Alternative Lung Cancer Treatment Options
Alternative lung cancer treatment options have been around for longer than the ‘traditional’ methods that they are ‘alternative’ to. Doctors are reluctant to speak of them in detail for a variety of reasons ranging from the mundane (they’re not experts on the subject) to the startling (they don’t get any insurance money for many of the alternative treatments). Many of the oft-discussed alternative treatment choices work very well for lung cancer, but surprisingly, some that work for many other forms of cancer simply fail on cancer of the lung.
Acupuncture/Acupressure Lung Cancer Treatment
While acupuncture is illegal to use as a cancer treatment in the USA, it is commonly used in China. Chinese doctors have varying degrees of success with different kinds of cancer — but lung cancer is the one type that has almost never been successfully treated with acupuncture.
Retinoid Therapy as Lung Cancer Treatment
Typically performed with megadoses of Vitamin A, retinoid therapy focuses on attacking the cancer cells’ ability to grow and spread, keeping cancer confined to its current level. While the therapy has shown promise against several kinds of cancer, a University of Texas study indicated experimentally that lung cancer sufferers did not benefit from retinoid therapy.
Radio Frequency Ablation as Lung Cancer Treatment
Also called Bio-Resonance Therapy, this alternative lung cancer treatment effectively uses radio waves to overheat cancer cells, exploding them without adverse effect on normal bodily tissues. Approved by the FDA in 1997, it’s still rare in the US — but it has proven particularly effective against lung cancer because there is almost no recovery time involved in lung cancer RFA procedures. Unlike almost any other treatment, you can be on your feet and active within 48 hours with this (unfortunately expensive) procedure.
Marijuana as Lung Cancer Treatment
A9 tetrahydrocannabinol — the infamous THC found in marijuana smoke — has been determined to cut the size and weight of cancer tumors in mice by 50%. The researchers speculate that THC prevents the cancer cells from growing in blood vessels, and thus it starves them out. Medical marijuana is already given to cancer patients as an appetite stimulant in the states where it is legal; it turns out they may be benefiting in more than one way. Because marijuana is inhaled directly into the lungs, the thought is that it will be particularly effective as an alternative lung cancer treatment.
Diet as Lung Cancer Treatment
It turns out that in a study specific to lung cancer, chocolate of all things had a measurable retarding effect on the cancer’s growth. Supplementing a low-meat, low-potato, high-fruit-and-veggie diet with chocolate (or cocoa extract) along with lycopene, vitamin D, and nightly doses of melatonin while strangely avoiding antioxidant therapy (again, that’s specific to lung cancer) seems to be the most effective means of extending the lives of lung cancer patients.
Lung cancer clearly has significant differences from other organ cancers that make some of the ‘established’ non-traditional treatments less reliable than they would be for other cancers. Fortunately, with a little research, there are still several effective alternative lung cancer treatment options to be found.