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February/March 2009

Read the current issue (only a 2 page pdf)

• Healthy Mind...Antioxidants May Prevent Chemobrain
  
• Healthy Body...Our Healthy Dessert Contest
  Recipe...Oh, My! An Apple Pie! from Judy Walker
  
• Research...Vitamins C and E Fall Short in
• Recent Studies
  Place ... of wellness Spotlight: Finding Reliable Health Information
  
• Lecture Series

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Cancer is a scary word -- especially when it's stage four. What would you do to save your life?

One woman decided to do something drastic to win the battle against stage four cervical cancer.

Aggressive chemotherapy and radiation treatments didn't work for Phyllis Brickert. The cancer came back, so Phyllis went to Mexico... and drank rattlesnake blood. KTLA went with her, and here's her story:

Phyllis Brickert was looking forward to a long retirement in Montana -- she had been the first female Sheriff's Deputy in Chelan County, Washington and spent 20 years on the force. But at only 55 years old, Phyllis heard the words no woman wants to hear: stage four cervical cancer.

Phyllis went through months of aggressive chemotherapy treatments along with simultaneous radiation treatments. Those treatments nearly killed her, but they didn't kill the cancer -- a couple of months later, a CT scan showed the tumors were back.

Phyllis knew she was terminal and refused further chemotherapy, deciding in favor of quality of life over quantity. Her oncologist told her she had about three months before the tumors would completely block her intestines.

The doctor was setting up hospice for Phyllis, and told her they would concentrate on managing the pain.

She wasn't ready to die, but surrendered to the fact that there was nothing more she could do. That's until a family friend suggested she go to Mexico where they use rattlesnake to treat cancer.

So Phyllis took a road trip to a remote village near Cuautla, Mexico where people drink rattlesnake blood and eat the sun-dried meat... and where just about everyone has a story about how the rattlesnake saved a loved one's life.

Phyllis admits that she "didn't think it would work." But one morning along the way in the state of Chihuahua, she was able to buy some dried rattlesnake.

She munched on it in the car like it was beef jerky. And by mid-afternoon, she felt something: "I ate the dried snake meat and within a few hours the pain was gone so I thought 'wow!' maybe this is going to work, it's doing something."

So when she got to the small village, where a small number of people live without running water or electricity, a man named Pablo told her he had two large snakes for her -- one for that day, and another for a few days later.

As Pablo tried to pull the first large Neo-Tropical rattler from a canvas bag, the snake tried to strike. It was scary for everyone watching, but Pablo was finally able to get the snake safely out of the bag. He cut off the head just below the venom sacks, and quickly, they drained the blood into a glass.

The amount of blood was surprisingly small -- about a shot glass full -- and Phyllis said, "I thought here's to good health, and I drank the blood."

She said it tasted like nothing, it was "like drinking water."

KTLA asked Tarzana based Medical Doctor Michael Hirt about the rattlesnake treatment. He said he hadn't heard of it, but suspects the rattlesnake oxygenates the blood -- and cancer can't live in an oxygenated environment.

Dr. Hirt says more than 90 percent of cancer patients are using some form of alternative medicine, and that it makes sense. "We are using venoms from many different plants and animals in medicine. We think that these venoms that we purify in western medicine and use raw in alternative medicine, like rattlesnake venom, have specific qualities that target cancer cells."

The rattlesnake certainly seemed to be working for Phyllis -- by the time she arrived in Los Angeles, she was off her pain medication completely.

Phyllis remained in L.A., and immediately began receiving Qi Gong treatments from Master Zhou Ting-Jue. Master Zhou says, "The goal of the treatment is to increase overall blood circulation and increase the person's immunity."

Qi (chi) means energy and refers to the life force that flows through the body. Master Zhou uses his own Qi energy to create different levels of heat. This, he says, is the healing energy.

"The first thing I do is replenish the person's energy, then increase blood and energy circulation, then I use a different energy projection technique to target specific organs."

