14 Fear.mp3: Audio automatically transcribed by Sonix
14 Fear.mp3: this mp3 audio file was automatically transcribed by Sonix with the best speech-to-text algorithms. This transcript may contain errors.
Speaker1:
Welcome to the Cancer Secrets podcast. Changing the Cancer Paradigm. Hosted by Dr. Jonathan Steagall, a medical doctor and cancer specialist practicing in Atlanta, Georgia, deeply affected by his grandmother's death from stomach cancer, as well as patients he cared for in medical training, he realized there has to be a better way to treat cancer. Dr. Stegall has a unique and innovative approach to treating cancer called integrative oncology, combining modern medicine with alternative therapies personalized to each patient. This podcast is designed to educate, support and give you a positive voice you can trust. We invite you to join us on this journey as we seek to change the cancer paradigm.
Speaker2:
Hi. This is Dr. Stegall. I'm so glad you're enjoying the Cancer Secrets podcast. Do you have a question you would like answered in a future episode? If so, please go to Cancer Secrets dot com and click on podcast at the top of the page. Look for the tab on the right side of the page that says Send voice mail. You can record your question straight from your smartphone or computer with your question. Be sure to tell us your first name, where you're from, and why you listen to the show. I will choose from the best questions and answer them on the air. I look forward to hearing from you soon. Hello and welcome back to the Cancer Secrets podcast. I'm your host, Doctor Jonathan Seagal. This is season two and episode number 14. In today's episode, on the eve of Halloween, I thought it would be timely to talk about how to deal with fear on this cancer journey. If you're new to the show, please go back and listen to my introductory episode to learn more about me and my vision for this podcast. As always, we encourage you to listen with a loved one or friend. Learning and enjoying the show with a community will be more impactful than doing it alone. Today's show is going to be a great one as we address Dealing With Fear on your cancer journey. There is an inherent fear in hearing those three words You have cancer.
Speaker2:
I believe that this fear is based upon a combination of several key factors. First, cancer has a long history of causing pain, suffering and death. We can go back to the ancient Egyptians thousands of years ago and see documented cases of tumors that killed people. So throughout history, we've seen this continual increase in cancer. And certainly over the last 100 years or so, we've seen a sharp rise in cancer. And there's a lot of debate as to whether that's due to improve diagnostic methods or if we're actually seeing a lot more cancer than we used to. And I think it's a combination of both, but we're certainly seeing a very sharp rise in cancer. And as you know, especially those of you who are have listened to this show quite a bit, the environmental stressors that we we have around us are significant in that. I mean, we have, unfortunately, as a byproduct of industrialization and technology, we have a whole lot more chemicals in the air, in our food, in our homes. And at some point, our bodies just can't withstand that anymore. And cells mutate and we get cancer. Another main reason why cancer strikes such fear in most of us is because we've all been personally affected by cancer, whether that be in a family member or a close friend or even in ourselves. Third, we're conditioned to associate cancer with harsh treatments which cause significant side effects.
Speaker2:
We've all seen images either on television or in the movies or or most likely in person as well, of a patient in the hospital with late stage cancer. And they're they're very sick. They're wasting away. They've lost their hair. Just a lot of very negative images of that in terms of of side effects and pain and suffering. And finally, there can really be a sense of helplessness and loss of control when thinking about cancer and navigating treatments. There is a fear that if you're a cancer patient, you aren't doing enough and that you might be missing a key treatment or therapy. And for all of the good that the Internet has done to open up just a wide range of information to patients. The other side of that coin is that there are so many things mentioned and so many treatments mentioned, both good and bad, that there becomes a pressure to try to do everything. And obviously that's not possible, nor would you want to do everything that's recommended online. But there's a temptation to feel that you must be missing something. First I want to talk about what you should be afraid of. This might sound surprising, but it's important that we get these issues out in the open now. By doing this, we can then focus on what we don't have to be afraid of and move forward with confidence.
