...Alternative Cancer Treatments According to “Centers for Disease Control and Prevention” (2013), “Each year globally, 12.7 million people learn they have cancer, and 7.6 million people die from the disease” (para. 1). Cancer treatments can be affective, depending on the type and level of the cancer. Doctors often offer different treatment options to patients. Most of these treatments include medications that can affect the body in a harmful way in attempt to kill the cancer. Many patients are starting to look for alternative treatments. There are no conventional or alternative treatments guaranteed to cure a patient from cancer. A major concern about alternative treatments is its use as a false lure to a cure. Although there is no cure for cancer, alternative treatments may prove to be helpful along with conventional treatment as cancer becomes more common. To understand how alternative treatments can assist cancer patients along with their conventional treatments, we must first ask what cancer is, and how it can affect the human body. According to “National Cancer Institute” (2013), “Cancer is a term used for diseases in which abnormal cells divide without control and are able to invade other tissues” (para. 1). As cancer cells continue to divide, they can also spread to other parts of the body through the blood and lymph systems. These abnormal cells can cause some major issues throughout the body. A broad spectrum of non-specific cancer symptoms can include a nagging...
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...Alternatives for conventional cancer therapies are on the rise. They treat cancer in safer ways. People mostly decide on alternative cancer medicine as a last resort after conventional methods have failed, or when they are too weak after a series of conventional treatments to take another. These therapies should be integrated with conventional treatment and not only as a last resort. One such therapy is with dichloroacetate (DCA) which is sodium salt from dichloroacetic acid obtained as a by-product of the chlorination of municipal drinking water. It is an inexpensive and nearly harmless chemical which has also been used for the treatment of diabetes in the last twenty years. In 2007, University of Alberta discovered that DCA causes death of cancer cells without affecting the healthy cells. According to Medicor Cancer Centers Inc., which treated patients who were drained after conventional cancer treatment using DCA treatment, 60% reacted progressively to the DCA therapy with reversible effects. The cost of treatment in Medicor Cancer Centers Inc. is between $160 and $190 weekly with about $75 monthly for supplements which manage the side effects during the therapy. It is cheaper than conventional cancer treatment. Many people use the therapy in their own home, to lower costs, but it is better to have a doctor who can control side effects which are reversible under supervision. University of Alberta. “News & Updates”. The Official University of Alberta DCA Website. 12...
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...Alternative Methods for Cancer Treatment Kevin Moore COM/172 April 16, 2012 Darrell Haley Alternative Methods for Cancer Treatment If someone you know is being treated for cancer, you may want to learn more about what they are going through. Surgery, chemotherapy, and radiation are the main types of cancer treatment. However there are alternative methods for cancer treatment. Surgery is often the first treatment option if the tumor can be taken out of the body. Sometimes only part of the tumor can be removed. Radiation, chemotherapy, or both might be used to shrink the tumor before or after surgery. Doctors use chemotherapy to kill cancer cells. The term chemotherapy (often shortened to "chemo") refers to the use of drugs to kill cancer cells. Usually, the drugs are given intravenously (into a vein, IV) or taken by mouth. Chemo drugs then travel through the body in the bloodstream, reaching cancer cells that may have spread (metastasized) from the tumor to other places in the body. Radiation therapy uses high energy rays (such as x-rays) to kill cancer cells or shrink tumors. The radiation may come from outside the body (external radiation) or from radioactive materials put right into the tumor (internal or implant radiation). Getting external radiation is much like getting an x-ray. The radiation itself is painless, but tissue damage may cause side effects. Other, newer kinds of treatment you might hear about...
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...Alternative therapies for cancer treatment HCS/436 April 29, 2014 Maria Libano Alternative Therapies for Cancer Treatment Treatment for terminal illness nowadays in most advance nation, in the domain of medicine, is not limited to single absolute regimen or perhaps, couple of so called convectional fashion of tackling a terminal disease such as any for cancer. There have been some successful testimonies from patient who adopted alternative means to treat cancer or complimentary methods to tackle the cancer. To illustrate this, Tamara St. John in her “Defeat Cancer Now” depicts how she conquered cancer by adopting alternative measures because she despised all the side effects from chemotherapy and radiation therapy way of treating breast cancer. It was a success. Currently and beside complimentary or supplementary regimen to treat cancer, different options are available for alternative therapies for cancer treatment including acupuncture, spiritual aspect as in prayer, meditation, support group, just to name a few. Most people agreed upon that “ there is no harm in trying” which implies that if a person is going through difficulties especially an illness such as cancer, they will try different option that are available to them, in order to cope. Alternative therapies and treatment can also be utilized to maintain and sustain life. “The uses of complementary and alternative therapies continue to increase within the population” (Henderson & Donatelle, 2004...
