Stress From Cancer Diagnosis Suppresses Immune System And Worsens Outcome

[haidut]

A recent study posted on the forum found that more than 20% of newly diagnosed cancer patients experience PTSD as a result of the stress associated with the diagnosis. The fact that PTSD is still largely considered a genetically-driven disease has somehow managed to escape question about this obvious paradox. Stress kills, and the sooner medicine recognizes that fact the better for everybody involved.
This new study now finds that the effects of the so-called psychosocial stress caused by a cancer diagnosis, powerfully suppresses the immune system and worsens prognosis/outcome for the cancer patient. While there is no talk about what percentage of cancer patients die as a result of the immunosuppression from this iatrogenic stress, the study hints that the percentage is significant. If we add to that number the percentage of patients who die as a result of side effects from cancer treatments, it may turn out that the majority of cancer patients die from iatrogenic causes. Scary thought indeed!
The immunosuppressive effects of stress in this case were driven by adrenaline. This underscores once again the role of elevated fatty acids in the progression of cancer, which I have posted about quite a few times in recent months.
Inhibiting Lipolysis May Treat / Cure Cancer

Hopefully, the follow up studies from these authors will not be simply how to block adrenaline signalling with beta blockers, but will tie in the role of fatty acids as well. Btw, I am surprised the study does not mention cortisol, which is actually the first to rise in response to any stressful experience.

Beta-adrenergic signaling impairs anti-tumor CD8+ T cell responses to B cell lymphoma immunotherapy
Researchers show stress suppresses response to cancer treatments

"...New research shows that chronic stress suppresses the immune system’s response to cancer, reducing the effectiveness of immunotherapy treatments. University of Queensland scientists say they are investigating dual therapies for patients to reduce stress signalling and improve their response to treatments. UQ Diamantina Institute researcher Dr Stephen Mattarollo said lymphoma progressed more rapidly in mouse models when stress pathways were induced to reflect chronic psychological stress. “When we used immunotherapies on these mice they were not able to respond as effectively as those which had not been stressed,” Dr Mattarollo said.

“This is because the stress led to poor function against the cancer by T-cells, which are very important in the immune system’s control and surveillance of tumours and are a major target in many immunotherapy treatments.” Dr Mattarollo said increased anxiety was natural with a cancer diagnosis, and it should be managed to ensure the best possible outcome for patients. “Absolutely there is now pre-clinical evidence to suggest that treatments and lifestyle interventions to manage or reduce stress levels will improve the chances of these patients responding to therapies,” he said." “This applies particularly to immunotherapies, but many conventional therapies such as chemotherapy also rely on components of the immune system for their effectiveness. “It is quite possible that by increasing the immune function in patients they will also respond better to some other therapies.”

 

[Braveheart]

There is a connection between the emotions, the mind, and cancer. Somewhere I read that the majority of individuals diagnosed with cancer have similar psychological traits. Among these characteristics is experiencing a traumatizing and emotionally-damaging event roughly two years before getting a cancer diagnosis.

My cancer diagnosis came exactly 2 years after my stroke...the stroke took a huge part of my life away...it was an incredible shock that changed my life overnite.

 

[lexis]

If the stress is adrenal related,eat squash. Reduces adrenal hypersensitivity. This is from my experience.

 

[StephanF]

The German physician Dr. Geerd Hamer developed the 'German New Medicine', where a traumatic emotional shock can trigger cancer. The emotion triggers a 'brain relay' that starts a special biological 'survival program', which grows a tumor and this is controlled via the central nervous system. We inherited these 'survival programs' from the animal kingdom. They were supposed to increase the survival of an animal in a stress situation.

Example:

My elder brother in Germany was diagnosed with bladder cancer in 2015. Two years earlier, our mom passed away and she left us with a big mansion. My elder brother had to deal with the estate and its many problems. When I learned about his diagnosis, I immediately looked up the emotional trigger for bladder cancer in Dr. Hamer's book and there is said, cause of bladder cancer: 'house, inheritance'. And talking to my brother he completely agreed, he had recurring nightmares about the house being burnt down, or the house being robbed and was now overwhelmed with the task to take care of the estate. My younger brother has stepped in and my brother is released from that task, his cancer seems to go into remission, he had an experimental, local alpha-emitter treatment and his last biopsy showed only pre-cancerous cells. The biological reason from the animal kingdom is that an animal marks its territory with its urine. If there is another animal that tries to invade this territory, the first animal's bladder will be filled with tumors thereby reducing the bladder capacity such that the animal has to mark its territory more often. When the stress is removed, there can be a healing crisis according to Dr. Hamer, which can be lethal in itself, and after that has been overcome, the cancer just vanishes.

The biological model of the cancer is explained in the 'Trophoblastic Theory of Cancer'. The trophoblast is a cancer-like growth that attaches the fertilized egg to the uterus. Without that there would be no pregnancy. On the 56 (or so) day of pregnancy, the pancreas of the embryo starts to excrete chymotrypsin, an enzyme that will stop and 'digest' the trophoblast. This was part of the cancer therapy that Dr. Donald Kelley started with his metabolic diet for cancer. Chymotrypsin is in some enzyme products and may help in fighting cancer but I think that the emotional part has first to be addressed.

So in most cases, cancer is emotionally triggered, except if it is due to radiation damage or toxic chemicals.