Experience with Cavilon - the politics

I need to be careful, as our NHS have recently refused to continue cancer treatment to patients who dare to supplement their inadequate NHS treatment with privately funded treatment. A government mantra - we must all be treated equally.....we cannot spend our "after tax" money to enhance our lives! Even worse, the government use my taxes to bribe Scottish folk to quit smoking!

It isn't as though the NHS treatment was perfect, these posts question whether radiotherapy and chemotherapy do more harm than good against cancers such as Jan's. So we need lateral thinking, and patient involvement in finding new cures be they medical or diet based. An NHS doctor's blog on this issue is here.

Jan is treated in Hertfordshire, one of the worst three counties in the UK for breast cancer survival. So life is not fair anyway. Scottish and English NHS treatments differ, is that fair? Will they insist all patients eat the same food? Can Jan please be enroled on the NHS free dark chocolate trial? One lady we know gets free dark chocolate that would cost me nearly £2 a day, why not us?

In Jan's case we are not funding a drug, just privately funding and trialling Cavilon, a fairly cheap plastic film. In my view we are providing the NHS and country a service, and should not be "condemned". We have openly shared this knowledge with the NHS hospital, they have had free access to the results of this one patient trial as Jan is treated by them. I have provided at no cost to the NHS and advice via this blog to any other cancer sufferer

• Google research to find the product and details of its use
  
• Purchased product at my expense
• Provided nursing support to apply and manage product
• Document results here
• Saved the NHS any cost in providing cream and nursing care for skin damage as none was needed, the Cavilon was effective in Jan's case.
  

It reduced the burden on the NHS. If the government continue to persecute those who supplement their treatment we risk those people merely doing such things in secret. We could have applied Cavilon in secret, it does not show at all if washed off and re-applied every third day, but the NHS would not have had the opportunity to see a trial of an effective product.

Further details are in earlier posts, please search "Cavilon" in the blog if needed. I have no vested interest or association with 3M, the manufacturers of Cavilon.

Do the NHS miss the best?

I earlier said Jan's radiologist had given her advice that was not in her best interest.

There is a product named Cavilon that helps protect against damage to the skin during radiotherapy. I can find trials for its use in Australia, South Africa, USA, and even references in our NHS at Leeds and Bath. Yet when we twice ask can we use it the answer is NO. They prefer their traditional moisturising cream....

Jan's radiologist seems unaware of such developments, even though the Australian trial started in 2004. How come I can find it with a simple Google search yet our NHS radiologist is unaware of it? Just as they were unaware of the PRIME radiotherapy trial which could cut the need for any radiotherapy for people like Jan. This is a trial that my taxes are funding, why cannot we even be aware of the possible benefits?

I despair......80% or folk get skin reactions to radiotherapy, yet our team are unaware of this treatment, which cuts the incidence of some cases by 33% from trial data to date. Is 33% not worth it?

Yesterday Jan's friend who has now completed radiotherapy phoned. Her skin continues to deteriorate, and is so bad her doctors reckon she will need to be off work until 23 June. Yes, it doesn't stop deteriorating once radiotherapy ceases. So another 8 weeks loss of pay and work from her, when Cavilon costs less than £12 a bottle. Is it the cost of Cavilon hits the NHS budget, whereas 8 weeks loss of pay does not?

For more info on Cavilon see my post dated April 1st, where I link to photographic evidence.

I will willing to pay for Cavilon myself, and have no links to 3M, the makers of Cavilon. This is not a commercial! Yet does it illustrate a more serious underlying problem?

Cavilon is not a quack product with unscientific claims unlike so many health food remedies. It is made by 3M, the makers of Post it notes amongst other plastic products. 3M already supply to the NHS. Their research is done by university professors. If radiologists at one of the top NHS hospitals are unaware of this, would they also be unaware of important breakthroughs in cancer treatment and care, such as may have been found by Professor Jane Plant?

Can we trust their dietary advice? Would they recognise a better treatment if it was available?