Alternative Medicine for your Cancer Treatment

We’re all for alternative medicine!…. As long as it is scientifically proven. Which in that case normally doesn’t make it alternative medicine…

If you have been following us here at Radical Radiation Remedy for a while you might think this is a bit contradictory. I mean we have written some posts criticizing the grape diet cure for cancer, and how the myth of microbiotics could cure radiation sickness and cancer. The former can actually have adverse effects and the later is just good dieting.

So what do we mean we are all for alternative medicine? We think there is potential for looking outside of the normal scope of medicine. And this is what we think alternative medicine is. After all looking outside the box is where the breakthrough sometimes occur. Even Radiotherapy at some stage could be considered alternative- even though that time was more than 100 years ago.

The difference between what we refer to as alternative and what is generally referred to alternative is that we believe that alternative methods need to be proven through proper rigorous scientific studies to confirm their effectiveness. We’re talking randomized double blind placebo trials. These are effectively the gold standard of evidence for proving something is effective.

What we don’t like is the marketing of medicine and medical techniques based solely on anecdotal evidence or poorly executed scientific evidence. And evidence based on personal accounts is not reliable anyway, humans are flawed with many biases.

Anecdotal medicine can be dangerous!

It will be a step in the wrong direction if we accept medicine and medical procedures base on this evidence. Medicine has, in the last half century, moved away from this type of practice. One great example of anecdotal medicine is the practice of lobotomy for schizophrenia and depression. There was no real scientific evidence for this horrific procedure, and a large proportion of patients had severe side effects, and it had a 5% mortality rate. This procedure was the accepted norm for more than 2 centuries from the 1920s to the 1940s. And in america, there was a resurgence in the 1950s, and peaked in 1951 with 18000 procedures performed.

In fact one patient, Howard Dully, was only 12 years old, and only in his later life found out about that he was lobotomized. His experience was captured in a memoir called My Lobotomy, a story of the hardship of his lobotomy. A very uncomfortable story, both horrific and inspiring at the same time. This is a great reminder that medicine should not be based on anecdotal and personal evidence.

Don’t get me wrong, I have nothing wrong with alternative medicines that are harmless, and may in fact do some good, and provided the patient with some hope. As long as the promises of the alternative medicine don’t deceive patients into false hope! And make them turn away from proven treatments, the main proven treatment for cancer being radiotherapy.

Interest in the use of herbal and alternative anticancer agents has increased over the last few decades and sits anywhere from 13 to 63% amongst cancer patients in the western world. The interaction of these alternative medicines with anticancer drugs has not been adequately studied. Some interactions between the alternative and anticancer drugs have been proven to have adverse effects, and nearly all healthcare professionals now urge patients to avoid alternative medicine while using traditional anticancer drugs.

….there are many alternative medicine remedies….

There are many alternative remedies suggested on the Internets. This includes everything from garlic to milk thistle. Alternative medicines are generally eaten and include vitamins, minerals, antioxidants, herbal products, plant products, and botanical medicines. A list of the most common alternative medicines for cancer treatment include;

• Garlic
• Ginkgo
• Echinacea
• Soy
• Saw palmetto
• Ginseng
• St. John’s wort
• Black cohosh
• Cranberry
• Valerian
• Milk Thistle
• Evening primrose
• Kava
• Bilberry
• Grape Seed

So with that let us introduce you to a herbal product I found on the internet that claims to control, inhibit, and destroy cancer cells. It is called Tian Xian, which is pronounced “Dianne Sean”. This produce makes some bold claims, backed with numerous stories of cancer survivors, and questionable scientific papers.

“The Active Herbal Ingredients aims to Control, Inhibit, and Destroy Cancer Cells”

I do not claim that these scientific papers are false, rather that if these claims were ligitimite a herbal product with such characteristics would be promoted on every single news outlet and would receive millions in funding for further research and development. I haven’t seen this occur. And to think that it is al being covered up by big pharma is also absurd. There is no way an organisation that large could keep a secret like that. Just like the other conspiracies out there like the moon landing.

So what is Tian Xian Liquid?

Tian Xian is a Chinese medicine used for decades to improve the immune system. It claims to regulate “constitution” and enable body cells to be repaired and basic function to be restored. It is directed to be taken before or after cancer surgery, to possibly reduce the size of the tumor or to aid in recovery after the surgery. It is also claimed to significantly ease side effects from chemotherapy and radiotherapy, and even to enhance the effectiveness of both.

Although to their credit, the do not advise patients stop western treatment methods. And that Western treatment method should be the focal point of a patient’s cancer treatment. They are a bit vague in exactly what is in the active ingredient though.

To really try get to the bottom of this miracle liquid that cures all types of cancer (If this is the case why is nobody talking about this?) I turned to some reputable journals I have access to. Including Cancer Research, the Journal of clinical oncology, Journal of Radiation Oncology and the international journal of Radiation oncology biology physics, and some others. I searched for “Tian Xian Liquid” “THT herbal liquid” and numerous other keywords using a database of peer reviewed articles from multiple journals. Here is what we found.

Absolutely Nothing

Search for Tian Xian Liquid in the International Journal of Radiation Oncology showed no results

Absolutely nothing. These are the most important journals for Radiation Oncology and I could not find an article in them about Tian Xian liquid. Sure you can find articles on google scholar about tian xian liquid but you have to look at the rank of the journal. The journal Nature is normally around number one, you have to have ground breaking research to be able to publish in that one. Remember the journals I used, here is how they rank using the journal rank indicator, which measures the journal’s impact, influence, and prestige. The higher the better!

Here are some of the normal reputable radiation oncology journals

• 9.204- The Journal of Clinical Oncology
• 5.372- Cancer Research
• 2.274- International Journal of Radiation Oncology Biology Physics
• 1.278- Radiation Oncology

The top four research articles for Xian Tina liquid are found in the following journals.

• 1.249- Drug metabolism and disposition
• 1.156- Journal of Ethnopharmacology
• 0.822- Integrative Cancer Therapies
• 0.655- Chinese Medicine

I’m not going to say anything here, I will let you make your own conclusion about the published research presented on their website.

And the Kicker?

I think that Tian Xian is misleading patients with the quote “The Active Herbal Ingredients aims to Control, Inhibit, and Destroy Cancer Cells”, which can be found all over their website. And we think that they know this too. Just look at their own disclosure statement, “…not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA)…” and “…not intended to diagnose, treat, cure or prevent any condition or disease…”. They are profiting on vulnerable people providing them with false expectations of their product.

What do you guys think about this herbal produce? In fact, what do you think about any alternative medicines. Are they holding the cure for cancer, or profiting on false promises. Let us know in the comments.

At this point I would like to point out that you should listen to your trained doctors and avoid using google or any other anecdotal evidence to make decisions on your treatment. In fact, don’t even listen to me, I am not a trained doctor. I just know that there is very little evidence for any alternative medicine cancer treatments that are effective, and many are bad for you!

Thanks for reading and don’t forget to Subscribe for more informative articles on Radiation and Radiotherapy

RRR

Originally published at www.radicalradiationremedy.com on February 13, 2017.