Speaker2:
So what you should be afraid of when it comes to cancer is misinformation. Whether you realize it or not, you're being bombarded with half truths and outright lies when it comes to cancer. And this is true in terms of statements about what cancer is, as well as how cancer should be treated. In conventional oncology, they tell you that cancer is largely a genetic problem. And while it's true that genetic mutations are at the core of cancer and what drives cancer cells to behave as aggressively as they do 90 to 95% of all cancers have their origins traced to lifestyle and environmental exposures. So the genetic mutations are a symptom of cancer, but not the cause. The true cause, with only very few exceptions, is decades of living on earth, being exposed to thousands upon thousands of harmful chemicals and stressors. As mentioned earlier, they're all around us in our air and our water and our food, in our homes, you name it. We're being exposed to unnatural and potentially carcinogenic chemicals. In addition, it's become standard fare in conventional oncology to discount any treatment that is not within the current standard of care. Basically, if it isn't surgery, high dose chemotherapy, radiation or immunotherapy, then it's automatically considered invalid. Now, a lot of this comes from the way training in our country and around the world happens in medical training.
Speaker2:
You go to medical school and residency and fellowship, and I can tell you that the education is amazing. It's wonderful. It's based on outstanding science and decades of practice that really lead to these therapies being the standard of care. But there's also a closed mindedness to anything not taught in that setting, basically to assume that if it's not taught, then it must not be valid. And it's rare for physicians who go through all those years of hard, rigorous training to still remain open to other possibilities. And of course, the problem we have is the therapies which become the standard of care require decades, in most cases of research, primarily funded by pharmaceutical companies or research grants to show how they work and that they work. The problem is we have a whole lot of smaller studies on some of these other therapies that I believe we need to be including, and they don't have the funding to undergo these large studies. So just because we don't have a ten year study on something doesn't mean that those few smaller studies that we have that are still good quality studies aren't valid. And so this is a conversation for another episode probably. But, you know, the the strict requirements in place for a therapy to become the standard of care and to thus be covered by insurance and Medicare and all of those entities. It's it's a very rigid standard.
Speaker2:
And that standard is preventing a lot of other promising therapies which don't have the funding available to undergo those large trials. Those therapies are being left out of protocols, and patients are suffering for that because, as you know, the conventional model has some great therapies, but it's not as as inclusive as it needs to be. And for my faithful listeners out there, you'll recall that during season one, we spent time discussing cancer myths and how there are many excellent treatments out there that your conventional oncologist doesn't even know about, and it probably isn't even open to using, since they don't fit nicely inside the box of typical cancer treatments. If you're relying solely on a conventional oncologist for your care, you should be scared, not because their proposed treatments are necessarily bad, but as stated earlier, because they're incomplete. There are many prescriptions we can and should be using in off label fashion as part of our treatment protocols such as the diabetes, drug metformin or the antibiotic doxycycline, just to name a few. These drugs have been shown to have a bona fide anti-cancer mechanism, despite being initially approved for other indications. And this is a great example of medications which since being released for another non cancer indication, have undergone some smaller research trials by enterprising researchers and scientists and have been found to have this anticancer effect. And in the case of these drugs, like metformin and doxycycline, they've been around for a decades.
Speaker2:
We understand how they work. We know which doses are safe and they're generic medications they're easily and readily available at. Any pharmacy. So to me, it's criminal not to include these medications when they're readily available and easily included in a protocol. But again, it starts with the treating physician being open minded, and unfortunately, we don't have enough of that today. And certainly when we talk about conventional oncology, we know that there is a real lack of good information about natural treatments such as nutrition and supplementation, intravenous vitamin C, and even things as simple as exercise and stress reduction. And of course, we must also incorporate advanced lab testing and imaging to complement conventional testing to be as proactive as possible in monitoring treatment response. But if you're relying on your conventional oncologist to introduce these ideas to you or to even be supportive of these ideas, you're probably going to be disappointed. Hi, this is Dr. Jonathan Stegall, medical doctor and specialist in integrative oncology. And I want to tell you about my new bestselling book, Cancer Secrets. This book is packed with valuable information you need to know about whether you're searching for information for yourself or for a loved one. In my book, you'll learn what cancer is and what it is not, as well as which treatments you should be focusing on from both modern medicine as well as alternative medicine.
