Tom Heston

Cancer is an insideous disease. But it can be prevented in many cases, and also cured. Here are some “secret” cancer treatments that your doctor probably doesn’t tell you about.

1. The best cure? prevention. Exercise is probably the #1 prevention measure, yet unbelievably, this is not widely discussed in the doctor’s office or in medical policymakers.

2. Radioactivity. Not external beam radioactivity or internal seeds, but rather radioimmunotherapy. For cancer patients, an antibody targeted to the tumor is used to deliver a lethal dose of radiation directly to the tumor cells.

In emergency medicine, I was taught that “a person isn’t dead unless they are warm and dead.” This saying basically means that hypothermic patients can appear lifeless, but when warmed up you can revive them. You should never pronounce a person as dead unless they are warmed up first.

For cancer patients, perhaps there is a similar sentiment. We shouldn’t give up on certain lymphoma patients unless we have tried radioimmunotherapy. We shouldn’t declare patients with advanced lymphoma as “dead” unless we have tried radioimmunotherapy.

This thought was expressed recently at Hopkins during a noon conference. One of the world’s leading experts in radioimmunotherapy said to all of us, in effect, that although radioimmunotherapy has not been perfected yet, it can be life-saving. In particular, certain subtypes of lymphoma respond to radioimmunotherapy. We should not tell patients that “we have tried everything” until we have tried radioimmunotherapy.

It doesn’t work for everyone, but many of us who practice nuclear medicine believe that radioimmunotherapy is really underutilized. Ask your doctor about it.

Back pain is a common medical problem, and a frequent reason for people to visit the doctor. In fact, it is the second most common reason people visit the doctor (second only to the common cold). But can back pain can be prevented? What are the natural ways to treat back pain, without surgery or prescription drugs? Here’s an 8 step program recommended by Johns Hopkins surgeons Gokaslan and Riley in their book, The Back Book.

1. When your back pain is acting up, try taking aspirin, ibuprofen, or naproxen in the recommended over-the-counter doses for two full weeks. Don’t stop early, even if your back pain is gone earlier.

2. Eat your vegetables and cut down on red meats.

3. Don’t smoke.

4. Before a strenuous event, take aspirin, ibuprofen, or naproxen just before the activity.

5. Exercise. Low imact exercises such as swimming, walking, and bicycling are best. Also recommended are yoga and Pilates.

6. Lift right. Keep your back straight and knees bent when lifting.

7. Make your workplace back-friendly by having a good chair and desk. Take frequent breaks to walk around and stretch.

8. Sleep on your side. This decreases the pressure on your back.

Today marks a historic triumph for Barak Obama. Congratulations.

However, it brings to mind Jay Leno’s interviews on the street, where most people he interviewed didn’t know who was the US President, the Vice President, or the name of any major political figure. The first time I saw this, my thought was how sad. These people live in complete ignorance. What is the future of a country with such a deep lack of knowledge?

Then, a friend of mine, Jim, said he thought it was great. That the less we had to think about our government, the better. At least for those of us uninterested in being a politician, the less intrusive the government is, the better. Perhaps, he said, it was good that these people didn’t know the name of the president.

This though flew in the face of everything that I was taught in school: get involved, participate in the political process. Yet, somehow Jim’s comment made me think….. what if all of us could spend less time and money on politicians? What could be done with all the money spent on elections? What could I do instead of watching the talking heads on TV comment on politics? What if politics became a lot less prevalent in our media and in our thoughts? Answer: life would be much richer and more enjoyable!

With this in mind, heres a simple action plan to get politics and politicians out of your day-to-day life:

1. Block time wasting political sites by using LeechBlock. This will keep you on track and cut out useless political info from entering your brain.
2. Stop watching the news and news commentators. Important news will get to you from your neighbors and friends. Start by turning off the news for a day at a time. Listen to some music instead.
3. React positively to people from all political parties. Most politically minded people believe they are doing the right thing, that their party is the best for the country. Let them argue their ideas with other partisans. By supporting them (not necessarily their ideas) it becomes easier to change the topic to something more important.