Mom Chooses Medical Marijuana Over Chemo As Treatment For 3-Year-Old Son's Cancer - HuffPo

[WillyT]

Mom Chooses Medical Marijuana Over Chemo As Treatment For 3-Year-Old Son's Cancer
The Huffington Post | By Matt Ferner
Posted: 09/30/2013 5:38 pm EDT | Updated: 10/01/2013 11:29 pm EDT

One year ago, 3-year-old Landon Riddle was diagnosed with leukemia. Under doctors' orders, his mother Sierra Riddle began treatment for her young son: aggressive chemotherapy and radiation.

But while still living in Utah, Sierra watched her little boy become violently ill from the chemotherapy -- Landon suffered nerve-damage in his legs, nausea that led to vomiting dozens of times a day, intense pain and at one point went 25 days without eating following the treatment, according to CNN.

"Around the clock, he was usually on liquid morphine, Ativan, Promethexane," Sierra told CNN back in July. "And it just really didn't seem to be helping."

Feeling like her family "didn't have anything left to lose" she looked into medical marijuana treatment. She moved her family to Colorado Springs, Colo. to benefit from the state's marijuana laws and started to give Landon liquid forms of both Cannabidiol, or CBD, and Tetrahydrocannabinol, also known as THC.

"Within four weeks we could see the improvement," Sierra told KRDO.

And...

“They are not only forcing me to do something against my will as a parent, they are forcing me to make my child sick,” Riddle said to CBS4.

And...

Riddle says that no matter what people think about her decisions, the plain and simple truth is that marijuana has helped her son. "As soon as we started taking the oil, his platelets have been a regular healthy person's level and <doctors> can't understand why," Riddle told CNN.

As unusual as it may seem, the Riddle family is not alone in choosing medical marijuana treatment for a child with a severe illness. In 2012, then 7-year-old Mykayla Comstock of Oregon, who was diagnosed with acute lymphoblastic leukemia, made headlines for her use of medical marijuana to combat the side effects of chemotherapy.

The family of 6-year-old Charlotte Figi was the subject of a CNN documentary earlier this year regarding their daughter's use of medical marijuana to help treat the debilitating seizures that result from her rare form of epilepsy.

Link: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/09/30/marijuana-over-chemo_n_4017985.html?view=print&comm_ref=false

[wildbilln864]

1. k & r! n/t

[Mnemosyne]

2. Doctors couldn't understand why?! Really?! So glad the kids are being helped. nt

[Taverner]

3. If it is CBD rich she is making the right decision

The idea behind chemo is to poison yourself so much that the cancer dies

CBDs have been known to radically suppress cancer

[Demo_Chris]

4. Successful treatment or not, sometimes that's the right choice. nt

[Politicalboi]

5. Good for her

My mother wants $19.99 a month to go to St.Jude and I told her no. Not until they start using Marijuana to help cure these children we will not be giving ANY money to them. I can't believe that this family had to move to another state to get the treatment they needed. MJ should be legal in ALL 50 states.

[wildbilln864]

6. reminds me of....

this story:
here.

snip/
"Cash Hyde Makes 'Miracle' Recovery'

"In two weeks he was weaned of all the nausea drugs, and he was eating again and sitting up in and laughing," according to Hyde, who said doctors called his son's recovery "a miracle."

[longship]

7. I sincerely doubt that marijuana is a cure for leukemia.

This woman has somehow been convinced of this by somebody who almost certainly does not have the experience, let alone the epidemiology, to back this claim up. And almost certainly has an agenda other than the welfare of this girl.

There is no alternative medicine; there is only medicine. It is based on centuries of science, where humans have learned increasingly more every step of the way.

I fear that this girl's prospects may be taking a rather severe downturn because the people who she trusts may be making decisions that will have serious consequences to her welfare. All for an agenda-based belief?

[WillyT]

9. Maybe... Yet...

Link: http://www.alternet.org/drugs/potential-miracle-element-cannabis-changed-sanjay-guptas-mind-about-power-pot

[longship]

13. But there's almost no epidemiology on this.

Until one takes the trouble to do the actual science there is no way to know if it's effective. And Cannibis medical research has not been very prolific in the past few decades, in case anybody noticed.

