How Can Complementary Medicine Help With Cancer?

I give this article this particular title so that It gives me an opportunity to state very clearly that no complementary therapist can claim to treat cancer. That would contravene the 1939Cancer Act. 

In fact we don’t need to even think about treating the cancer. What complementary medicine does and can do very well is to address the situation in which the cancer developed. So we would look to resolve the health of the entire body and change the environment the cancer developed in.

No one takes this or any illness lightly, but this one sadly strikes fear into those with a diagnosis. A good practitioner would not be under the illusion that this is easy to address as again it has probably developed for a variety of reasons and different for everyone. But one thing is for sure, it hasn't developed due to a lack of chemotherapy drugs or radiotherapy in the body.

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How Effective Is Complementary Medicine & How Long Lasting is it.

To my mind, finding the right therapist you are happy with and giving you the most suitable treatment, then therapies are extremely effective in helping to restore health.

We are never allowed to talk of cure but if you have a condition and you have treatments and you don’t have the symptoms after, then I guess it has worked!

Therapists have to be very careful to make claims that they don’t treat specific conditions also, but again, therapies work to address dis-ease in the body, you can’t make only one part well, it all has to be well for good health to be restored and complementary medicine is a very holistic approach to the body.

How long lasting is it?

How long is a piece of string? Given that people very often are told they need to take certain medication for life, even those that are just thought to be preventative, which of course we never know if they are, then complementary medicine is the same. You do it until you feel better and then very often people may build a maintenance programme into their life to help them keep as well as they can.

It is all about stacking the deck in your favour.

A therapist will have more time to look at your lifestyle and see what might be contributing to the ill health or problem. It then requires the client/patient to make the changes alongside the treatments. If what you have done up to that point has led to a problem, then you have to change it, if not the problem remains.

Keep doing what you always do and you get what you always got! Be guided to another way and you end up with a better result – health and good well being!

How Do I Find The Right Practitioner?

Looking for a therapist that has experience in treating your condition is of course the first question you might ask.

With most things in life, word of mouth is the best recommendation. And that is how most people find me. But if that isn't possible, ask lots of questions when you call a practitioner. Are they a member of a recognised organisation such as the Federation of Holistic Therapists? Are they insured?

I don’t think experience in terms of years in the business is always relevant. Newly qualified practitioners have experience during their college training and will have plenty of recent experience and training.

Those more senior in the industry hopefully will also have kept up their CPD so will be aware of new methods and thinking etc. So may be asking if they do continual skill enhancement in their work.

A good practitioner will not mind answering your questions, they will know that it is important for the client to be happy to trust them and therefore relaxed in sharing confidential and personal information with them.

Sometimes it may be that you don’t get on with the therapist you first find, that doesn't matter, there will be one that is right for you.  That is no problem to the therapist. A professional therapist will understand that and will want what is right for you.

Again, much like in the surgery, patients always prefer one GP over the others.

What Therapy is Right For You?

This is a good question and lends itself to the diversity of therapies that are out there.

If you are looking to treat allergies, CKT or chirokinetic therapy is very effective as would addressing the immune system through vitamins.

Aromatherapy and herbalism are very good for hormonal problems and digestion problems, but again, they too can be used for a variety of illnesses as well. Herbalism is the oldest form of medicine and thus can tackle a multitude of illnesses by addressing the root cause. Aromatherapy will impact chemically on the body as well, and used alongside massage, can also alleviate muscular pains etc .

It is limitless what complementary medicine can do to help restore health and balance.

It is almost impossible to declare what is best as it is for the exploration of the individual.

It may be that you try a few to see what has the best affinity with your body. You have to give whatever you try, a few sessions to see the difference. I equate it to medicine, that there may well be a range of pills that treat the same condition, some you react well to and others you don’t. Beta blockers are a good example of this. You also wouldn't take a pill once and declare it a failure; you need to see how it responds over time.

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Can Complementary Medicine Work Side by Side with Traditional Medicine?

I think it is absolutely right that people do whatever they feel will help them to better health and if that is using complementary medicine alongside allopathic medicine then I see no problem in this. All forms of medicine should be working to the same end, and no one route may be enough, so the allopathic route may help the symptoms while the complementary route, may address the cause, or vice versa. Usually the first of those is the way.

Therapies work very well together and will be addressing problems in a different way, but the ultimate reason for using either method must be solely for the restoration of health to the best it can be for the person concerned.

Doctors have the ultimate responsibility for their patients’ health but because many have little or no knowledge of complementary medicine, it is unfair for a patient to ask the doctor for their opinion if they should combine the two. It is also wrong for a complementary therapist acting in that role to dissuade a patient to not seek their doctors’ advice.

It is also very wrong for either approach to denigrate the people involved in that persons care. Many doctors will view complementary medicine as quackery, but I think you only have to ask the many that use it as either the only option or as a complement to the standard approach and they vote with their feet.

It of course would be so much better if the two approaches conversed with mutual respect.

Why Would Someone Seek an Alternative Method of Treatment?

Very often people will seek a different approach, when they have felt that the methods we are more use to have not worked for them or have not worked in the way they had hoped. Perhaps the side effects were worse than the condition, and for an increasing number of people, they seek a method that will work in harmony with the body and are not harsh medical interventions as a first option.

A lot of people try them on the recommendation of friends that have had successful outcomes.

I think that when it comes to the need for accident and emergency or surgery, then of course the health service is superb and it is just what is needed, but for the long term chronic conditions, there are people who feel disillusioned with the approach and they also seek to see what else there is to help.

This is people taking responsibility for their health too, and seeking the right approach for them, perhaps realising that they didn’t get ill through lack of a pill but that something fundamental is askew and on a level that complementary medicine has the subtlety to address

So What is Complementary Medicine & What Treatments Does it Include?

Complementary medicine to my thinking, are modalities that complement the body and therefore the health of the body.

It is the option of treatments that work in harmony with the body, perhaps initiating the body’s own healing ability or using natural remedies and not synthetic chemical based medicines

There are a vast spectrum of therapies that would come under this umbrella.

Many people are aware of treatments such as Aromatherapy, Reflexology, and Acupuncture.  Complementary Medicine includes so many therapies, such as Chiropractic, Osteopathy, Reiki, Kinesiology, Shiatsu, Cranial-Sacral, Herbalism, Homeopathy, Massage, etc

Some treatments involve direct manipulation of the body, often subtly and others include the adding of substances such as herbalism, aromatherapy, homeopathy. Then there are the therapies that change the resonances of the body - energy fields or meridians, so Acupuncture, Cranial Sacral, Reiki and Crystal Therapies would come under this

Of course I have no way exhausted the list and it is this range of therapies that is the strength of complementary medicine, but can also lead to its criticism.

But we are all individuals and having been a practising therapist for some years now, I fully accept that what works wonders for one, doesn't for another. This is no different from allopathic medicine, where there can be several pills for one condition, one pill suits and another doesn't.

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