Is Complementary And Alternative Medicine Safe
The safety of complementary and alternative medicine cannot be generalized, since there are different approaches and places to find them. Regardless of a patients preferences, it is important that they seek out the opinion of specialized professionals about which alternative medicines are safe to take. One of the common mistakes identified by the National Cancer Institute is that since its natural, its safe. However, being natural does not necessarily mean it is safe, and the botanical and nutritional products available may negatively interact with other treatments.
Some CAM therapies have undergone careful evaluation and have found to be safe and effective. However there are others that have been found to be ineffective or possibly harmful, emphasized the center, which explained that there is currently less research on these therapies due to time and funding issues, difficulties in finding institutions and cancer researchers to work with on the studies, and regulatory issues. CAM therapies need to be evaluated with the same long and careful research process used to evaluate standard treatments. Standard cancer treatments have generally been studied for safety and effectiveness through an intense scientific process that includes clinical trials with large numbers of patients.
In Five Years A Major Treatment Shift
In men diagnosed with metastatic hormone-sensitive prostate cancer, the cancer is typically driven to grow and spread by androgens that are produced largely in the testes. For many years, treatments that block androgen production have been a mainstay for men initially diagnosed with metastatic prostate cancer.
Starting in 2014, that began to change after a large clinical trial showed that adding the chemotherapy drug docetaxel to ADT improved how long men with hormone-responsive disease lived. Shortly after, another clinical trial showed that adding abiraterone to ADT also improved survival in these men, although primarily in men with many metastatic tumors, known as high-volume disease.
However, docetaxel, which works by directly killing cancer cells, can have substantial side effects, and some patients arent healthy enough to tolerate it. And abirateronewhich blocks androgen production throughout the bodycan also cause side effects, including those that affect the liver. It also has to be given in combination with the steroid prednisone, which carries its own toxicity.
Doing so, Dr. Chi said during a presentation of the TITAN data at the ASCO meeting, might help stave off the typically inevitable development of hormone-resistant cancer, which is more difficult to treat and a key driver of prostate cancer deaths.
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Thinking About Taking Part In A Clinical Trial
Clinical trials are carefully controlled research studies that are done to get a closer look at promising new treatments or procedures. Clinical trials are one way to get state-of-the art cancer treatment. In some cases they may be the only way to get access to newer treatments. They are also the best way for doctors to learn better methods to treat cancer. Still, they’re not right for everyone.
If you would like to learn more about clinical trials that might be right for you, start by asking your doctor if your clinic or hospital conducts clinical trials.
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General Perception Of Cam
The participants defined CAM as a herbal medicine or something you use from your kitchen . Herbs were further characterized as containing no preservative nothing to damage you or anything so it is good to take , and herbal products were thought not have side effects and could work with anything . Participants typically linked CAM with purity and natural and believed that CAM had universal applications without any potential for harm. The perceived safety profile was reinforced by a long history of CAM use in the form of traditional Trinidadian medicine that has been passed down over centuries and is perceived as safe and acceptable. One participant stated that from the time I was young, I tell you that my grandmother uses to boil, pick up the bush and boil it, she would mix it with honey, sometime she might put a little bit of Vicks or a little bit of olive oil too and mix it upfor the cold/bronchitis . Various types of CAM as earlier mentioned were identified by patients to treat cardiac diseases such as coronary artery disease, thrombosis , cardiac arrhythmias and dilated cardiomyopaties .
Qualitative Study About The Meanings Of Complementary And Alternative Medicine For Cancer In Students Of Health Sciences
2018, Universitas Psychologica
El cáncer representa altas tasas de morbilidad y de mortalidad en el mundo, aun cuando las investigaciones en el área médica han hecho grandes aportes para avanzar en la cura, especialmente a través de tratamientos centrados en cirugÃa, quimioterapia y radioterapia. Sin embargo, la efectividad de estos tratamientos es incierta y sus efectos secundarios pueden incentivar la búsqueda y el uso de otras opciones terapéuticas como la Medicina Complementaria y Alternativa , por parte de los pacientes. Para el cáncer, existe evidencia del uso de MCA a través de acupuntura, yoga, homeopatÃas, medicina china, medicina ayurveda, suplementos dietarios, mindfulness, bioenergética y algunos de mayor uso entre los pacientes como hierbas medicinales, productos minerales y suplementos vitamÃnicos . La literatura muestra que el uso de MCA tiene efectos tanto negativos como positivos. En lo que concierne a los efectos negativos se encuentran: problemas gastrointestinales, fotosensibilidad,…
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Cancer That Clearly Has Spread
If the cancer has spread outside the prostate, it will most likely go to nearby lymph nodes first, and then to bones. Much less often the cancer will spread to the liver or other organs.
When prostate cancer has spread to other parts of the body , hormone therapy is probably the most effective treatment. But it isnt likely to cure the cancer, and at some point it might stop working. Usually the first treatment is a luteinizing hormone-releasing hormone agonist, LHRH antagonist, or orchiectomy, sometimes along with an anti-androgen drug or abiraterone. Another option might be to get chemotherapy along with the hormone therapy. Other treatments aimed at bone metastases might be used as well.
Complementary And Alternative Therapies For Prostate Cancer
HomeNews & MediaNewsComplementary and alternative therapies for prostate cancer
12 February 2019
A cancer diagnosis is life-changing. Men with prostate cancer often react with determination, vowing to fight the disease by any means possible. Aside from mainstream medicine and surgery, there are many other therapies and lifestyle changes that claim to help prevent and treat prostate cancer. These interventions include complementary and alternative therapies. A US organisation called the National Cancer Institute have recently published extremely useful summaries of the scientific evidence surrounding many different complementary and alternative therapies for patients.
