Suzanne Somers Wants To Cure Cancer
Posted by: Ami Angelowicz
Filed in:
celebs
11:20AM, Thursday October 22nd 2009
So maybe I would go to former sitcom star Suzanne Somers for advice about how to shape up my thighs (remember the Thigh Master?), but certainly not for tips about how to help cure cancer. In her new book, Knockout: Interviews With Doctors Who Are Curing Cancer And How To Prevent It In The First Place (it’s her 19th book … I know ... what the heck is she writing about?), Suzanne is making some outrageous claims that are making people at the American Cancer Society outraged.
What is she saying? She claims that chemotherapy kills—not cancer. So how should people treat cancer? Like she did when she found out she had breast cancer ten years ago—with radiation, surgery, and alternative medicine. Wait, why should we be taking medical advice from a has-been TV actress? Existing cancer treatments like chemo are used for a reason, because they are FDA approved and proven to prolong the lives of patients. Not that I have anything against the option to consider alternative medicine as a possible course of treatment, but if I or one of my loved ones had cancer, let’s just say I wouldn’t run out and buy Suzanne’s book. Especially after her appearance on “Oprah” where she talked about complex bioidentical hormones (?) and how chemo killed Patrick Swayze (she later apologized for that statement). As if the audience wasn’t freaked out enough by her wackadoodle health ideas, she also admitted to popping over 60 pills a day as part of her health regime. Is someone just terrified of old age? Stick to thighs, Suzanne. [Celebitchy]
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writergirl
wrote on October 22 2009 @ 10:26 am: [report]
My BFF actually swears by her and became really hooked after her husband was diagnosed/treated for prostate cancer. (He was young to contract it). Ironic, considering he works in the oncology field. I don’t think *he* subscribed to Suzanne’s rec’s, but she sure did.
ashsass24
wrote on October 22 2009 @ 11:45 am: [report]
“So maybe I would go to former sitcom star Suzanne Somers for advice about how to shape up my thighs, but certainly not for tips about how to help cure cancer. “
Actually you really should go to her for tips about curing cancer, since she got rid of her breast cancer almost entirelly by herself (yes, got rid of it, not just went into remission).
This article is RIDICULOUS! This person has obviously never read anything about chemotherapy as, yes, it does in fact kill more than just cancer. It kills your healthy cells too. Chemo can’t tell the difference between healthy cells and cancerous cells so it kills them both, whereas a lot of holistic treatments can tell the difference.
I’m not getting into all the western vs. holistic stuff on here, but trust me, if you want to survive cancer-your chances are MUCH better with holistic medicine.
I watched chemotherapy and “the best oncologist in the nation” quickly kill my young and once healthy mother last Fall, but once we started holistic treatments she was making improvements that her nurses had never seen before, unfortunetly the chemo had killed her liver alreay and it was simply too late.
This author is completely ignorant. She’s obviously not aware that it’s a proven fact that more people will in fact die from complications from their chemotherapy treatments than they will from their cancer-pharmacutical companies just don’t want you to know that (if they tell you these things, they stop making money-think about it)! She needs to know what she’s talking about before she puts ignorant crap like this article up.
SueSue
wrote on October 22 2009 @ 01:09 pm: [report]
Not for nothing, but chemo does kill - you just have to hope it kills the cancer before it kills you. And the FDA doesn’t have the safety of the public in mind when they approve things. Matter of fact, they do NO INDEPENDENT TESTING on anything whatsoever, they rely on testing done by the company introducing the new medicine/product, which is as far from independent as you can get. And what do they all have in common? Profit motive.
That being said, yeah she may be a little kooky and she’s not a doctor or THE go-to cancer guru, but people should definitely be researching and looking into the causes and possible cures for cancer rather than take “traditional” western medicine as the end-all be-all. If by writing this book she is contributing to that conversation, I can’t be mad at her.
Lexington
wrote on October 22 2009 @ 01:50 pm: [report]
I tend to dismiss medical advice from celebrities, i.e. telling me not to vaccine my (non-existent) children, not getting the swine flu shot, waiting for the unicorns to magically heal my life-threatening illnesses, et cetera.
The one time I got really pissed off at a celebrity’s medical advice was when Oprah was basically saying good thoughts make you healthy- so my super sweet, well behaved, thought of everyone else before her mother contracted the cancer that killed her because she was emitting negative energy? That’s not just BS, it’s crossing the line. Things like stress have an effect on your body I can accept, but ‘negative energy’ is blaming people for getting sick, and is a horrible thing to do to anyone.
Sorry, I know I went off-topic there.
MichelleTM
wrote on October 22 2009 @ 07:03 pm: [report]
As a current cancer patient when you here those three words, ‘you have cancer’ you do whatever you need to to get healthy and stay alive. If that means surgery (twice, going on three times), radiation (eight weeks worth), or Chemo (hopefully never) then that is what you do. Yeah the chemicals suck, the treatments suck but they kill the cancer. And cancer really sucks!
retro chic
wrote on October 22 2009 @ 08:14 pm: [report]
Since many oncologists are going multimodal, all forms of therapy should be considered. It doesn’t kill you to do that, but it can if you don’t consider the one out of the hundreds that could have. Somers is kind of a kook, but if there’s any info that can help someone, somewhere, why not? Separate her from the info.
@MichelleTM: Yep it sucks! I don’t have it, but, several people in my life had it/live with it. Besides support, it’s definitely a case of Knowledge is Power, to stay strong, in charge, and ahead of it. Best of luck to you in anticipation of your full and complete recovery!
ps: I read your profile; I was a nonprofit manager too, for an oncologist no less! I did his seminars and marketing until he retired. I’m helping him now with his endowment at USC for a new Women’s Cancer Center. PM me if you’d like more info on resources.
Oh Kathryn!
wrote on October 22 2009 @ 11:06 pm: [report]
Yeah, I had cancer, wanna know why I no longer have cancer? BECAUSE I GOT CHEMO LIKE I WAS TOLD TO.
erinsaurus
wrote on October 29 2009 @ 06:14 pm: [report]
“, they rely on testing done by the company introducing the new medicine/product, which is as far from independent as you can get. “
Actually, many companies outsource this to contract companies who are legally obligated to report actual results, not just what the companies want them too.
Enough with the personal attacks about ignorance. Both western and holistic treatments have their place, pros and cons.