Is It Healthy To Fast?

Fasting For Cures, Prevention, Weight Loss and Longevity
If this is the first article you have read related to fasting and its relationship to health, let me help you with your research:

• 80% or more of those writing about fasting have not fasted themselves for much more than one or two days.
• Most of those same authors copied their information from other "experts" who have never fasted and know nothing about the subject related to personal experience.

You can usually identify the inexperienced authors by their opening statement, which most often consists of a positive remark followed by a leading question. The most common lead-in seems to be: "Fasting has been practiced around the world for centuries... But can it really help prevent disease, help you lose weight and make you healthier?" They treat fasting as though it were a medical procedure and that it needs to be practiced. The truth is, it's not a procedure that needs to be practiced, it's a decision that needs to be made.
Is it an easy thing to fast? Definitely not, and for several reasons:

• most Americans have a habit of eating;
• most enjoy eating as opposed to not eating;
• many are addicted to food and eat way too much;
• if someone misses a meal, what do they say? "I'm starving!"
• Americans are used to having food in their stomachs 24 hours a day;
• most have never heard of the word "fast";
• those that have heard of it think it's simply a religious exercise;
• those that advocate fasting recommend it for only a couple of days;
• or they recommend fasting with juice rather than water;
• most of the information on the web regarding fasting is negative;
• most fasting attempts are thwarted or sabotaged by family members or friends;
• most medical doctors have no teaching/training in med school and condemn fasting;
• even advocates of fasting argue and disagree with each other regarding the benefits;
• if you tell someone that you are fasting, you will get "The Look."

Well, if you were possibly considering a fast, I may have already talked you out of it with my short list of "fasting challenges." Read on for answers to the following four questions:

1. Is fasting a safe way to lose weight?
2. Can serious medical conditions be significantly improved by fasting?
3. Is fasting healthy?
4. Will fasting provide longevity?

Weight Loss through Fasting
In order to answer the question, Is fasting an effective weight loss tool? - we must first understand what fasting is, what is involved, how our body will respond and what results can be expected over the specific length of the fast.
Other important factors to consider:

• Does the subject have any eating disorders, food addictions including drugs or alcohol?
• How is the subject's health? (If questionable they should be under medical supervision.)
• What is their age? (under 18 should require parental and or medical supervision.)
• How long is the fast? (It is important to set a lower reasonable goal.)
• What are their expectations? (What do they hope to achieve physically and mentally?)
• Are they working during the fast? (at home or employed?)
• Do they have the support of their family and friends?

