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Alternative medicine for cancer

July 1, 2011 By epherbal 6 Comments

Alternative medicines for cancer have made news in recent years. One recalls the young man in Colorado whose parents went to court, fighting for the boy’s right to NOT receive traditional care for cancer. There are many other examples, as well, of folks that have sought alternative treatments for cancer and have made national, or at least local, news. But how does one separate the hype from the truth when it comes to alternative medicine for cancer?

To start with, it is important to understand the traditional medical options for cancer. The fact of the matter is that some forms of cancer, when they have spread to various parts of the body, are nearly impossible to treat. You might have small cell lung cancer, for example, that spreads to the brain before you are even diagnosed with cancer. In that situation, you have only months to live, even with the most agressive, painful and costly medical options available.

Does this mean that the person in that situation should refuse traditional treatment and seek alternative medicine for cancer? Of course not. Alternative medicine is best used alongside traditional treatments, or when traditional treatments have failed to produce results. The hype tells us that there are thousands of people refusing chemotherapy in favor of alternative medicine for cancer. The truth is that most people who explore alternative medicine for cancer use both traditional medical means, as well as alternative medicines. After all, when you are staring down the barrel of the cancer gun, wouldn’t you do everything you could, from chemotherapy to alternative medicine to prayer, in order to try to live?

That is the truth when it comes to alternative medicine for cancer: people with cancer just want to live. They want to overcome the impossible odds and beat this horrible disease. Frankly, it is probably the wisest approach, too. By using every possible remedy all at once, you increase the odds that you will recover.

While there are isolated examples of people who seek alternative medicine for cancer while eschewing traditional medical help, these are the exception, rather than the rule. They are also, for the most part, the source of the hype.

Written by mrboffo

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medicine,alternative medicine

