Originally published in Issue 1 2007 icon
Patricia Peat is a registered nurse. Following years of experience in oncology, combined with research into natural approaches to cancer she now runs Cancer Options.
Cancer Options is a specialised team of practitioners who provide individual consultancy and coaching into treatment and making decisions for all approaches to cancer.
Details of their services are available at www.canceroptions.co.uk or by calling 0845 009 2041.
Q:
I have been recommended to see a practitioner who practices kinesiology to help with my supplement programme. The practice sounds a little odd to me and wondered if you had an opinion on it?
A:
Kinesiology is a practice used by various practitioners, doctor, dentists, chiropractors, nutritionists, herbalists, aromatherapists and reflexologies
Muscle testing is used to establish what supplements (vitamins, minerals etc.) are specifically needed by the individual in order to restore nutritional deficiencies, clear out toxins, or encourage improved function of an organ or system of the body. Kinesiological muscle testing does not assess strength, but tests the integrity of the many factors which determine its response when called upon to contract.
Muscle testing enables the analysis which detects minor functional imbalances.
Muscles are perceived as indicators or monitors of stress and imbalance within the body. Hence ´Muscle Testing´ is used to detect and correct those imbalances, thus addressing the underlying causes of disease or malfunction in the body. The therapy of Kinesiology is derived from the connection between the ´subtle´ energy and the muscles of the physical structure. This energy flows along specific pathways within us called meridians - as acknowledged in acupuncture. There are fourteen meridians, each one being responsible for carrying energy to particular organs or systems of the body - for example, the heart, the intestines, the stomach, and so on.
The theory is the reaction of the muscle, interpreted by the practitioner will ensure that any supplement given will be effective in doing the work required for that particular person. The reaction will indicate which supplements, nutrition and holistic therapies are, or are not going to work for an individual.
I know many practitioners who have much experience in using this method and are very confident of its success. My personal experience of it in use with cancer has left me very uneasy about it. In the (few) people I have known use it, they became so confident in its ability to diagnose what the body was asking for that everything they did in their programme was dictated by this method. If it did not pass kinesiology, they would not consider it. Now I do understand the need for a balance in the body, but many good anti-cancer approaches were ruled out.
When one has cancer, the biochemistry of the body changes dramatically, and cancer itself throws out many, chemical and hormonal decoys which changes all the time. It is pretty much impossible to obtain a balance if the cancer is advanced and it could take a very long time to achieve anything. In the people I saw use this method, so much time was focused on this, the cancer continued to spread unchecked, and ultimately they did not get the results one sees when other methods of treatment choice are used.
I think the situation becomes so complicated that the reactions of the body to kinesiology may give a reflection of what the body wants rather than what is needed to address cancer. I am sure kinesiology is very good for many problems and can be used with cancer for supportive means, but I would be very wary of using it a guide on how to treat cancer.
Q:
Do you know about insulin potentiation therapy?
A:
This is a method of giving chemotherapy; the theory is the concurrent administration of insulin enhances the effectiveness of the treatment.
It has been around since the 1930s but appears to be having a revival in popularity in Europe and America where many doctors are taking up this practice.
The proposition is that insulin increases the cell membrane permeability and thus increases the effective intracellular concentration of drugs that are administered concurrently with insulin. Published experimental results showing that insulin increases the cytotoxic effect of methotrexate in MCF-7 human breast cancer cells in vitro by a factor of up to ten thousand.
There are more insulin receptors on the membranes of cancer cells than on normal cells, and so insulin´s potentiating effect predominates in the cancer cells, causing a relative sparing of the normal tissues from the impact of the cytotoxic drugs.
It also crosses the blood brain barrier and supposedly increases the effectiveness of treatments for brain tumours. Due to the enhanced effect doctors using this practice give lower doses than normal of chemotherapy so the side effects are lessened.
This method is not practiced in this country but is available in Europe and America.
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