These are concerns and questions that a healthcare professional should ask the subject and be able to know how to address and respond to their answers. Unfortunately, there is a severe shortage of trained, experienced people in this area of health care and preventative medicine.
Eating Disorders
Bulimia nervosa, anorexia nervosa, and binge eating are defined by abnormal eating habits which could involve either inadequate or excessive food consumption. They can eventually lead to serious physical and/or mental ailments or diseases. Fasting for a person with one of these disorders can have very serious consequences. People with an eating disorder who finish their fast might attempt to catch up on all the food they abstained from during the fast in a matter of just a few days. This experience could seriously exacerbate their eating disorder.
Your General Health
The general health of the subject should be assessed prior to employing a fast. Fasting for only a few days is rarely a problem; however, it can be a problem if you have previously been on a junk food diet. Also, if you currently have serious issues with your kidneys or liver, or possible issues with your immune system or taking prescription medications, then you should not attempt a long-term fast.
Duration of The Fast
The length of your first fast should not be a stressful experience. If you don't feel you can last for an extended period of time, start out fasting for two days. The following week try three, and so on. This way your body and brain will acclimate to this new experience. You could also try fasting with juice for a couple of days, then switch to distilled water. My first fast was for 19 days at age 25, working as the chef in my own restaurant and cooking 16 hours per day. Not everyone is able to do that, but start out wherever you are able and train your body a little at a time.
Motivation or Expectations - A Cure For Gout
A fast is easier to accomplish if you are motivated by a goal or vision of what the results will be. My motivation for my fast was to rid my body of a very serious condition of gout in my foot. My expectation was that it would come to pass. My doctor said it was the worst case he had ever seen for someone as young as me. He said that the 1000mg of Zyloprim he prescribed could have the side effect of eventually destroying my kidneys. A customer in the restaurant told me that I needed to read two books by Dr. Charles Bragg, "The Miracle of Fasting" and "The Shocking Truth About Water." I discovered that the combination of drinking 1-1/2 gallons a day while fasting would get rid of my gout! That was motivation enough for me to stick with it despite the temptations 16 hours a day.
In 15 days my gout disappeared completely and I continued for four more days just to make sure. I continued to drink 1-1/2 gallons of distilled water daily and fast a minimum of 21 days per year for the next 40+ years. As a consequence, I have never been sick or been to a doctor or taken medication for illness in over 40 years! Just a coincidence? I don't think so.
40 Day Fast While Working
Five years ago I fasted for 40 days on distilled water and was working every day in construction. On my thirty-fourth day of my fast, I wanted to prove a point to my crew. So I moved 5 tons of small rocks the size of basketballs from where they had been delivered in the street to the backyard of a residence using a hand truck by myself in just 1 hour. I had eaten no food for 34 days and was 59 years of age. When you fast, several major organs can finally take a rest and all that saved vital energy for processing (digesting) food can be used for other things. I think I proved my point.
Fasting To Detoxify the Body
When your body is undernourished with the proper nutrients, it is not able to rid itself of toxins. Since over 50% of Americans' diets consist of processed fast foods, they are not getting the proper amount of antioxidants and phytochemicals needed to help protect our cells from damage. Toxins and waste build up in the cellular tissues; they are called advanced glycation end (AGE) products which contribute to aging, diabetes, atherosclerosis, nerve damage and organ deterioration - a common condition taught in basic science in all medical schools. Fasting along with a healthy diet is a solution to effectively remove the AGE buildup from the cell tissues.
When you do a distilled water fast for more than a couple of days, the body runs out of carbohydrates to burn for energy, causing ketosis. In this condition your body must burn fat, and the fat is where the body stores chemicals and toxins it has absorbed from the environment and the foods we eat.
Medical Reasons for Fasting
Most medical surgeries require the patient to fast prior to the operation to avoid complications when the body tries to digest food while under anesthesia. It is also required for certain medical procedures for testing cholesterol, blood sugar and various lab tests to help achieve accurate results.
Fasting to Treat Disease
Fasting has been proven to eliminate arthritis, lupus, skin ailments such as eczema and psoriasis. In addition, digestive tract conditions such as ulcerative colitis and Crohn's disease have been cured with distilled water fasts. Even low blood pressure has been successfully treated with fasting.
The Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences and The Journal of Nutrition report studies that prove mice on a fast had better control of insulin, neuronal resistance to injury, and several other health benefits than calorie-restricted mice did when the mice were forced to fast every other day. On the non-fasting day give the mice received twice the normal portion of food.
Psychological Benefits of Fasting
Fasting is used to cope with stress and depression by leveling out chemical imbalances in the body
Certain people should not fast, including:

• pregnant women;
• anyone with any form of malnutrition;
• people with heart issues; and
• people with hepatic or renal insufficiency.

Fasting for Longevity
Scores of studies prove that animals live longer when fed fewer calories.
For animals ranging from lizards to apes, when subjected to alternating cycles of extreme calorie-restricted diets and fasting, their lifespans were increased. Conversely, human lives are shortened by calorie-rich diets.
Live healthy and live longer with intermittent fasting, daily exercise, 8 to 10 glasses of distilled water daily, and with plenty of fresh fruits and veggies in your diet.

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Rectal Cancer

The colon is a part of the digestive tract that connects the stomach and small intestine to the anus. The terminal portion of this colon is called the rectum, spanning approximately 12cm in length. About 20% of all cancers that occur in the colon arise in this rectum.
Bleeding is the most common symptom associated with rectal cancer, occurring in up to 60% of patients. Other frequent symptoms include change in bowel habit, and abdominal pain.
The diagnosis of rectal cancer usually involves colonoscopy, an examination of the colon using an instrument called colonoscope that enables an evaluation of the entire inner lining of the colon including the rectum. Once the diagnosis of cancer is made, the extent of the disease is often determined using a radiologic examination called CT scan. It allows an initial assessment of the extent of spread of cancer. In addition, an endoscopic ultrasound may be helpful in assessing the local spread of cancer. At the same time, routine blood tests including complete blood count (CBC), liver function tests, and a tumor marker called CEA are usually obtained during the initial evaluation.
There are 4 stages of rectal cancer. Rectal cancer is defined as Stage 1, if the cancer tissue is confined to the lining of the rectum. In Stage 2 cancer, the cancer tissue has invaded the layers of rectal wall, and may have invaded nearby organs such as bladder or uterus. In Stage 3 rectal cancer, the cancer tissue has spread to nearby lymph nodes, tiny bean shaped glands of lymphatic system. In Stage 4 cancer, the cancer has spread to other organs such as liver or lung.
The staging of rectal cancer is important since the prognosis of affected individual is highly dependent on the staging of cancer. For example, patients diagnosed with Stage 1 rectal cancer have overall 5-year survival rate of 74%. On the other hand, those diagnosed with stage 4 cancer can only expect 6% survival rate at 5 year.
The treatment of rectal cancer often involves combination of surgery, radiation therapy, and chemotherapy. Because of the complex anatomy of anal sphincter, there are various surgical techniques that may be utilized to preserve the anal sphincteric function. In addition, radiation therapy and chemotherapy are often administered to shrink the tumor, prior to performing the surgery.
For cancer that is localized and has not spread, the excision surgery is the treatment of choice. More advanced cancer usually requires chemo-radiation therapy, followed by surgery. The type of surgery performed will be dependent on the exact location, size, and extent of cancer with the intent of preserving anal sphincteric, if at all possible. Recently, some have also benefited from additional treatment with a new class of cancer therapy such as Vectibix, Avastin, and Erbitux.