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...is CAM and how it may be applied Alternative medicine is any practice that claims to heal, but does not fall into the area of conventional medicine. Normally this type of health care is based on historical or traditions, rather than some type of scientific evidence. An example of alternative medicine is treating cancer with a specific diet instead of undergoing a surgical procedure or a chemotherapy treatment. Complementary medicine is a diagnostic and therapeutic discipline and is normally used in conjunction with conventional medicine. An example of complementary medicine would be a patient using acupuncture after a surgical procedure to assist in lessoning the discomfort after surgery. Integrative medicine (IM) is a combination of mainstream medical therapies with non-conventional complementary therapies; however, IM does in fact use complementary therapies if there is high quality scientific evidence of the effectiveness. Conventional medicine is and will still be a major focus when it comes to health care, but it is evolving into a broader area of concern. Traditionally conventional medicines only concern was getting to the main issue and resolving it by only looking at the flesh and bones of an individual. Now with the influence of complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) doctors are implementing a new focus that encompasses the entire body, including the mind, body, and spirit, therefore, broadening the possibilities of a treatment approach. There are a total of five...
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...CAM Therapeutic Modalities Paper In today's world, there are many treatment methods for the different ailments people encounter. Although traditional medical practices are the predominant choice among Americans, many also use complimentary or alternative medicine (CAM) to treat certain conditions. According to NCCAM Clearinghouse (n.d.), CAM is defined as "a group of diverse medical and health care systems, practices, and products that are not generally considered part of conventional medicine" (Defining CAM). In this paper alternative, complementary and integrative medicine will be defined and differentiated, and the role of conventional medicine in these medicines will be discussed. There will also be a comparison of the regulations and oversights in conventional and non-conventional medicine in the United States, a review of the CAM philosophy, and a description of the domains of therapies according to the NCCAM website. Finally, a CAM treatment modality within one of the domains will be described and evaluated. Alternative medicine is the use of CAM as a replacement for conventional medicine such as faith healing ("alternative medicine," 2014). Conventional medicine does not play a role in alternative medicine because the conventional methods are discarded for the alternative methods. "An example of an alternative therapy is using a special diet to treat cancer instead of undergoing surgery, radiation, or chemotherapy that has been recommended by a conventional doctor"...
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...CAM Therapeutic Modalities Mark Apelo SCI/201 November 12, 2011 Jennifer Kuo CAM Therapeutic Modalities Sickness is a challenge that every person has to go through. Conventional management is doubted regularly, while we search for alternative treatments for our illness. Many of us are pursuing preventative measures to avoid getting sick and to live a healthy life style and go beyond treating diseases. In search for a better way of staying healthy many are looking for other possibilities such as alternative or complementary medical treatment (CAM) options. Conventional medicine also known as allopathic treatment is therapies provided by Medical professional such as doctors, nurses, and pharmacists. It usually involves both invasive such as surgery or noninvasive procedures. This is the most common and popular choice for medical care in the United States hence it is called Western Medicine (Dosey & Keegan, 2013). There are other way of treating diseases and illness that are being used by many people. These are the nonconventional medicine such as CAM. Complimentary and alternative medicine (CAM) are practices that falls under nonstandard medicine category; People with chronic disease use this form of treatment to alleviate pain, stress, anxiety and to feel more involve in their care. Although a further need of research to understand properly why patient turn to CAM for additional management of their chronic disease, however, researchers believed that culture and ethnicity...
