Health Links: Alternatives to Mainstream Medicine re: Cancer and Other Diseases; Stem Cell Research Clinic

~~By InsightAnalytical-GRL, Grail Guardian and contributors

A couple of days ago we began a discussion of alternatives to mainstream medicine, and now, in light of the passage of the stimulus bill with health care provisions that will affect everyone, we thought we’d archive the various links we posted previously. We’ve also added more information, some from readers.

This post will be archived in the Life/Health section and readers are welcome to post additional information in comments!

First, a couple of sites of general interest:

WheretoFindCare.com Find, compare & rate your health care!

American Association for Health Freedom Protecting the right of the Consumer to choose and the Practitioner to practice

(Features alerts and information at the Federal and State level–and EXCELLENT resource!)

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The information from the original post, followed by new additions…

A recap of the links from Grail Guardian’s piece about her late mother, Marlene C. Utz.

Alternative therapies:

South American herb Graviola

Japanese mushroom therapy (Shiitake and Maitake mushroom extracts)

Mistletoe

Heat treatments performed in Germany and Andrew Scholberg’s book at  http://www.germancancerbreakthrough.com/B/

How to Fight Cancer and Win — William L. Fischer

Deadly Cancer Myths-and the Truth that Will Save Your Life–Dr. William Campbell Douglass (also publishes The Douglass Report)

Dr. Dana Flavin, The Foundation Collaborative Medicine & Research

Dichloroacetic Acid (DCA). University of Alberta researchers Drs. Stephen Archer and Evangelos Michelakis

The DCA Site

buyDCA.com

Medicor Cancer Centres, Canada (Canada’s first integrated private cancer treatment clinic)

Links for additional information on integrative/alternative treatments by GRL

We are fortunate to have here in Las Cruces, NM one of the leading researchers of Alpha Lipoic Acid, Burt Berkson, M.D., M.S.,  PhD. who practices at the Integrative Medical Center of NM.

An important essay on ALA by Dr. Berkson from The Townsend Letter, The Examiner of Alternative Medicine which details what ALA does and also offers a brief biography of Dr. Berkson and some of his experiences while training/working in “mainstream medicine.”  Detail his work in triple antioxidant therapy for the liver including ALA, silymarin and selenium.

Link to recent Berkson video from the Fourth Annual LDN Conference, from October 11, 2008 describing his work with LDN.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WqRwXEnPYKk&p=5AE79E01B9A36CAC&index=10

More from conference…..scroll down for audio, slides, video
http://www.lowdosenaltrexone.org/conf2007.htm

Info on the conference and research:
http://www.ldninfo.org/

Other mentions:

“Dr. Burt Berkson from New Mexico is using LDN for various cancers and autoimmune diseases. His work on lymphoma has been published in the medical journal Integrative Cancer Therapeutics September 2007.
http://autoimmunedisease.suite101.com/article.cfm/low_dose_naltrexone_update

http://www.honestmedicine.com/2008/05/index.html
Excerpt from FOUR LIFESAVING MEDICAL TREATMENTS: NOT SO “ANECDOTAL,” AFTER ALL!

What Dr. Berkson writes next sheds, for me, a very sad light on our medical system: “Not surprisingly, the hospital administration was furious with me and branded me as a doctor who could not follow orders, a person who was not a good team player.”

Soon after this, Dr. Berkson, whom I will be interviewing for HonestMedicine, left the practice of hospital-based medicine. He is now happily in private practice, saving lives in Las Cruces, New Mexico. Over the years, he has saved many patients from needing liver transplants – which he suspects may be one reason the medical establishment is not enthusiastic about his use of alpha lipoic acid. Transplants, he pointed out to me in a recent phone conversation, are a huge business in many US hospitals.

You may also search for Berkson, B.M.; Lipoic, Burt Berkson; Lymphoma, Berkson; Naltrexone, Lupus; Naltrexone, Cancer.

Also, check out the reviews of Berkson’s books, including

Alpha Lipoic Acid Breakthrough: The Superb Antioxidant That May Slow Aging, Repair Liver Damage, and Reduce the Risk of Cancer, Heart Disease, and Diabetes (Paperback)

by Burt Berkson (Author) “Alpha lipoic acid, in my opinion, is an indispensable ally in our attempt to keep ourselves healthy in a world whose stresses and pollutants work…”

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Stem Cell Treatments

The clinic described below was featured in a news segment on local El Paso TV about a year ago.  Big shock…NUNS from the U.S. coming in for treatment!  The site features a video of a news report on the clinic and you can sign up for a newsletter. Click on the Dr.’s name to reach the site.