July 1, 2011 By epherbal 31 Comments

Article by Cutegirl

Types of Alternative Medicine Many Possibilities of Holistic Healing:Alternative Medicine:The terms ‘alternative medicine,’ ‘complementary medicine,’ or ‘unconventional medicine’ refer to diagnostic methods, treatments and therapies that appear not to conform to standard medical practice, or are not generally taught at accredited medical schools. The scope of alternative medicine is broad, with widespread use among the American public of a long list of treatments and practices, such as acupuncture, homeopathy, relaxation techniques, and herbal remedies. In an editorial about alternative practices in the New England Journal of Medicine, Murray and Rubel comment, ‘Many are well known, others are exotic and mysterious, and some are dangerous.’1 This report will help to clarify and categorize the alternative medical systems most often used, create a context to assess their utility (or lack thereof), and discuss how physicians and the medical profession might deal with the issues surrounding these unconventional measures in health and healing. At the turn of the last century, the effort led by the American Medical Association (AMA) to improve the quality of medical education and bring quality controls to curricula ultimately led to the landmark report by Flexner in 1910.Types of Alternative MedicineMany Possibilities of Holistic Healing:”There are thousands paths to health,your path leads to your health”Many known types of alternative medicine came from folk wisdom, empirical researches, and experiments – over centuries, every culture has developed different therapeutic practices based on natural and traditional methods.In old days people were closer to nature and used natural healing abilities of herbs, life forces such as water, sun light, music, and the body itself.Unfortunately, they did not have scientific explanation of the nature of treatments and attained a reputation of charlatanic practices. However, today more and more new researches discovered a solid scientific base behind old alternative care health practices.All types of alternative medicine have one common approach – they don’t heal just symptoms, the whole system of the living being is taken into consideration – they restore energy-iformational and physical balance simultaneously.What would work for you? You need to understand principles and main characteristics of different healing modalities, to choose the best option for your particular situation and preferences.There is no universal practice that can cure every illness every time in everyone.You might need to try different types of alternative medicine to find what resonates with you and brings the most benefits to you.Eastern Types of Alternative Medicine:Acupuncture: the most recognisable alternative healing practice in the West thanks to successful and tangible results obtained through a treatment, and results and research of doctors who succeeded in showing the pathways of meridians. Chinese medicine is derived from Tao philosophy and based on the theory of Yin and Yang, five elements, eight principles, which is not quite understood by Western people.Acupressure: a component of traditional Chinese medicine, the form of massage by stimulating particular points of the body. This simple, non-aggressive technique demonstrates significant efficiency in treating a wide range of diseases, though the theory behind it remains controversial from the point of traditional medicine.Ayurvedic Medicine: the complex system based on ancient Vedic texts (Chakras Samhita) inspired by divinity Brahma. It has a holistic approach that focuses on the patient more than the illness, and uses several methods of treatment (detoxication, diet, exercises, etc.)Reiki: the information we have on Reiki dates back to the 18th century and Mikao Usui, a Japanese Christian theologian who dedicated his life to understanding the spiritual healing forces of Christ. This force is called Reiki, which represents the universal energy of life.Naturopathic Types of Alternative Medicine:Naturopathy: this is a modern global health reform movement. It appeared spontaneously and simultaneously in the 19th century in the United States, Central Europe, Scandinavia and Great Britain. It is a fundamental science that includes the study, knowledge, teaching and practice of the laws of life, which keep the human body healthy by using natural means.Homeopathy: natural medicine founded by Samuel Hahnemann. The fundamental principle of homeopathy is that “like cures like” – a remedy that is given to a healthy person will produce the specific symptoms, but when given to a person who already shows these signs, the remedy will cure these same symptoms.Aromatherapy: the use of essential oils for medical purposes. Concentrated aromatic plant extracts have relaxation, soothing, healing affect on the body. The influence of aromas on the state of mind is unquestionable – through inhalation, skin application or digestion of essential oils, the brain gets stimuli that cause to react with feelings.Chromotherapy: known as color therapy, technique that aims to rebalance energies by projecting the colors of body’s chakras. This is based on the intuitive detection of missing frequencies in ill person. This method acts on all levels: physical, mental and psychological. It helps to restore lost harmony.Light Therapy: a method treating illnesses using artificial light. Treatments with a full spectrum of light – from infrared to ultraviolet – have a beneficial therapeutic effect in various diseases.Flower essences: healing flowers are natural products, first introduced by Dr. Bach, based on simple flowers and spring water that restore the individual balance and emotional harmony. By acting on emotions, the elixirs facilitate the regeneration and balancing processes.Phytotherapy (herbs): medical plans have been used for ages, and each culture has its own tradition involving them. Many herbalists believe that the therapeutic effect of the use of the herbs is explained by healing inherent in plants, rather than some chemical components.Apitherapy: the use of various bee products for therapeutic purpose such as honey, bee pollen, propolis.Electromagnetic Therapy: energy type of therapy based on the transmission of electric current or magnetic impulses through tissues for stimulation. These types of energy medicine demonstrate greatest effect from decreasing “energy” and increasing “informational” components of applications.Manipulative Types of Alternative Medicine:Osteopathy: there are two different aspects that lead to two different practices: Structural osteopathy deals with the structural elements of the body such as the skeleton, muscles, ligaments and connective tissues.Cranial osteopathy is directed at the cephalorachidian liquids contained in the cranium.Philosophy of osteopathy goes far beyond just joint manipulation, bones and muscles adjustments. This is a complete medical care system that assists the body and the person as a unite access self-healing power and higher state of well-being through the body itself. In case of osteopathy the interrelationships of physical, mental, emotional, and higher being starts from physical – stay fit and be healthy.Chiropractic: medicine – has the same origin and philosophy as osteopathy with the difference focusing on the spine healthy state as a primary coordinator of the nervous system. As nervous system is connected to every tissue and organ in the body, the overall optimal health can be boosted with aligning the spine which promotes an optimal nervous system balance and free flow of blood to tissues and organs.Massage: this is probably the oldest and most spontaneous therapeutic action there is. The body is stimulated by using different manipulative techniques (hands, massage tools) and re-establish natural functions. Thanks to Per Henrik Ling, a Swedish gymnast, massage became a therapeutic practice (that’s how we adopted “Swedish massage” term). Don’t miss an opportunity to have regular massage sessions, there is an unexplainable magic in touch – it’s nurturing, healing, pleasant, and hence the word “touching”.Psycho-Educational Types of Alternative Medicine:Spiritual Healing: it simply can be described as transferring energy between the practitioner and the subject. These energies don’t belong to the healer, but come from an external source – invisible and divine.Hypnotherapy: the psychotherapist acts upon subconscious in order to correct and modify behaviour, thought-patterns formed by behaviour. In many cases it helps ease suffering, get rid of distractive programming. Experience of the practitioner is very important when considering a deep hypnotherapy. There are many other techniques that work effectively, yet gentle for erasing distractive programming with the patient remained in full consciousness.Art Therapy: painting, singing, drawing, dance and theatre are powerful forms of self-expression. Today artistic activities are recognised as forms of therapy, especially for the rehabilitation with mental and emotional issues.Holistic Healing with Informational Medicine: a form of new medicine that has come into the stage recently based on scientific concepts that there are more subtle energy field than known electromagnetic fields. Diseases took place in this informational field far before it manifested into the physical. Healing doesn’t depend on time and space, as there is no time and space in the informational field.It’s almost impossible to mention all types of alternative medicine that exist – every culture may have its own forms and types of alternative medicine, healing, practice, and modalities.Some of them are more popular than others – it’s not the question of effectiveness of particular modality – they are all use a unique personalized approach, have many benefits to offer, and many effective remedies that really work.The effectiveness depends on each person responsiveness and resonance to a specific type of alternative medicine.