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What Is Bowel Cancer? Symptoms and Treatment

Colorectal cancer or bowel cancer is a type of cancer that forms from uncontrolled cell growth. This growth originates in portions of the large intestine; although it also may form in the appendix. Perhaps unsurprisingly, bowel cancer forms from the cells lining the organ.
This form of cancer mainly affects the large bowel, while the small bowels remain relatively cancer-free. The condition is the second most common cause of cancer-related deaths. At least six percent of people in Western countries end up developing the condition. Bowel cancer is curable in 40 to 50 percent of most cases, generally with the help of surgical intervention.
How does the condition form?
The cells in the colon may undergo a series of 'mutations,' controlling how the cells there divide and survive. When the cells start dividing in an uncontrollable manner, the result may produce a clump of malignant or cancerous cells. Polyps or an adenoma, clumps of abnormal cells resting on the end of a normal cell stalk, form after these mutations take place.
During this phase, the adenoma is considered pre-cancerous; just five percent of these malignant polyps become cancerous, sometimes life-threatening in nature. This happens when the polyp starts swelling over a long period of time. The abnormal cells start infiltrating the polyp, later spreading to the underlying colon tissue where the polyp resides. At this point, the cancer starts appearing in affected patients.
What are the symptoms?
Bowel cancer's many symptoms start once the cancer infiltrates a patient's colon tissue. Constipation is a common symptom, once the cancerous growth starts to block a portion of the lower bowels. If the bowel becomes completely obstructed, a patient generally starts experiencing severe abdominal pain and vomiting.
Cancerous growths in the proximal colon's lumen portion are likely to cause symptoms of innate tiredness, shortness of breath and bouts of nausea. Bleeding from the rectum is also a common symptom, which may lead to the loss of blood over time.
Is treatment possible?
Treatment for bowel cancer involves surgery, radiotherapy, chemotherapy and biological therapy. Surgery is the most common treatment for bowel cancer, though some patients require chemotherapy in advanced stages of the disease.
In surgery, the infected portions of the bowels are removed, according to the cancer's stage of progression. In the first three stages of progression there is a requirement for surgical treatment to remove the cancerous tissue, coupled with chemotherapy for stages two and three. Stage four of the illness doesn't have an absolute cure, though can be slowed by using the aforementioned four treatments.

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Chemotherapy for Cancer Treatment

Chemotherapy prevents the cancer cells from spreading and growing by destroying them or by stopping them to divide.
Cancer cells tend to grow and increase very quickly if they have no control or order. As these cells will grow very quickly, sometimes they may get divided from the actual tumor and they can also travel to other places of the body. So, chemotherapy will be helpful in weakening and destroying the cells at the actual tumor and also throughout the other body parts.
Most usual cells will grow and get divided in a precise and in an orderly way. Some cells can divide very quickly, including the cells in nails, hair follicles, digestive tract, bone marrow, and the mouth. This treatment involves the usage of chemical agents, which can stop the growth of the cells. This can also eliminate the distribution of the cells to other parts from the original site. As a result, this is considering as the systemic treatment.
How it works?
Specifically this is designed to kill the cancer cells. This will be administered through the vein and injected into the cavity of the body, or it can also be given in the form of pills, that will depend on the drug which is using to treat you.
Chemotherapy works by reducing the growth or destroying the cancer cells; but unfortunately it cannot know the difference between healthy cells and cancer cells. So, this can also be unintentionally harmful to the other types of quickly dividing cells, possibly chemotherapy causes side effects.
Some cancer cells will grow rapidly while others grow slowly. As a result, several types of drugs are used in the chemotherapy to target different growth patterns of cancer cells. Each and every drug used in this therapy has specific way of working and they work effectively in the lifecycle of the cancer treatment by targeting the cancer cells. Your physician will decide which chemotherapy drug is suitable for you.
What are the side effects?
The aim is to make your treatment as timely, problem-free and as effective as possible. The treatment works by destroying cancer cells, but it can also cause some side effects such as:
• Low count of red blood cells
• Low count of white blood cells
• Vomiting
• Nausea
• Fatigue
• Hair loss
Though some side effects are uncomfortable, they are temporary. Some can also cause reduction in dose and delays in the treatment or even life-threatening. Fortunately, efficient progress has been made in the improvement of "proactive" therapies, which will be helpful in managing the side effects.
Take active role while managing with the side effects. Learn about the things that all you can and discuss your problems with the doctor.

