This web page discusses colon cancer, which may have a different mechanism and treatment from other forms of cancer. Please see Cancer Overview for general information that is common to all forms of cancer.
Please see conventional, complimentary and alternative medical treatments for important background information regarding the different types of medical treatments discussed on this page. Naturopathic, Complimentary and Alternative treatments that may be considered include:
[Friedman2013, pg 73] has presented a compelling model for the prevention and treatment of breast and prostate cancer, and pointed out that (properly administered with attention to suppressing conversion to estradiol and dihydrotestosterone), testosterone is capable of killing colon cancer cells by promoting apoptosis [Gu2009], [Gu2011].
The differences between different types of cancers require further study.
According to the Low Dose Naltrexone home page [LDN], LDN has been seen to benefit colon cancer. [LDN_Cancer] reports that the late Dr. Bernard Bihari treated approximately 450 patients with some form of cancer, with a 60% success rate, almost all of who had failed to respond to standard treatments.
Dr. Weyrich has been trained in the use of Low Dose Naltrexone (LDN). However, Dr. Weyrich has not treated any cases of colon cancer with LDN.
Please see What is Low Dose Naltrexone? for more information.
According to the Low Dose Naltrexone home page [LDN], LDN has been seen to benefit colon cancer. It is believed that LDN works by temporarily blocking the body's opioid receptors, which induces a reflex increase in the body's natural endorphin and enkephalin levels, which then target the tumors' opioid receptors and induce apoptosis (programmed cell death) of the cancer cells. The endorphins and enkephalins also increase natural killer cells and other immune responses against the cancer cells [Mathews1983].
The main caveats are that patients cannot also be being treated with extended release opiates for pain control and cannot be organ transplant recipients. This is an off-label use, and as such is not likely to be covered by insurance.
Dr. Weyrich has been trained in the use of Low Dose Naltrexone (LDN) and offers these protocols as a complement to other therapies; however at this time Dr. Weyrich has not treated any cases of colon cancer.