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Alternative Medicine Expands Treatment Options

July 1, 2011 By epherbal 6 Comments

Article by Carolyn O’Keefe

How Complementary and Alternative Medicine can open a New World of Possibilities

If you mentioned the term alternative medicine 10 or 20 years ago, most would assume that only people who fell outside the mainstream practiced this form of healing. But today, complementary, integrative, and alternative medicine are now often included by physicians and hospitals such as Memorial Sloan-Kettering, Johns Hopkins, and Cleveland Clinic as part of a more holistic approach to patient care.

Many of alternative medicine’s proponents, like Dr. Dean Ornish and Dr. Andrew Weil, are well known and often featured in the popular media. In fact, even the National Institutes of Health has become involved with alternative medicine, creating the National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine (NCCAM) in 1998 to explore these forms of treatment from a rigorous scientific perspective and encourage the incorporation of proven alternative medicine practices into conventional medicine.

What is alternative medicine?Alternative medicine covers an incredibly wide scope of treatments and healing systems, some familiar, like acupuncture and homeopathic medicine, and others less well known, like biofield therapies and the Indian medical system known as Ayurveda.

In general, the term alternative medicine refers to using non-conventional approaches to health care in place of traditional Western medicine. Complementary medicine describes combining alternative medicine with conventional medicine, for example using acupuncture to treat the nausea a cancer patient experiences as a result of chemotherapy. Integrative medicine, according to NCCAM, combines mainstream and alternative medicine treatments for which there is scientific evidence of effectiveness and safety. Others define integrative medicine somewhat differently, believing it’s centered on a combination of treatment approaches that address not only physical well being, but also the psychological, social, and spiritual aspects of health and disease.

There are five widely accepted ways of classifying alternative and complementary medicine:

Alternative medical systems which include approaches to medicine that have often developed outside the confines of Western medical practice like Chinese medicine and Ayurveda or others that developed within Western cultures but don’t follow the dictates of traditional Western medicine like homeopathy or naturopathy

Mind-body medicine which focuses on using the power of the mind to improve health, for example meditation, prayer, and art, music, or dance therapy

Biologically based therapies that use herbs, foods, and vitamins to treat illnesses

Manipulative methods like chiropractic and osteopathic care and massage which seek to heal through movement of different parts of the body Energy therapies, including biofield therapies like Reiki which affect energy fields that some believe surround the body and bioelectromagnetic-based therapies which use electromagnetism to treat diseaseHow common is the use of alternative medicine in the U.S.?

A comprehensive survey on the use of alternative medicine in America was released by NCCAM in 2004. The results demonstrate that alternative medicine has moved firmly into the mainstream.

Nearly 75% of the more than 30,000 people surveyed reported they had used some form of complementary or alternative medicine sometime during their lives, while more than 62% said they had used it in the past 12 months. When prayer and megavitamin therapy are removed from the mix, 36% of those questioned had used a form of alternative medicine during the last year.

Women choose complementary and alternative medicine more often than men, as do those with higher levels of education and people who have been in the hospital in the past year. The most common conditions that lead people to try complementary or alternative medicine are chronic back, joint, neck, and head pain. Other conditions mentioned include colds, anxiety and depression, stomach problems, and insomnia.

Asked why they turned to alternative medicine, 55% of those surveyed believed it would improve their health when it was combined with conventional medicine. Other surveys put U.S. spending on alternative medicine at to billion in 1997, the most recent year for which the information is available.

Natural does not necessarily mean safe:How to discern what works and what is safeWhile combining alternative medicine with traditional treatments can yield improved health, many people make the mistake of assuming that “natural” treatments are always safe and don’t need special scrutiny. That misjudgment can be dangerous or even fatal.

A recent Canadian study by Dr. Beth Abramson found that 45% of the cardiology patients she interviewed were using complementary and alternative medicine, but just over half said their cardiologist was aware of this. A number of vitamins and herbal supplements can have serious contraindications for patients taking any number of cardiovascular medications. Hawthorne berries, for example, taken to lower blood pressure can be dangerous in combination with other medications and vitamin E can cause patients taking blood thinners like Coumadin to suffer brain hemorrhages.

It is essential for you to tell all your doctors about every treatment, vitamin, and supplement you use. It’s also vital that you choose alternative medicine providers with proper credentials, training, and experience and treatments that have been studied scientifically and been shown to be both safe and effective.

Expert guidance is also valuable when assessing alternative medicine treatments. PinnacleCare offers its members access to well-respected alternative medicine practitioners like Evan Ross, L.Ac., DOM., a board certified, licensed acupuncturist, Doctor of Oriental Medicine, and member of PinnacleCare’s Medical Advisory Board. In addition, PinnacleCare’s health care advocates develop for each member a comprehensive, complete health history which is made available to every medical practitioner who treats the member. That both helps the member receive strategically crafted, holistic care as well as avoiding dangerous drug and alternative medicine interactions.

“In my practice, I’ve found that regular and consistent complementary treatments help people do better,” said Ross. “They will tolerate their conventional treatments and have a better quality of life.”

To learn more about PinnacleCare services, its PinnacleCare Advocates and read more Member testimonials, please visit; http://www.PinnacleCare.com

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