Oncology & The Alternative Noise

I Love Alternative Music.

I came of age in the early 90’s. Radiohead. Nirvana. Smashing Pumpkins. Sonic Youth (the beautiful list of bands goes on and on…).
This musical genre is SO good. Guttural song writing, talented musicians, honest themes, transparent lyrics, coupled with distorted power chords, gritty vocals, and a sensitivity that related to the masses.

Alternative music is LOUD.

It’s strong. It’s captivating and moving. That’s why it’s loved so much. The dawn of the alternative genre upon the music landscape was embraced and well-welcomed. If anything, it seemed to hold an authenticity and a pure quality. Counterfeits were easy to spot. There was no place for posers to hide. The ‘real’ bands were unadulterated, counter-cultural, and left an unassailable stamp on their fans and the music industry.

The ‘alternative’ on the music scene? All Good.
The ‘alternative’ on the medical scene? Hmmm, not so easy to answer.

Like alternative music, alternative medicine is loud, loved, and captivating. It, however, is definitely not pure. And there are many facets and alleyways of it that stray well away from being authentic. This is amplified even more when one looks specifically at how alternative medicine is used in cancer.

I’m a Naturopathic Doctor (ND).

Licensed. Board certified nationally. State regulated and the member national professional associations. My practice is exclusively focused on oncology and the support of cancer patients in their fight against the disease by utilizing evidence-based natural medicine. I’ve been devoted to strengthening cancer patients, minimizing side-effects, protecting their quality of life for almost a decade. For these individual patients, that suddenly see life as a gift that cannot be taken for granted a single second longer, I work so they can take in the beautiful things & people they love.

But, I have to admit,

my profession has become lost within a maze. I think we often feel like a classical album on vintage vinyl (let’s say, the Beatles’ Abbey Road) hidden among the most side-splitting cover album mistakes that you could spend hours with your mates hunting over at your favorite used records store, trying to out-do each other for the most absurd & hilarious… If you’ve got a Saturday morning to burn, that is…

Ya, we feel like that at times. Needle, haystack, and all that…

There’s an issue.

I’m also a Fellow of the national oncology board that establishes guidelines and standards of clinical excellence when Naturopathic medicine is used in this particular arena. This board (called the America Board of Naturopathic Oncology -ABNO, with ‘Fellows’ having their distinguishing letters being ‘FABNO’) was established to address an issue that was increasingly becoming (and still is) a concern to NDs. This same issue was also (and still is) profoundly muddying the waters for the general public, and specifically cancer patients.

The issue has a name,… and its name is ‘soup’.

Because national regulations governing the use of ‘natural medicines’ in the arena of cancer have been late in coming (only a decade old presently), the vacuum created to satisfy the demand of individual cancer patients has unfortunately been filled -to the brim – with so much nonsense and unfounded claims that it would take Magellan to arrive at a position of clarity, safety, or usefulness.

Due of this confusing soup, where silliness has been allowed to intermix with valid natural approaches, and where a seemingly endless variety of “’certified’ natural practitioner” can be found ‘practicing’ right next door to the real thing (ND/FABNO), the reputation of legitimate Naturopathic doctors, and the impact they can have on cancer patients, has been met with dismissive suspicion & ridicule from the world of conventional medicine.

Here is an Infographic I created to help dissect the soup.  

Sifting through the soup…

I’ve spent the last 5 years of my professional career working at a large integrative cancer hospital. It has been one of the few places in North America that have moved beyond the skepticism, sifted through the soup, found ND/FABNOs, staffed their facility with them, and in-grafted established Naturopathic medicines into their supportive services offered to patients. I only share this because even in this atmosphere it took many months, and in some individual cases… years, of working side-by-side with medical oncologists for them to recognize the validity of the medicine, to confirm the clinical impact of the therapies, and to trust their ND/FABNO counterparts as colleagues.

I understand their resistance & hesitancy. It’s predictable. It’s the responsibility, duty, of medical oncologists to protect their patients with this stance. If the world of ‘alternative medicine’ is marked, in part (and, unfortunately, it’s a big part), as being a combination of silly fads and false claims then this ambiguous wild-card has no place in a clinical setting as serious as cancer treatment.

I’m not a nudist.

The lack of clarity, sadly coupled with misplaced hope, within the public mind is very obvious to Naturopathic Doctors themselves. On introducing myself to cancer patients it is common to get the, ‘Naturo what? Never heard of it before’, response.

Or, ‘Natural cancer cures, right? Ya, my neighbor keeps wanting me to try a juice that will take my cancer away…’ – So common.

‘Oh. Ya. I am already seeing a Naturist, and he has me taking a bunch of…’

We share a blushed chuckle when I explain to them that naturists are actually nudists (I inform them that I’ll have to at least wear my shoes & white clinic coat – per hospital policy).