One cannot base ones medical decisions on this kind of base science and preliminary research which are spotty at best.

Certainly, I wouldn't be recommending that a girl forgo medical treatment and roll the dice with Cannibis. No doctor would ever, ever do that. It would be highly unethical.

This girl's morbidity is going to take a nosedive because the people making decisions on her behalf are ill informed and possibly being steered by some quack posing as an expert.

It makes me sick just to think about it.

[MADem]

27. We know pot helps glaucoma....

That said I think pot should be an adjunct to chemo, not a substitute for it.

At least until we know more.

Why not do both?

[longship]

28. Glaucoma is NOT cancer.

Science will sort this out. IF science is allowed to study it. That's a big problem as long as Cannibis is illegal. So we've got that against us.

But here's the thing. One can know that Cannibis is not a cure for cancer because the science already tells us all that cancer is not one disease. It states that in very dramatic and specific terms.

When I was a young one in the early to mid 50's I learned that the future would mean flying cars, walking on the moon, and a cure for cancer. Only one of those has come true. Of the other two, one is useless and likely dangerous, the other probably has no single solution.

Science is a bitch and biology is extremely complex. They rarely provide simple solutions. Certainly nothing as simple and pleasurable as Cannibis. Plus none of the science backs it up.

[MADem]

31. Hello?? Did I say glaucoma was cancer? No, I did not!

What I said was that pot helped a particular medical condition.

If it helps one condition, why is it outside the pale that it could help others?

And we know it helped that girl on the Gupta special on CNN.

Closed minds don't dream at all, never mind dream a bit.

[longship]

38. Glaucoma is not cancer.

I am very aware of glaucoma. One of my best friend's wife lost an eye to it. Yes, she smoked marijuana, and had a prescription for it in the 90's. In Kansas!!!

I am also aware of cancer. I was a Hospice primary care giver for both of my parents. My father took the chemo as far as it could go, and he died in 18 months. Y mother refused all treatment and lasted the same. But here's the thing. Both made the correct decision. My father's cancer was not my mother's cancer. Both had different manifestations and different prognosis.

Cancer is not monolithic. If you think it is, you are ignorant.

One person's decision will not be a second person's. But a child depends on their care giver to make an informed decision because a child is unable to do so rationally.

In cases like this, where a parent is obviously making a poor decision for their child, I am for aggressive court intervention. This is nothing short of child abuse. Parents who remove medical support for woo woo should lose all rights and be tossed in jail to mull over what they're doing.

[MADem]

61. Please stop calling me ignorant. I already told you that I know that glaucoma is not cancer once.

Do I have to tell you twice? How about three times? When will it sink through your head that I understand, and have long understood, this small fact.

I'd say someone who smelt it, dealt it on that "ignorant" flinging if you keep it up. So just stop, and either have a civil conversation or go away.

Here are three facts of which I am aware:

=Glaucoma is helped by pot.

=Cancer symptoms are helped by pot.

=Pot was useful in abating the seizure symptoms of the kid on the Gupta WEED special.

I don't KNOW if the parents are making a poor decision for their kid or not. Perhaps there's some rationale behind their decision, some study of which we are not aware. Maybe the kid is terminal and they just want to keep him comfortable for as long as possible, and don't want him to read that he's a dead duck in the paper or on the internet. That's a separate issue. However, those decisions are up to them in this country until the state says otherwise. If the state thinks they're killing the kid they can swoop in and take custody.

Christian Scientists would just let the kid die with a lick and a prayer--they wouldn't even give the kid any pot.

[juajen]

37. Most of the research is being done overseas. As usual,

we will be the last to benefit from their research.

The Cancer Society in California used to give grants for research in marijuana efficacy. They got shut down, and that research is being done in Spain, I believe. I read this about 7 years ago, so don't even know if you can find it now. Google ing cancer research and Marijuana might get you you there.

