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Subscribe to RSSAt the Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, one of the oldest cancer treatment centers in the world, complimentary therapies such as hypnosis and Tai Chi are now regularly offered to patients. NBC's Dr. Nancy Snyderman reports.
Along with the standard treatments of chemotherapy and radiation for cancer, patients are routinely being offered alternative or complementary therapies such as acupuncture, massage and yoga in major cancer centers around the country, according to a report by NBC’s Dr. Nancy Snyderman on “Nightly News with Brian Williams.” Alternative therapies have become an increasingly mainstream tool for doctors all around the country, especially when used to ease the side effects of treatment.
On Tuesday, Oct. 16., tune in to "NBC Nightly News" to watch part two of Dr. Nancy Snyderman's report on complementary medicine and learn about different therapies for back pain.
A 2010 University of Pennsylvania study found that 70 percent of comprehensive cancer centers offered information on complementary therapies on their websites, according to study co-author Dr. Jun Mao, an assistant professor and director of integrative care at the Abramson Cancer Center at the University of Pennsylvania.
“And over half of these centers endorse the use of these therapies in cancer care delivery,” Mao says.
The reason complementary therapies have moved into the mainstream, particularly with regard to cancer care, is that they can help patients deal with pain and treatment side effects, explains Dr. Barrie Cassileth, a pioneer in the field of complementary medicine
who heads up the integrative medicine service at the Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York.
Read a transcript from Dr. Snyderman's online chat about complementary medicine.
“Acupuncture does not cure cancer, but it is extremely helpful in a cancer setting because it can control multiple symptoms, some of which are not treatable with mainstream means,” Cassileth told NBC’s chief medical editor Dr. Nancy Snyderman.
“It’s not enough to say to the patient, ‘OK, you’re finished with your chemotherapy, your radiation, your surgery and so on. Goodbye, and have a good life.’ The patient is suffering from a wide range of problems.”
Mao’s study found that acupuncture was one of the most commonly mentioned complementary therapies on cancer center websites.
Diane Miller, breast cancer survivor, and Dr. Barrie Cassileth, Chief of Integrative Medicine Service at the Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, on what Dr. Cassileth calls "a very evidence-based, rational approach to symptom control."
“Acupuncture can help alleviate pain and nausea,” Snyderman explains. “The good cancer centers believe that acupuncture is a cornerstone of integrative medicine.”
What’s still not clear – even to the specialists – is exactly how acupuncture works.
“We don’t entirely understand its mechanism,” Mao says. “We do know that acupuncture can help relieve pain by bringing in endogenous opiates, which are like pain medication.”
Other therapies, such as yoga, help to reduce pain by reducing stress, Mao says.
“They enhance centeredness and peace,” he explains. “And that kind of stress reduction can reduce pain. Anxiety can lower a person’s pain threshold. By helping to lower stress and anxiety, it can help with the pain.”
Beyond this, complementary therapies can help foster the mind body connection, Mao says.
That rings true to Snyderman who would like to see more biofeedback being used.
“Biofeedback may be one of those hidden gems that we don't talk enough about,” Snyderman says. “Being able to image a part of your body, harness thought and control things like heart rate and blood pressure and minimize pain is astonishing. I am a huge fan of biofeedback and using that same power to enhance the immune system - a field called psychoneuroimmunology.”
For patients, there’s a side benefit: feeling more in control of their lives.
“Cancer is often unexpected and it takes a lot of control from the individual,” Mao says. “Complementary medicine often helps patients regain some sense of control, and helps them deal with some of the uncertainties.”
That makes sense to Diane Miller, a breast cancer survivor who has been dealing with her diagnosis and treatments for the past few years.
“Finding out what I can do myself is empowering,” Miller says. “And it really does help my symptoms.”
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How and when will insurance companies and worker's compensation catch up with the real medical world? Acupuncture works wonders for me but it was cut off because the insurance company said I had used up all my allotted visits. Unfortunately, they will give me all the opiates I want and pay for all treatments that come with the side effects. Medicine moves faster than government or private corporations can keep up.
