Some Things to Know About Cancer and Integrative Medicine

 

When it comes to treating cancer, this can be difficult. The treatments available today are able to fight cancer but they can also result to so many undesirable effects as well. Also, it becomes necessary to have the side effects treated in order to help the cancer patients recover from such kind of illness and also the treatment. An approach that is becoming more popular these days is integrative medicine.

 

If you are not yet familiar to this, then you should know that integrative medicine is a kind of approach to care wherein the western as well as alternative therapies are being used in order to keep the patients healthy and also happy. Aside from receiving the regular radiation treatment and therapy, the patient that use integrative medicine may have to get a regular care from the masseuse or the acupuncturist. More of this are displayed at http://edition.cnn.com/2007/HEALTH/10/04/ep.alt.med/index.html?iref=newssearch. The cancer treatments are really effective but they are hard on the body and the massage and things like this can also help in treating the side effects. Acupuncture and massage can be used for treating pain which is a very common side effect of the cancer treatment and cancer itself. Through treating the side effects caused by the medicine, then the patients can feel better as they get better.

 

This kind of therapy is intended to be complementary. You must consider it like a supplement to other treatments but not a replacement of them. The only hormone treatment which prove effective in cancer treatment are those which are used by the western doctors such as chemotherapy and radiation. Any kind of integrative medicine center which advises you to halt these treatments and focus only on alternative therapies must not be trusted.

 

Also, it is really important to remember that while there are some alternative treatments that prove to be helpful but some can also be dangerous for the body. The acupuncture or massage that would be used to help in addressing pain or nausea can be helpful to patients. They may also be used together with those regular treatments. The use of supplements or those herbal therapies can be dangerous since large doses of such things may interfere with the cancer drugs' effectiveness. You have to talk to your integrative doctor prior to starting any supplements. When they advise against them since the supplements can interfere with cancer treatment, then you should avoid using them. The integrative medicine may provide a beneficial outcome for the patients suffering from cancer.