I already know enough. So you can search. It is sad that the legalization of pot would cause enough dollars lost to big corporations, drug companies, and alcohol producers, not to mention cotton farmers and distributors (hemp used as material, rope, all sorts of things) and so easy to grow. Big money has kept it on the "down" for many years. I believe hemp is now being grown in the Dakotas. I know it has just now been approved for growing in California. The number of people in prison for possessing small amounts for personal use is also very sad. However, in states where prisons are privatized, a lot of arrests means a lot of slave labor. Always look beneath the "leaves".

[longship]

41. I'm all for legalization.

The energy issue could help with that. Hemp is an awesome source for many, many things, and it grows just about everywhere (don't ask how I know).

But there's a harmful narrative that's prominent alongside the good stuff. Yes! There are beneficial medical uses for Cannibis. But none of them include cancer treatment, other than suppression of chemo side effects (which is awesome in itself). The science of cancer is very, very complex. There is no one cure for cancer because cancer is not one disease.

The chance that Cannibis is a cure for any cancer is nil.

[solarhydrocan]

45. actually lots of research has been done in the US- see this list of cannabis related patents

PATENTS RELATED TO CANNABIS

Full working links to patents here:
https://sites.google.com/site/gscmmjlist/home/a/p/patents-related-to-cannabis


US Patent 4189491 - Tetrahydrocannabinol in a method of treating glaucoma
(full - 1980)

Process for preparing cannabichromene (full - 1982)

US Patent 5389375 - Stable suppository formulations effecting bioavailability of Ɗ9 -thc (full - 1995)

US Patent 5508037 - Stable suppository formulations effecting bioavailability of Ɗ9 -THC (full - 1996)

US Patent 6132762 - Transcutaneous application of marijuana (full - 2000)

US Patent 6328992 - Cannabinoid patch and method for cannabis transdermal delivery (full - 2001)

US Patent 6383513 - Compositions comprising cannabinoids (nasal spray)
(full - 2002)

US Patent Application 20050042172 - Administration of medicaments by vaporisation (full - 2002)

US Patent 6630507 - Cannabinoids as antioxidants and neuroprotectants
(full - 2003) (Assignee (owner)- the US GOVERNMENT!)

20070151149 - Methods for altering the level of phytochemicals in plant cells by applying wave lengths of light from 400 nm to 700 nm and apparatus therefore
(full - 2004)

US Patent Application 2004004905 - Method for producing an extract from cannabis plant matter, containing a tetrahydrocannabinol and a cannabidiol and cannabis extracts (full - 2004)

US Patent 6713048 - ?9 tetrahydrocannabinol (?9 THC) solution metered dose inhalers and methods of use (full - 2004)

US Patent 6974568 - Treatment for cough (full - 2005)

US Patent Application 20050266108 - Methods of purifying cannabinoids from plant material (full - 2005)

US Patent 6949582 - Method of relieving analgesia and reducing inflamation using a cannabinoid delivery topical liniment (full - 2005)

20050070596 - Methods for treatment of inflammatory diseases using CT-3 or analogs thereof (full - 2005)

Method of relieving analgesia and reducing inflamation using a cannabinoid delivery topical liniment (full - 2005)

US Patent 7088914 - Device, method and resistive element for vaporizing a medicament (full - 2006)

US Patent 7025992 - Pharmaceutical formulations (full - 2006)

US Patent Application 20060242899 - Method of cultivating plants
(full - 2006)

US Patent 7109245 - Vasoconstrictor cannabinoid analogs (full - 2006)

20080057117 - PHARMACEUTICAL COMPOSITION MADE UP OF CANNIBUS EXTRACTS (full - 2007)

US Patent 7344736 - Extraction of pharmaceutically active components from plant materials (full - 2008)

US Patent 7402686 - Cannabinoid crystalline derivatives and process of cannabinoid purification (full - 2008)

US Patent 7399872 - Conversion of CBD to ?-THC and ?-THC
(full - 2008)

US Patent 7622140 - Processes and apparatus for extraction of active substances and enriched extracts from natural products (full - 2009)

NEW USE FOR CANNABINOID-CONTAINING PLANT EXTRACTS
Patent application number: 20100249223 (full - 2010)

CANNABINOID-CONTAINING PLANT EXTRACTS AS NEUROPROTECTIVE AGENTS Patent application number: 20100239693
(full - 2010)

[Warren DeMontague]

42. People haven't been ALLOWED to do the actual science.

Which is a travesty in and of itself.

