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Suggest Ayurvedic Treatment For Multiple Myloma

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Posted on Wed, 15 Jun 2016
Question: my uncle diagnosed multiple myloma and renal failure 2 years
and he is on dialysis and chemo now he chemo he wanted to start ayurvedic treatment because it causes side effects
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Answered by Dr. Dr. Yogesh D (58 minutes later)
Brief Answer:
Ayurvedic treatment will be harmful, not evidence based, stick to chemo

Detailed Answer:
Hello Mr XXXXXXX

I am sorry to learn about your father's illness, I completely understand his wish to discontinue chemotherapy because of the side effects of the same.

There is one major problem though with your father's wish, that is, Ayurvedic treatments till date have not been proven to be effective in treating any cancer at all, there are no standard controlled trails involving ayurvedic medicines, the available evidence suggests that any "so called alternative medicines" have consistently been proven to be disastrous for cancer patients, I can give you the examples of the famous XXXXXXX Jobs, who like your father decided to try alternative medicines for pancreatic cancer and went for the modern evidence based based medicine at last by which time it was too late to do anything about it and he died as a result of his mistake.

I know that cancer chemotherapy is very harsh on the body and does cause serious and very unpleasant side effects, but in my humble opinion, it is still the only choice available for now.

Please look up the evidence for ayurvedic/alternative medicines in treating cancer and you will see that there are no studies conducted that satisfy the standards for a clinical trail.

It is unfortunate that we have a government that is wasting your tax money on such things in the name of culture and past glory.

Please for your own sake do not believe in these alternative medicines blindly, please research the evidence yourself and decide.

The side effects can be mitigated through proper dose adjustments and effective supportive care, please discuss with your oncologist regarding these options, he/she will most certainly help your father.

I am including some links where you can start.... you can see that all these studies are still very much in research phase

http://www.seminoncol.org/article/S0093-7754(02)50316-X/pdf
http://www.ingentaconnect.com/content/ben/cmc/2010/0000/0000/art00001
http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.3109/0000.2010.487622
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0000X
http://www.thelancet.com/journals/lanonc/article/PIIS1470-2045(03)01077-5/abstract
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/0000
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/0000


I hope this address the query for now, please write back if you have any doubts.

Wishing your uncle a speedy recovery.

Best regards
Note: For further queries related to kidney problems and comprehensive renal care, talk to a Nephrologist. Click here to Book a Consultation.

Above answer was peer-reviewed by : Dr. Yogesh D
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Answered by
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Dr. Dr. Yogesh D

General & Family Physician

Practicing since :2009

Answered : 1130 Questions

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Suggest Ayurvedic Treatment For Multiple Myloma

Brief Answer: Ayurvedic treatment will be harmful, not evidence based, stick to chemo Detailed Answer: Hello Mr XXXXXXX I am sorry to learn about your father's illness, I completely understand his wish to discontinue chemotherapy because of the side effects of the same. There is one major problem though with your father's wish, that is, Ayurvedic treatments till date have not been proven to be effective in treating any cancer at all, there are no standard controlled trails involving ayurvedic medicines, the available evidence suggests that any "so called alternative medicines" have consistently been proven to be disastrous for cancer patients, I can give you the examples of the famous XXXXXXX Jobs, who like your father decided to try alternative medicines for pancreatic cancer and went for the modern evidence based based medicine at last by which time it was too late to do anything about it and he died as a result of his mistake. I know that cancer chemotherapy is very harsh on the body and does cause serious and very unpleasant side effects, but in my humble opinion, it is still the only choice available for now. Please look up the evidence for ayurvedic/alternative medicines in treating cancer and you will see that there are no studies conducted that satisfy the standards for a clinical trail. It is unfortunate that we have a government that is wasting your tax money on such things in the name of culture and past glory. Please for your own sake do not believe in these alternative medicines blindly, please research the evidence yourself and decide. The side effects can be mitigated through proper dose adjustments and effective supportive care, please discuss with your oncologist regarding these options, he/she will most certainly help your father. I am including some links where you can start.... you can see that all these studies are still very much in research phase http://www.seminoncol.org/article/S0093-7754(02)50316-X/pdf http://www.ingentaconnect.com/content/ben/cmc/2010/0000/0000/art00001 http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.3109/0000.2010.487622 http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0000X http://www.thelancet.com/journals/lanonc/article/PIIS1470-2045(03)01077-5/abstract http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/0000 http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/0000 I hope this address the query for now, please write back if you have any doubts. Wishing your uncle a speedy recovery. Best regards