Speaker2:
You'll also learn the ins and outs of nutrition and supplementation, as well as important information about having the proper mindset. I'm in the trenches every day with patients and I've shared my secrets in this book with you. Please go to Cancer Secrets and buy your copy now. Now, as suboptimal as conventional oncology is, we have equal ignorance on the natural and alternative side of the spectrum. This is especially true on the Internet, where many alternative practitioners and self proclaimed gurus are spouting incorrect and potentially damaging information. They like to paint a picture of modern medicine as being all about money and go so far as to say the chemotherapy doesn't work. Radiation therapy readily causes cancer, and that Big Pharma is hiding a cure for cancer due to profit motives. After painting modern medicine in a bad light, these natural health experts use faulty science to justify a completely natural approach to cancer, stating rather confidently that all you need to do to cure cancer is change your diet, take supplements, and build your immune system so that it can fight cancer. As with conventional oncologists, these natural minded practitioners have some good advice, but it's incomplete. Yes, diet is important. Supplements can absolutely help. Removing toxicities from your life is vital, but these strategies should never be viewed as stand alone therapies. This kind of advice to basically shun conventional modern medicine completely has done untold damage to patients.
Speaker2:
I see many patients in my office who have avoided conventional therapies such as surgery and even chemotherapy, when it's indicated all in the name of natural treatment. And it's sad because many of these patients have spent months or even years on these natural approaches with good intentions, of course, and their cancer has gotten worse and their prognosis has worsened considerably. And I wish we could go back in time and talk about a more rational approach where rather than completely excluding conventional therapies, they were included in an intelligent way while also incorporating some of these natural therapies. And this brings us to what I believe is the most robust science based cancer treatment philosophy, and that is an integrative one. One where we embrace both sides of medicine. And this brings me to why we don't have to be scared. By using an integrative approach, we're using any and all tools which meet our strict criteria. They must have good research supporting their use. They must have a track record for safety, and they must be compatible with other treatments in our arsenal. The patients who submit themselves to this approach 100% know that they are doing all they can. Being as open minded as possible and trusting their integrative oncologists. There's a tremendous freedom in that. But in order to do that, we have to lay aside our preconceived notions.
Speaker2:
I see patients from all across the spectrum, from those who are extremely conventional minded and are maybe starting to kind of open their mind to the importance of diet and supplementation. And I see patients on the other end of the spectrum who are extremely distrustful of conventional medicine and very much against things like surgery and chemotherapy. But they're starting to open their mind to it because they've seen their exclusively natural approaches not working like they had hoped. The patients who come to me with a truly open mind and say, Dr. Stegall, I want to do any and everything I can to treat my cancer, whether it's a prescription or a supplement or some other natural therapy or surgery or whatever it may be. I'm open to that if you feel that it's best, and if it's going to give me the best chance possible for a good outcome, those patients do the best without fail. It's the patients who put strict requirements and conditions on their treatment and what they will and won't be willing to do. Those are the ones that don't do as well. And it's sad to see because a lot of those patients are the ones who end up having a poor outcome and they don't change their mind until it's too late. Now making shifts in our beliefs and our philosophies are obviously easier said than done.
