Great Holiday Gifts for Cancer Patients - Give the Gift of Natural Skin Care

Skin Free Products offer an all natural skin care solution for cancer patients. The Skin Free product line is made with all natural ingredients and is an excellent product line for people with delicate, sensitive and very dry skin, or skin that is compromised by chemicals or medication. The products are innovative, effective and affordable.

A great holiday gift is the Basic Four Gift set: This fabulous gift has it all! A must for anyone with dry, broken, or delicate skin. This gift bag includes: Super Moisture Body Balm, 8 oz.; After Shower Moisture Spritz, 8 oz.;Niaouli Butter Stick, 1 oz. and Extra Moisturizing Soap, 3.5 oz.

The Skin Free products have the following attributes:
• All natural ingredients
• No harmful chemicals or preservatives
• No artificial fragrance
• No petroleum products
• No colorants
• No animal testing
• Non-greasy
• No steroids

Skin Free products contain oils obtained from vegetable sources that are readily absorbed by the skin, providing a pleasing feeling, and offer a variety of beneficial antioxidants, vitamins, and other healing nutrients. Many other skin care products have petroleum jelly or mineral oil bases are occlusive and not absorbed by the skin. This results in an unpleasant or “greasy” feeling.

Please visit our website by clicking here to read more about the Skin Free skin care product line.

Two New DNA Tests Could Offer Noninvasive Ways of Detecting Colon Cancer

Two new DNA based tests could help most people avoid colonoscopies if they are ultimately approved by the FDA after completing clinical trials and testing. Colon cancer is diagnosed in approximately 150,000 people per year in the US.

Exact Sciences of Madison, WI uses stool samples, and searches for the presence of four altered genes that are diagnostic indicators of colon cancer. This test could catch cancerous and precancerous tumors at an early stage, when they are still curable. Doctors could then remove them promptly. Exact Sciences hopes to complete a trial in 2012 and the test, if approved by the FDA could be available shortly thereafter.

Epigenomics AG of Germany has developed another test that searches in blood for changes in a single gene, Septin 9. This single gene is not in the Exact Sciences’ panel of genes.

Both tests could be less expensive than a colonoscopy, and would presumably have better compliance because many people avoid colonoscopies due to their invasive nature and unpleasant preparation.

To read more about these tests please refer to the NY Times article by Nicholas Wade dated 10/29/10 by clicking here.

Cancer Gifts – Thoughtful Gifts for Cancer Patients Undergoing Radiation Therapy Treatment

Cancer gifts express your caring, concern and support. If you are having trouble selecting just the right item for your friend or loved one consider buying a product or a collection of products to ease cancer side effects.

Patients who are undergoing radiation therapy often get radiation dermatitis, or radiation burns. There are some excellent creams and lotions that can help to prevent the burns, and then to soothe them if a person has already been burned. A few suggestions include:

•  RADX radiation therapy gift kit – 4 products to help from before radiation starts to post radiation skin protection care. Using these products should keep your skin supple and healthy
•  Alra therapy lotion - offers soothing relief to skin exposed to radiation therapy, and is also effective in the treatment of eczema, sunburn, and other severe dry skin conditions
•  CoolMagic gel sheets - these light-weight, see-through polymer sheets provide instant cooling to burns, abrasions, skin tears, radiation reactions and sensitive wounds, effectively reducing pain.
•  Skin cooler rolls - especially effective on hyper-sensitive, compromised skin. They can be used on radiation dermatitis, sunburn, “hot flashes”, or itchy, dry skin.
•  My Girl's Cream - Calendula based, and made in Hungary, My Girls skin cream has a creamy texture that spreads easily over delicate skin and helps maintain the healthy appearance of the skin without staining clothes.
•  7 cream -  7 Cream is a topical homeopathic skin care remedy with 7 natural ingredients whose healing properties help radiation burns.

