Alternative And Complementary Therapies For Cancer

With recent clinical advances, millions of people survive many years after a cancer diagnosis. And while their physicians deliver conventional, evidence-based therapies to treat the cancer, sometimes the cancer patient and his or her symptoms are not treated with equal skill. To manage their physical and emotional symptoms and promote health and well-being, most cancer patients and survivors use complementary therapies: Naturopathy, Ayurveda, herbalism, homeopathy, hypnosis, yoga, acupuncture, music therapy, macrobiotics, chelation therapy, colonics, hydrotherapy and many, many more. But OC are they safe? Are they effective? What problems do they address? What are the risks? When can they help? This unique and comprehensive book guides the way through the often confusing maze of complementary and alternative therapies promoted to cancer patients and survivors. The functions, benefits, backgrounds and risks are clearly presented. Learning when, if and how to use them provides medical professionals, cancer patients and survivors with the information they need to better control the symptoms and side effects of cancer and its treatment. Unfortunately, using some of these therapies without this expert guidance can lead to medical complications, or worse. The Complete Guide to Complementary Therapies in Cancer Care is an invaluable resource in making educated health care decisions for managing life during and after cancer. Through the wise and informed use of these approaches, cancer patients OCo whether just-diagnosed, during treatment or throughout Survivership are better able to manage the physical and emotional stresses that accompany cancer, leading to symptom control and improved quality of life."

Integration of complementary and alternative medicine therapies (CAM) with conventional medicine is occurring in hospitals and physicians offices, health maintenance organizations (HMOs) are covering CAM therapies, insurance coverage for CAM is increasing, and integrative medicine centers and clinics are being established, many with close ties to medical schools and teaching hospitals. In determining what care to provide, the goal should be comprehensive care that uses the best scientific evidence available regarding benefits and harm, encourages a focus on healing, recognizes the importance of compassion and caring, emphasizes the centrality of relationship-based care, encourages patients to share in decision making about therapeutic options, and promotes choices in care that can include complementary therapies where appropriate. Numerous approaches to delivering integrative medicine have evolved. Complementary and Alternative Medicine in the United States identifies an urgent need for health systems research that focuses on identifying the elements of these models, the outcomes of care delivered in these models, and whether these models are cost-effective when compared to conventional practice settings. It outlines areas of research in convention and CAM therapies, ways of integrating these therapies, development of curriculum that provides further education to health professionals, and an amendment of the Dietary Supplement Health and Education Act to improve quality, accurate labeling, research into use of supplements, incentives for privately funded research into their efficacy, and consumer protection against all potential hazards.

The major objective of this book is to review in detail health problems occurring with significant frequency in aging adults which are proposed to be treated or ameliorated using nutriceuticals as foods and dietary supplements as well as other complementary and alternative therapies. Chapters primarily focusing on nutrients have been excluded to maintain a focus on complementary and alternative medicine (CAM). The book is divided into three general sections: 1. Nutriceuticals and Botanicals in Health Promotion - including Specific Nutriceuticals Used in Treating Aged; and General Nutraceutical Approaches to Therapy with emphasis on cancer. 2. Non-nutritional CAM Therapies – including Mind-mediated Therapies; and Physically Applied CAM Therapies3. Non-dietary Complementary and Alternative Medicine (CAM) Use and Benefits to the Elderly in Health Identifies the important nutritional requirements of the aging population, and how nutraceuticals and other CAM options affect those Addresses the many disease entities and cancers are found with higher frequency in the aged, including cancer, trauma, or infectious disease that can alter intakes of nutraceutical containing foods and/or requirements for various nutrients. Explores the nutritional materials botanical extracts and components that can have important health promotion benefits and risks, to ensure safe consumption Reviews the frequently used non-traditional and often unproven CAM therapies, beyond nutritional and nutraceutical supplements, including a variety of physical and psychosocial treatments.

Emphasising the multi-disciplinary nature of palliative care the fourth edition of this text also looks at the individual professional roles that contribute to the best-quality palliative care.

Would you use complementary and alternative medicines (CAMS)? Well, research has shown that up to three quarters of patients with cancer may at least supplement their treatment with such therapies, spending as much on CAMS as conventional drugs. How do you decide? This book provides a full range of perspectives on CAMS from patients and CAMS practitioners to conventional doctors who oppose the use of these alternative treatments because of the lack of evidence of efficacy and safety. Then there are the CAMS researchers, educators and regulators who view CAMS from different perspectives. The broad array of opinions build a complete picture of the issues for discerning readers to be adequately informed to make up their minds and draw their own conclusions.

So-called alternative medicine (SCAM) is popular and therefore important, no matter whether we love or loathe it. Consequently, an impressive number of books about SCAM are already available. Most of them, however, are woefully uncritical, overtly promotional and dangerously misleading. Not so this one! This book was written by someone who received SCAM as a patient, practised SCAM as a doctor, and researched SCAM as a scientist. It provides an insider's perspective by covering aspects of SCAM which most other books avoid, and by questioning the many tacitly accepted assumptions and wild extrapolations that underpin SCAM. The text is factual, occasionally dosed with a touch of humour or satire. The aim is not only to inform but also to entertain. It is written principally for members of the general public who have an interest in healthcare and are tired of the promotional counter-knowledge produced by SCAM enthusiasts. It is an exercise in critical thinking that might prevent you from wasting your money on (or endangering your health with) bogus treatments.

A comprehensive guide to more than two hundred alternative cancer treatments, including diet, vitamin, and touch therapies, that discusses how each is used, its history, medical evidence for its efficacy, and any possible problems associated with the treatment.