Healing Strategies:
What to Subtract
What to Subtract
Healing Strategies:
What to Add
What to Add
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| Your Donation Helps Our Research And Advocacy Programs Your Donation is Tax Deductible Please Make Checks Payable to: Breast Cancer Choices, Inc. PO Box 1567 Amagansett, NY 11930 |
FAQ Introduction
Where did these FAQ come from?
From several pro-active, research-oriented patients on the Amazon Internet Group who
decided to bring all the essential information they'd gathered over the years into one
place. Why? There was a need. This information doesn't exist anyplace else.
How did they research the FAQ?
1. By asking fresh questions about the pros and cons of standard treatment.
2. By going to the source for answers, the National Library of Medicine's Medline
Database, then laying out the information, thousands of articles, from the existing
medical literature, then winnowing them down. By challenging our assumptions, then
researching even more.
3. After 13 years of accumulating scientific information and factoring in over a
thousand patients' experiences, a body of FAQ emerged. We found ourselves
reexamining the current way of looking at breast cancer diagnosis and treatment.
If we had asked that question most of us would have made different screening and
treatment choices.
What Does Breast Cancer Choices Mean?
The concept of "choices" encourages women to consider all their options. Breast
Cancer Choices offers an alternate way to approach the whole process of being
diagnosed and treated for breast cancer by asking questions and reviewing the
available information with your doctor. We don't advocate any specific treatment.
Many of us feel conventional medicine hasn’t had a good track record treating breast
cancer with toxic therapies. If the survival statistics had improved from 50 years ago
there would be no need to discuss options in breast cancer therapies. We look
forward to a time when conventional medicine gets better results and there won’t be a
need for a question-based site like this. Our main goal is to put ourselves out of
business.
If your physician is well-versed in the literature, she will be able to tell you what these
particular statistics are without blinking.
How is breastcancerchoices.org different from all the other breast cancer
websites?
Breastcancerchoices.org is a question-driven resource site. It relies heavily on the
veteran patients from the Amazon Group who have raised questions and researched
the answers. But the questioning continues. Some patients choose not to take
radiation therapy, chemotherapy or have lymph node procedures. This site begins the
dialogue and documents the reasoning behind those non-standard choices.
Also, as veteran breast cancer patients, we’ve all made mistakes along the way in the
procedures we went along with. Hopefully, visitors to this site can learn from our
mistakes and will benefit from the information many of us learned after the damage
was done.
Since 1996, when the Amazon Listserv began, many of the same questions came up
in discussion every few months as newly diagnosed patients signed on. We tried to
answer them by researching the medical literature and posting it to the group.
Although most of our stockpiled studies answered the questions, new ones kept
appearing so we needed an efficient, easy to use place to keep all the questions,
documented answers and the medical studies.
But, more disturbingly, we realized some important questions almost never came up
because we never thought to ask or we believed the answers we were given. Only
through time and more research did we realize that these needed their place too.
That’s why questions are the centerpiece of this site.
Where do I start researching?
There is no one place to begin researching. Different people on Amazon have
different attitudes about research. Some love the sleuthing out of new information and
verifying its value. Others find sources they respect (such as certain health care
practitioners) for information and follow that course. This website houses links and
resources to accompany your fact-finding journey.
While researching, you might want to join several of the online breast cancer
communities, sometimes called listservs, email groups or bulletin boards and find
one that fits your personality.
If you have the inclination, reading actual studies may provide you with information as
well as confidence in your choices. This can be easily learned. How to Read a
Medical Journal Article at http://www.childrens-mercy.org/stats/journal.asp may help.
What about my doctor’s place in my research?
Often patients don’t tell their doctors about their non-standard research or intentions.
This is not a good idea because she may alter her treatment decisions based on your
choices. For example, if you give your surgeon The Lancet radiation statistics article
and say you’ve decided against radiotherapy, she would most likely cut out a little
wider piece of tissue on the assumption radiation would have “sterilized” any cancer
cell colonies she might miss in a smaller section surgery. You should also tell your
doctor what herbs and supplements you are taking,(keeping in mind some may say
they don’t want to know), because some herbs and supplements may increase the
chance of bleeding after surgery.
Does my doctor know about the medical studies posted on this website?
Most doctors are too busy treating patients to evaluate the most recent literature. A
breast surgeon may see 30 patients a day. That’s 60 breasts to examine, charts to
note,staff to supervise. Then there’s surgery days, hospital visits, phone calls, and a
life outside the office. Plus, if the doctor knew about the new information, she might
have to change the way she practices and the average doctor wants to fit in with the
standards practiced by her colleagues, not stand out by pursuing innovation or new
literature. Standing out means trouble.
