Hacker News Reader

Hacker News

Comment by mansigandhi | Hacker News Reader

Parent Full thread

mansigandhi

Huh? Do you have an idea of how science and medicine works?

View on HN

Just wondering what this has to do with Hacker News. But anyway, check out:

http://www.cancer-research-awareness.com/why-chemotherapy-ne...

http://www.smashcancer.com/2010/08/22/cancer-lies-and-the-me...

http://current.com/green/89138817_cancer-is-not-a-disease-ch...

Just a few writings and articles speaking about the lie that is chemotherapy.

I have an idea how medicine works, let me spell it out here for you:

1. Poison the foods (GMO, sugars, fats, overprocessed crap that is the idea of western food)

2. Sell medicine for people who eat this poisoned food

3. Profit!

Now, this is _my_ idea. You are allowed to have your own idea about this.

This "lie", as you call chemotherapy, has kept my dad alive for 5 more years than what the doctors were giving him when he was first diagnosed. Would he get cancer if he didn't eat sugars,fats and over processed food our western society eats? Maybe. But you don't know that. Instead, you are trying to neglect the obvious, which is the fact that chemotherapy is actually saving lives of people like my dad. I agree that we should improve the way we live our lives, eat healthier, exercise more etc etc.....but you can't bash companies making life saving drugs.

My father has been in remission now for coming up 6 years, the chemotherapy worked quite well I think.

He never smoked, didn't really have GMO crops even available to him to eat for most of his life.

I don't get why people like to have this idea that avoiding cancer is as simple as shopping at a more expensive supermarket. In a way it's almost a culture of victim blaming.

Of course I can bash companies. Most of those cancer medications are made from patented medicines that have been developed originally from the Amazon rainforest, from their natural counterparts.

These big companies are then spending billions of dollars in marketing in favor of chemotherapy and other medications that can easily cost thousands of dollars per month.

And the more they sell their medication, the more money they get, as their patients stay sick. What is their motivation really to heal their patients ?

The truth also is, many people die from the actual chemotherapy process. Good thing your dad is still alive.

Just rattling the normal view here.

Chemo sucks, because of the sides and the low improvement in meaningful outcomes. It's still one of the best treatments we have once

As someone that is in preventitive medicine: It's a bit more complicated. But one of the hardest part is changing peoples habits. Besides the rather crappy data available on prevention/diet etc.. Sensationalism and fear can help some to change their life. But there are better (more positive) methods.

Thanks for answering the question: you have NO idea how science and medicine works and instead prefer regurgitating ideological bullshit.

I have some idea how science works. Science is like a religion: if something can't be measured, it is not real in the name of science.

Don't take me too seriously though. If chemotherapy works, good for you. Just trying to present alternative views into this. I've heard so many stories and people talking how chemotherapy was the cause that killed them.

But sure, I am just shooting opinions here. Like everyone else here.

And I believe I have some idea how science works, so don't assume something you don't know.

> Science is like a religion: if something can't be measured, it is not real in the name of science.

That's exactly why science is not at all like a religion: "can be measured" really just means "affects the real world". If something affects the real world (and that includes the human mind), it can be studied using scientific methods. If it doesn't, well... what's the point?

As for chemotherapy, yes, most of it is really nasty stuff that can kill you (and in gruesome ways, too). But cancer is really nasty stuff that will kill you in gruesome ways. That's the only reason why such dangerous therapies with really bad side effects are used - because sometimes they're the only thing that can keep you alive. Quite often actually, though it may not feel that way at the time.

I just went through chemotherapy. It was god damned awful, basically the worst experience of my short life. That said, my doctors are pretty confident that it worked, although only time will tell. Statistically the specific treatment I received (orchiectomy + 3x BEP chemo) is 95% successful.

I think it's disingenuous to lump all cancer and all chemo together. There are thousands of types of each, some more effective than others. Cancer is a horrifically complicated set of diseases.

Also, would I have gotten cancer if I didn't eat GMO food? Who knows. There's zero evidence that that's true.

I'm sorry. None of this is legitimate, validated science of any kind. Not even close to that. This falls into the domain of homeopathy, conspiracy theories, and old-wives tales.

Science doesn't work by conspiracy theories, nor without data, nor by opinions. The data points to this "idea" being absolutely wrong.

Unlike politics or art, opinions don't count.

Please, let's engage with the real science that has been done, studying the mechanisms by which cell growth control goes awry and chemotherapy targets proliferative growth. Yes, let's talk about how chemotherapy is poorly targeted, and ways we can improve it to really only kill cancer cells.

But let's stay away from pseudoscience. We can do better.

He was sarcastic.

Look at his answer. He wasn't.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com