How can I recommend a drug for my friend's cancer treatment without it sounding bad?

[ironpony]

My friend tells me that DCA has been helping people with cancer, but you have to get it under the table, cause of FDA regulations. But my friend with cancer is not doing well, and I figure I really should tell her about it right away.

 

But how do you bring something like that up, already when she and her family are so upset about it already?

[alphamale]

no reputable doctor/nurse is going to administer drugs "under the table", their malpractice insurance doesn't cover it

[ironpony]

Yes she would have to get it from somewhere else, but it's life or death here, so why not at least try.

[RecentChange]

Leave her treatment to the oncology experts. They know more about cancer treatment than you do.

 

It's hard to watch friends suffer, but this kind of "advice" is rarely helpful.

 

My mother and sister in law are closely involved with cancer treatment research - believe me, if it really was a cure, it would be embraced

[ironpony]

You're right my friend is a friend of hers too and just keeps talking it up though. It was a dumb question, but at the same time, I would feel terrible if something could have been done but wasn't.

[preraph]

Don't do it. Come on, do you really think you know better than the oncology doctors who have actual experience at it?

[ironpony]

Well everyone I know who has had cancer, has died, so the doctors don't really know that much, if everyone I know has died. So I figure it doesn't hurt to try anything.

[ajequals]

let the doctors deal with cancer. it's a very specialize treatment. above your pay grade

[alphamale]

why don't you go to medical school ironpony?

[basil67]

It certainly doesn't hurt to try other alternatives, but it's not your place to suggest it.

[Garcon1986]

DCA is not well studied enough for oncologists to recommend it as a treatment regimen. Although it sounds horrible, the world of oncology is filled with people dying because of how horrible the disease is. Oncologists fight with everything they have - I know because I work with them every day. Definitely let them drive the treatment process; oncology is way too complicated to read some stuff on the internet and then start recommending medicines.

[ironpony]

Well even though DCA hasn't been around for long I still feel that anything is worth trying if a person is dying a disease though.

 

That's like saying that if you are trapped in a burning building, that it's not worth trying to break down a door with an axe, because they axe hasn't been properly tested to see if it's sharp enough. Still worth trying isn't it?

[alphamale]

Still worth trying isn't it?

 

why don't you recommend it then?

[vla1120]

Conspiracy theorists will tell you there has been a cure for cancer for YEARS, but cancer is such a huge industry, that the cure will never be released.

 

While the FDA does sometimes take forever to approve new drugs, I simply do not believe that the men and women who have devoted their lives to the research and treatment of cancer would stand by and watch innocent men, women and children die (many in their own families), knowing there could be a cure out there.

 

There is nothing stopping you from mentioning DCA to your friend, backing up your opinions with a website or two, giving accurate data on the exploratory research of DCA in treatment of a number of different cancers. Just remember, her doctors have her best interest at heart (if she doesn't feel that way, she will hopefully get a second opinion.)

 

Being a two-time cancer survivor, nothing used to frustrate me more than when well-meaning people told me I could simply be cured by eating more beets (Yuck, does it have to be beets? Why not lemon meringue pie?), or sleeping with my head to the north, or whatever freaking "cures" are suspected to be out there.

[ironpony]

Oh yes for sure, I am not a conspiracy theorist about it by any means, I am just wanting to do all I can but want to suggest it appropriately. I mean where you get DCA anyway. From illegal dealers... But I still feel like I should suggest it or do what I can, if there is a chance it could help.

[d0nnivain]

You can tell your friend what you have heard in passing as an anecdotal story but you as a lay person can't "recommend" anything. If the stuff is illegal there may be good reasons for that. Are you really sure you want to tell a dying friend to commit a crime?

[ironpony]

Well again committing a crime of taking an illegal drug is peanuts compared to dying... I just want to do whatever can be done.

[d0nnivain]

Ironpony

 

I know you want to help but this thing you are recommending is not a CURE. Your friend is not going to recover from this. You also do not have the requisite pharmacological knowledge to determine how this stuff you are recommending will interact with the legitimate drugs including chemo that your friend has been legally prescribed by a physician.

 

Spend time with your friend. Make memories. Be there for him/her & the family.

[ironpony]

Yeah I know it's not a cure, but I read it helps shrink down the disease and I thought shrinking it down is still good, otherwise why do cancer patients even bother to shrink it down then, if it's not?

 

But as long as I am doing everything I can and not avoiding anything. I've tried to spend time with her but her boyfriend says not to come visit, so I haven't seen her for quite a while.

[ironpony]

Actually I just got a call from her family that she doesn't have much time left and to come visit her.

 

However, I took a call for a new job just a few hours prior, and they wanted me to start tomorrow. I said sure, not knowing that I would get a call from her family to come visit, after not hearing for a while.

 

Would it be bad if I called in the new job saying that the death of a loved one is going to happen soon and to postpone?

[alphamale]

Would it be bad if I called in the new job saying that the death of a loved one is going to happen soon and to postpone?

 

that should be ok, explain the deal to them and don't postpone too long. companies are hard-pressed to find workers so you have the upper hand

[ironpony]

Well it was a video shoot, and the shoot is only a couple of days though now. So should I just do it, or is it bad to not see my friend for a couple of days, when I am told to come up since she only has a few days left?

[Penguin_hugs]

My experience in the matter says go to your friend. When they say she doesn't have long left- they mean it. My Nanny died from cancer last year- I'm a pharmacist and I knew there was nothing more that could be done. She was laughing and joking with me the night before she died. Then the next day she just turned and was gone a few hours later.

 

I went to a talk recently by a specialist working at Cancer Research UK (a charity)- too many people waste time on alternative therapies- that time could be spent with their loved ones. She told the story of a woman with young children who travelled to Germany- spending thousands on "treatment" but always getting worse. This treatment centre kept convincing her to stay even though it was doing nothing and she was getting worse. Eventually she decided enough was enough and she was going home to her children. But she died on the train home in the arms of her husband- without seeing her children in months.

[ironpony]

Oh okay, it's just I already started with tomorrow's shoot and feel it will look back to cancel. But is it bad to wait till Saturday to go now?

[alphamale]

Well it was a video shoot, and the shoot is only a couple of days though now. So should I just do it, or is it bad to not see my friend for a couple of days, when I am told to come up since she only has a few days left?

 

me thinks your friend takes precedence