Cancer, cancer research and cancer treatments are one of the top businesses in the USA and the world - a trillion dollar a year business. A cure for cancer would be devistating to the US/world economy. That's why in 1937 when a cure was discovered, the cure was made illegal.
THC (Marijuana) helps cure cancer says Harvard study
Google it.
TheKhanKubla - show us the proof. Google will bring up all sorts of garbage. Share your scientific citations, or go away with your conspiracy theories and wacky claims about marijuana. The latter is good for nausea and some forms of pain, but that's about it.
People, there IS a sure cure for cancer. "And no resident will say "I am sick." The people that are dwelling in the land will be those pardoned for their error." Isaiah 33:24. When we live in disobedience to our Almighty God, He is under no obligation to protect us or heal us. However, if we seek Him with sincerity of heart, He will hear us and heal us. Please see Psalm 103:3, 1st Peter 5:6&7, Matthew 9:1-5, John 5:1-14 & James 5:16, Philippians 4:6, and 1st Peter 1:21, in your Bible.
@IndependantVoter - why don t you share your citations and research studies that disprove the health benefits of marijuana. I mean, your the one defending an old "paradigm" from the 50's which is based on a flawed study by Merck (BigPharma); which was already shown to be a flawed study done by two scientists who were paid by big pharma and government to debunk the benefits of hemp and marijuana. So, put the propaganda kool aid down and really defend that company line you seem to want to tow. If not...stfu troll :)
We the Ojibway do not get cancer really..ask yourself why? Because there are far better ways to deal with cancer than Chemo. Vitamin C, Baking Soda, Chiga, Burdock Root/ElmBark, music, turning from anger - there are many old and new ways to get rid of cancer that do not leave the body, and pocket book, broke. It is only "the intellectual limitations" and "moral distortions" of a few, that lead many to believe that chemo is the only way. It is not.
"Independent Voter" Why don't YOU Research "Cannabidol (CBD) and it's effects on the gene "ID-1" in supressing metastasis in cancer cells. Medical cannabis indeed helps with both pain management, appetite, and cannabis extracts help fight aggressive cancer growth! The only "Wacky Claims" out there are the Federal Government's Classification of Cannabis as a Schedule I drug!
@Independent Voter - You obviously didn't search too hard as I believe your beliefs are set in stone and you just accept everything big pharma and our government which protects them tells you. I'll just put this, the latest research done by another medical center and published this month, but it'll be ignored by our government just like Harvard's study in 2007 was ignored.
huffingtonpost.com/2012/09/19/marijuana-and-cancer_n_1898208.html
I've heard that artificially turning your blood from acidic to alkaline for brief periods retards or stops cancer growth. I understand that cancer cells are far less able to survive in an alkaline environment than normal cells. Does anyone have any data on this?
Wow. This thread is just...wow. A great example of why uncritical reporting of unlikely claims like the article above is dangerous to society's mental health.
It is encouraging that so many commenting on this subject are aware of alternative cancer cures. Graviola is one such substance and those looking for documentation in support of this can research it at the National Library of Medicine under its Latin name of Annona muricata. The drug companies found it, found it worked but were unable to patent it (thereby profiting from it) because whenever they added something to it, it no longer worked (or worked as well). Seeing the lack of profitability in pursuing this, they tried to hide the findings but enough information was apparently salvaged to still provide a record in the National Library of Medicine under the Latin name.
A note to Roy Wilson: It is well known that an acidic state for the body is one that promotes disease (of all kinds) whereas alkalinity promotes health and is rarely able to support disease. Go to a great website www.actualcures.com. It has information on foods that support alkalinity, unfortunately not much fun food - mostly greens and water - but worth the effort.