Phyllis saw Master Zhou daily for three weeks -- she then returned home to Montana and had another CT scan. The tumors were gone.

"My doctor was stunned," Phyllis says. "And he just said I want to know what you're doing, I want to know what you're doing because you're so improved. So I explained it to him and he said I've never heard of any of that, but keep doing it because it's working."

Phyllis says, "Before I started all this I was getting worse every day, now I'm getting better everyday."

It's been nearly six months since Phyllis doctor told her she had three months to live. And, as far as quality of life -- when she returned home to Montana, she went cross-country skiing.

• Can rattlesnake skin cure stomach cancer?
  
• STUDY OF RATTLE SNAKE VENOM MAY LEAD TO ANTI-CANCER DRUG
  
• How to Prepare a Rattlesnake for Good Eating
  
• Rattlesnakes in Occult Medicine
• Arizona hinshawii Septicemia Associated with Rattlesnake Powder -- California

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The 2007 National Health Interview Survey Survey (NHIS) indicated approximately 38% of adults use some form of complementary and integrative medicine (CIM). This number increases to over 70% among people with cancer.

The Consortium of Academic Health Centers for Integrative Medicine has defined integrative medicine as the practice of medicine that:

• Reaffirms the importance of the relationship between practitioner and patient
• Focuses on the whole person
• Is informed by evidence
• Makes use of all appropriate therapeutic approaches, health care professionals and disciplines to achieve optimal health and healing

Complementary treatments used as part of integrative medicine include: mind-body approaches such as meditation, guided imagery, music, art, other expressive arts and behavioral techniques; energy-based therapies such as yoga, tai chi, qigong, Reiki and healing touch; body-manipulative approaches such as massage and reflexology; whole medical systems such as traditional Chinese medicine, homeopathy and Ayurveda; and biologically based approaches such as those centered on nutrition, herbs, plants, animal, mineral, special diets or other products.

CIM therapies not only play an important role in prevention, but also positively contribute to health outcomes. We're at a pivotal point in health care. From Oprah to our local grocery stores, society is inundated with healthy and not so healthy choices. We as health care providers must educate, promote and make available resources and treatments, based on best practices and the evidence, to achieve optimal health and healing. We need to create a culture of wellness by providing comprehensive care.

I recently watched the Feb. 26, 2009, hearing before the U.S. Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee: Principles of Integrative Health: A Path to Health Reform. I was pleased to hear Sen. Tom Harkin (D-IA) support the role of integrative medicine in the national health care plan: "It is time to adopt an integrative approach that takes advantage of the very best scientifically based medicines and therapies, whether conventional or alternative "... "Today, we are not just talking about alternative practices but also the integration between conventional and alternative therapies in order to achieve truly integrative health."

The Integrative Medicine Program at M. D. Anderson is shifting the focus from sickness to wellness, treating the whole person, and providing a forum for all evidence-based practices. The program's goal is to integrate the best of complementary and conventional treatments using a multidisciplinary approach.

Increasing the institution's focus on integrative therapies is a testament to M. D. Anderson's commitment to the highest standard of care available for every person living with cancer. I'm proud to be apart of such a cutting-edge institution, and specifically this movement towards wellness.

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Bad Science" by Ben Goldacre -

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In this issue:

Healthy Beverage ... Green Tea for Leukemia
A compound in green tea called epigallocatechin gallate may have beneficial effects in patients with chronic lymphocytic leukemia, according to a study published in the Journal of Clinical Oncology...
Download current issue (pdf)

Also in this issue:
Healthy Mind ... Chemobrain: Is It Real?
Healthy Beverage ... Green Tea for Leukemia
Healthy Recipe ... Roasted Red Pepper Hummus
Research ... Apple Peel for Cancer
Place ... of wellness Spotlight: "The Strength Within" - Anderson Network's 9th Annual Living With, Through and Beyond Cancer Conference
Lecture Series