Before reading this chapter please start with:
First concepts
WOB is optimal
Breast
cancer will serve here as cancer prototype.
History
of untreated breast cancer
Localized
disease: A woman feels a small lump in her breast which gradually
grows. The skin above the lump becomes
rough, slightly red, and swollen As tumor grows, the skin above it becomes thinner. It is damaged
and a wound is formed . Gradually the wound becomes deeper and discharges
more and more pus. The infection spreads and turns into sepsis.
Systemic
disease: As tumor grows it sends metastases to regional lymph nodes, and
to remote organs. Even minute tumors may send metastases and some times metastatic
cancer is diagnosed before the tumor itself was detected.
Cancer
stages:
1. Carcinoma in situ: Generally benign.
2. Localized: Tumor is confined to the breast.
3. Regional: Metastases
invade regional lymph nodes.
4. Systemic:
Metastases spread into remote sites.
The
purpose of staging is to estimate disease severity. In each stage the
disease burden is heavier. Medicine postulates that cancer starts as a localized
tumor. First it spreads to local lymph nodes. Then it enters
blood circulation and metastasizes. Staging is supposed to illustrate
how cancer progresses.
However,
cancer does not progress this way! Most cancers send micro-metastases
before being detected clinically, and by the time of diagnosis they are already
systemic. Which is documented by epidemiological studies of localized
cancers. Most patients whose localized tumors were removed (mastectomy), die
from systemic disease.
Apparently
cancer is detected "too late". Medicine
instigated therefore two procedures: Mammography which detects tumors
somewhat earlier, and adjuvant chemotherapy, which is supposed
to eradicate micro-metastasis. Both are controversial.
Further
reading
Beware
of Mammography
Cancer
is more than just a tumor
Cancer
is even more systemic then medicine would like to consider. It is manifested
by three characteristics:
1.
Tumor
2. Cachexia, manifested
by weight loss and wasting
3. Para-neoplasia,
manifested by hormonal and CNS (central nervous system} changes.
Medicine
claims that tumor causes the other two manifestations. As tumor grows it secrets
toxic substances which cause cachexia and para-neoplasia. Yet it might be
otherwise. Cancer may start as a sub-clinical cachexia, and para-neoplasia,
accompanied by a tumor.
Many
clinical studies published during the first half of the previous century suggest
that this might be so. First, there appear some "non-specific" changes,
which are initiated by para-neoplasia while the tumor is detected somewhat
later. Many patients lose weight. Cachexia may antedate tumor appearance.
In some patients who died with extreme cachexia , autopsy revealed only a
small tumor. Blood coagulation
changes may antedate pancreatic cancer. These and other observations initiated
a flurry of tests for cancer proneness. Like reduced nerve conduction, usually
measured in the leg, which is some patient is followed by cancer. Or, tests
for mood changes. Already Galen observed that women with "black bile" were prone to cancer. What
these doctors failed to realize and medicine does not accept is that all
these individuals already had cancer, only their tumors were hidden.
Cancer
proceeds through the following phases:
From
its very beginning, cancer is manifested by para-neoplasia and cachexia. Initially
they are subtle and generally overlooked. Like weight loss which accompanies
many conditions. With time para-neoplasia and cachexia become more and more
pronounced, yet then they are regarded as toxic maniestations of chemotherapy.
Cancer
is a systemic disease
To
a modern physician this may sound like an oxymoron, since a tumor is all that
is to cancer, no tumor means no cancer! Medicine lacks some simple concepts that
would allow it to examine a putative system-ness of cancer. And yet cancer
is as systemic as arteriosclerosis. In the same way as myocardial infarction
or CVA are localized manifestations of systemic arteriosclerosis, tumor is
a localized manifestation of systemic cancer.
Further
reading:
Cancer
as Systemic Disease
Colon
Cancer is a Systemic disease
Enter
WOB
Medicine
is puzzled by the fact that small tumors remain generally unnoticed. While all
other diseases are more or less painful, cancer starts as a painless disease.
Which medicine regards as unfortunate, since tumor ought to be removed as
soon as possible. Enormous effort is invested
in early detection. Healthy patients have to be examined periodically with sophisticated
equipment. When tumor is detected they are told that despite feeling healthy,
they are not.
Indeed,
they are healthy, since WOB does not complain . A silent WOB indicates that
it controls cancer and does not need any assistance. Which sounds like a heresy.
Medicine hastens to remove any tumor and applies chemotherapy to eradicate
its remnants. Yet most patients are not cured, which is attributed to the
fact that the tumor was detected too late.
In
reality one cannot cure a systemic disease with a localized treatment.
Take arteriosclerosis which is manifested by a (localized) myocardial infarction.
In the same way as curing the heart does not cure arteriosclerosis, tumor
removal cannot cure cancer !
