Suzanne Somers--Is She Right?

http://tinyurl.com/ykfx5rkI've had some questions about my opinion of Suzanne Somers' latest book.

Suzanne is worth listening to, if only because she's gutsy, feisty and follows her own pathway. (Remember when she walked off Three's Company?) Beyond that, as a breast cancer survivor with a strong interest in cancer and cancer treatments, I believe there is a place for alternative treatment. Current conventional treatments (chemo, radiation, surgery, hormone blockers) are devastating to a woman physically, emotionally and hormonally. The goal of all current treatment is to destroy the cancer, (which also damages the woman herself) not to strenghten the women's natural immune system to fight the disease.

Still...while Suzane readily admits in her book that her approach to health is not something she advocates for everyone, the alternative methods she cites in her latest book are very risky for beginning stage breast cancer patients. Through my own research I discovered that most women are cured through conventional medical treatments these days, horrible as those treatments may seem. Unfortunately, alternative treatments have no such track record. Women who use alternative treatment instead of conventional therapy need to realize that they may be risking their lives unnecessarily.

In fact, the removal of the cancer through surgery all by itself will (most likely) cure most beginning stage breast cancers. (Suzanne herself had that initial surgery.)  Additional treatment such as chemo, radiation and hormone blockers are prescribed to up the odds that the cancer does not recur years and even decades later. Suzanne may still be writing books about how to avoid conventional cancer treatment decades from now. But she also may be paying a terrible price for forgoing those treatments. It concerns me that those who read her book and don't investigate further might join her.

On the other hand, she does a huge service to all cancer patients through her interviews with alternative care doctors and medical personnel. If one of those alternative treatments proves out, her book will be instrumental in getting them the notice of the public and the general research community. In addition, alternative treatment has a huge role in reducing pain and stress, in several ways I mentioned in my latest  book. More on Suzanne later...