Other unpleasant and uncomfortable side effects of radiation and chemotherapy can be related to oral care, hair care, skin care (other than radiation burns), and nausea.
We will talk about gift suggestions for these side effects in future blog posts.

To view our cancer gift page click here.
http://www.lotstolivefor.com/brands/cancer-gifts/

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Scalp Cooling to Prevent Chemotherapy Hair Loss

We have received a number of questions about scalp cooling with ice or gel caps to prevent hair loss during chemotherapy. We have researched some literature and found an article which has reviewed a number of studies relating to Scalp Cooling During Chemotherapy. We suggest that if you are interested in this that you refer to the full article we highlight and reference in this blog piece. The article is entitled “Prevention of Chemotherapy-Induced Hair Loss by Scalp Cooling” by E. G. Grevelman and W.P.M. Breed of the Netherlands, and was published by the Annals of Oncology on January 10, 2005. This article is available on line and can be accessed by clicking here. The abstract from this article is shown below:

Abstract
Background: Chemotherapy-induced temporary hair loss is one of the most common and distressing side-effects of cancer therapy. Scalp cooling to reduce this hair loss is a controversial issue for many doctors and nurses. This may be due to inadequate knowledge.
Methods: This review from 53 publications and three personal communications focuses on the efficacy of the treatment, side-effects, possible disadvantages and the controversies in these areas.
Results: Scalp cooling has become an increasingly effective method to prevent hair loss, especially when anthracyclines or taxanes are used. Unfortunately, many studies were small and badly designed and are therefore difficult to compare. There is a considerable variation in the success rates in the various studies. This remains unexplained, but the cooling time, the chemotherapy used and the temperature seem to be influential. Scalp cooling should not be used if chemotherapy is given with a curative intent in patients with generalised haematogenic metastases. The majority of patients tolerate cooling very well.
Conclusion: Based on the results of these studies, scalp cooling should be applied more. However, it is not possible to advise on the optimum application of the cooling methods (system, duration and temperature). Careful application of the cooling cap might be more important than the cooling system itself. In addition, scalp cooling is effective but not for all chemotherapy patients. Further psychological, clinical and biophysical research is needed to determine exact indications for cooling and to improve the effect, tolerance, side-effects and the cooling procedure. Multicentre trials should be carried out to gather this information.

On our website we sell several products that can help people who are dealing with chemotherapy hair loss. We sell shampoos that can help to reduce or prevent hair loss during chemotherapy, and if the hair has already fallen out, we have some products that can help to cleanse the scalp and the hair follicles. Please refer to our website for information about the Thymuskin Product line, the Anasazzi Hair Care line, and Alra Shampoo.

Expert Guidance on Treatment and Prevention for People with Cancer and their Allies

We would like to introduce you to Ralph W. Moss, PhD. He has been thinking and writing about cancer — especially its less-conventional treatments — for over 35 years. During this time he has written or edited twelve books and three film documentaries on questions relating to cancer research and treatment. Moss is a graduate of New York University (BA, cum laude, Phi Beta Kappa, 1965) and Stanford University (MA, 1973, PhD, 1974, Classics).
The former science writer and assistant director of public affairs at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York (1974-1977), Moss evaluates the claims of various conventional and non-conventional cancer treatments. He currently directs The Moss Reports, an up-to-date library of detailed reports on more than 200 varieties of cancer. Since 2001 he has published a weekly online newsletter that reaches tens of thousands of readers. Although not a medical doctor, he is noted for his critical acumen on health topics and is listed in Marquis Who’s Who in America, Who’s Who in the World, Who’s Who in HealthCare, etc.
Ralph Moss has a very informative blog with guidance on treatment and prevention for people with cancer. You can access this blog by clicking here: http://themossreports.wordpress.com/
Some recent topics he has written about are:
Overcoming Side Effects of Tamoxifen
A Dietary Supplement for Breast Cancer
In addition to his cancer blog, Ralph Moss also has a website called Cancer Decisions and you can subscribe to a weekly e-newsletter through this website.