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Leukemia, The Paradigm Miracle

Another year has gone by, and in a few short weeks, we celebrate National Cancer Survivor's Day. When this day arrives I am always taken back and remember those who never had a chance to celebrate this day.
Having practiced medicine for more than three decades, as physician I was deeply involved with the care of little children. As a hospitalist, I saw my fair share of childhood diseases. I can gladly say I was allowed to save many lives with help from others on the medical teams I worked with, and of course the cutting edge technologies afforded those of us who are privileged to practice medicine in the United States. It is interesting, the things in life which will push a man toward an education and prepare him for the great profession of medicine. One of those things was an event in my childhood in the early 1960s.
When I was a boy, I had many friends in school and outside of school alike. Growing up on a ranch in Nebraska, it was not unusual to have many friends who lived in other towns come to visit. One of my friends outside of school lived in a nearby town, but came over often. David and I were both eight years old. I remember fondly of playing "army" with David in the yard, and board games with him when he would come to visit. I liked him. He was friendly and got along with my sister and little brother too. We were both Cub Scouts but in different troops. You would always hear about how much David loved Scouting.
Soon though, the visits became fewer and fewer. David seemed to look frail and discolored to me as time went by. The color thing really bothered me. I asked Mom, "What's wrong with David?" Mom said, "He's sick, honey. He has cancer of the blood. It's called leukemia". As you can imagine, this was a little difficult for an eight year old to take in, but as time went by, I learned more and more.
David's parents were good friends of my parents, so we saw each other as families often. After he became ill, we saw less and less of them. Very rarely did I get to see my friend. David had an ever advancing condition of weight loss, bruising, sore joints, infections, was easily brought to tears, and I thought his hair looked funny. How does an eight year old process this inevitable plunge? As children, David, his sister, my brother, my sister and I, we were not emotionally mature enough to process this whole thing.
At home we would get the occasional phone call that he was back in the hospital. My parents were great. When we would get these calls, Mom and Dad would sit with us and try their best to explain this thing called leukemia. Understand, this was 1961, and leukemia was known as an unrelenting killer of children. There were no cures. Not even a good treatment. The medical community was desperate for a foothold.
One night we received a phone call from David's father. David had passed away at the young age of eight. I remember, it was really the first time I heard those words, "passed away". It was also the first funeral I went to for a friend. Friends are not supposed to die when you are kids. It caused me to take pause, and realize, that we are mortal. I know, I was just a child. I had seen two grandfathers buried, but I was very quiet and overcome by this intense event. All of these grownups I knew as strong, would breakdown and start to cry. I never the less watched in a surreal world of sadness, my parents' good friends bury my buddy, David.... And that image which is still so clear.... My friend, asleep in his Cub Scout uniform.
All the while I was there, I remember thinking David might come running out from behind that marble stone, but he never did. Why had this happened? I seemed to feel a pull even then, "The Calling", so many of us drawn to "medicine" and trained as healers will occasionally and quietly talk about.
Time went by, but I often thought of David and how unfair it had been for him and his family. The early 1960s saw almost all children die who had leukemia. The five-year survival rates of children then were only one in ten. All families could do, was wait and watch while their babies died in agony. He never had a chance, I often reflected. A sweet kid, taken from his family at such a young age. He never got the chance to do anything after he became sick. Never got to be an Eagle Scout, play baseball, be cool at school, or fall in love. How scared he must have been.
Time marched on and while in high school, I would hear of small advances in the fight against cancer and leukemia. Then, in the early 1970s, when I was in college studying chemistry, we began hearing about a new drug, a drug with great promise in the fight against leukemia. It killed leukemia cancer cells by attacking their ability to process folic acid for DNA synthesis. Called Methotrexate, I remember thinking.... Damn!.... it's a little late, but in less than ten years they came up with a weapon.
I had grown up with kids who had polio, but now, it was gone. Diphtheria was gone. Small pox was all but vanquished. Psychiatric hospitals were giving way to more advanced neuroleptic drugs, allowing former patients to re-enter society and become productive citizens. They had just invented the CAT Scanner. They had started to use lasers in ophthalmology. And, I thought, even William DeBakey is transplanting hearts with Denton Cooley down in Texas of all places! Things were really happening, and I wanted to be on the inside not the outside. It was an epiphany. Already a man of science, I realized then, that I was going to become a physician.