Essentially, doctors are afraid of you dying while under their care because you don’t
go through the standard breast cancer treatment mill. They’re afraid of getting sued
for departing from the medical community’s standard of care. If you go through that
standard of care and die anyway, they’re safe.
So when you consider that your doctor’s life is too busy to read much, and their
standing in the medical community is too fragile to stray from the herd, you may get a
doctor who is not on close terms with the medical literature. Also, they may not be
used to reading actual studies. They have news services that give them the
pre-digested medical news.
The actual studies have only been widely available from the Internet Medline
Database of The National Library of Medicine for ten years. So when your doctor
went to medical school, patients weren’t able to learn the way they do now.
The way to tell a good doctor from a poor doctor is the way they treat the information
you bring to the patient-doctor consultation.
It gets back to the premise of this website. In the real world, only a patient has the
true motivation to read and ask questions. Because her life depends on it.
What do you recommend as treatment?
We make no treatment recommendations whatsoever. We suggest breast cancer
patients carefully research and review the evidence for any treatments they are
advised to undergo, whether they are standard or non-standard, then make
educated choices.
This website contains some of the official medical literature your doctors have access
to but may not have seen. Of special interest is the literature on needle biopsies,
lymph node procedures, radiation therapy and chemotherapy.
What recommendations do you make?
Read, then read more. Question, then question more.
What integrative protocols may be helpful?
Complementary Medicine, also known as Integrative Medicine, involves combining
conventional and non-standard treatments. Which combination of these a patient
may or may not choose is strictly up to the individual and her practitioner. If you
have a specific question, such as whether Tamoxifen is beneficial or necessary, we
can’t answer that. We can, however, provide you medical literature to help you with
your decision. Swallows-l, our sister listserv is a forum to discuss integrative
protocols. Find directions to Swallows-L on the Amazon page.
This website is intended as information only. The editors of this site are not medically-trained.
Please consult your licensed health care practitioner before implementing any health strategy.
The information provided on this site is designed to support, not replace, the relationship that
exists between a patient/site visitor and his/her existing physician. This site accepts no
advertising. The contents of this site are copyrighted 2006 by Breast Cancer Choices, Inc.
Contact us for reprint permission.
Website updated January 7, 2008.
Where did these FAQ come from?
From several pro-active, research-oriented patients on the Amazon Internet Group who
decided to bring all the essential information they'd gathered over the years into one
place. Why? There was a need. This information doesn't exist anyplace else.
How did they research the FAQ?
1. By asking fresh questions about the pros and cons of standard treatment.
2. By going to the source for answers, the National Library of Medicine's Medline
Database, then laying out the information, thousands of articles, from the existing
medical literature, then winnowing them down. By challenging our assumptions, then
researching even more.
3. After 13 years of accumulating scientific information and factoring in over a
thousand patients' experiences, a body of FAQ emerged. We found ourselves
reexamining the current way of looking at breast cancer diagnosis and treatment.
If we had asked that question most of us would have made different screening and
treatment choices.
What Does Breast Cancer Choices Mean?
The concept of "choices" encourages women to consider all their options. Breast
Cancer Choices offers an alternate way to approach the whole process of being
diagnosed and treated for breast cancer by asking questions and reviewing the
available information with your doctor. We don't advocate any specific treatment.
Many of us feel conventional medicine hasn’t had a good track record treating breast
cancer with toxic therapies. If the survival statistics had improved from 50 years ago
there would be no need to discuss options in breast cancer therapies. We look
forward to a time when conventional medicine gets better results and there won’t be a
need for a question-based site like this. Our main goal is to put ourselves out of
business.
If your physician is well-versed in the literature, she will be able to tell you what these
particular statistics are without blinking.
How is breastcancerchoices.org different from all the other breast cancer
websites?
Breastcancerchoices.org is a question-driven resource site. It relies heavily on the
veteran patients from the Amazon Group who have raised questions and researched
the answers. But the questioning continues. Some patients choose not to take
radiation therapy, chemotherapy or have lymph node procedures. This site begins the
dialogue and documents the reasoning behind those non-standard choices.
Also, as veteran breast cancer patients, we’ve all made mistakes along the way in the
procedures we went along with. Hopefully, visitors to this site can learn from our
mistakes and will benefit from the information many of us learned after the damage
was done.
Since 1996, when the Amazon Listserv began, many of the same questions came up
in discussion every few months as newly diagnosed patients signed on. We tried to
answer them by researching the medical literature and posting it to the group.