Dr. Omar David Gonzalez

Integrative Medical Center

Nuevo Progreso, Tamps, México

US (956) 501-1167
Mexico 001 (899) 937-0260
Mexico 001 (899) 937-0303

omardgonz@gmail.com

Additional press release at http://www.prlog.org/10039443-ground-breaking-stem-cell-placenta-implant-dr-omar-gonzalez-helps-victims-of-degenerative-diseases.html

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More Good News for Women: Synthetic, Prescription HRT Shrinks the Brain

~~By InsightAnalytical-GRL

Here’s some cheery news to end the week with.  The story will only be available until April 12, 2009 for some reason; I guess this is going to have to go down the memory hole.

We all know that hormone replacement therapy’s relationship to the rise of cancer rates (and the fall since women have stopped taking them en masse), but have you heard about this??

HRT Shrinks the Brain

But research shows it does not damage cerebral blood vessels in older women

URL of this page: http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/news/fullstory_73726.html (*this news item will not be available after 04/12/2009)

HealthDayMonday, January 12, 2009

MONDAY, Jan. 12 (HealthDay News) — Two studies looking at the same group of women found that while hormone therapy is linked with brain shrinkage, it does not seem to be associated with early signs of cerebrovascular disease.

This suggests that hormone therapy’s effect on brain volume, not its effect on the brain lesions that indicate “silent strokes,” is the mechanism by which hormones increase the risk for dementia in women over 65.

“These are a nice companion to cognitive studies reported earlier. This is now neuroradiological evidence that, together, suggest that the effect [of hormones] may be more degeneration than vascular,” said Miriam Weber, an assistant professor of physical medicine and rehabilitation and of neurology at the University of Rochester Medical Center.

These papers, both published in the Jan. 13 issue of Neurology, are the latest in a parade of analyses resulting from the hormone therapy arm of the landmark, government-sponsored Women’s Health Initiative study.

Previous results included an increased risk of stroke and cerebrovascular disease in women over 65 taking hormone replacement therapy (HRT). Another offshoot of the WHI, the WHI Memory Study, found an increased risk of dementia and memory problems in this group of women.

Both papers set out to understand the mechanisms behind this increased risk for dementia in women taking conjugated equine estrogens (either estrogen alone or estrogen plus progestin).

(MORE)

Great news, huh?  First, the continuing misogyny and disrespect from the Obama crowd, now we get the news that Big Pharma and the docs have helped shrink a lot of female brains!

I never trusted or wanted to use the stuff, so I’m OK on this one.  But you have to wonder, what’s coming down the pike next for women…

Oh, by the way, as reported by American Association for Health Freedom :

The conclusion once again was that “these findings don’t impact the current recommendations which are to use hormone therapy for treatment of menopausal symptoms for the shortest time at the lowest possible dose.”

Cancer, increased risk of stroke and cerebrovascular disease, shrinking brains and demention…NOPE, just move along, nothing to worry about here…”shortest time at the lowest possible dose” certainly is reassuring, isn’t it?

Obama’s Entitlement “Reform”– the Social Security-Medicare Nexus and Health Freedom

~~By InsightAnalytical-GRL

About two weeks ago, then President-elect Obama vowed this:

Obama Pledges to Reform Social Security

By JENNIFER LOVEN

AP

WASHINGTON (Jan. 7) – President-elect Barack Obama said Wednesday that reforming massive government entitlement programs — such as Social Security and Medicare — would be “a central part” of his effort to control federal spending.

(SNIP)

Noting that the Congressional Budget Office had just estimated he would inherit a $1.2 trillion federal deficit for fiscal 2009, Obama promised to cut unnecessary spending.

“We expect that discussion around entitlements will be a part, a central part of those plans,” Obama said. “And I would expect that by February in line with the announcement of at least a rough budget outline we will have more to say about how we’re going to approach entitlement spending.”

My first response was, “Gee, instead of holding half of the money from the bailout funds until it’s time for Congress to run for re-election in 2010 and using the rest for pork barrel spending now (mainly to banks and little “gifts” to various groups he’ll need in 2012), wouldn’t it be great if the damned cash could be used to create a real healthcare system instead of  looking at already strained programs like Medicare,  Medicaid and Social Security to “reform”?  Maybe look at a system which would save businesses money, maybe keep more jobs at home, etc. etc.???” Too simple, I know…the Wall Streeters and banks need to be at the feeding trough first and get their mitts deeper into these programs…

So, since we’re not going to get REAL healthcare improvements, we should wonder how Obama Administration will address THIS issue…

From the American Association for Health Freedom’s January 6th, 2009 edition of Pulse of Health Freedom newsletter :

Now, Health Freedom Watch reports that a lawsuit has been filed to challenge the withholding of social security benefits from seniors who decline Medicare Part A. Kent Masterson Brown, an important constitutional attorney, believes that this Social Security policy is illegal because “forced participation in Medicare infringes on a citizen’s right to privacy and to make necessary choices about his or her own health care, and, accordingly, violates the First, Fourth, Fifth, Ninth, and Fourteenth Amendments to the Constitution.”

