Alternative therapies and cancer

Many people who suffer from cancer choose to go an alternate route rather than the conventional one and choose therapies that might not be considered within the boundaries of Western medicine. Others choose to integrate conventional medicine and alternative medicine in an effort to try and get the best of both worlds. They do this for a number of reasons. The most common reason being that conventional therapy simply does not work for them and they are in a situation where they are willing to try anything to live. Others are simply more unconventional by nature and may not believe in Western medicine or have more faith in alternative medicine in the first place. Whatever the reasoning behind their decision, everyone has the right to choose their own form of therapy and to have that decision respected.

There are 2 ways that one can go about choosing an alternative therapy, the one is by choosing a particular treatment and the other is to choose a particular practitioner. You can go with a practitioner that has been recommended to you and that you have heard many good things about, and who, when you see him or her, makes you feel comfortable and at ease. This places the type of treatment used second in the list of priorities. Or the type of treatment could be more important to you than the practitioner, so long as the practitioner is experienced and professional you don’t really mind about anything else. Most people consider both issues to be of roughly equal importance, they want a particular treatment but they also want a recommendation and to feel comfortable and at ease with the practitioner.

Naturopathy involves the use of natural medicine to treat and prevent illness. Their approach is holistic, thus looking for the cause or imbalance and treating the whole person. It includes training in anatomy, physiology, herbal medicine, nutrition, homeopathy, flower essences, mineral therapy, iris diagnosis, massage and colonic irrigation. It is becoming more evidence and scientific as more and more of the “folk lore” knowledge is being proved. Their eclectic approach has been getting remarkable results for years. In the case of cervical cells that have been returned with an abnormal test result, there is a treatment whereby a mixture of specific herbs and enzymes is applied topically along with herbal suppositories for 6 weeks. The women are advised to ingest specific nutrients that have been proved to assist cervical cells return to their normal structure. In addition to this appropriate lifestyle and dietary measures are implemented. Portland’s National College of Naturopathic Medicine has completed a preliminary study of 43 women with abnormal smears to test the effectiveness of this kind of treatment. Of the 43 women, 38 had PAP smear results that returned to normal, 3 showed partial improvement and 2 showed no change. None got worse. These results are very encouraging.

Mind-body therapies are designed to help the mind’s ability to affect the body’s functions and symptoms. This means that with the right techniques you can learn to alleviate pain and discomfort. These techniques include relaxation, meditation, guided imagery, biofeedback and hypnosis. The symptoms and conditions that you can relieve include: chronic pain, cancer, headaches, post-heart attack care and pre-surgical preparation. It should be remembered that no matter how effective the treatment, and even though the side effects are minimal, you should always remain under the care of your alternative care professional.

Therapeutic touch and reiki healing are energy-based techniques. They help activate the self-healing processes and also aid in the reduction of pain. Despite the name, there is no actual physical contact, only close physical proximity between the patient and the practitioner. In several studies over the years beneficial results with no significant adverse effects have been found but more in depth, scientific studies are needed for the results to be more conclusive.

Acupuncture has been recognised by the World Health Organisation as beneficial for almost 30 different diseases or conditions. The main benefit is in the field of pain relief. It is also beneficial regarding the following: headaches, lower back pain, menstrual cramps, carpal tunnel syndrome, tennis elbow, fibromyalgia, osteoarthritis and myofascial pain, but it may require an additional therapy in order to fully treat the condition.

If you feel that you would like to add alternative therapies to your conventional ones, especially if you’re going to add herbal remedies to your medicinal drugs, you need to be aware that there is a possibility that they could interfere with each other. They could be metabolised in the same area in the liver and one could cancel the other out, they could interact negatively, they could reinforce each other in ways that no one foresaw and suddenly you’re on a super drug. A lot of things could happen so it is best to keep all of your health care practitioners, both alternative and conventional, informed of what you are doing. This not only helps keep them up to date and in the loop, but when in a medical emergency, it’s nice to know that there are at least 2 people out there that know what drugs/herbs have reacted badly in your system and who will be able to give you the right medicine at the hospital.

Recommended sites:
http://www.healthy.net/asp/templates/center.asp?centerid=1
http://www.rosenthal.hs.columbia.edu/cancer/info/choosing.html
http://goldbamboo.com/topic-t1058.html
www.clevelandclinic.org/health/

Sandra wrote this article for the online marketers Tell Her UK cervical cancer one of the leading cervical cancer websites on the net

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