[longship]

44. That's a problem, but it doesn't mean people then get to make up the science.

That's what's happening here. Where a parent would forgo traditional treatment (which stands up to the science) for a speculation that this one dude thinks that Cannibis cures leukemia.

That girl is going to die if she doesn't get the chemo -- she may die if she does. But it will kill her if she substitutes Cannibis for the chemo. Because there's no evidence that Cannibis helps this cancer. In that case one must assume the null hypothesis. That the Cannibis does not cure the cancer.

That's what's called being rational. In science, with a lack of evidence to the contrary, one must assume the null hypothesis, that they posited effect is not real.

So many people do not have an understanding of how important this concept is to understanding just what is real. And what isn't.

[Warren DeMontague]

47. And what's the percentage prognosis for that traditional treatment?

Out of curiosity. I think Childhood Leukemia is one of those ones for which there aren't a whole lot of real good options.

[longship]

50. Well, I am not an oncologist.

I imagine that it would depend on the specific cancer. Since there are hundreds (or more), all different. And all with different mechanisms and treatments.

That's what people don't understand. Cancer is not one monolithic disease. It's hundreds, likely thousands, of different diseases. Yes! They all stem from the same, loosely defined, terminology of a cell's reproduction mechanism radically going off the rails.

But it goes off the rails so many different ways that there is not, and will likely never be, a cancer cure. The biological mechanisms are so very complex, and the paths that give rise to cancer seem to be profligate. And there are too damned many paths.

It's fucking complex, and will likely always be. There are no simple solutions. Least of all anything as pleasurable as Cannibis.

Good discussion, nevertheless. I appreciate the back and forth. It's getting late. Gonna turn in soon.

My best regards,

[Warren DeMontague]

51. I'm not either. But if the prognosis is spectactularly, statistically bad or unlikely

the parents' decision might make a little more sense. Undoubtedly, the chemo regimen is going to be extremely difficult and painful.

Sad situation.

[longship]

53. I'll be stoned when I go. Whenever that is.

It's late. I've very much enjoyed the discussion. It is a very complex one.

But do not think that Cannibis has many curative effects, other than raising seratonin levels. (Always a good think.)

I'm always moanin' for seratonin.

[IdaBriggs]

67. I know a man whose sister was supposed to die from her cancer within weeks.

He convinced her to try a "radical" treatment that wasn't approved by anyone.

She checked herself out of the hospital, and is still going strong twenty years later.

And I think you and I have previously discussed the stuff going on with Preemie Growth Project. How many kids have to have "miraculous recoveries" before folks can say, "gee, maybe there is something going on here, and we don't know everything about the human body yet, and how it reacts to different substances?"

Just saying.

[SunSeeker]

10. I agree. Pot should be taken with chemo, not instead.

Pot is what got me through 7 1/2 months of chemo. But it was the chemo that killed my cancer.

[longship]

14. There's fairly good evidence for that.

But to claim that it cures leukemia? I'd like to get my hands on the person who's pitching that particular woo woo. He or she needs to have some 'splaining.

Some may ask, What's the harm?

This here case is the harm.

I am disgusted by it.

(And I am a Cannibis supporter.)

[backscatter712]

60. +1,000,000! n/t

[Supersedeas]

71. +1

[SidDithers]

26. Exactly...

I'm all for MM as a complement to chemo, to assist with nausea, to aid with appetite.

As a substitute? No. That's' moving into wooville.

Sid

[MADem]

32. Pot made one of my in-law's mother comfortable during her chemo.

She didn't make it, but it kept her human and out of intractable misery.

It did help my friend who had a better outcome as well...

[HappyMe]

70. Pot helped me during chemo.

It helps with side effects of chemo, it doesn't cure cancer. Since the little boy already had some chemo I wonder if they are crediting the pot with the effects of the chemo.

[noiretextatique]

18. chemo is not a cure either

"medicine" does not know what causes cancer or how to cure it., per my oncologist.

[longship]

21. Well, there's no cure for cancer.

Because cancer is not a single disease. So there is no one cure, in spite of what cancer quacks would tell people.