Speaker2:
So a significant part of the treatment program in my office focuses on stress and stress management. We know that the mind is powerful and that fighting cancer from a mental perspective is just as important as fighting it from a physical perspective. Science has confirmed that the mind and body are quite interconnected and that our thoughts, emotions and words have a profound impact on the health of our bodies. If you think about it, a cancer diagnosis can actually be used for good. If we use it as motivation to make positive changes in how we live our lives and how we view life, rather than thinking of cancer as a big, scary monster, it can be used as an agent for positive change. And the final reason we don't have to be scared is because we know that God is in control. As a Christian, I believe that God's ultimate power. And his ability to heal are real. I've seen healings and I know that God is not a respecter of persons. I believe that His healing is available to all and that amazing things happen when our faith is aligned with his promises. And finally, we know from Scripture that faith without works is dead. And by doing our part to the best of our ability and trusting God with a rest, we can be confident that the outcome will be great. I hope you found this episode helpful.
Speaker2:
Fear is something that is common in just about every cancer diagnosis at one point and another. Whether that fear sets in when you hear those three words you have cancer, or whether it sets in when you get home from that doctor's appointment, or whether it sets in a week or a month later. At some point, every cancer patient, as well as the family and friends who support them, are going to deal with fear on some level. And I think it's important that we acknowledge that and that it's okay to have fear. It's okay to acknowledge that fear. But we cannot let that fear stay around. We can't let it continue to undermine our thoughts and our words and our actions. And I don't claim to have all the answers when it comes to cancer, but I can tell you that using an integrative approach, using all of these tools at our disposal in a very strategic way, in a personalized way for each patient, in as safe a method as possible, really does work. It works. And I encourage you to continue to broaden your horizons, whether it's something you've maybe heard about in terms of a given therapy or treatment or it's something you're just hearing about for the first time, I encourage you to have an open mind and as a difficult questions, be an open minded skeptic, as I always advise you.
Speaker2:
Be open minded to anything that may work, but also have a healthy level of skepticism and make sure that it does have some good science behind it and not just an anecdote or or poor research behind it. And that's part of what I help patients do in my office is sort through all of that so that we can separate the really good, beneficial treatments from the ones that really have no place in an intelligent cancer treatment protocol. If you haven't read my book, Cancer Secrets, I encourage you to get that. It's available on our website, Cancer Secrets. If you go to Cancer Secrets dot com and scroll down the page, you'll see a link to purchase that through Amazon. It's available in paperback and in Kindle. And I mention it because, you know, years of education in clinical practice as well as, you know, thousands of hours of of research and time was was spent, you know, writing that book. And it has over 250 references supporting the treatments I recommend. And it really goes through all of the different aspects of cancer in terms of what cancer truly is, the things we're doing well right now in medicine to treat cancer, the things we're not doing well. And then we go very in-depth into what integrative oncology really is and then the main principles behind that. So I've gotten such good feedback from people who have read the book from all over the world, and they've just mentioned how helpful it is to them to have all of that information in one place.
Speaker2:
So it prevents you from having to do a lot of legwork to try to compile the information yourself. So I hope this has been helpful for you today. I'm so honored to have you with me on this journey and I'm excited about our next episode. Episode 15 We're going to do our first interview ever on the Cancer Secrets podcast, and it's going to feature Ryan Stern Eagle of the Stern Method, the My Kid Cures Cancer podcast. His story is an amazing one. He and his wife had to deal with a cancer diagnosis in their young son at a very early age, and their story is extremely inspirational. And I want to allow Ryan to share that with you, because they really had to construct their own cancer treatment team. And I know a lot of you out there are probably having to do that as well. Depending on where you live, you may not have access to a true integrative oncologist, so you're having to really assemble your team on your own. And that's exactly what Ryan and his wife Teddy did. And I think you'll find their story very inspirational and helpful. So I hope you have a great rest of your day. I look forward to seeing you next time. Bye bye.
Speaker1:
Thank you for listening to the Cancer Secrets podcast. If you were encouraged by this show, please share it with a loved one or friend. Help support the show by leaving us a rating and review on iTunes. The more reviews, the more friends like you can find the show. Finally, to learn more, visit us online at Stay Google.com. The Cancer Secrets Podcast. Changing the Cancer Paradigm.
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