Twisted
logic
Such
a twisted logic is applied by medicine to other diseases as well. Like diabetes
mellitus. It ignores the myriad processes operating in diabetes, and focuses
on one, hyperglycemia. Diabetes is a hyperglycemia which has to be reduced.
Yet hyperglycemia treatment generally fails to cure the disease, since patients
end up with kidney failure and retinopathy.
In
both diseases, clinicians face an unpleasant phenomenon, resistance to treatment.
In diabetes it is manifested by insulin resistance, and in cancer,
by a resistance to chemotherapy. It may seem as if the two phenomena
have nothing in common. After all insulin and chemotherapeutic agents
are distinct and unrelated. However what counts is not the substances
themselves, but WOB's reaction
to treatment. Since resisting it, treatment of both diseases is harmful. Treatment
is justified only if given in accord with WOB.
Further
reading:
Diabetes.
Homeostasis
in Diabetes
Like
cancer, diabetes proceeds through the following phases:
All
along diabetes evolution WOB maintains homeostasis .Blood glucose rises
in small steps between which it remains constant. Prior to each change WOB
elevates the glucose set point to a new value which determines the
current blood glucose level. Following insulin injection blood glucose drops,
to raise again when insulin is
catabolized. It will always return to the level specified by the set point
which shows that WOB controls carbohydrate metabolism in health and
in disease. It maintains hyperglycemia since the body needs it. What medicine
regards as a pathological hyperglycemia, is regarded by WOB as a normoglycemia.
For yet unknown reasons, elevated blood sugar
is vital to the body, and ought not be regarded as pathological.
In
the long run, hyperglycemia damages small blood vessels and impairs
blood flow to tissues. Despite this, WOB continues to raise blood sugar. Apparently
the rising blood sugar is so vital to the organism that it is ready to suffer
secondary damage. Which poses a challenge to treatment. By lowering blood sugar, it prevents
secondary damage, yet somehow harms the organism. Adequate therapy is therefore
a compromise between the potential damage of hyperglycemia and WOB's needs. Medicine rejects this
notion. In order to prevent secondary
damage, blood sugar is lowered to normal values. The possibility that hyperglycemia
might be vital to the organism is rejected. Which is the main reason for insulin
resistance. By making insulin resistant, WOB protects itself against a
wrong treatment.
In
order to adequately treat a disease, we ought to find out what drives it.
Infectious diseases are driven by microbes. What drives diabetes? Medicine
postulates that diabetes results from a disturbed carbohydrate metabolism
manifested by a faulty glucose-receptor. Yet this view violates the optimality
principle presented in the second chapter. All components of a disease
have a purpose whose meaning may elude our understanding. We cannot ignore
that it is WOB which maintains an elevated blood sugar, and since WOB operates
optimally hyperglycemia is vital.
Further
reading:
WOB
is optimal
Four
causes
Homeostasis
in Cancer
The
same arguments apply to cancer. All along its evolution WOB maintains homeostasis.
Tumor grows in small steps between which its size remains constant. WOB controls the tumor
load. Prior to each change it elevates the tumor-load set point to a new value,
which determines its size. Following chemotherapy tumor shrinks, and when
chemotherapy ends WOB replenishes its mass. It will always return to the level
specified by the set point. Like hyperglycemia in diabetes, the growing tumor
is required for yet an unknown reason. What medicine regards as a pathology, is created by WOB
and is vital to the organism. . .
In
the long run, tumor harms tissues, and causes secondary damage. Despite
this, WOB continues to raise the tumor load. Apparently the growing tumor
is vital to the organism, and it is ready to suffer secondary damage
caused by it. Which poses a challenge to treatment. Tumor removal prevents
secondary damage, yet somehow harms the organism. Adequate therapy is therefore
a compromise between the potential damage by tumor and WOB's needs. This view
is utterly rejected by medicine,
and so is also any suggestion that a tumor might be vital to the organism.
Which is the main reason for the mounting
resistance to chemotherapy. By making the tumor resistant, WOB protects
itself against a wrong treatment.
Similar
considerations may have convinced Hippocrates to propose the following:
In his 38th aphorism (section VI) he writes: It is better not to treat those
who have internal cancers since, if treated, they die quickly; but if not
treated they last a long time.
Further
reading:
WOB
controls cancer
Cancer
is a metabolic deficiency
Pernicious
Cachexia
Epilogue
No
doubt that the above arguments will shock any physician. Yet they reveal a
new dimension in medicine, optimality. The organism operates optimally
in any condition. We all know that the organism maintains homeostasis
(homeorhesis). What is less obvious that this is the best under circumstances.
The organism is extremely complex and sophisticated. We shall never be able
to grasp how it optimizes. All we need is to understand are its messages,
which will direct our treatment for the benefit of the patient.
Further
reading:
In
depth analysis of cancer
Cancer and metaphysics
Iatrogenic medicine
For causes of disease.
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