Alternative Treatments and Cancer

Complementary/alternative treatments, CAM, are becoming increasingly popular in the United States. Perhaps because we seem to be losing the war on cancer, many are seeking less toxic treatments with fewer long term side-effects.

Are you considering a “natural” treatment for cancer? What exactly are alternative treatments?

The U.S. government, on its website devoted to Complementary and Alternative Medicine, breaks down these therapies into five categories:

• Biologically-Based, such as herbal supplements, botanicals, animal-derived products, vitamins, proteins, probiotics and other organic approaches.

• Energy Medicine, such as veritable energy like sound, electromagnetic forces, and light or putative energy fields (also called biofields) which work to identify a body's own energy field, also called "chi." Alternative medicine professionals believe that when these biofields are disturbed, it causes illness in the body.
Examples of energy medicine are acupuncture, reiki, Qi gong, homeopathy, healing touch and intercessory prayer in which the prayers of one person help improve the health of another. These particular therapies are among the most controversial of the CAM therapies.

• Manipulative and Body-Based, such as chiropractic, osteopathic, reflexology, and therapeutic massage. These therapies rely on the structures and systems of the body, making adjustments to them to heal symptoms and medical problems.

• Mind-Body Medicine, which focuses on the interactions among the brain, behavior and physical health, such as meditation, yoga, biofeedback, tai chi, even spirituality.

• Whole Medical Systems that have evolved totally separately from what we consider to be conventional medicine in the United States. These systems have names like naturopathy, homeopathy, traditional Chinese medicine, Eastern medicine and Ayurvedic medicine. You will see some of these names already mentioned in the categories above. The distinction here is in the way they developed rather than the therapy itself.

These alternative treatments hold great appeal for me, as they do for anyone seeking a more natural approach to health. The problem is that there is little scientific based evidence of their efficacy. During the next few weeks, I will delve into these therapies to help you decide whether and how you might incorporate them into your cancer treatments.

Tomorrow, we will discuss, Chinese Medicine: Panacea or Poppycock?