Cancer is the #1 money maker of the USA outside of war!! It is illegal in the United States of America to "treat" cancer with anything but Surgery, Chemotherapy or Radiation. Anyone saying they treat cancer with anything else will go to prison. If you don't think this is a conspiracy...WAKE UP! At least the doctors are finally starting to recommend alternatives for pain management. The USA never wants to find a cure. It doesn't mean the doctors do not. I watched them kill my father quicker by using surgery, chemo and radiation. The never once did a body scan to make sure the cancer was not in other parts of his body even after several requests. They would only focus on his nasal cavity. He got nasal cancer from being a carpenter and inhaling the sawdust of pressed wood. We requested several times to scan his back as he was in pain. They just kept saying it was arthritis. WRONG! Cancer was in his lungs, spine,destroyed 3 ribs, stomach, liver, etc. By the time he got the scan from the "emergency room"...he died 11 days later. Demand your body scan if you get cancer and decide what path you want to take. They were trying to continue surgeries without a body scan. This is common, all the time..my father is one in millions. I watched it happen to a friend with lung cancer as well.
I also not want to leave out this important info for anyone who may be going through this. My father was fed through a feeding tube. Of course " Nestle" makes that food which contains dairy and sugar...which scientists have proven feeds cancer cells. So he has surgery, chemo, and radiation...and is fed something that keeps the cancers alive and multiplying. ( and you can leave you negative comments...but do the research first!)
There have been many who have found cures for cancer and many who have disappeared when wanting to make it public. Do your research people. It blows my mind that in this day and age people are still so naive in believing that our medical industry really wants you to get well. They care about your money. What is sad is the doctors do not stand up for the people. They do what they are told or they will lose their license. Having cancer cost hundreds of thousands of dollars if you go the medical way.
Thank you to Brian Williams, Dr. Nancy Snyderman and colleagues for covering the topic of complementary medicine, and for pointing out that insurance has a long way to go to catch up. I've been suffering with stomach and skin problems for over a decade. When Western medicine could not diagnose me, I turned to acupuncture, herbs, probiotics, and diet changes, which have given me outstanding results. I'm still a work-in-progress, but so much better than I was at the beginning of this journey. Recent test results even showed healing. Lucky for me we can afford the huge out-of-pocket costs. Even luckier for me I've found some fabulous practitioners. Glad you are helping bring the benefits of complementary medicine to a larger audience.
There are many more whose stomach and skin problems coincided with the introduction of genetically modified foods into the food chain.
I'm sure Flipper Mitt considers her part of the 47% of the population...
I'm glad to know about this as a person making the journey through treatment for cancer. My medical care has been great, but there is an emotional side to this that hasn't been addressed. I have no problem using ancient Eastern methods if Western methods limit my ability to battle this disease.
I wish these therapies would also include Music Therapy. Gabby Giffords had access to it, but, on the whole, insurance won't cover it and it is just as beneficial with cancer. It has been used especially with children.
During my cancer journey, music has been a key ingredient to recovery. It is so important that I now have a music partner who is a leukemia survivor. Both of us are former massage therapists and we believe in a lot of alternative therapes. We travel presenting experiential workshops and concerts (with original songs about our cancer experiences) to cancer support organizations and churches. It has given purpose to our cancer experience. Our mission - "Creating Hope and Healing Through Music and Story".
Therapy dogs are also a big part of treatment of cancer as well as many other medical/psychological/behavioral conditions. My corgi and I just spent 9 months training to become certified with Therapy Dogs International to work in almost any facility. Therapy dogs are not service dogs...rather they and their handlers are integrated into medical or emotional situations to help in very specific ways.
Oh...and therapy dogs and handlers are volunteers. So no payment is either expected or accepted.
what about a big fat doobie ??
Alternative therapies can also CURE cancer - a combination of both alternative and conventional treatment is essential.
Cancer survives in Acidic bodies, so changing a diet is the number ONE step to take.. eating only organic food, lots of fresh veggies, cutting meat, etc... is extremely important.
I remember going to the oncology department where chemo patients receive really inappropriate meals for their treatment.
