March, 2015 - Ronny Allan - Living with Neuroendocrine Cancer

22Mar 2015 by Ronny Allan 23 Comments

The trouble with the NET (Part 1) – Cancer Myths

Awareness, Diet and Nutrition, Patient Advocacy, Survivorship

Certain popular ideas about how cancer starts and spreads - though scientifically wrong, can seem to make sense, especially when those ideas are rooted in old theories. To a certain extent, it can be the case with treatment too. But wrong ideas about cancer can lead to needless worry and even hinder good prevention and treatment decisions.In one study, a surprising 40% of Americans believe cancer can be cured solely through alternative therapies, according to the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO)’s second annual National Cancer Opinion Survey. In a similar study in UK, the NHS blamed social media for the spread of fake healthcare news. Unfortunately, social media 'misinformation' includes 'alleged' cures for various ailments including cancer. I think we've all been there, we check twitter, Facebook, Pinterest etc and…

Exercise is Medicine

General

I suspect we all know exercise is good for us but it does sometimes take quite a bit of effort to get out there and do some! Apparently the older you get, the harder it becomes (I can confirm this is true!). I did write about this in 2014 (Exercise - it's a free prescription). In fact, my blog was actually created to document my return to fitness and good health 12 months ago! I was prompted to write this blog after discovering a piece of advice for NET Cancer patients, specifically those with carcinoid syndrome. The advice is one of those catchy 'single letter' lists called the "5 E's" of things to avoid - one of which is 'Exercise'. Clearly 'Exercise' needs putting into some context as everybody needs…

Things are not always how they seem

Awareness, Living with Neuroendocrine Cancer, Survivorship

Graphic courtesy of SoBadAss.me (Sam Cleasby) In 2014, Chris and I walked 84 miles along Hadrian's Wall on the English/Scottish border. It was a fantastic experience, and we met some really interesting people on our 6-day journey. On the 4th night, I encountered a lady who was pretty rude. I wanted to say something, but I was with Chris and other people were also present, so I kept quiet. I later discovered this lady was autistic and I was, therefore, relieved I hadn't responded to her initial rudeness. However, it got me thinking about the number of times I had perhaps been too hasty to judge people in the past without thinking about what was going on inside their heads and bodies.Visible Illness can have awareness benefitsConversely in 2018, I was…