As time went by, more of these antimetabolite drugs became available and we started to see a real dent in childhood mortality from leukemia. Soon after, in the late 1970s, when I was a biochemist and starting my medical career, a drug from a flower called, "The Rosy Periwinkle", which only grows in the rainforests of Madagascar (go figure) gave us a new drug called Vincristine. A drug that could only be brewed in mother nature's kitchen, this was a monumental discovery. Never before had we been able to reach for a drug that could stop mitosis in cancer cells directly by shutting down their ability to pass through telophase. That's right, Vincristine and its sister, Vinblastine, destroy microtubule formation, so cells can't make spindles, resulting in the inability to replicate.
Then, when I was a resident in medicine, we discovered a way to perform bone marrow transplants, exchanging cancerous white cells for fresh, normal white cell precursors. You guessed it. We were now seeing cures and not just remissions. Lives were now being saved in this war.
My friend David had what we call, "Acute Leukemia". There are many types of leukemia, but there are two well-known leukemias that prey on children. They are Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia, ALL, the one David had, which generally seeks out kids two to ten years of age, and Acute Myelogenous Leukemia, AML, which generally hunts down our babies under 1 year of age.
The acute leukemias are proliferating bone marrow tumors of cancerous precursor white cells still in the immature blast cell phase. The cells do not work like healthy white cells to combat infection. They multiply wildly, creating havoc in the body, literally consuming the patient to death, a condition we call "cachexia". Patients have intense bone pain, anemia, infections, swollen lymph nodes, enlarged spleens and livers, and, for some, meningitis, strokes, heart attacks, and renal failure. Without treatment, they are dead in a few weeks to a few months.
We still do not have a full grasp on their cause. Most are caused by oncogenes, which are mutated cancer inducing genetic codes for programming carcinogenisis and disrupting programmed cell death we call "apoptosis". What causes this, is the head scratcher. Many of us feel it is radiation exposure, or certain viruses. Perhaps environmental toxins, or even cosmic radioactive bursts. And of course, man-made toxins are obvious suspects.
By the early 1990s we were seeing cure rates in both ALL and AML of fifty percent and remission rates in the eighty percent range. What a leap. In just 3 decades we saw a paradigm shift in the treatment and outcomes of our children with leukemia, moreover, a shift in therapies which utilizes a team approach to protect our children from the acute depression and other collateral illness which accompany these frightening diseases.
Newer drugs like Daunorubicin have accelerated these therapies to even better outcomes. Although this drug is very effective, it is extremely cardio toxic and not generally used in children. However, it should be noted that we are now seeing ninety five percent remission rates and sixty percent cure rates in our children with ALL, and AML, a true shift in mortality that could only be dreamed about just thirty five years ago.
The drug Methotrexate is still at the heart of leukemia therapy, and is used in combination with other drugs. Unfortunately, there has been a recent shortage of this drug due to decreased production, and the drug makers asking for more money and charging outrageous prices. This is an unethical practice, and shameful in my opinion. It has been treated much in the press of late. Hopefully attitudes will shift and our lobbying campaigns to continue cost-effective production will be fruitful.
But now, what treatments are on the horizon for leukemia? There is a new drug. This drug arrived on the cancer chemotherapy shelves about a decade ago, but shows outstanding promise even outside of cancer therapy. Used mainly for Chronic Myelogenous Leukemia, CML, a leukemia which is seen mostly in older adults, it is highly effective. Rendering oncogenetic codes for cancer cell induction dead in their tracks, it is a target directed drug aimed at a specific chromosome translocation defect which exists in more than 90% of CML patients, called the Philadelphia Chromosome. The drug, Imatinib, was built from a rational drug design based on biochemical research already in place regarding the specific allele the Philadelphia Chromosome codes for, and shuts down the production of a protein called tyrosine kinase which induces cancerous breakdown of normally functioning white cells.
Imatinib has been used as therapy for other leukemias including refractory Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia, and Myeloproliferative Disorders (chronic bone marrow cancers generally seen in the elderly) with outstanding success. But what is also very interesting is its experimental applications which are currently being investigated.