Like the quack, Hulda Clark That's right. All cancers are caused by a liver fluke, and if you listen to me, you'll get rid of those nasties and be cancer free. (She died of... That's right... Cancer.)

There is almost zero plausibility that Cannibis can stop cancer. It's more likely that Bigfoot exists, in other words, not bloody likely.

I have no doubt that Cannibis can be very helpful for the various side effects of chemo. I wish I had tried to convince my father to try it when he went through it. Alas, I didn't. It wouldn't have mattered in the end, but he might have had more comfort, and less pain. Alas, hindsight is always 20/20.

There is not much hope that Cannibis can cure any cancer. But it can help make people's treatment and end of life better. If it achieves that alone, it is worth pouring millions into the research.

[juajen]

39. Since we know it does no harm, and can alleviate some side effects of

the disease and medications, why not use the CBD oil to make sure everything is tried. I have talked to people who swear they have experienced healing using maijuana. I say, leave them alone. There is no proof anywhere that it does any harm.

[solarhydrocan]

43. "There is almost zero plausibility that Cannibis can stop cancer" not according to cancer.gov

Or Harvard

Cancer.gov: Have any preclinical (laboratory or animal) studies been conducted using Cannabis or cannabinoids?

Preclinical studies of cannabinoids have investigated the following activities:

Antitumor activity
Studies in mice and rats have shown that cannabinoids may inhibit tumor growth by causing cell death, blocking cell growth, and blocking the development of blood vessels needed by tumors to grow. Laboratory and animal studies have shown that cannabinoids may be able to kill cancer cells while protecting normal cells.

A study in mice showed that cannabinoids may protect against inflammation of the colon and may have potential in reducing the risk of colon cancer, and possibly in its treatment.

A laboratory study of delta-9-THC in hepatocellular carcinoma (liver cancer) cells showed that it damaged or killed the cancer cells. The same study of delta-9-THC in mouse models of liver cancer showed that it had antitumor effects. Delta-9-THC has been shown to cause these effects by acting on molecules that may also be found in non-small cell lung cancer cells and breast cancer cells.

A laboratory study of cannabidiol in estrogen receptor positive and estrogen receptor negative breast cancer cells showed that it caused cancer cell death while having little effect on normal breast cells.

A laboratory study of cannabidiol in human glioma cells showed that when given along with chemotherapy, cannabidiol may make chemotherapy more effective and increase cancer cell death without harming normal cells.

http://www.cancer.gov/cancertopics/pdq/cam/cannabis/patient/page2

Marijuana Cuts Lung Cancer Tumor Growth In Half, Study Shows

Apr. 17, 2007 — The active ingredient in marijuana cuts tumor growth in common lung cancer in half and significantly reduces the ability of the cancer to spread, say researchers at Harvard University who tested the chemical in both lab and mouse studies...
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/04/070417193338.htm

Anti tumor effects have been known since the early '70s

Pot Shrinks Tumors; Government Knew in '74

In 1974 researchers learned that THC, the active chemical in marijuana, shrank or destroyed brain tumors in test mice. But the DEA quickly shut down the study and destroyed its results, which were never replicated -- until now...
http://www.alternet.org/story/9257/pot_shrinks_tumors%3B_government_knew_in_'74

THC effects on Tumor Brain Cells vs. Normal Brain Cells
Video by Seth group

http://www.thesethgroup.org/

[longship]

46. Fine. I've seen all those.

But this girl has a different cancer, doesn't she?

Surely you aren't suggesting that Cannibis might be the cure for every cancer, are you? Because that might put one in the company of that evil cancer quack Hulda Clark who claimed that all cancers... WAIT A MINUTE! All disease!... (ahem, forgive me) is from a parasite called the liver fluke. She was an utter quack, and when she died in 2009, she died of... Dun, Dun, DUNNNN! (That's right) cancer!

Dope doesn't cure cancer. It helps with treatment, but there are far too many cancers, and not many cures. Certainly not a universal one, whether it's getting high or ridding oneself of imaginary liver flukes. Neither work. Although the former will at least increase your comfort level. The latter will likely only wring out your wallet.

[noiretextatique]

63. thank you!!!!!

for dealing with the arrogant one.