Then taking supplements, acupuncture, and other appropriate therapies make a huge difference for recovery
Please show us proof for any of your statements. The last sentence has evidence, but is also common sense.
Quit being so difficult. There is plenty of info all over the net regarding food therapy and marijuana therapy. There is also a therapy by Dr. Burzinski using keytones that has had allot of success. Shouldn't be everyone elses job to lead you by the hand to all the info. Get on google and find it, if your interested. If you truly believe these therapies don't work and want to contest what people are saying, why don't YOU provide links showing YOUR proof.
When I was done with all my cancer surgeries, I was told by my cancer doctor that it was too late to use therapy to get my arm back working normally, and I was told not to lift more than 10 lbs with my left arm. So, three months after my last surgery, I instead went to my family doctor and asked for 6 weeks of therapy to see if I could get my arm back. I went three times a week for 1 1/2 hours, and by the end of therapy I was lifting 70 lbs with each arm. If my affected arm acted up, then I just iced it for about 2 1/2 hours watching an old movie - moving the ice pack around every 10 mins and with no direct contact between the ice and my skin, and at night I would use two pillows stacked, and let my bad arm rest at a 45 degree angle to help drain the lymph nodes. My arm always came back to normal within 24 to 48 hours. The result is that I have my arm back! I can put items on the top shelves, dress myself properly and my life has now returned to normal. Good-bye scar tissue. Hello world. Here I come! Thank God for a supporting family doctor and a wonderful therapy center. I am so blessed.
Good for you. I was given 6 therapy sessions starting about 3 weeks after surgery. My therapist made sure I knew how to continue the exercises at home. I still have a very long way to go. You are an encouragement that I can still get there.
I am curious as to why hypnosis, recognized by the AMA in 1958 as a viable alternative treatment to many stress related health issues, and which is also an organic, drug free alternative treatment is not mentioned in the entire article? What happened Nancy and Linda?
What about the criminal obstruction by the cancer generals of the use of hydrazine sulfate invented by Joseph Gold, M.D. in 1968? www.hydrazinesulfate.org. "The Truth about Hydrazine Sulfate-Dr. Gold Speaks". This substance has been tested from the Soviet Union to UCLA, but the cancer generals have lied about it to the public on a government website as documented by Dr. Joseph Gold, M.D. of Syracuse, New York. Shame, Shame Shame on the criminal cancer generals of the failed war on cancer.
Over forty years and the squandering of over $100 billion, but the criminal cancer generals cannot even tell us what cancer is, let alone how to cure and prevent it in the human body. All of them must be charged with scientific misconduct, fraud, medical quackery and crimes against humanity. But of course we know that won't happen because our government is totally corrupt. But just remember this, next time you or your loved one may be the next victim of the criminals in the Cancer Industry of the United States of Amerika.
All approved cancer treatments, mistreatments would be a more accurate description, are life threatening. So when a patient dies, they could have died from cancer, treatment or both, usually treatment but falsely reported as from cancer. This is to protect the criminal medical doctors from being charged with iatrogenic deaths of patients, which they should be charged with. The most recent conspicuous failure, along with about 1500 other deaths yesterday, was the Senator Spector of Pennsylvania, another dismal failure of the criminals in the FDA, NIH and NCI. Americans Love to be fooled and fleeced. "The Cancer Industry" by Ralph W. Moss, Ph.D. and "The Hidden Story of Cancer" by Brian Peskin, 2006.
Winfield J. Abbe, Ph.D., Physics
Athens, GA
TheKhanKubla, tom rz, 420 Dulls The Mind, and KJNG, are you aware that more recent studies have shown that marijuana actually, gasp, CAUSES cancer? Also, ROY WILSON - 336103, why not do a bit more research on the information that you claim to have? It sounds interesting but we need some more information. w.j abbe, pugslee98, Guest-3697421, Baldman, VABlueRidge, EAE-886609, mrbellows, ram-762581, Paduki, and faithfulwatcher, you all have some good ideas but, and here is the real kicker, the pro-marijuana advocates are equally as guilty of stonewalling natural cures for cancer as Big Pharma is because they BOTH have money and agendas to be made and if one, the other, or both are lost, then they stand to lose a lot of money and support for their causes, and especially so for Big Pharma. Say what you will, potheads, but you know damn well that what I say is true, so do not even bother to deny my words, too. You are not the only game in town and you need to realize that is the flat-out truth.
