It is against the Cancer Act of 1939 to make any suggestions for the prevention or cure of cancer. I have already been questioned by the authorities here for advising cancer sufferers on my website, even though I did not suggest any remedies or ‘magic’ cures. What I can do is suggest some tips that might help to improve your mother’s quality of life after chemotherapy.
In my opinion, there is a lot a woman can do to prevent the recurrence of cancer after mastectomy, chemotherapy and / or radiotherapy. These drastic treatments help to remove the obvious signs of cancer, but what needs to be cared for is the whole wellbeing of the body. One also needs to enhance the immune system – the body’s army against enemies of all kinds – and vitally, help the person to feel as good as possible.
Stress encourages everything in the body to grow at a heightened speed. You may have noticed that when you are stressed your nails need cutting once a week and hair once a month. but when you are relaxed – on holiday, say – hair and nails grow much more slowly. The adrenalin produced when we are under pressure speeds up the metabolism, the heartbeat the toning of muscle, and can also encourage abnormal cell growth.
So the primary thing, I believe, is to manage stress. Stress creates a ‘fight or flight’ reaction which controls the mind and body, even when people are not under pressure, cutting them in a permanent state of red alert.
These therapeutic measures help combat stress:
- Massage improves the circulation, releases physical aches and pains, helps with healing, and improves blood flow to the brain. Most essential is neck and shoulder massage, and I recommend doing this every evening before bed for five to ten minutes. (watch my video section for more details)
- Yoga alleviates physical stress, through the stretching postures, and emotional stress, through its emphasis on breathing.
- Relaxation techniques such as meditation are very beneficial. It is also good to spend time with nature, breathing fresh air, listening to calming music and praying.
- Psychological therapies, including Neurolinguistic Programming (NLP), are very useful for dealing with deep-seated trauma.
I also recommend the following:
- Nutrition is essential in managing the body’s functions during and after chemotherapy. it is important to protect the liver and kidneys, which take a heavy battering with chemotherapy. A good supply of vitamins and minerals is helpful, so eat plenty of fresh fruit and vegetables and take a good vitamin supplement (see below).
- The concept of starving the cancer cells with long fasts can, in my view, weaken the body. My suggestion is to give the gut and liver a complete rest once or twice a month by eating only fruit (but not citrus) and drinking vegetable juices or soups for a day.
- In general, avoid citrus fruits (the acidity impairs the digestion), spicy foods, nuts, fried food (which are bad for the stomach and liver), excess vinegar, foods containing yeast (bread, pizza, Marmite); Also avoid foods based on fungus (blue cheese, mushrooms) or sugary foods. These may trigger an overgrowth of candida which weakens the body. This can be followed by gut fermentation, which produces toxic alcohol that may affect the liver. Excess alcohol consumption can also weaken the liver.
- Make sure that constipation is kept at bay by drinking two liters of still, pure water daily between meals and eating fruits such as prunes, figs and papaya, as well as spinach.
- I also suggest taking a comprehensive. Daily multivitamin and mineral supplement plus vitamin C (one 500mg tablet twice daily for four months) and drinking plenty of freshly juiced fruir and vegetables (preferably organic).
All the above should help your mother to feel much better. lf the body feels well and balanced, it will have the energy to fight cancer. No one should feel afraid or give in too easily. There are many more cancer survivors now than there were even ten years ago. I believe this is because people have become more conscious of how stress affects their lives. They are taking this seriously and making changes. It is this understanding of the importance of looking after one’s own wellbeing that is making the real difference in the survival rate.