BR gets a question about what is a holistic way to deal with chemotherapy, which feels so UN-holistic, from a woman who is uncomfortable knowing that the drugs are intended to poison and kill.. Hi Belleruth. My friend and I met because we are both interested in holistic health care. But recently, she was diagnosed with breast cancer. There was a lot of pressure to do chemotherapy, so that is part of her treatment regimen. We have talked about visualization, and she told me that one problem she is having, is the knowledge that the chemo drugs are INTENDED to poison and kill. Because of our holistic outlook, I can understand when she says that it''s hard to focus on the killing of cancer cells without also thinking about the "collateral damage," if you know what I mean. I''d like to get my friend some of your cancer CD''s -- but I also wonder if you have any ideas I could suggest to her for how to reconcile the killing and the cure? Thank you for what you do! L

Dear L,
I like the way Keith Block, MD, talks about treating cancer holistically. The issue isn’t that killing cancer cells isn’t holistic - the body naturally kills cancer cells all the time. Our immune systems are naturally and holistically ferocious, believe me. It’s just that this is not the whole picture (albeit the picture that western medicine focuses on).

Dr. Block says it’s not so hard to kill cancer cells with chemo, but it’s hard to keep the disease from returning when that’s all you do. He emphasizes that at the same time that you’re helping your body go about its inherent job of killing cancer cells with the chemo treatment, you also want to be making the surrounding biochemical and neurophysiological medium of the body as inhospitable to cancer as you can get it. You also want to build up the body’s strength, so it can handle the chemotherapy for however long it’s needed.

This can be done with nutritional supplements, meditative and imagery practices, mild exercise and so forth. That’s the holistic outlook. Don’t just zap cancer cells - build the whole body up to make it a place the cancer won’t want to return to.

For more information about this take a look at the Block Center - we’ve posted it in a place of honor over at our Clinician’s Corner, which you can visit by clicking on http://www.healthjourneys.com/archives.asp .