Imatinib has been touted as a treatment for pulmonary hypertension, a rapidly fatal form of high blood pressure in the lungs. It has been shown to reduce outcropping we call smooth muscle hypertrophy and hyperplasia of the pulmonary vascular tree. In systemic sclerosis, the drug has been tested for potential use in slowing down pulmonary fibrosis. In addition, current laboratory investigations show promise in stopping the progression of atherosclerotic vascular disease in mice. Yes, a treatment for coronary artery disease and heart attacks.
At Emory University in Atlanta, there are promising studies suggesting that Imatinib could be used as an antiviral against smallpox. Why is this important? Although this disease has been wiped off the face of the earth with the remarkable efforts of the World Health Organization, and no case has been identified in almost thirty years, We continue to believe a weaponized form of small pox launched from a rogue nation is possible.
Studies also suggest that a modified version of Imatinib can bind to the protein which increases the production and accumulation of amyloid plaques in Alzheimer's disease, rendering it inert. Yes, a treatment for Alzheimer's induced dementia.
But with all of this in our doctor bags, there is still a dark and ominous specter. Although great strides have been made, and I was privileged to meet and take care of children with leukemia, and even watch them overcome the illness and move on with their lives, one patient stands out.
I was working the Emergency Department one night in 1995. It had been relatively quiet that evening, when at approximately two in the morning a man walked in carrying his teenage son. We acted quickly and helped him get his son to a gurney in an open bay.
The staff and I immediately recognized the man's son as Eric, a well-known high school football star. The father said he found his son crawling on the floor trying to get to the kitchen to get a drink of water. Eric looked awful. There was that damn color again. Eric was delirious with fever, weak, and poor to respond. We went to work on him immediately. His dad said that he was fine just a month ago, but had developed a sore throat at about that time, and was seeing one of our local doctors who just kept giving him antibiotics. We managed to get young Eric stabilized. Just as we were settling him in and making his father comfortable, I received a call from the laboratory. The lab tech asked me to come down to the lab. I ran to the laboratory. When I got there the tech was shaking her head as if to say, "this is really bad". I looked at the blood count machine's screen. "my God", I said to the tech. "His white count is seventy thousand". I looked in the microscope, "blast cells". I knew right away we were looking at an acute type of leukemia, but couldn't recognize it.
When I dashed back to the Emergency Department, Eric was coming around a little. I spoke with him and reassured him. But the look on my face when I turned to his dad, could not be masked. He knew I didn't have good news. We talked at length, then, I called in Eric's regular doctor. They talked while the team and I continued to work on Eric. I called in the helicopter, spoke with the hematology fellows at the university, returned to Eric and his dad, made sure they knew what we were doing and flew them both to University Hospital. All eyes turned to the Hematology Oncology Service with hope that they could help young Eric.
One week later, while seeing patients in my office, the Hematology service at the university telephoned me to say that Eric had "passed away". You sit by yourself and reach for introspection when these things sting you as a healer. I wondered. How does a robust young athlete get sick with leukemia, fail in health so quickly, and die in one month? As it turned out, Eric contracted a type of AML, called Promyelocytic Leukemia, one of the most deadly forms of AML, one which preys on teenaged children, and takes them away from us with stealth and quickness. So you see, our job is not done. I am reminded as to why we call it a "practice".
Our knowledge of the genome, stem cell technology, oncogenetics, and nanotechnology races onward. Our ability for rational drug design is extraordinary, and the technical savvy to produce these great magic potions has been nothing short of miraculous. In just four decades, we have all but squashed the disease that took my friend, David. But as you can see with Eric, we are not finished. I still think of David fifty years later, and how his death stirred in a young boy, the spark of becoming a physician. If I was educated only to save but one human being, it was all worth it.
We already have at our fingertips two technologies that must be placed into motion. Stem cell research has already given us the ability to crush this killer, and should never be interrupted. And, the science to manipulate the oncogenes so responsible for the fuel that drives these diseases is already available. My hope is that with our new technologies, in the near future, we will not need any drugs for leukemia. We will simply turn off the genetic machinery of bone marrow cancer and not allow leukemia even to exist, and therefore, never threaten our children again.
Dr. Counce