Although most of our stockpiled studies answered the questions, new ones kept
appearing so we needed an efficient, easy to use place to keep all the questions,
documented answers and the medical studies.
But, more disturbingly, we realized some important questions almost never came up
because we never thought to ask or we believed the answers we were given. Only
through time and more research did we realize that these needed their place too.
That’s why questions are the centerpiece of this site.
Where do I start researching?
There is no one place to begin researching. Different people on Amazon have
different attitudes about research. Some love the sleuthing out of new information and
verifying its value. Others find sources they respect (such as certain health care
practitioners) for information and follow that course. This website houses links and
resources to accompany your fact-finding journey.
While researching, you might want to join several of the online breast cancer
communities, sometimes called listservs, email groups or bulletin boards and find
one that fits your personality.
If you have the inclination, reading actual studies may provide you with information as
well as confidence in your choices. This can be easily learned. How to Read a
Medical Journal Article at http://www.childrens-mercy.org/stats/journal.asp may help.
What about my doctor’s place in my research?
Often patients don’t tell their doctors about their non-standard research or intentions.
This is not a good idea because she may alter her treatment decisions based on your
choices. For example, if you give your surgeon The Lancet radiation statistics article
and say you’ve decided against radiotherapy, she would most likely cut out a little
wider piece of tissue on the assumption radiation would have “sterilized” any cancer
cell colonies she might miss in a smaller section surgery. You should also tell your
doctor what herbs and supplements you are taking,(keeping in mind some may say
they don’t want to know), because some herbs and supplements may increase the
chance of bleeding after surgery.
Does my doctor know about the medical studies posted on this website?
Most doctors are too busy treating patients to evaluate the most recent literature. A
breast surgeon may see 30 patients a day. That’s 60 breasts to examine, charts to
note,staff to supervise. Then there’s surgery days, hospital visits, phone calls, and a
life outside the office. Plus, if the doctor knew about the new information, she might
have to change the way she practices and the average doctor wants to fit in with the
standards practiced by her colleagues, not stand out by pursuing innovation or new
literature. Standing out means trouble.
Essentially, doctors are afraid of you dying while under their care because you don’t
go through the standard breast cancer treatment mill. They’re afraid of getting sued
for departing from the medical community’s standard of care. If you go through that
standard of care and die anyway, they’re safe.
So when you consider that your doctor’s life is too busy to read much, and their
standing in the medical community is too fragile to stray from the herd, you may get a
doctor who is not on close terms with the medical literature. Also, they may not be
used to reading actual studies. They have news services that give them the
pre-digested medical news.
The actual studies have only been widely available from the Internet Medline
Database of The National Library of Medicine for ten years. So when your doctor
went to medical school, patients weren’t able to learn the way they do now.
The way to tell a good doctor from a poor doctor is the way they treat the information
you bring to the patient-doctor consultation.
It gets back to the premise of this website. In the real world, only a patient has the
true motivation to read and ask questions. Because her life depends on it.
What do you recommend as treatment?
We make no treatment recommendations whatsoever. We suggest breast cancer
patients carefully research and review the evidence for any treatments they are
advised to undergo, whether they are standard or non-standard, then make
educated choices.
This website contains some of the official medical literature your doctors have access
to but may not have seen. Of special interest is the literature on needle biopsies,
lymph node procedures, radiation therapy and chemotherapy.
What recommendations do you make?
Read, then read more. Question, then question more.
What integrative protocols may be helpful?
Complementary Medicine, also known as Integrative Medicine, involves combining
conventional and non-standard treatments. Which combination of these a patient
may or may not choose is strictly up to the individual and her practitioner. If you
have a specific question, such as whether Tamoxifen is beneficial or necessary, we
can’t answer that. We can, however, provide you medical literature to help you with
your decision. Swallows-l, our sister listserv is a forum to discuss integrative
protocols. Find directions to Swallows-L on the Amazon page.
This website is intended as information only. The editors of this site are not medically-trained.
Please consult your licensed health care practitioner before implementing any health strategy.
The information provided on this site is designed to support, not replace, the relationship that
exists between a patient/site visitor and his/her existing physician. This site accepts no
advertising. The contents of this site are copyrighted 2006 by Breast Cancer Choices, Inc.
Contact us for reprint permission.
Website updated January 7, 2008.
- One defining question arose from our mission, a question which had
been avoided when most of us were diagnosed because we were
swept along in our treatment:
- How will any procedure or treatment my doctor recommends extend
my overall survival and at what cost to my quality of life?
| Breastcancerchoices.org Innovative Research and Patient Advocacy |