The three plaintiffs in the lawsuit say that forced participation in Medicare Part A interferes with their doctor-patient relationship and their choice of a hospital.  While these plaintiffs have catastrophic health coverage insurance and savings to pay for their hospital care, one of the plaintiffs, Norman Rogers, stressed in a National Press Club news conference that the physicians who care for his parents, who are in a nursing home, face restrictions from Medicare in how they conduct their professional practice.  Medicare is infamous for reams of regulations that dictate care, often in contradiction of the doctor’s professional opinion and the patient’s right to choose.

With every indication that there will be a push for government funded and administrated healthcare for all Americans, the limited healthcare freedom of choice faced by Medicare and Medicaid recipients is a lesson that consumers and practitioners alike should heed. Read the AAHF position paper regarding private contracting under Medicare Part B to educate yourself about healthcare freedom of choice under government-administered health insurance.

Will the Administration let people opt out? After all, Obama is the guy who isn’t for “universal healthcare” anyway. Or, will they fight the suit with the aim of perhaps further penalizing people, like we are now penalized in $$ if you don’t sign up for Medicare Part D Prescription Drug Coverage  immediately (and Part D is a huge shuffling of money around for which we are paying through the nose)?? It would be a nice source of extra cash if they could levy huge “fees” on people who still wanted to opt out, no matter what the cost.

So, there’s another thing to be watching for especially if you’re on Medicare, Medicaid, Social Security,  etc. And there are rumblings about disability benefits as well. Wonder what Mr. Constitutional Lawyer Obama thinks about this suit, if he even know if it exists?  (After all, he wasn’t even sure about that executive order involving Gitmo…) Where does all this fit in his plans for healthcare “reform”??

The question is not just about cutting spending…it’s about what is jeopardized in terms of care.  Do you trust Obama, Tom Daschle or the Democrats in Congress with YOUR health?

I sure don’t…

The Past Week: January 11-17, 2009 (Al Jazeera Hooks up with PBS; House vs. Senate/Obama and Bailout Oversight; “Everyman” Biden; Non-GMO Verification Project; “The Prisoner” is Free; Extra Anatomical Tube Bypass

~~By InsightAnalytical-GRL

Looks like Al Jazeera finally is going to get a wider audience in the U.S.  From what I’ve seen of it on the Internet, I’m thinking it’s credible but I AM wondering about the connection to PBS!  Who set up this deal?  Was this just the Bush Administration’s idea or did the hand of Obama get involved somehow? And that the mere mention of NBC….

Al Jazeera Network TV deal broadens U.S. reach

Thu Jan 15, 2009 7:17pm EST

By Robert MacMillan

NEW YORK (Reuters) – The Al Jazeera Network plans to announce on Thursday that it has signed a deal to run its news on Worldfocus, a syndicated nightly news program produced in New York and distributed throughout the United States.

(SNIP)

Worldfocus, hosted by former NBC News correspondent Martin Savidge, is produced by New York City public broadcaster WLIW and syndicated to a number of Public Broadcasting Service affiliates, as well as other stations in 60 U.S. markets, including 27 of the top 30.

Al Jazeera declined to disclose terms of the deal.

The service’s Arabic-language network is available in the United States through the DISH Network Corp. It has been trying to increase the distribution of its English- language network through cable television, but so far is available only in Washington, D.C., Toledo, Ohio and Burlington, Vermont.

(MORE)

The story contains more details on Al Jazeera’s expansion via the Internet, which has grown to include a free broadcast service, YouTube, Twitter…and a marketing campaign being launched in the New York  Times and Washington Post.

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On Wednesday, Harold Meyerson wrote an op ed piece in the Washington Post on the current financial crisis and had a moment of upset:

The Money-Changers

By Harold Meyerson

Wednesday, January 14, 2009; Page A17

…That’s why a bill that Barney Frank is promoting in the House, which would direct banks that choose to take bailout funds to start lending to creditworthy borrowers and designate no less than $40 billion for mortgage relief, is necessary if Congress is to authorize the Treasury to spend another $350 billion on TARP. Over in the Senate, the Democrats seem inclined to think that the need for such legislation is obviated by President-elect Obama‘s promise to administer the TARP in the ways that Frank’s bill would mandate.