[noiretextatique]

62. cannot disagree...there is no cure

and many people die or have permenant damage from chemo. as for marijuana...we will see what happens with more research.

[xfundy]

20. Why not give it a chance instead of poo-pooing?

There are thousands of treatments in nature, many of them lost by destroying it.

Why not give it a chance instead of kneejerking? Anything's possible, and nature is not our enemy.

[longship]

22. I am all for it... Except...

That there are parents taking their offspring off of known beneficial treatments for something which has no known curative effects. Meanwhile, the child, who depends on her parents making an informed decision, is likely going to die for lack of treatment informed by science instead of wishful thinking.

That's where the rubber hits the road. What evidence is there that Cannibis can cure any cancer?

That's right. It's Zippo!

That won't stop the HuffPo from posting their AltMed quackery.

There is no alternative medicine. There's only medicine. And medicine is informed by science, not by wishes, and not by uneducated quackery.

[Comrade Grumpy]

29. The mother is observing the results, you're not. And there is this:

You can find the peer-reviewed research for this and other studies looking at marijuana and cancer if you choose to.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/09/19/marijuana-and-cancer_n_1898208.html

Marijuana And Cancer: Scientists Find Cannabis Compound Stops Metastasis In Aggressive Cancers
Posted: 09/19/2012 5:07 pm Updated: 09/21/2012 1:15 pm

A pair of scientists at California Pacific Medical Center in San Francisco has found that a compound derived from marijuana could stop metastasis in many kinds of aggressive cancer, potentially altering the fatality of the disease forever.

"It took us about 20 years of research to figure this out, but we are very excited," said Pierre Desprez, one of the scientists behind the discovery, to The Huffington Post. "We want to get started with trials as soon as possible."

The Daily Beast first reported on the finding, which has already undergone both laboratory and animal testing, and is awaiting permission for clinical trials in humans.

Desprez, a molecular biologist, spent decades studying ID-1, the gene that causes cancer to spread. Meanwhile, fellow researcher Sean McAllister was studying the effects of Cannabidiol, or CBD, a non-toxic, non-psychoactive chemical compound found in the cannabis plant. Finally, the pair collaborated, combining CBD and cells containing high levels of ID-1 in a petri dish.

"What we found was that his Cannabidiol could essentially 'turn off' the ID-1," Desprez told HuffPost. The cells stopped spreading and returned to normal.

[Supersedeas]

64. well, ya think

[SidDithers]

8. Medical woo from HuffPo?...

Brought to you from the outlet that gives regular space to Joseph fucking Mercola.

Sid

[WillyT]

11. Did Not Realize Just How Conservative You Are... Til Just Now...

Thanks for the confirmation.

[SidDithers]

12. Science based medicine, saving lives for hundreds of years, is Conservative?...

Who knew?



Sid

[longship]

15. Thread win!

Good one, Sid.

I imagine you know about this site: Science Based Medicine

One of my regular, daily visits.

Love the doctors Novella, Gorski, Hall, Crislip, et al.

[SidDithers]

16. Yup. Read Gorski at Scienceblogs all the time...

Sid

[juajen]

40. Also killing a lot of people. It is hit or miss.

[DeSwiss]

59. I'm sorry, but unless you've been living in a cave since the mid-1970s......

Last edited Thu Oct 3, 2013, 05:37 AM - Edit history (1)

...I can think of no excuse for anyone to be this out of step with the latest science and knowledge regarding cannabis, unless they're doing so willfully for some unknown reason.

As for your reflecting upon science-based medicine's implied supremacy, exactly where do you think that that science-based medicine got started? Where did all these ''man-made'' cures and medicines have their genesis? Who are we copying? That's okay, you don't have to answer.

It is the sickness of greed and profit motivation which allows for the creation of a decadent medical ethos, one that bargains for a person's life based upon how much they can pay for man-made cures. And how much one can pay is, of course, a reflection of one's relative worth to society in this sick system. So if you can't afford the patented ''miracle'' cures, one must not be worth much, right?

