much, but had to respond to this thread. While I don't think alternative medicine is by itself a "cure" for advanced cancer, I strongly believe in its effectiveness, along with traditional approaches.  I was diagnosed with stage IIIC ovarian ovarian cancer in October 2007, and I am still in remission with a ca-125 of 7.  Soon after diagnosis when I was feeling depressed, a friend introduced me to a friend of hers who is a survivor of breast cancer. This woman was diagnosed with early stage breast cancer, but didn't change her eating/health habits at all. Just a year later her breast cancer recurred in multiple places, including her lungs, liver, and spine. Obviously, the prognosis was not good. AT that point the woman totally changed her diet to eat all organic raw produce, and nothing else. She also began to exercise for the first time in her adult life and practiced daily meditation. Within months, all of her cancer completely disappeared. SInce that time, 4 years have passed, she has lost a lot of weight and is still cancer free. Meeting her brought a lot of hope into my life. Since then, I have talked to other long term survivors who used alternative approaches, mainly diet. As for myself, I try to eat a plant-based diet ( 8 to 10 servings of raw produce a day), no red meat, no sugar, no white flour, and very litle processed food. I take a lot supplements including vit c, vit e, calcium, vit d, vit b complex, magnesium, maitake mushroom, and Immpower. I drink Essiac Tea and a lot of Green Tea. I also try to exercise everyday, keep stress to a minimum, and spend time in a hot steam bath whenever possible. I am only 2 years out from diagnosis, but I do feel that what I am doing has helped keep me in remission. If you would like to talk to some long term survivors of advanced ovarian cancer who have used alternative approaches, here are a few survivor websites: wwwchrisbledy.com, www.beatingyourcancer.org, www.cancerhealed.com.

[survivor_susie]

I'm sorry to say that I know of no miracle cures, either.  But, I did a combination of traditional and nontraditional therapies which helped my chemo go quite easily, and kept my strength up. Maybe these might help your mom.

First, I did acupuncture.  It invigorated me each time. It worked wonders for neuropathy, too.  I also went to a chiropractor regularly.  I felt like this helped my circulation. I took a supplement called Glutamine which helped my digestive track and was highly recommended at my hospital.  And last, I exercised a lot. d Right after I finished chemo, I went through about 5 weeks of radiation, and never, ever got tired. Unheard of!

None of us knows how much time we have left.  The focus for all of us is the quality of life, not the quantity.  

I hope your mom sails through this chemo and has a lasting remission.  
Kathy

[jane65]

Aussie is right, if an alternative therapy worked, we be hearing and reading about it.

Unfortunately we must deal with medical treatments, and their side affects. I am staged 4B and wouldn't waste my precious time with anything but my doctors' educated treatment plans.

Good luck to your Mom and have her eat a healthy, well balanced diet to give her body the strength she'll need.
Jane

[Aussie000]

I'm sorry to say that with late stage ovarian cancer, complimentary medicine will not work. Chemo is all that is left, my mother has been stage 4 for over 4 years and we have looked at all the alternatives and she doesn't have the time to waste on experimental remedies, if any of these really worked then we would all be reading about it on the front page news. I hope your mum has a good gyno/oncologist. My mum will be going back onto Taxol, a chemo she hasn't had for 4 years, so hopefully she will respond well after having such a long break from it.
I hope your mum responds well with her next round of chemo, doxil can be pretty nasty with its side effects, mouth ulcers & sore hands and feet but some ladies can tolerate it okay. Make sure your mum ***** on ice cubes while the doxil is being given as this will help with the mouth ulcers just in case she gets them. I wish your mum the best!

[yrrek]

Hi,

I am having my first recurrence.  I was DX'd in Dec. 07 had surgery and carbo/Taxol 4 cycles.  What I am doing this time is called HIPEC.  I will have all the visible cancer removed( 3 tumors on my colon with possibly more involvement) with surgery and right after that while I am still on the table, I will have heated chemo (cisplatin) circulated for 90 min. throughout my abdominal cavity.  If they feel that all visable cancer is removed and that I have no lymph node involvement, then I will have no post systemic chemo.  Hopefully that will put me in remission with no side effects of systemic chemo.  The procedure takes 8-12 hours with a two week or longer stay in the hospital.  I am having it done by a Dr. Holbrook in Spokane WA.  He studied with Dr. Sugurbaker who pioneered in 20 years ago trying to rid abdominal cancers.   My Dr. has done this many times and feels that it has had very good outcomes.  Many have come to him for this procedure.  He does most of them on the Western side of the US.  There are some reasons he is unable to do the procedure.  Such if there is some cancer that cannot be removed.  
I applaud you for taking such good care of your mother.  And we must keep fighting and do what we have to so that we can do what we want to.  Please let me know if you would like further info, Google HIPEC,

I wish you the best,
Kerry

[avijitdutt]

look into www.gawler.org.
This is a unique place in Melbourne Australia.I visited the place all the way from India.
Avijit