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...One of the most significant discussions taking place in the field of psychiatry and medicine, is the use of holistic treatments. These discussions have opened a window of opportunity to discuss different options pertaining to our own healthcare, but the looming question is, which treatment is truly going to be the best decision. With the popularity of the holistic approach, society has started to vilify conventional medicine. On the one hand, I agree that in the realm of holism, there are a few naturalistic remedies that can be administered with less side effects. On the other hand, I still maintain that it is only rational to seek out a licensed medical or psychiatric professional pertaining to any conditions that require conventional medicine....
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...Cancer Treatments Theresa Nelson COM 156 04/13/2014 Dr. Patricia Lally Cancer Treatments In the past, just saying the word "cancer" usually meant a death sentence. That assumption could not be more wrong with the medical technology of today. New cancer treatment options coupled with early detection have strongly diminished the number of deaths from a cancer diagnosis. New evidence shows that treating not just the body but the mind and the soul can go a long way in the amount of time a person can live with cancer. In 2013, Lung cancer and breast cancer were the leading cause of cancer deaths in the United States(Encyclopedia Brittanica, 2014). Lung cancer symptoms do not show themselves until the disease hits a more advanced stage of diagnosis and it is very hard to catch it unless you are looking for it. In most situations, Lung cancer is found when another routine examination is going on, this is what makes finding it early very difficult and why the scientific treatments tend to be more effective with it. Breast cancer on the other hand can be detected early with the proper screenings each year. It is the one cancer that with early intervention can have the most successful remission and the least amount of deaths. Breast cancer patients can also tend to lean more on the homeopathic and holistic form of treatment versus just the scientific because of how it can make the patient feel and their overall quality of life can be better. There...
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...Categories of Treatments Christian Rosales SCI/201 04/29/2012 Macharia Waruingi CAM and its Categories of Treatments In the pursuit of health and well-being, many Americans along with the world, have used Complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) over the past decade. In July 30, 2009, National Health Statistic Reports demonstrated on a test conducted in 2007 “that about 38.3% of adults (83 million persons) and 11.8% of children (8.5 million children under the age of 18 years) have used Complementary and alternative medicine” (NHSR, 2009). In this paper, I will define the terms alternative medicine, complementary medicine, and integrative medicine and clarify how these terms differ. I will also describe how conventional medicine plays a role in these three terms. After, I will review the philosophy of CAM and how it relates to or is different from conventional Western medicine. Followed by describing one CAM treatment modality within one of the five NCCAM domains and give an example of how such a therapy could be used as an alternative therapy, a complementary therapy, and an integrative therapy for a specific medical condition. Then, I will explain how each example meets the definition of alternative, complementary, or integrative therapy and support the rationale for each section. Lastly, I will conclude with the results of scientific studies, if available, that show a clinical benefit from the examples selected. Complementary and alternative medicine (CAM)...
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...Alternative, complementary, and integrative healing are all part of a well debated but poorly researched area of medicine. Doctors of the conventional American and European medical communities have been long prone to dismiss unconventional healing methods such as acupuncture, herbal supplements, and massage therapy as ineffective, or outright crackpot methods of treating illness. The view of the medical community, however, seems to have little impact of the growing popularity of CAM (complementary and alternative medicine) among patients. An increasing number of people in the United States and Europe have been turning to these treatments in addition to or instead of traditional Western medicine. The sheer popularity of CAM has forced the medical community to better examine the acceptance of CAM in medicine. CAM encompasses a wide range of healing methods from acupuncture to massage therapy to herbal remedies such as St. Johnís Wort and Echinacea. Many of these remedies have been around for centuries. In the case of Acupuncture, there have been regulations on acupuncture in China and Japan for years. However, since many of these procedures have not been proven ìscientificallyî, western medicine had largely rejected the remedies as being effective forms of treatment. One professor of medicine at the Rabin Medical Center likened CAM to beliefs in magic and superstition that medicine relied on before modern scientific advances. "The deep model of Alternative medicine is anthropocentric...
