If you’re reading this, congratulations! You made it to part 3. In part 1 & 2, I explained what cancer is and why an integrative cancer approach is crucial in living a long, healthy life. If we just kill off the cancer, but don’t clean up the toxic environment the cancer was created in, we are setting our bodies up for cancer recurrence.

Diet & Nutrition

Most everyone can make changes to their diet in order to enhance their health. Not one type of diet is perfect for everyone, but we can all avoid the foods that cancer loves – processed sugar. Processed sugar comes in unexpected forms. Gluten and dairy have a lot of hidden sugars and they are typically not well tolerated by society. The most basic diet advice I would give someone would be to avoid gluten, dairy and processed sugar.  Some people rave about the Ketogenic Diet, and some swear by juicing, others do 100% plant based-vegan diet. It’s really about the individual and how their body is able to break up and utilize macronutrients (carbs, fats, proteins). If you are someone that feels really horrible not eating carbs, then a ketogenic (low carb) diet, is not optimal because you most likely won’t do it for a long period of time. That’s where I would suggest juicing and seeing how your body does with that. There are so many juicing options available and you really can develop a craving for these healthy liquids.

Avoid Toxin Exposure

Remove pesticides, smoke, plastics, flame retardants, bleach, candles, fake scents, non-certified cosmetics/shampoos/body lotions, deodorants, sunscreen, and other chemical sources.

• Use water, vinegar, Epsom salts and baking soda for cleaning.
• Make perfume and scents with essential oils and carrier oil like Aloe Vera, olive oil, avocado oil, coconut oil, etc. Beauty Counter is a brand that cares about keeping beauty products non-toxic.
• Schmidt’s or Toms deodorant  are both clean brands for smelling fresh under the arms. If you smoke, stop smoking.
• Use glass for cooking and reheating. Avoid plastics and Styrofoam.
• Use natural disinfectants, dish soap and laundry soap. Seventh Generation is a good brand that is available in most stores

Detox at a Cellular level

Toxins are within us all. We get rid of wastes via sweat, saliva, urine, stool and menstrual blood (for ladies). Utilize all routes to detox.

• Use detox baths or foot soaks by taking 2 cups Epsom Salt + 1/4 cup Baking Soda 3-5x/week.
• Make sure bowels move everyday (use something like Select Balance Move Eeez  which is a natural bowel softener made with magnesium, vitamin C and minerals vs a chemical stimulant like Miralax).
• Heat up the body by form of Sauna therapy. Relax Sauna is the brand that we carry at Vive IV Therapy. There are other brands that are wooden and larger as well. SunLighten is another good brand that is wooden and chemical free.
• Use a dry brush to help promote the movement of lymph throughout your body. Lymph stores our waste so it’s helpful to move it to the major centers of our body where we can eliminate it easier. There are YouTube videos available to watch how to do this.

Rule out Heavy Metals, Infections and Deficiencies

Work with an integrative provider willing to work with you on specialized testing. When I work with my patient the history is the most important part of our appointment because we go back to birth and beyond to see where exposures to toxins could have occurred during my patient’s lifespan. Below are some of the common things I check for.

1. Heavy Metals

1. I have some patients complete a heavy metal urine challenge test (DMSA chelation) to see what their heavy metal burden is in their body.
2. Dubuque is a lead town. I always recommend my patients use filtered water. If your home was built before 1978, make sure there are no lead pipes in the house. Can get water tested at the Home Environment Center in Dubuque

1. Pathogens (Viruses, bacteria, yeast/fungi, parasites)

1. Look at infections such as reactivated EBV (mono), Chlamydia Pneumonia, HHV-6, Parvovirus B19, Mycoplasma pneumonia, and more. Testing solely depends on each individual’s history, symptoms, etc.

1. Leaky Gut/ Food intolerance: GMO, artificial foods, chemicals and toxins we ingest daily on a standard American diet can cause something called “leaky gut”.

1. Look at “Clean Fifteen/Dirty Dozen” When choosing foods https://www.ewg.org/foodnews/

1. Biotoxins (Mold/Lyme): If you’ve been exposed to Mold in the past (a lot of my patients have grown up in old farm houses or have had moldy dorms in college, etc.) and you don’t detoxify well, then you can have something known as CIRS (chronic inflammatory response syndrome) where your body has a hard time removing these toxins. Common symptoms are fatigue, memory issues, increased static shock, dark circles under eyes, and more.

1. Have QUEST labs draw a C3a and C4a which can show mold or Lyme inflammation in the body
2. If you suspect Lyme, getting a CD-57 (LabCorp) and a Lyme Western Blot completed, will be helpful in determining another ‘piece of your puzzle’

 

IV & Oral Therapy Treatments:

• High Dose Vitamin C is the main adjunct therapy for all cancers
• Artesunate is a great source of treatment for Breast Cancer when used with high dose vitamin C (Artesunate aka wormwood, is also great oral therapy for cancer patients)
• Alpha Lipoic Acid great for Liver Cancer
• Salicinium is a major cancer killer. For end stage cancer when other options have failed.
• Poly MVA (oral and IV) + DCA (oral and sometimes IV when available in the States) is an amazing adjunct that people can take 4 days a week with or without chemo or nutritional IV therapies.
• Glutathione IV is an AMAZING source for detox, energy and cellular support. It cleans up the free radicals in our bodies. This is excellent for patients that have received chemotherapy or radiation to help decrease oxidative stress/ free radical damage in their body
• DMSO (chelating agent) + Minerals for bone pain or cancer pains (typically used for Stage 4 cancer patients for comfort)
• LDN (Low Dose Naltrexone): Is a compounded medication, used at small doses 4 days on 3 days off to reduce tumor growth by interfering with cancer cell signaling. LDN also enhances immune system function. Lastly, some studies have speculated that LDN increases the number of opiate receptors within tumors themselves, which makes them more responsive to the tumor-shrinking effects of endorphins. **Contraindications for LDN are narcotics, so if you are on narcotics, you can work with your provider to get off them prior to starting LDN**

 

This was a lot of information. If there are any specific questions, please feel free to e-mail me. I will do a follow up blog article answering questions as needed.

As always, you are powerful; your body is a strong, magical machine here to work for you. Take control over it. Love that machine by feeding it with good nutrition, detoxing it to keep it clean, and putting a lot of self-love and positive self-talk into it. Mind, Body, Spirit is truly the full integrative approach when dealing with cancer.

In Love,

Stephanie Grutz, ARNP, FNP-C