Boosting the Immune System to Fight Cancer

Nearly every woman diagnosed with breast cancer feels conflicted about accepting treatment that knocks down her immune system. Intuition that tells you (more like SHOUTS at you) that you need to build up your immune system to combat the cancer and to restore your overall health. Once you understand that you need effective treatment to deal with a threat as serious as cancer, and you go ahead with your treatment, you still need to listen to your intuition. It does make sense that your immune system needs to be nurtured. Here are some practical ways to help you help yourself.
Complementary approaches to fighting infection and cancer
Nutrition, stress reduction, support groups, exercise—intriguing new studies suggest that these fundamental but non-traditional interventions may strengthen the immune system. For example, improved immune cell function has been documented after people with melanoma, a malignant skin cancer, attended regular support group meetings. Other studies find that women in breast cancer support groups live longer than those who don't join such groups. Researchers speculate that one reason is the stress-reducing, immune-supporting effects that these groups provide.
Nutrition
Any thing your body does is crippled by poor nutrition. This is true for healing a wound, building immune cell blood counts, and even managing stress. Attention to good nutrition makes sense whether it specifically benefits the immune system or not.
The power of nutrition to strengthen the immune function is not yet fully understood. But two leaders in the field: Dr. Keith Block (University of Illinois and the Block Medical Center, Evanston, Illinois), and Dr. Mitch Gaynor (Strang-Cornell Cancer Prevention Center, New York City), focus on nutrition as a means of reducing cancer risk and cancer death and increasing quality of life. Their work emphasizes vegetarian diets and fat restriction, coupled with stress reduction and other complementary medicine therapies. They believe these factors combine to strengthen the immune system.
Proponents of these innovative, non-traditional therapies say that excess weight and eating too much cholesterol and other fats are risk factors for cancer. They say that fat appears to reduce white cell production, affecting T-cell and macrophage activity. Further, they say, obesity and a poor diet compromise the lymphatic system, making the body more vulnerable to infection and disease. Eating large amounts of protein, such as that found in animal products, they believe, contributes to these undesirable effects. Thus, their nutritional programs strictly limit proteins that come from animal foods and unhealthy fats. In particular, stick to the monounsaturated fats like canola oil and olive oil, and avoid saturated fats like coconut oil, palm oils, and animal fats.

Mesothelioma Attorney

Mesothelioma attorneys - asbestos lawyers with a record of success.

Mesothelioma, a form of cancer usually caused by exposure to asbestos, is a serious illness. At Clapper, Patti, Schweizer & Mason, our attorneys understand how traumatic and devastating the disease of mesothelioma can be. Our approach to the process of helping mesothelioma victims obtain compensation and mesothelioma treatment is one based upon compassion and understanding, every step of the way. The challenges victims face can seem overwhelming, and mesothelioma treatment is expensive. A mesothelioma diagnosis can often mean severe financial hardship if you don't first obtain legal assistance provided by trial lawyers with the expertise and experience required. We have that expertise and two and a half decades of experience that can make the difference in successfully obtaining the compensation you are entitled to. The financial resources we make available allow our clients to focus on fighting mesothelioma, beating the odds, and enjoying time with their loved ones. If you are a patient seeking treatment for mesothelioma, you need the financial resources necessary to help you deal with this disease, and we can help.

Asbestos Exposure - holding asbestos companies accountable Every mesothelioma patient's exposure to asbestos is different. Some, such as insulators, shipyard workers, or boilermakers, had jobs that obviously involved working with asbestos. However, many mesothelioma victims we have represented have not known how or when they were exposed to asbestos until our lawyers and support staff completed an extensive asbestos exposure investigation. By getting to know each client as an individual, and by learning each client's personal story of asbestos exposure, we can show which asbestos companies were responsible for causing the mesothelioma. As lawyers representing people with mesothelioma, we hold the asbestos industry accountable for the damage their products have done. When asbestos exposure results in mesothelioma, no matter how far the asbestos company, construction company, or employer has gone to deny, disclaim or otherwise ignore the true cause for that mesothelioma, the attorneys at Clapper, Patti, Schweizer & Mason are your best ally in uncovering the truth and bringing your claim to successful financial resolution on your behalf. Many people with mesothelioma who first contact us mistakenly believe the asbestos companies did not know their asbestos products caused cancer until the 1970's or 1980's. This is unfortunately not true. Documents our lawyers have obtained in litigation show that manufacturers of asbestos products knew the workers in their own factories were getting lung cancer and mesothelioma from asbestos as early as the 1930's and 1940's, yet they hid this knowledge. It is a modern tragedy that most cases of mesothelioma and other asbestos cancers could and should have been prevented. While we cannot undo the harm that asbestos has caused, our mission as mesothelioma attorneys is to hold the wrongdoers accountable, and to recover the maximum compensation possible for our clients.