So, what do we do with this?
How do we correct this mess of misconceptions? I don’t fully understand the psychology of it, but there is a real obstacle facing us when we start to, somehow, loosen an individual’s or group’s firm allegiance to things unfounded, misapplied, and often harmful.

Discussion. Conversation. Dialogue. Awareness.

These, clearly, are necessary ingredients for moving forward towards an enlightened and profitable place. To have patients no longer hear from their physicians the 20 year-old outdated adage that “there’s really no evidence supporting Naturopathic medicine”, would be nice. To have every cancer patient directed to a medically trained, licensed professional who is regulated, bases their recommendations on established clinical standards, is experienced in integrating with conventional medicine, and has an expertise in this niche-field of oncology would be great.

I’m sorry for not being too sorry…

So… pardon me if any of this seems to smack of self-promotion, or as being territorial. But, pardon me once again if I don’t apologize too long over the matter.
Put tactfully, cancer treatments can be very difficult for individuals to continue pushing through with smiles on their faces.
Put bluntly, I have seen too many parents of little ones unable to be mom or dad for months on end as they receive aggressive treatment. When faced with the unknown of how much time they have left, these parents’ hearts are ripped out as they have to decide between continuing to fight to live (for their kids) or stop so they can soak in the moments that remain.
The story is played out again and again within all types of relationships… Spouses. Siblings. Parents. Kids.
The ultimate want is always more time. Quality time. The goal is always to fight for a chance to see a clear scan or a tumor marker drop.

For those blind-sided by cancer. For those who have had it arrive within their own body. For those that have walked with a loved one through this. For those who have had a loved one taken too early. For those who have devoted their lives to caring for these beautiful, threatened lives… It is always about life, love, and relationships. We find that what is at stake here penetrates right to the very heart of the things we hold absolutely dearest.
It exposes us.

 ‘In It to Win It’

So, bluntly again, cancer is not a problem that is forgiving of wasted time or misplaced hope. It is not a field of medicine that can afford to harbor therapies or approaches that are unfounded, or ‘practitioners’ who recommend them. I’m not against listening to anecdotal reports of apparent natural ‘cures’. I’ll celebrate with you. Let’s look into them and research them. But if we’re truly ‘in it to win it’ then we are sending ourselves well off course if we turn first to unfounded tales while remaining ignorant of the clinically-tested, hospital-accepted, natural approaches.

You can’t Google this stuff.

Oh, you can of course. Sure. And you’ll get a ton of recommendations.

It’s peculiar, however, that almost 100% of the responses you will get are for things that never actually work (and FABNOs never use) when you are clinically walking with a patient through active treatment. It’s also very suspicious that the things that actually do protect & support a patient aren’t even on their radar screens. The non-negotiable, ‘go-to’, top-tier, big hitters are unknown to the internet gurus (even the Dr. Oz-promoted ones). It exposes a position un-tethered from the published research and from experience down in the cancer trenches.

Only ND/FABNOs as a profession possess this nuanced knowledge for how to best engage a cancer case and support an individual patient with natural medicines based on experience & published researched. The gimmicky ‘experts’ are plentiful, often super expensive, commonly promote ideas that don’t work, use therapies that don’t integrate safely with conventional treatments, and, most dangerously, encourage patients to use them instead of standard medicine.

The real deal (ND/FABNO) is unfortunately hidden amongst this noise. So, I write…

It’s noisy. Use your eyes.

Rallying all legitimate services, support, care, and hope around individuals & families has to be our priority. Regarding alternative medicines, distinguishing the valid & helpful from the unwarranted & less-than-best needs to be a priority as well.

Naturopathic Doctors who have specialized within this field of integrative oncology are the key mediators and practitioners to bridge this gap. They are the best at it. Find us (see below). Choose us. Learn how to distinguish us from the noise.

To hospital administrators, incorporate us into your care model. Patients are seeking it for themselves. Place licensed ND’s/FABNO’s in front of your patients for their safety and clinical benefit.

I’m optimistic that the fog will be cleared. It will take time, and murky ‘alternatives’ will always be out there, but by a continuous effort to elevate the evidence-based discipline of Naturopathic Oncology above, and out from, the disreputable landscape it has found itself in, patients will be the beneficiaries.

A cancer patient’s right to choose.

Honoring a cancer patient’s right to choose which methods they wish to fight with is ever-important. Building & supporting a framework that empowers them to choose well, however, is a crucial stone we can lay for them along the path. It’s one more way we partner with them, and ultimately honors their right to choose all-the-more.

Dr. David Karl Oster is a licensed Naturopathic Doctor (ND/FABNO), and founder of www.OsterOncology.com, a video consultation-based medical practice exclusively focused on supporting cancer patients moving through active treatment anywhere in North America, with the use of Naturopathic Oncology.