Why Did I Get Cancer? Terrain, Root Causes, and What to Do After Treatment | Dr. Lucas Tims

If you've ever walked out of your last treatment appointment and thought "okay, now what," this one is for you.

Dr. Lucas Tims is a naturopathic doctor board certified in naturopathic oncology, a credential very few people in this country hold. He trained in microbiology, did a cancer-focused residency at City of Hope, and served as medical director at City of Hope Phoenix and the Riordan Clinic in Kansas. He now runs Root Causes in San Antonio.

But here's why I wanted him on. He didn't come to this from a textbook. His wife was diagnosed with an aggressive cancer while they were still dating and he was still in medical school. He has been the doctor and he has been the person in the waiting room.

We got into the question that almost nobody asks after a diagnosis: why. Not to assign blame, and I want to be really clear about that, because I think a lot of us hear "why" and immediately hear "what did I do wrong." That's not what this is. For me, asking why was the thing that gave me back a sense of control.

We also talked about what "terrain" actually means inside your body, why he says treating cancer without addressing the terrain is like clearing out the burnt furniture and leaving the house, and what he'd tell you to start with if you're overwhelmed and don't know where to begin.

Plus, he taught me a ten second test for your nervous system that I tried the second we got off the call.

What we get into:

Why he thinks the victimhood mindset is the most dangerous thing you can carry What conventional cancer care does extraordinarily well, and where the blind spot is What "terrain" actually means, and the soil analogy that finally made it click for me Restoring immune function after chemo or radiation When to bring in integrative care (his answer surprised me) The six core therapies and what each one is for My own IV vitamin C experience that scared me off, and what went wrong Cortisol, the sympathetic nervous system, and why stress isn't a soft topic The humming test The three toxic exposures he'd clean up first, and why your laundry room might be the dirtiest room in your house Endocrine disruptors versus your own hormones, and why he says those are not the same conversation Hormone positive breast cancer, the Dutch test, and where he lands on HRT Why prevention is so hard, even when you have the information in front of you His book, coming in 2027

Resources

Start here: the page Dr. Tims built just for Not Today Cancer listeners, with the six core therapy white papers and the first chapter of his book. rootcausesoncology.com/ntc His Substack, where he writes about terrain and root cause work: rootcauses.substack.com Root Causes on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/doctorlucas/ Those white papers are worth grabbing even if you never become a patient. They're a few pages each and they're specifically designed so you can hand them to your own oncologist.