Cannabis is downplayed by mainstream medicine precisely because it is so effective that it will very likely be the undoing of much of the medical establishment's strangle-hold on so-called cures and treatments of many deadly diseases and cancers. Most of which involved poisoning the cancer in hopes that it dies before you do. I'm sorry, but man's gonna have take a backseat on this one. Mother nature's got his butt in a sling on this.

So in the end it turns out that Plato was right. Food is our medicine and our medicine is our food. Provided we can find (OR GROW) the good stuff that hasn't been adulterated. Because we rarely eat food anymore. We eat junk and pesticide laden, GMO cancer-causing crap.

On the night of September 16th Rene Descartes had a dream and in this dream documented by his own hand, an angel appeared to him and said to Descartes, "The conquest of nature is to be achieved through measure and number." And that revelation lay the basis for modern science. Rene Descartes is the founder of the distinction between the ''res verins'' and the ''res extensia'', the founder of modern science, the founder of the scientific method that created the philosophical engines that created the modern world. How many scientists working at their workbenches, understand that an angel chartered modern science? It’s the alchemical angel which will not die. It returns again and again to guide the destinies of nations and peoples toward an unimaginable conclusion."

~Terence Mckenna from, ''Tree of Knowledge''

K&R

[center]

[/center]

[noiretextatique]

19. have you done chemo?

or has it been presented as possibility? i have faced the possibility of chemo, and i am happy it was not recommended because i would not have done it. there is increasing research that suggests chemo has zero effect on certain cancers for which it is still routinely prescribed.

[longship]

23. My mother did the same.

The cancer took her 18 months later. But that was a rather slow cancer. Other people's mileage may vary. Her end was peaceful with little pain. But she had been under Hospice care for all of the 18 months.

I know about this stuff. But I also know that there is near zero plausibility that Cannibis cures cancer. Shame on anybody who says it does.

[noiretextatique]

65. you ignore the research

that suggests cannabis may reduce tumors, among other things. and as you know too well: there is no cure. I am so sorry about your mom. I lost my dad and sister to cancer.

I had breast cancer. Genentech developed a test to determine the benefit of chemo for people with my type of cancer, er+, her2neu-. My test indicated I would not benefit from chemo, and since I also have a low recurrence risk, my oncologist did not recommend it. Unfortunately, not every woman is offered that test, and some do chemo because many doctors overtreat cancer. The standards for treatment seem to vary based on a host of factors, including race, insurance, and income. One thing I learned from my experience: know all the options and use whatever works.

[pnwmom]

24. Not everyone can tolerate chemo. This isn't Medical woo, it's a fact.

My father had a genetic condition that caused chemo to make him grossly ill, and millions of other people do, too. For many of them, the only choice is to drop the chemo and move to treatments that will alleviate pain but aren't expected to cure.

Sometimes people use the term "medical woo" rather than educating themselves. Just because you think you would have made a different choice than this parent doesn't make her choice "woo."

[longship]

34. Sorry, the "marijuana cures cancer" narrative is utter woo woo.

There are no studies that establish that, possibly other than in vitro studies, which are not definitive or predictive for the in situ research.


In medical research, what works in the test tube (or Petri dish) does not often translate into a useful treatment.

Well, we all know that Cannibis is not lethal, or even toxic, when ingested or smokes. But that's not the claim here, is it?

Nope, the claim is that Cannibis cures cancer -- or at least one cancer, however I doubt that the quacks promoting this limit it to one of the many thousands of cancers.

Since we've studied cancer deeply for many decades, I think it's safe to say what science says about cancer is true.

It is a very complex mechanism with many possible triggers, only a few of which we know for sure. Its complexity is its worst enemy because it allows people to just make shit up about it and they are believed, in spite of the fact that the people who actually study cancer known that the made up shit is harming people.

Thank goodness we have the HuffPo to keep shoveling out the AltMed quackery. It makes people feel oh so much better when they make uninformed, ignorant decisions for themselves and -- horrors -- their loved ones.

[pnwmom]

36. The boy had chemo and radiation, and then he went without food for 25 days.

I didn't say the chemo cured his cancer. It helped him eat.

[longship]

48. The Cannobis would likely help him.

But I would also consult with the oncologist. I mean... What's better?