Dr. Charles M. Counce is a physician consultant, college professor, artist and medical illustrator with The Conservatory Of Medical Arts And Sciences. Founded by Dr. Counce in 2006, The Conservatory Of Medical Arts And Sciences is the collegiate medical arm of The Venture 17 Division of Education. The Conservatory is a campus based, and online education consulting professorate specializing in higher academics in the medical arts and sciences. The Conservatory Of Medical Arts And Sciences began as a charitable educational institution and online teaching tool to aid local college students in Colorado. However, The Conservatory has grown rapidly, reaching a large contingent of college students across America, as well as worldwide.
The Doctor is a professor of Human Anatomy and Physiology, Internal Medicine, Microbiology, and Hematology. In addition, he teaches American History.

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Lymphoma - Early Detection Is Key

No matter if we look at lymphoma symptoms in children, lymphoma cancer symptoms in dogs or lymphoma symptoms in general, they are just that, symptoms. They will raise your attention, maybe your awareness and curiosity, and probably the level of fear of the unknown, but neither one means anything if action is missing. Good old saying - for the circumstances to change, we need to change.
So take that first step and visit to the doctor's office. Oh yeah, it is a drag, especially for men, right? How can one be a man and go to seek advice in area as tedious as for example night sweats? Well, be a man and do it. By the way, it has been confirmed that the lymphoma is twice as common in men as it is in women and most common between ages 16-34 and past 55 years old. So here is your first tip. Don't play a hero like that. Be a hero and take charge.
Choose the right cancer treatment center for you or for your loved one. Choose a center that brings together the expertise and skills of physicians from several various specialties who will design a care plan tailored to your needs. The right team understands that a diagnosis of lymphoma can be overwhelming for both, the patient and for their loved ones, and that the "total-person" approach is a must. Approach that provides psychosocial support services along with the leading edge treatments and therapies.
Once the lymphoma cancer symptoms have been examined, the plan for treatment will be devised. Based on the stage of the disease, the treatment may include one of the following or any combination of: chemotherapy, radiation, surgery, bone marrow transplant and supportive care for lymphoma symptoms such as pain, fever, infection and vomiting. There is the continuing follow up care involved as well, to determine the response to treatment, detect recurrence of the disease and manage the side effects of treatment.
The prognosis, as well as the long term survival probability will vary significantly from one individual to the other, as with any form of cancer. The initial hypothesis after the evaluation depends on the stage of disease and the general health of the patient; it depends on the presence or absence of metastasis; it also depends on the response to therapies, medications and procedures.
The treatment is as unique as each patient is. Prompt and timely medical attention, aggressive therapy and continuous follow up are essential to the best prognosis. Lymphoma symptoms can be initially overlooked, but with the raising of knowledge and awareness along with the continuous discovery of new methods our prognosis are better and better.
No one wants to see their loved one suffer this horrible disease. Especially the lymphoma in children symptoms is disturbing. And we all know why that is so and here is the question: can lymphoma be prevented and how? Needless to say there are no known ways to prevent lymphoma. For exactly that reason there is a crying need to increase awareness and understanding of the importance of paying attention to any unusual symptoms in our health.
In the lymphoma case, physicians recommend avoiding known risk factors, avoiding viral infections and any conditions that suppress the immune system. I trust that all efforts leading to eco-friendly life style support in direct and indirect way our quest to live better a life and that includes lymphoma free life. Be part of the changes!

Be am amazed with the value of experience that comes from a simple heart to heart conversation. Yes, when the words are missing, hearts talk.

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Lymphoma Cancer Symptoms in Women - Be Aware - Stay Alive

Lymphoma symptoms and especially lymphoma cancer symptoms in women are easy to be missed. It is so, because they can be taken for standard discomfort, to which we women are so familiar with by the default of being female.
Lymphoma is a form of cancer of the lymphocytes, a type of white blood cell.
Because our knowledge about this disease is so limited, it comes to be even more dangerous.
Let me share with you what my friend told me about her condition. "At first, I started losing weight. I was so glad to see it happen; we all know how hard it is to lose weight in our age (after 50). The next - somewhat unusual for me condition - was heavy sweating, especially at night. I didn't think twice about this though, it was winter time, I was probably too hot in general from the combination of keeping the house warm and using a heavy comforter, so I thought. You know, we always find an answer if and when we want to. Another day I noticed, my skin was itching; I had an explanation here as well; it must have been something wrong with the soap. Another incident of lymphoma symptoms I did not recognize, another unpremeditated excuse minimizing the seriousness of the situation. It was not until I noticed blood while coughing, when I decided to see my doctor".
Why this story? To help you recognize the limited knowledge about the lymphoma symptoms leading to a very late diagnosis, diagnosis at a very advanced stage of cancer. Should the lymphoma cancer symptoms have been diagnosed early, the condition could be put in regression, if not totally cured. It is not the ignorance though. The difficulty in recognizing lymphoma cancer symptoms is coming from the fact that the same symptoms are very "common" to other, not necessarily serious conditions.
Let's concentrate on lymphoma symptoms in women. What are they?
First and most common of all are the swollen lymph nodes, caused by the lymphoma cancer cells. This can be noticed mainly in the armpits, neck and groin. The nodes are quickly noticeable because of their location near to the skin surface and not so due to pain.
The next symptom is a rapid and unintentional loss of weight. Fever and night sweats, fatigue as well as problems with breathing continue the list. Since these symptoms very closely resemble infection symptoms, a lot of patients are being incorrectly treated for such instead of the true cause - lymphoma.
Mentioned here are only the few lymphoma symptoms in women. There are at least fifteen of them, which women can easily neglect, because we are so used to different kinds of discomforts being women. The list continues with abdominal pain, headaches, weakness and swelling of arms and legs, bowel obstruction, shortness of breath, coughing.
In conclusion, our strong recommendation is to see an ocologist if such symptoms stay unchanged (hopefully not getting any worse) for two - three weeks. It is in the patient's best interest to check it out. With a series of tests the presence or absence of lymphoma can be easily diagnosed; the sooner the diagnosis, the better chances of survival. And - if there is nothing wrong, the peace of mind gained after such visit is just priceless.