So----I'm dying and what will help me with that is a massage and some pins stuck into my skin?
If I am that far gone just give me some magic mushrooms and some nice tranquil music so that I can transition out of this place as a dying person reasonably at peace with herself.
Not all cancer patients die! Many recover and others go into remission for years. You have clearly never suffered through the side effects of chemo or radiation or the pain of recovering from surgery. Pain meds just do not do it all. Plus, many cancer patients today try to continue on with their daily lives as much as possible.
Personally, I found the yoga offered by the cancer center was very helpful during radiation. Radiation inflames and tightens skin and underlying muscles and tendons, and the yoga helped stretch them back out and relieve the discomfort caused by the tightness.
DancerTiffy, so says the person who is so stupid that she doesn't even realize that there are more natural cures for cancer than "magic" mushrooms and marijuana. I am sorry, girl, but the only times that mushrooms have proven to be useful were by the Alice books by Lewis Carroll and Shigeryu Miyamoto's Super Mario Brothers games. Also, I couldn't help but notice that you have a Sailor Moon avatar and even Serena Marshall/Usagi Tsukino herself would declare you as being more of an airhead that she could be even on her BEST day at that task! Get a clue and do some research on other natural cures, girl! You have a brain, so you need to learn how to use it, okay? Thanks.
What a BS of a article. These therapies have been in use for thousands of years, like acupuncture. Also never mentioned is that millions of cancer patients in America and around the world use Medical Cannabis Mother Natures Natural Pain Medicine to relieve the pain and give them an appetite to once again be able to eat. The drugs they ingest are deadly and toxic and often make one so sick they can't eat.
Let PATIENTS make the choice. Get government out of my health care choices.
Medical Cannabis Mother Natures Medicine
Palliative care... there's no wrong way to do it.
PLEASE I beg you please be careful of "magical cures" Please visit quackwatch.com and childrenshealthcare.org for evidence based solutions. There are many cons out there that appeal to religions, political views and folks who are desperate.
Someone once said that scientific education is a vaccine against charlatans who would try to exploit your ignorance for their profit. Most of these folks have a terrible understanding of how the world actually works, and they easily fall for magical cures. The more esoteric, the more appealing. It's a failure of our educational system but there's really nothing you can do. Let them all have at it, their stupidity will stimulate the economy.
Just not as much relief as marijuana.... the original biofeedback.
Evidently men don't get cancer.
However, there is another danger that is never adressed that I've already experienced. I haven't experienced cancer but am a chronic pain patient. Since doctors are terrified of the DEA and losing their licenses for "overprescribing," the big thing now is to force all non-terminal pain patients to experiment with all these things whether they do any good or not before or in place of actual pain medication. I've spent weeks running from the acupuncturist to the physical therapist to the psychiatrist and back getting no relief whatsoever because doctors insisted that they had "tried everything" before finally prescribing a medication that worked. I've done serious meditation for many years, guided imagery, and all of that, and it alone is simply not sufficient for me to have a quality of life that is worth remaining alive for. All I can say is that so far, cancer patients at least don't have to fight that fight, but when I read articles like this---and all these things are worthy efforts, if they are being done in the patient's best interests and not merely to keep the doctor from having to put his DEA number at risk---I can see it coming at them as well. The "war on drugs" has been a war on doctors and patients for far too many years and has hastened the deaths of sick people as they simply give up on fighting to stay alive when they are suffering so badly they can't get out of bed. The medical establishment uses any excuse to claim that a person isn't "sick" enough or "suffering" enough to "deserve" pain medication, and I hate to see them come up with yet another excuse to deny us what is in many cases the only truly humane option.
