TruthBook Religious News Blog

Holistic medicine adds tools to cancer fight

The National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine at the Institute of Health has issued some facts on complementary and alternative medicine, or CAM. These facts might bring up more questions than they will provide answers, but I hope we all think holistically.

Some familiar tools for the treatment of cancer are chemotherapy, radiation and surgery provided by physicians. Holistic medicine expands the tools with which to work and adds mental, social and spiritual aspects to physical needs.

Conventional medicine includes medical doctors and doctors of osteopathy, plus physical therapists, physiologists and registered nurses. Integrative medicine offers diverse medical and health-care systems, practices and products that are not yet considered to be a part of conventional medicine.

Integrative medicine combines both conventional medicine and CAM without distinguishing which is primary.

CAM is used by 36 percent of adult Americans. But when megavitamin therapy and prayer for health reasons are included when defining CAM, that figure grows to 62 percent. The use of integrative medicine was especially high among those who had a serious illness like cancer.

These statistics are from a 2002 National Health Interview Survey, supported by NCAM and the National Center for Health Statistics, a part of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. In the December 2004 issue of the Journal of Clinical Oncology, 88 percent of the 102 people with cancer who participated in research at the Mayo Comprehensive Cancer Center had included at least one CAM therapy. This research showed that of these who used CAM, 93 percent used supplements such as vitamins and minerals, 53 percent used prayer/spiritual practices or chiropractic care and almost 47 percent used both.

Some CAM therapies are now used as cancer treatments, not so much as a cure, but as a therapy which can help one feel better or recover faster. Acupuncture can help with the side effects of chemotherapy and to relieve the pain which follows surgery.

"I used to believe that we must choose between science and reason on one hand, and spirituality on the other, in how we lead our lives. Now I consider this a false choice. We can recover the sense of sacredness, not just in science, but in perhaps every area of life." Dr. Larry Dossey wrote in Reinventing Medicine. Dossey's research, intended to dispute the power of prayer, revealed that prayer has power. Both he and his wife, Dr. Barbara Dossey, are authors and pioneers in the field of holistic healing and provide a broader view and better understanding through their books.

People of all ages, from all walks of life and every culture, do healing work. Many live here in Acadiana. Holistic practitioners are nurses, traiteurs, massage therapists, acupuncturists, nuns, refloxologists, priests, counselors, lay people, iridologists, psychologists, trained in Reiki and healing touch.

Tell your doctor if you are working with a CAM practitioner. Ask the same questions you would of a physician when looking for one. Ask for what you want. It might be within you.

Becca Begneaud is a traiteur and two-time cancer survivor and regularly coordinates this column.

Labels: Becca Begneaud, health, holistic, National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine, prayer, religion, spirituality