Mesothelioma - An Asbestos Cancer

Mesothelioma & Suggested Steps After Diagnosis

Exposure to asbestos has proven to result in a wide range of health conditions, including mesothelioma, a deadly cancer that attacks the lining of the lungs, heart, or abdomen. This rare form of cancer is almost exclusively caused by asbestos exposure.

Due to a long latency period, mesothelioma symptoms (shortness of breath, severe cough, chest pain) may not appear for 20 or more years. For this reason, mesothelioma is often diagnosed in later stages of development, which severely complicates treatment and chances of survival. To learn more about this elusive and often puzzling disease, please review our extensive resources, featuring information on mesothelioma causes, symptoms, diagnosis, and more.

Asbestos Exposure and Mesothelioma

From the 1930s through the 1970s, the U.S. Navy used hundreds of asbestos-contaminated products in all of its vessels, which led to hazardous asbestos exposure among thousands of veterans. Many veterans who worked in shipyards and aboard warships and submarines were heavily exposed to asbestos through standard operations.

As a result, more than 30 percent of mesothelioma victims are veterans. In addition to mesothelioma, navy veterans account for 16 percent of asbestos-related lung cancer. To learn more about when, where, and how veterans were exposed, visit our informative veterans and mesothelioma.

Prevent Lung Cancer

Indoor air pollution. Cooking at home in a village outside Faisabad town

About Lung Cancer

Lung Cancer is a disease that begins in the tissue of the lungs. The lungs are sponge-like organs that are part of the respiratory system. During breathing, air enters the mouth or nasal passage and travels down the trachea. The trachea splits into two sets of bronchial tubes that lead to the left and right lung. The bronchi branch off into smaller and smaller tubes that eventually end in small balloon-like sacs known as alveoli. The alveoli are where oxygen, carbon dioxide, and other substances are exchanged between the lungs and the blood stream.

The vast majority of Lung Cancer cases fall into one of two different categories:

Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer is the most common type of Lung Cancer, making up nearly 80% of all cases. This type of Lung Cancer grows and spreads more slowly than small cell lung cancer. Non-small cell lung cancer is divided into three different subcategories. Squamous cell carcinoma originates in the thin, flat cells that line the passages of the respiratory tract. Adenocarcinoma begins in the cells that form the lining of the lungs. Large cell carcinomas make up a group of cancers that look large and abnormal under a microscope.

Small Cell Lung Cancer makes up nearly 20% of all Lung Cancer cases. It is associated with cancer cells smaller in size than most other cancer cells. These cells may be small, but they can rapidly reproduce to form large tumors. Their size and quick rate of reproduction allows them to spread to the lymph nodes and to other organs of the body. This type of Lung Cancer is almost always caused by smoking or second hand smoke.

Lung Disease at Present: Each year 10 million people die of lung disease, we know that with research,collaboration and education we can reduce this deadly toll.

Lung Cancer Facts

Estimated Cancer Deaths in 2007

Lung cancer is the leading cause of cancer death in the United States among every ethnic group... 1 in every 3 cancer deaths.

Lung cancer will kill:

• More people than breast, prostate, colon, live, kidney, and melanoma cancers... combined.
• Over three times as many men as prostate cancer.
• Nearly twice as many women as breast cancer.
• An average of 439 people a day.

Percent of New Lung Cancer Cases

Over 60% of new cases are never smokers or former smokers, many of whom quit decades ago.

One in five women and one in twelve men diagnosed with lung cancer have never smoked.