Yes, I have heard what you said frequently about misery being part of the War on Drugs...and it is inhumane, hypocritical (not Hippocratic) and utterly insane that Rush Windbag can get whatever he wants to abuse, but sufferers are expected to well, just suffer...to "send the right message"
Just because SOME people are reckless and irresponsible, the DEA thinks that everyone should have restrictions placed on them...It's like the old saying "When one person craps their pants, everyone wears the diapers"
My heart goes out to you, Wall of Separation. I'm praying you get the relief you need. While I use natural therapies (for the most part), there is no denying that they don't always relieve, not as quickly or as completely, as opiates. I couldn't agree more with other posters here that the absence of adequate pain management for the majority of responsible sufferers is disgraceful.
99% of all medications state on the paper slip listing contraindications "the exact mechanism of this drug is unknown".
Yet another medical advance that the wealthy have decided the average American is not worthy of.
I didn't see biofield, or energy therapies, mentioned. Energy work such as Reiki has been used with success for the pain, depression, medicinal side effects, and other issues cancer patients (and patients with other diseases as well), too. We are not feet or hearts, breasts, or brains alone, but instead a whole being who requires consideration of the whole physical, spiritual, and energetic fields to be healthy. Western medicine only sees part of the picture, but physical diseases have energetic components as well, and Reiki and other energy modalities are used at many hospitals/clinics/treatment centers and in private practices to treat the person holistically along with whatever other therapies a person is receiving. No unpleasant side effects and gentle, but distinct and quantifiable results.
We aren't just physical beings, and when traditional medical professionals work as a team with alternative practitioners it is amazing what a difference it can make for the patient and his/her family.
Dancer, you don't seem to understand that this isn't about waiting until a person is too sick for traditional treatments to work. It should be about working together from the point a person comes into the office to provide a team approach to meet all the patient's needs. You don't have to be past medical help to benefit from alternative treatments given as part of a whole plan, and really the earlier a person receives Reiki the better. But the point is that I think most people would rather have a trauma-free and comfortable death than one drugged out and still uncomfortable, as well as confused or frightened. With Reiki there is an energetic connection that allows the practitioner to help any attending medical staff understand the patient's needs if s/he is not able to communicate well, there is comfort, help with pain, a gentle calming energy that can help a patient rest and relax, and there is no need to be alone.
I realize that we in the West aren't used to thinking of medicine in any ways but going to an office and popping pills for what ails us, and I totally agree with Moose that there are quacks and manipulators out that who should be ashamed for taking advantage of people in a vulnerable time, but research different therapies and consider that several methods have been around for a long time and have track records that are reproducible. Alternative therapies are gaining popularity because some do work, and some work just as well or better than traditional medicines and therapies.
I remember getting acupuncture to thicken the lining of my uterus before IVF several years ago so the embryos would have a nice place to implant, and not only were the techs impressed at how the lining was when it was procedure time, but I remember going in once with a horrible sinus headache that I happened to mention to the doctor. After less than 10 minutes it was totally gone and I felt it leaving, and when I mentioned it she explained that the needle right above my brow was the point for the sinuses. That headache didn't come back for over a month, and I used to have one all time. So I could sit and make fun of something that worked for me, or I could accept that the pills and various or remedies I had tried didn't work and acupuncture did for that issue.
I wish all of you dealing with cancer or other illness health and peace.
In general do not look towards doctors, scientists and all the drug companies for a cancer "CURE." There is no magic bullet cure or medicine to "CURE" cancers. Because all drugs have side affects. In reality look towards a "HOLISTIC PRACTITIONER" to have a way to "PREVENT" most cancers in the first place. Most probably the doctors, scientists, drug companies do not really want to find a so-called cancer "CURE" though they attempt to mislead the gullible public into thinking so. Because it would put them out of business by disrupting/truncating their funding. It does not take a "ROCKET SCIENTIST" to figure out what causes most cancers...........
