What does a person need to be well?
This is an important question for people interested in caring for themselves or for others. It is the question that has guided care at Mayo Clinic for more than a century. The Mayo Brothers placed before all else the needs of each person they served, and the organization they established has continued to do the same. Nationally, despite the best efforts of so many to address human need, a complicated system of unprecedented expense and inequality has lead to a crisis in health and in health care. So, as everyone from individual Twitterers to the Obama Administration works toward making things better, it may be worthwhile to consider that basic question: what does a person need to be well?
10 Comments
Finally, someone’s asking the right question.
I HAVE A 2 PART QUESTION IN LIGHT OF THE PASSING OF FARRAH FAWCETT AFTER A REMARKABLY COURAGEOUS BATTLE WITH CANCER. GIVEN ALL THE RUN-OF-THE-MILL RECOMMENDATIONS OF STAYING WELL, THERE IS STILL A GREAT PART OF HUMANITY THAT INEVITABLY SUCCUMB TO CANCER, & THAT INCLUDES MS. FAWCETT. I OPINE THAT A CURE DOES NOT WANT TO BE HAD BECAUSE THAT LARGELY DESTROYS THE INDUSTRY. IS NOT THERE SOME REMEDY IN SOME RAINFOREST? WHAT ABOUT THIS TREATMENT WITH CESIUM? U. KANSAS DOCS ARE NOW INJECTING A FORM OF ASCORBIC ACID DIRECTLY INTO CANCER TUMORS WHICH CAUSE A CHEMICAL REACTION TO PRODUCE HYDROGEN PEROXIDE WHICH DESTROYS THE CANCER CELL. THEN WHY IS THIS TREATMENT NOT HEADLINES? WHY ALL THE NAYSAYERS? YOU WOULD FIGURE NOW WELL INTO THE 21ST CENTURY WE WOULD HAVE IMPROVED OUR CURE & REMISSION RATES. PESTICIDES, HEAVY METALS, BENZENE, & TOBACCO ASIDE, WHY ARE STILL SO MANY PEOPLE DYING. GOD WHEN I GO TO THE OUTPATIENT CENTER JUST TO GET ORDINARY BLOODWORK, ONE CANNOT HELP BUT VIEW THE MANY PATIENTS IN THE RECEPTION AREA OF THE ONCOLOGY DOCS. MY SENTIMENT IS WHAT’S THE USE? THIS IS ALL A GAME. MOST OF THESE PEOPLE ARE GONNA DIE ANYHOW, THEY’LL JUST DIE AFTER SPENDING LOTS OF MONEY. THIS DISEASE TOUCHES US ALL. I CAN’T UNDERSTAND WHY IN 1 BLINK THEY CAN FIND TAXOL FROM A YEW TREE, & YET CAN’T FIND ANYTHING ELSE ON THE GLOBE TO TARGET THESE CELLS WITH SUCCESS.
Thank you for your comment.
I do hope and believe that cancer someday will be a thing of the past. In the meantime, I have never met a person involved at any level of health care who does not want a cure to be found as soon as possible. To be clear, there are many, many people who dedicate their professional and personal lives to finding cures for cancer and for countless other diseases. I have the utmost respect and gratitude for these individuals and for their work. I’m sure they would ask for nothing more than the obsolescence of their profession.
Your point about the rainforest is an excellent one, and this is an area of great potential. A longtime friend, Dr. Eric Chivian, is Director of Harvard’s Center for Health and the Global Environment (http://chge.med.harvard.edu). That center’s very mission is, “to help people understand that our health, and that of our children, depends on the health of the environment, and that we must do everything we can to protect it.” Dr. Chivian and his team make it their business to spread awareness of the many remedies already found in rainforests and other biomes and to protect environments that hold the innumerable other remedies yet to be identified.
Also on the bright side, there is a growing movement from paper, subscription-based scientific journals, toward open-access, online journals. An already-observed consequence of this trend is a shorter turnaround from study conclusion to publication. Hopefully, this more rapid sharing of insights will lead us sooner to the cures we all want.
The difficulty with treating cancers and that seems to be the right choice of words is “cancers” that with so many different types there is not a one size fits all treatment. The expanse of treatments that are available do cannot be put into the one size fits all bin.
Take breast cancer as an example. In addition to chemotherapy drugs, there are a variety of targeted drugs for breast cancer treatment.
A physician might prescribe hormonal therapies, such as SERMs (selective estrogen receptor modulators) or aromatase inhibitors to prevent estrogen from reaching the tumor. This helps to slow the growth and reproduction of breast cancer cells.
Then there is tamoxifen, the most common hormone therapy drug used today for both early and advanced stage breast cancer treatment.
In addition to hormone breast cancer therapies, biological response modifiers, like Herceptin (Trastuzumab), are drugs that bind with specific proteins on breast cancer cells
You can see when it comes to breast cancer what works on one type does no work on others. There is no one size fits all, and adding the genetic component make it even more difficult. I do believe that supplements that are natural such as resveratrol, which is a rich antioxidant compound that can be found mainly in the skins of red grapes (especially Vitis vinifera, labrusca, and muscadine grapes, which are used to produce red wines) blueberries, mulberries, and peanuts may offer a glimpse into treatment options of the future.
However, taking the human element into the picture, people in general have to be more proactive when it comes to their own health, and that is the bottom line.
Hunter
I think a varied diet rich in fruit and vegetables is the basis of good health. Your energy levels rise and your immune system is given the nutrients it needs to defend your body.
Regular exercise is also a must.
Nice article thanks for sharing very intresting
I agree Hunter.were very engaged
I believe this is a loaded question. Not only does a person need their physical health needs met they also need their mental health needs met as well. Usually we only focus on physical health and don’t even look at the effects mental health can have on the body. I’m not saying you can “think away” cancer but I believe your thoughts and feelings can help prevent it.
A good diet will help make a healthy person. I believe exercise both physical and mental will do a lot of good as well.
Steve
As Jake says a good diet and exercise can go a long way in keeping us well.