talking to my patients about the lifestyle aspect of disease alone. During this discussion, I may ask them, for instance, what happened in their lives in the two years leading up to their cancer diagnoses. I often find that there has been some significant life event: a loss of money in the stock market, the death of a spouse, or another traumatic event, which probably triggered the sudden growth of their cancers, which in reality, had been developing slowly in their bodies over a period of ten or more years. Other practitioners who ask their patients this question notice a correlation between their patients’ life events and their development of cancer, as well. Even though it takes five to fifteen years for a microscopic cancer to develop into a detectable cancer, it has generally been observed that most people with cancer have had a significant event happen in their lives within the two years prior to their cancers becoming detectable, which accelerated the development of those cancers so that they eventually became detectable.
It’s also important to understand what cancer is on a physical level. Basically, what happens, regardless of the factors that stimulate its growth, is that somewhere in the body, microscopically, there has been a loss of natural programmed cell death, so certain cells in anorgan or tissue start to grow, initially without nerves or a blood supply. This is called the first stage of cancer, also referred to as cancer in-situ. At this stage, the cancer can grow from a single cell to many cells, as it obtains its food locally, at the site of its manifestation. It can remain that way for many years, and people can live with it for the rest of their lives and never have it progress beyond that stage if they have a strong immune system that effectively carries out its surveillance. This process of carcinoma development in-situ goes on in everyone’s bodies all of the time. For example, many people have carcinoma in-situ in their breasts or colons, which never develop into full-blown cancers, because they have strong tumor suppressor genes. This initial stage of cancer is often not detected by any known diagnostic method, unless the patient has a Pap smear, biopsy of a polyp (an abnormal growth of tissue projecting from a mucous membrane), or a suspicious appearance on a mammogram.
Sometimes, though, cancer can change from the in-situ phase and move into what’s called the locally invasive phase. In this phase, the cancer basically says to the organism (or the body), “I need more food to grow.” It will then invade locally through tissues to get that food. Even then, it may not be visible on a scan or blood test. At some point, though, it will start to invasively grow, and depending on the type of cancer, it will start to be palpable and/or visible and detectable in the body. It may remain as a small, localized growth, which can be managed, or it may become metastatic.
During the third, or metastatic, phase, the cancer not only invades local tissues, but is also able to stimulate the formation of new blood vessels which help it to migrate through the body. It also starts to put out chemicals that disrupt the immune system’s cancer detection radar, and simultaneously, puts out chemicals that stimulate the growth of new blood vessels around it.
If this continues unabated, at some point, the cancer will be able to steal so much of the body’s vital forces and nutrients that the person will develop cachexia, a condition whereby the body becomes unable to utilize its nutrients from food, because many ofthose nutrients are instead feeding the cancer. At this stage, cancer becomes irreversible in most people, and leads to death.
It’s important to note here that cancer isn’t a local disease. It’s always a systemic disease. Even when a local breast cancer or melanoma is discovered and diagnosed via biopsy, there are usually cancer cells from the “mother ship” circulating through the body and
It’s also important to understand what cancer is on a physical level. Basically, what happens, regardless of the factors that stimulate its growth, is that somewhere in the body, microscopically, there has been a loss of natural programmed cell death, so certain cells in anorgan or tissue start to grow, initially without nerves or a blood supply. This is called the first stage of cancer, also referred to as cancer in-situ. At this stage, the cancer can grow from a single cell to many cells, as it obtains its food locally, at the site of its manifestation. It can remain that way for many years, and people can live with it for the rest of their lives and never have it progress beyond that stage if they have a strong immune system that effectively carries out its surveillance. This process of carcinoma development in-situ goes on in everyone’s bodies all of the time. For example, many people have carcinoma in-situ in their breasts or colons, which never develop into full-blown cancers, because they have strong tumor suppressor genes. This initial stage of cancer is often not detected by any known diagnostic method, unless the patient has a Pap smear, biopsy of a polyp (an abnormal growth of tissue projecting from a mucous membrane), or a suspicious appearance on a mammogram.
Sometimes, though, cancer can change from the in-situ phase and move into what’s called the locally invasive phase. In this phase, the cancer basically says to the organism (or the body), “I need more food to grow.” It will then invade locally through tissues to get that food. Even then, it may not be visible on a scan or blood test. At some point, though, it will start to invasively grow, and depending on the type of cancer, it will start to be palpable and/or visible and detectable in the body. It may remain as a small, localized growth, which can be managed, or it may become metastatic.
During the third, or metastatic, phase, the cancer not only invades local tissues, but is also able to stimulate the formation of new blood vessels which help it to migrate through the body. It also starts to put out chemicals that disrupt the immune system’s cancer detection radar, and simultaneously, puts out chemicals that stimulate the growth of new blood vessels around it.
If this continues unabated, at some point, the cancer will be able to steal so much of the body’s vital forces and nutrients that the person will develop cachexia, a condition whereby the body becomes unable to utilize its nutrients from food, because many ofthose nutrients are instead feeding the cancer. At this stage, cancer becomes irreversible in most people, and leads to death.
It’s important to note here that cancer isn’t a local disease. It’s always a systemic disease. Even when a local breast cancer or melanoma is discovered and diagnosed via biopsy, there are usually cancer cells from the “mother ship” circulating through the body and
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