If Obama’s appointees inspired sufficient trust that they would be willing to take on the banks, such legislation would be unnecessary. Unfortunately, they don’t.

(MORE)

What? A bit of doubt about Obama’s choices?  But my mind, as simple as it may be, asks this question.  First, what’s going to happen between the House and the Senate?  Seems Rep. Barney is having a sudden bout of  “accountablilty” when it comes to delivering bailout money to borrowers…they should be “creditworthy.”  And  that stipulation has to be within legislation that must be passed to authorize the Treasury to spend more bailout money.  But the Senate is saying “Who needs legislation?  We’ve got OBAMA’S WORD that he’ll do exactly the same thing without the bother of a law.”

So, I then ask myself: if Obama gets his mitts on this money, does it really go to “creditworthy” individuals?  Which individuals?  Will this be “reparation” money? If the recipients are the not “creditworthy” and a lot of them are the same people who couldn’t meet previous mortgages doesn’t this mean that Obama is just repeating the “non-oversight” pattern of the Democrats that helped get us into this MESS we’re in??

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OK, the guy they tried to tell us hung out at his local Home Depot (he didn’t) and who’s got his son Beau lined up to glide into the Senate is still being sold to us as “Everyman”??  Oh, PLEASE!  From Silicon Valley’s Mercury News, which picks up this AP nonsense:

Senate veteran, Delaware everyman faces new role

By BETH FOUHY Associated Press Writer

As for the story, it’s the same old same old…

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So, do you have any confidence that Obama will do something to remedy this situation?  Wonder if this is even on Tom Daschle’s radar? From the American Association for Health Freedom:

The Non-GMO Project Product Verification Program is Up and Running

The governments of the US and Canada stand in sharp contrast to sixty other countries around the world, including the European Union, Russia, and China, by not requiring foods that contain genetically modified organisms (GMOs) to be so labeled. They do so despite good evidence that GMOs could have negative health implications for humans and the environment, and despite the fact that 87% of American consumers want products that contain GMO ingredients to be labeled.

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This week we lost Patrick McGoohan, who was Number 6–“The Prisoner”–in the Village.  I also enjoyed watching him in “Secret Agent” (“Danger Man” in the UK)  when I was  teenager. In fact,  I had a huge crush on him!

And, we can’t forget Ricardo Montalban either, who’s own “village” was on Fantasy Island…

Godpseed…

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Ever hear of an “extra anatomical tube bypass”?  Well, my 24-year-old nephew had this surgery on Wednesday. He was born with a congenital defect of the aorta and underwent surgery when he was about 3.  His blood pressure has always been high and the meds have made him tired.  It was now time to make the fix since he’s stopped growing.  Instead of messing with the aorta itself and dealing with possible complications from previous scarring, the procedure used was a “bypass” which eliminates the need to arrest the heart and putting the body into hypothermia.  The surgery went well.  I convinced him to go to a medical hypnotist.  He didn’t need any blood transfusions and today, 3 days after the procedure, he’s only on Tylenol for the pain (which even the day of the surgery he described as being only “soreness”) and the swelling is almost gone. And his blood pressure is better now than ever before and equalized throughout his body.

Congratulations, Mark! You did it!!

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THE PAST WEEK

“The Black President”: A 1926 Novel “Predicts” the Politics of 2008 with Some Eerily Similar Details

The Scanner-Politics 1/15/09 (40 Musical Obama Supporters Slide-Show; Barbie at 50 [French]; Women and the World; “Obama-Cola The Great National Temperance Beverage”; Tina Brown; WLS Chicago–the Governor Sells Furniture)

Hip-Hop Inaugural Events Start TONIGHT (1/14/09)…Ludicras Co-Hosting “Urban Ball”

The Obama/Media Combine Whoring Abraham Lincoln, Non-Stop

Reality Check from Our Chicago Correspondent: University of Chicago & Its Hospital “Terminating” Jobs Like Crazy (Michelle O., Guess Shuffling All Those Indigent Patients Elswhere Didn’t Help the Bottom Line That Much? Your “Plum” Job is Going, Too!)

The Past Week: January 4-January 10, 2009 (Donor Fatigue among Obamacrats; Wes Clark; Ms. Magazine–Total Sellout; Tess; Street Numbers Man; “Grounding” with Harvesting; Betta Fish Drama)