Nothing more than Big Placebo (a 40 Billion Dollar Industry) raking in the cash with desperate and gullible victims. There is no evidence that alternative medicine works, otherwise it would be called medicine. This is faith-based.
This crap is kept funded by Legislators who are beholden to quackery themselves. Science-based medicine is not perfect, but it's far and away better than any other method at finding facts about reality.
What was mentioned in the article were alternative ways to deal with pain and side effects of cancer and cancer treatments. Legitimate cancer centers do not offer alternate medicine as cures, but just as ways to handle pain and discomfort. I did not try the acupuncture, but some people say it helped their discomfort and nausea when the meds given for chemo side effects were not effective enough. I did try the yoga while in radiation and found the slow gentle stretches to be very helpful where radiation had tightened skin and muscles.
There is much more to treating cancer patients than just treating the cancer. There is treating the whole person. Alternate medicines, counseling, support groups, all these are part of treating the whole person. They are in addition to, not instead of the science based medicines.
Get in the sack.
Atheist, you are wrong. There is data to show that some alternative therapies do work. You are no different than the doctor who sees a patient improve and still insists a therapy doesn't work because it's not in his box of what he was taught in med school. Yes, some alternative therapies DO show effectiveness in some or most situations. Each drug doesn't cure or help with all illness, and most take more than one dose to show benefits, so why would a reasonable person expect an alternative medical treatment to have a person jump off a table totally cured? Look with unbiased eyes at the cure/improvement rates of many drugs, and you will see that some have seriously toxic side effects if they do work, while some aren't even proven to work.
I am a person of science myself, and if something doesn't make a difference I say stop it. Research whatever you choose to do, whether it's traditional or alternative. There are some treatments that are garbage and aren't going to help, but some just plain aren't and there is evidence to prove it. Look at traditional medicine's cure/effectiveness/treatment rates and compare them to whatever you are considering using. Don't jump on a chemo, acupuncture, Reiki, yoga, or any other plan until you have considered the pros and cons, and as far as I am concerned, I wouldn't tell a person not to also use whatever traditional treatments for any disease that s/he wants to try, and many work well together.
Just because in the US we don't treat the whole person or use other therapies as often as we could doesn't mean that is the only way to think. Many countries use these and have for many years, and in some countries doctors learn about them in medical school so they can treat more than your foot or liver of heart. They learn to help patients stay healthy and see them as people instead of diseases, and they learn what other tools are available beside pills and surgeries. Teamwork does makes sense if you do your homework and take reasonable precautions. Many therapies have nothing more to do with faith than medicines or surgeries, and Atheist, perhaps you could do some research of your own to see that the placebo effect is a big part of traditional medicine.
The universe is a big place full of many problems and solutions. We each have to find what works for us and what doesn't, and dismissing everything else than what you personally have been taught is a pretty narrow world view and no different than the person who says no traditional drugs work and all science is evil.
Ram, that goes for you as well. In the sack.
Atheist-6939529, get your stupid ass in the damn kitchen and make me a sandwich now, bitch!
Good thing for the quackery or I would be dead, the treatment (torture) offered by conventional medicine no thanks. In 2003 I was told by 3 doctors that if I walk out that door I would die or worse… go figure the “worse” was the treatment they offered. To put my disease in remission I read much from the “so called quacks” I used probiotics, diet, supplements, herbs, acupuncture and my body did the rest. The immune system can cure most anything if it is functioning properly. The poisons given my modern medicine only hurt your immune system. You need to enhance, balance, and strengthen your immune system for healing modern medicine is all about block, cut, burn or poison. Modern medicine has its place but in is not in curing chronic diseases
In the sack John M.
"Science education is a vaccine against the charlatans of the world that would exploit your ignorance." Neil deGrasse Tyson.
