Since prostate cancer is predominantly a slow growing and asymptomatic disease, emergencies directly caused by prostate cancer are relatively rare. But there are a few conditions that can arise and it is good to be aware of them. Dr. Scholz highlights a few of these emergency conditions.

Circulation is a vital part of strengthening your immune system’s ability to fight off disease. This is especially true in the case of cancer. Providing a good amount of oxygen to your cells keeps them healthy and increases their resistance to disease. Oxygen also aids in the repair of previously damaged cells. Dr. Dean Foster and strength trainer Joseph Aviel are going to show you an exercise that will keep your heart and lungs at the top of their game, circulating as much oxygen as possible to your body.

In my last blog I contended that of all the different ways to treat cancer—hormone therapy, chemotherapy, radiation or surgery for example—immune therapy has the greatest potential to save lives: Only the immune system, by its very nature, has the ability to adapt to the many thousands of varieties of cancer.  Also, new breakthroughs in understanding how it works have led to real progress inharnessing the immune system to fight cancer. 

Doctors finally seem to be comfortable with starting Provenge, a recently FDA approved immune therapy for prostate cancer.  Dendreon, the manufacturer of Provenge, just reported a sharp uptick in their quarterly financials, indicating that the use of Provenge is increasing as doctors increase the amount of the drug they order.

As I understand it, the immune system is the body’s equivalent of the Department of Homeland Security. Its primary task is to provide constant surveillance and, when necessary, seek out “terrorists”—defective and cancerous cells—and destroy them. However, when immune surveillance breaks down or is compromised, it is usually as a result of environment pollutants, poor diet, lack of exercise, and an array of emotional suppressors.

Using the immune system to fight cancer is a rapidly advancing area of research. The immune system (as it relates to fighting cancer) is made up of three components: 1) regulatory cells (TRegs), 2) killer cells, and 3) detector cells otherwise known as dendritic cells.  Dendritic cells activate the killer cells and help them “home in” on the cancer.