Be am amazed with the value of experience that comes from a simple heart to heart conversation. Yes, when the words are missing, hearts talk.

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Bone Marrow Transplant - What the Media and Medical Profession Do Not Want You To Know!

After I was diagnosed in January of 1989 the medical profession tried their best to use me as a guinea pig. I believe they do this because they know you are in shock and very vulnerable. At age 29 and three small children, I was definitely in shock. The doctor who diagnosed me said I would be dead in 3 to 3 and one-half years. The fear was overwhelming and I know now that I was incapable of making a rational decision. I decided to put off a BMT and keep my options open.
Finally, at age 35 I decided to have the BMT. My family members were tested and luckily I had two siblings that were both perfect matches. A BMT is not a surgical procedure but a medical procedure that is non-invasive but very intense. I along with nine others I began the procedure on the same day as they did. We received three days of what they call lethal chemotherapy and then four days of total body irradiation. The only way to describe what they do to you is they kill you and then they do their best to try and not just revive you but to keep you alive for as many years afterwards as possible.
Call me the lucky one, but the other nine BMT recipients began to die almost immediately and by the end of the first year there were only three of us left. And during the next six months the other two succumbed to the BMT. Once you have a BMT the leukemia never is the cause of death. The number one cause of death after a BMT is graft vs host. Graft vs host is where your new bone marrow sees all these foreign organs and objects in your body and tries to eliminate them. Remember you have the donor's bone marrow in you and the bone marrow sees your body as completely foreign. The doctors try hard to help the bone marrow to adjust but it is normally a losing cause. I am not absolutely sure but my guess is that all of the other nine people lost their life to the battle that went on inside of them because of graft vs host.
After having the BMT I was tested several times to see whether I had graft vs host but I never did. I did happen to have and get almost every other ailment and malady possible but I have survived and am currently doing okay. Life has been very different from what I was expecting. At 53 years old I am still unable to work a full-time job. The chemotherapy and radiation does things to the body that the doctors are still looking for answers to.
To give you a brief idea as to what I have gone through-- I have had pneumonia 15 to 20 times and each time was a hospital visit of on average 2 weeks. I contracted the shingles more than 10 years ago and still suffer from that on occasion. I have had cataract surgery on both eyes. A month or two after the BMT my weight dropped down to 114 pounds--and at 6' 2" I had very little meat on my body. Besides having no hair anywhere, I was a rack of bones rapped in skin and I could barely walk. At my home I had to crawl up the stairs to the bedroom because I could not stand to be on my feet that long. I had double hernia surgery and several other painful maladies that still seem to linger.
I still have trouble with my weight so the doctors have given me a medication to increase my appetite so that I can gain weight. It took me approximately 2 years to finally get up to 150 pounds but today I have gain much more weight due to the medication and am at nearly 200 pounds. This is about the perfect weight for my body.
To this day my main problems are severe fatigue and terrible digestive track problems. But, at least I am alive and have seen all four of my children grow and become adults. I currently have 3 grandsons and 2 grand-babies in the oven. Life is not necessarily great but I do know that it could be a lot worse.

You can read my full story of when I first began to feel the affects of the leukemia all the way until today. My story regarding the leukemia is so long and detailed that I am writing it in three separate eBooks available at Amazon.com in their eBook Kindle section. The first book is now available under the title: (CML) --The True Story of a Survivor. The second eBook is under way and should be completed within the next 2 months, and the third is yet to come. I have changed my name as the author of the eBook so as to try and keep as much anonymity as possible.

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