Atheist, what you are witnessing is the failure of our educational system. All those kids that barely got through physics, maths, and chemistry are now full-grown adults. They're still just as clueless as to how the world actually works, and they couldn't give less of a damn about 'EVIDENCE." Leave them to their "alternative therapy." I'm sure the rules of the universe won't change to accommodate their stupidity, so let them have at it!
I can think of no better therapy than to allow someone diagnosed with cancer to grow their own medicine. Just the gardening itself is of benefit, but some cannabinoids have proved to kill cancer cells. Marijuana is also effective for pain relief, increasing appetite and improving the overall mood. Why should anyone, especially someone diagnose with a terminal illness, be denied ANYTHING that can relieve their suffering, and possibly prolong, or even save their life? Cannabis is illegal because it threatens the profits of drug companies, the alcohol industry, the paper industry, and the legal gangsters-with-badges who terrorize otherwise law-abiding citizens in order to confiscate their property for their own gain. Prohibition did not work with alcohol and it will never work with cannabis. It is time common sense to prevail over greed and ignorance. It is time for us to again benefit from one of the most versitile plants on the planet, one that the founding fathers cultivated and deemed important to the success of this nation. A plant that has been used by man for thousands of years and has thousands of uses.
wtf-over, shut your damn mouth about marijuana being the only real cure for cancer. Your dumbass self better read up on some more studies which have shown that marijuana actually CAUSES, yes, CAUSES cancer. Furthermore, like cigars and cigarettes, they also add tons MORE chemicals to make the marijuana grow, and they are also many of the same ones that they use as pesticides in tobacco plants! Furthermore, are the other natural cures for cancer chopped liver when it comes to curing and/or preventing cancer? As far as I am concerned, you pro-marijuana nutbars are the alternative medicine equivalent to the pro-chemotherapy and Big Pharma advocates and that you ALL are just wanting to make a quick buck or two to sell your own lying ass agendas. Also, Big Pharma, morons like you, the drug cartels, the criminal syndicates, gangs, terrorist groups, and corrupt people that are in positions of power are ALL in like Flynn with your monopolization schemes and that you are ALL slaves and sheep to the New World Order. You need to quit supressing the truth and let the other natural cure people have a chance, otherwise I am going to make your lives into a living hell for the lot of you. Is that understood, pro-marijuana and other assorted nutbars?
The reason that "Alternative" pain therapy has become "mainstream" is because the Federal government has warned doctors not to prescribe narcotic painkillers! After all, some cancer patient with (insert your odds here) of living through the godawful treatments could end up an ADDICT! God forbid they should use a powerful drug for its' intended purpose. In 1938, the doctors told my grandmother to go home and figure out who would be raising her children, because it wouldn't be her-she had breast cancer. So they cut her, and burned her, and poisoned her, and took all the credit for saving her life. Until she broke her hip in 1983, she did not see a doctor again. She outlived every doctor she knew in 1938. In 2007, my wife received the same diagnoses- and pretty much the same treatment, with some "refinements". She is just now waking up to the fact that doctors are just "practising" medicine- they haven't really got it figured out yet at all. And the Government could care less about your quality of life or death, so long as they are in control.
I'm sorry your grandmother and wife went through that, paladin:(
That isn't the only reason alternative treatments have gained acceptance, although it is one reason. Some have become more mainstream because they work, and if I know something that can relieve pain or otherwise promote health and I withhold it because it isn't traditional, especially when I know it doesn't have negative side effects and isn't toxic, how is that ethical?
You are right. Doctors practice medicine and techniques and treatments change and update continuously as more experience and data become available. I saw my mother go through what your grandmother did and die anyway in pain and misery, and I see people I work with get relief that s/he wasn't allowed (with Reiki), so if I tell myself it is only okay to have drugs and surgeries available, but not other therapies that do help and don't have those horrible side effects, am I really following the "do no harm" part of the medical model? No one has all the answers, including doctors, therapists, or alternative medical practitioners. Anyone who does claim to have the only answer should be suspect, in my view.
I'm sorry for your pain, too.