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...chemotherapy and radiation cannot destroy the cancer ‘stem cells’ which are where the cancer cells are created. There are hundreds of different therapies currently being used all over the world, from Mexico to Germany to China that have been proven to be more effective, both short- and long-term, and have fewer side effects than traditional chemotherapy and radiation. Reason 1) The average malignant tumor takes approximately 5-10 years to develop before discovered. Much of this growth is done within the tissue and is not easily diagnosed. The cells that cause these tumors are what scientists refer to as cancer stem cells. While cancer ‘daughter’ cells (what we think of when we think of cancer cells) can be destroyed by conventional American treatment, these stem cells cannot be, so when people are declared ‘cancer free’ it’s very probable that they still have these stem cells floating around inside them. When you hear that certain cancers have a 5-10 year survival rate, it’s because these stem cells take 5-10 years to develop new daughter cells and form a tumor. So you’re technically not living to 5-10 years cancer free, that’s just the amount of time it takes for another tumor to develop and be discovered. Also, it should be noted that stem cells can travel throughout the body; this is why metastatic cancers are so common in epithelial cancers. Reason 2) Chemotherapy and radiation are not considered to be effective methods of treatment in other developed nations. There are...
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...investment towards new proton beam treatment. The new technology will cost more than $180 million just to build a facility to use the proton beam machines. Emanuel and Pearson argue in favor of Americans because they do not believe that Americans taxpayers should pay the excessive amount of money towards proton beam machines that lack evidence of curing cancer more effectively. The issue that arises about the topic is that there are cheaper alternatives of radiation, that cancer patients can receive for fraction of the price of proton beam therapy which can cost $50,000 a treatment. During these hard economic times it is unreasonable to follow through with the outrageous sum of money it requires and yet it does not have any significant scientific evidence it can cure cancer. Therefore the money going towards the proton beam technology is better used elsewhere. Instead of spending the outrageous sum of money on the two new proton beam treatment facilities at the Mayo Clinic which are located in Minnesota and Arizona because it will cost more than $180 million dollars each. The claim that the authors wanted to make to the public is that the proton beam technology should not be invested in because of its high risk and low reward . The benefit cost analysis of having proton beam technology compare to not having it, is pretty obvious. The proton beam technology is inferior to other forms of radiation treatment for cancer patients even though it cost twice...
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...The Gerson Therapy Specific Purpose: To convince my audience that The Gerson Therapy is by far a better alternative to cancer therapy and control than conventional treatments and therapies. Central Idea: The Gerson Therapy is a natural treatment for cancer and other diseases that activates the body’s extraordinary ability to heal itself through an organic, vegetarian diet as opposed to other conventional treatments that tend to deteriorate the body in hopes of reaching stability of disease. Organizational Pattern: Monroe’s Motivated sequence Introduction I. (Attention) Let me tell you a story about a 20 year old man. After he graduated high school at the age of 17 he was accepted to his dream university. In order to attend it he had to take on two jobs to pay his tuition and to help support his underprivileged family. Along the way this young man unexpectedly becomes a proud father of a beautiful baby boy. At the age of 20 this young man walks into the emergency department at my job complaining about a mild stomach ache he had for about 1 week. We routinely asses his medical history and perform necessary examinations, we send him on his way with some pain medication and tell him we will call him when the results are in. The next day he is called back in and he is asked to wait for our medical director. He is given the news that he has stage 4 pancreatic cancer and has anywhere from 6 to 12 months to live. His following weeks consisted of constant visits to medical...
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...Complementary Medicine and its Future in Mainstream Health Care Apple founder Steve Jobs, a firm believer in alternative medicine, was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer in 2003. According to Barrie Cassileth, chief of integrative medicine at New York’s Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, “Steve Jobs’ faith in alternative medicine likely cost him his life” (Szabo 2). He had chosen to delay a much needed surgery to use alternative methods such as acupuncture, herbs and special diets. When he finally decided to have surgery, it was too late. He died in 2011, eight years after his diagnosis. Although this is a very extreme case for someone using alternative medicine instead of traditional western medicine, it is a fear many in the health care industry have for the growing popularity of its use. However, many other practitioners have stood by its use and claim that in most cases it can be very beneficial. The problem between these two opposing viewpoints is that there is no common ground between the two--for many practitioners it’s all or nothing. However, there is a new wave of healthcare that is gaining popularity in parts of the medical community, and it combines the two into what is called Complementary Alternative Medicine (CAM). Instead of leaning more to one side of either spectrum of medicine, CAM tends to combine the scientifically proven methods of alternative medicine with those of the more trusted and traditional methods of conventional medicine. This is truly a more...
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