1. Ignore the doctor who's treating and go rogue with likely Internet quackery.

2. Consult with the doctor to see if the problems can be resolved.

BTW, I don't believe for a minute that this kid didn't eat for 25 days. That sounds like made up shit from a true believer in woo woo.

The rule is 5-5-5.
A human can live approximately:

A. Five minutes without breathing. Then, the brain and other important systems shut down from oxygen starvation.

B. Five days without hydration. If you do not drink water (or eat food which has water within) for about five days, you're a goner.

C. Five weeks without food. This, like all these other rules of thumb depend on a person's physical condition.

If I were a parent with a child in chemotherapy, I would be engaged with the oncologist every step of the way. I just do not believe this story. I cannot believe that a parent would go that far before communicating to the oncologist. 25 days without eating? BULLSHIT! Somebody's lying here.

[pnwmom]

49. Maybe he was just getting nutrition through tubes.

That's what they do when you can't get anything down.

But better to have some pot and be able to actually eat.

[longship]

52. I am all for that.

As long as they don't remove the chemo.

Childhood leukemia is one of the "curable" cancers. It can be tough for the kids, but apparently there's been some good progress with it.

Now I have no knowledge about this case. And although I try to keep up with things in medicine, it is out of my field of expertise -- I am comfortable in physics and astronomy.

But I am also educated in medical scams, and if this parent is withdrawing the kids chemo for Cannibis, her child will likely die because of it.

[pnwmom]

54. We don't know enough about the particulars of this case.

What I do know is that some people aren't able to tolerate chemo. In my father's case, it made him violently ill and accelerated the dying process, rather than putting him into remission. He had some genetic condition that made it harder for his body to process the chemo and isn't all that uncommon, unfortunately.

[longship]

55. Yes! My dad took the whole course.

But by the end he was used up. There's no telling whether it was the chemo or the cancer. Knowing what I studied about small-cell lung cancer, I would bet it was the cancer. That's a very tough one. It's very, very fast and aggressive. My father had 18 months, almost a year of which was high quality, in spite of the chemo.

My mother had adenocarcinoma, slow but sure. She took no treatment at all. After loosing her husband of so many years, I think she had a fatalistic view of life. She lasted 18 months, too, but she did some pretty amazing things during that time. Instead of dying, she went on living, and gave it all until her last. She drove everywhere (one of the best drivers I've ever known). Volunteered with all good causes. She wanted to make a difference in her last days, and she did.

She would have been 100 years old today. Well, yesterday. She was born Oct 2, 1913 in Clifford, WI. Her first language was Finnish (no other language was spoken at home). She learned English from her older siblings. She was the youngest of twelve. She graduated with honors from Central High School in Detroit, MI.

Although they both are long gone, I miss them.

[pnwmom]

56. As hard as it was for us to watch our parents

just imagine what any parent of a child with cancer goes through. That's why I'm not going to judge this mother based on a few statements in a newspaper article.

[longship]

57. Especially the HuffPo.

There medical reporting tends to veer into woo woo land. They have posted a lot of bullshit from the anti-vaccine idiots.

[WillyT]

68. ...

[Deep13]

17. Maybe a relative who is not a fucking moron could take the kid in. nt

[pnwmom]

25. If you'd read the article you'd see the boy HAD the treatment.

It made him extremely ill, and then he went without eating for 25 days after the treatment.

So the marijuana helped him to feel better, and maybe kept him alive. How long do you think he could go without eating?

"But while still living in Utah, Sierra watched her little boy become violently ill from the chemotherapy -- Landon suffered nerve-damage in his legs, nausea that led to vomiting dozens of times a day, intense pain and at one point went 25 days without eating following the treatment, according to CNN."

[Comrade Grumpy]

30. Maybe a poster who actually has a clue could comment. nt

[Th1onein]

35. Go forth, Deep13, educate thyself.

[WillyT]

69. LOL !!! - Fat Chance...

[backscatter712]

58. I'd approve of using cannabis to treat the side-effects to the chemo...

but I wouldn't cut off the chemo.

[B Calm]

66. I had a friend die of cancer at age 37. When he was getting chemo I would

bring over marijuana, it was the only thing that gave him an appetite.