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Cancer and Alternative Medicine:
An Overview
By Melissa Buhmeyer
Alternative medicine is the use of means, in addition to, or instead of
conventional, to treat disease or pain. There is lots of controversy
surrounding alternative medicine, especially in the cancer arena, because
most of it is unproven, as far as the medical world is concerned. To be
proven, a treatment must have undergone peer-reviewed, controlled studies.
However, if you know where to look, you can find plenty of research to
support the efficacy of many alternative therapies.
Every day, more and more of us are becoming fed up with conventional
medicine's way of doing things; I mean, let's face it … Western
medicine's focus is managing a disease once it occurs. Many alternative
methods can be used as preventive instead of management. Once I started
thinking about it, I knew there just had to be a better way. That's when
my alternative journey began.
The many different avenues of alternative medicine, can be overwhelming
and there are many with which I do not have personal experience. But, this
is your starting point … a broad overview, not all-encompassing, by any
means, of breast cancer alternative medicine. Some of these methods are
palliative (help manage pain and discomfort of cancer and its treatment),
some are complementary (to be used in addition to conventional), some are
intended to be preventive, and others look promising as adjuvant
treatments.
Manual Healing and Physical Touch
This is a huge category that includes acupuncture, chiropractic, massage,
and Reiki, to name a few. Acupuncture is derived from Chinese medicine and
involves inserting tiny needles through the skin into specific energy
pathways on the body. This method interrupts the energy that flows through
the body and is based on balanced Qi. There is lots of controversy
surrounding whether acupuncture can be used as a method of treating
cancer, itself, but it is thoroughly documented to alleviate pain and
nausea from cancer and its treatments.
Chiropractic is the correction of mechanical disorders of the musculo-skeletal
system. It is achieved by adjustments to the spine and neck. There are
traditional chiropractors who adjust the entire spine and then there are
Direct Non-Force Technique chiropractors who alleviate neurotransmitter
interference, throughout the body, by specific, targeted adjustments. The
thinking, here, is that the body has the means to heal itself and seeks to
maintain balance within itself. Correcting the musculo-skeletal disorders
helps to regain the balance that has been lost.
Massage has been found, by recent studies, to provide more alertness and
less depression, stress, anxiety, and pain. There are many different forms
of massage, ranging from deep tissue to a basic relaxation massage. Many
health care providers are proponents of massage therapy in addition to
conventional treatment.
Reiki is a Japanese word that means universal life energy. This is a
method that is typically performed in person but can be performed from a
distance. The thinking behind Reiki is that, when the energy pathways of
the body are blocked, it results in disease and/or pain. A Reiki
practitioner can unblock these pathways, resulting in less pain and muscle
tension, and increased ability for the body to heal itself.
Herbs, Minerals, Vitamins, Diet, and Nutritional Supplements
This is one of the roads I've chosen, for myself, based on careful
research and consideration. There is evidence that shows that what we eat
plays a big role in cancer prevention and it's in the news all the time.
In the evolution of our society, our foods have become more and more
processed, and less and less nutritious. Farmers use pesticides to keep
the bugs from getting our produce. They use hormones to grow our chickens,
cattle, and pigs larger faster, so they can make money off them sooner. Of
course, it doesn't occur to them, or maybe they just don't care, that
those substances are then consumed by us. I didn't even realize those
things were used until after I had been diagnosed. You mean I'm eating
estrogen in my meat???? Wow, was that ever a wakeup call. Here is a
great source I found for Vitamins
and Supplements., and health drinks etc.
Most practitioners don't endorse the use of nutritional supplements simply
because they haven't been approved by the FDA … this premise amazes me
because there have been many drugs, that have been approved by the FDA,
that have caused serious injury and/or death. There are many nutritional
supplements that show serious promise in the prevention, and possibly even
treatment, of breast cancer. The studies are out there, if you know where
to look.
Naturopathy
Naturopathy is another technique that uses the body's innate ability to
heal itself. It is based on the concept that everything, within the body,
is related and that if you have pain or illness, that is an alarm your
body sets off to get your attention and let you know something is wrong.
The naturopathic way of thinking is that your body begins to let you know
something is out of balance … perhaps you aren't digesting your food
correctly, or you have some hormones out of balance … and it begins a
snowball effect, throughout your organs, until it gets your attention.
Everything is related and, if there is a problem in one area, another area
tries to take up the slack and becomes overworked, and so on. Naturopaths
use natural means, such as homeopathic remedies, natural agents,
manipulation, or electrical treatment to obtain balance so that the body
can heal itself.
Homeopathy
This is the practice of using minute doses of active ingredients to
produce the body's own defense and healing process. It, like naturopathy,
strives to achieve homeostasis (balance) so the body can heal itself.
Homeopathic remedies work much like a vaccine does to our bodies and is
based on the premise of like fixes like. Homeopaths prescribe substances
that would cause symptoms, in a healthy person, for the purpose of healing
those same symptoms in a sick person. For example, a homeopath would
prescribe minute amounts of thyroid to someone whose thyroid was
overactive for the purpose of the thyroid building a defense to this and
slowing itself down.
This is, by no means, an exhaustive overview of alternative therapies, but
is, as stated, an overview. For more in-depth discussions on this as well
as conventional breast cancer treatments please visit our website below.
Melissa Buhmeyer is a breast cancer survivor and has been so for seven
years. She is also the founder of a web-site focusing on breast cancer treatment options, news, articles, and
survivor experiences. |