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How Does It Work
Our HIFU system captures real-time images of the prostate, allowing the doctor to create a customized treatment plan for each patient. Once the treatment plan is mapped, the doctor delivers the ultrasound energy to targeted sites, or focal points, throughout the prostate gland.
HIFU treatment is focal, meaning that the ultrasound heat only destroys the unhealthy tissue, leaving the healthy part of the prostate intact.
Natural Does Not Mean Safe
CAM therapies include a wide variety of botanicals and nutritional products, such as herbal and dietary supplements, and vitamins. These products do not have to be approved by the Food and Drug Administration before being sold to the public. Also, a prescription isn’t needed to buy them. Therefore, it’s up to you to decide what’s best for you. Some tips to keep in mind are below.
- Herbal supplements may be harmful when taken by themselves, with other substances, or in large doses. For example, some studies have shown that kava kava, an herb that has been used to help with stress and anxiety, may cause liver damage. And St. John, which some people use for depression, may cause certain cancer drugs to not work as well as they should.
- Tell your doctor if you’re taking any dietary supplements, even vitamins, no matter how safe you think they are. This is very important. Even though there may be ads or claims that something has been used for years, they do not prove that it’s safe or effective. This is even more true when combined with your medicines.
- Talk with your doctor about what you should be eating. It’s common for people with cancer to have questions about different foods to eat during treatment. Yet it’s important to know there isn’t just one food or special diet that has proved to control cancer.
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Cure Prostate Cancer Naturally At Home
The prostate gland is situated just below the urinary bladder in a male body. The gland increases in size as one age. Prostate cancer relates to the condition when this organ starts growing uncontrollably. Aged men are more prone to this cancer, and while this is not as serious as most other cancers are, it can become a cause for major concern if it spreads to other parts of the body. The cancer is treated by removing the gland with surgery or radiation. However, for those seeking to control disease naturally, for them, various alternative natural treatments are widespread.
Complementary And Alternative Medicine Usage In Cancer Patients In Southeast Of Turkey
2012, African Journal of Traditional, Complementary and Alternative Medicines
Complementary and alternative medicine is defined as a group of healthcare systems, applications and medical products that are not considered as a part of the conventional medicine . Definitions of complementary medicine and alternative medicine are different. Complementary medicine describes treatment methods that are used in addition to conventional treatments, while alternative medicine involves treatments that are used instead of standard medical treatments .
Quality of Life Research
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Assessing The Evidence: Erectile Dysfunction
For more information, see Table 2
Moyad MA, Barada JH, Lue TF, et al. Prevention and Treatment of Erectile Dysfunction Using Lifestyle Changes and Dietary Supplements: What Works and What is Worthless, Part 2. Urologic Clinics of North America 2004 31:25973. PMID: 15123406.
How should people react when they read about something new in the paper, whether its about pomegranate juice or some new herb or botanical?
SIMON: The answer is simple: React with caution. As physicians, I think we first have to point out that medicine is science, that therapies can be evaluated, and that there are big bucks involved in the selling of herbs and other unregulated remedies, where people are making extravagant claims. If something sounds too good to be true, it is.
ROSENTHAL: I think that we should obviously also advise people to be skeptical of anything touted as a cure for cancer. And yet there are still some people out there who are going to prey on patients hope that something is going to work, and encourage them to use an alternative therapy instead of proven medical therapy.
Complementary Therapies For Prostate Disease: What Works And What Doesnt
Harvard experts discuss issues that patients may want to consider
If you have been diagnosed with prostate disease, chances are that youve thought about trying some type of complementary therapy in addition to conventional medical treatment from a physician. If you have, you are not alone. Various studies have found that anywhere from 27% to 43% of American men with prostate cancer use at least one form of complementary therapy. Similar findings have been reported in Canada and Europe. Although statistics are harder to find for how many men use complementary therapies for benign prostatic hyperplasia , erectile dysfunction, or prostatitis, it is likely that the practice is common.
Unfortunately, the issue of complementary therapies doesnt often come up during a visit to the physician. Patients tend not to mention the complementary therapies they are using, while doctors may not ask about them. Often this is a function of time: A man and his doctor may have only 10 or 15 minutes together in a typical office visit.
To learn more about what physicians think about various complementary therapies and about specific lifestyle changes the Harvard editors invited three experts to participate in a roundtable discussion on this important topic. The panel consisted of these people:
How do you advise your patients when they ask about complementary therapies?
ROSENTHAL: Thats exactly why I started doing integrative medicine consultations, which take up to 45 minutes to an hour.
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Challenges: Access To Cam And Integration With Cm
Participants were generally convinced of the value of CAM but expressed two major concerns: the inaccessibility of certain types of CAM and providers and the lack of support, knowledge, and integration by conventional health care providers. Most CAM was based on simple herbal and juice preparations purchased in local stores or prepared at home. Some conventional medications such as clopidogrel and rosuvastatin calcium may be unavailable through the free public health system and can be prohibitively expensive at private pharmacies. Rather than declining therapy entirely, some participants sought simple inexpensive or free forms of CAM. According to one participant, the prices in the market are real, real ridiculous, and local CAM providers would treat you and give you the best treatment and would allow you to leave without taking a cent . However, a few of the treatments purported to eliminate arterial obstruction require imported herbal products. While some participants were willing to make sacrifices to purchase CAM, others found CAM to be expensive , especially when imported or foreign products were required . According to one participant, you cannot just go in the drug store and buy it, you must order from the States . Another challenge was the discipline and time required to prepare CAM products locally such as herbal juices.
Is Pomegranate Juice Chemopreventive
In rodent studies, scientists have demonstrated a positive effect of pomegranate in reducing cancer cell growth in mice. Studies on human cells show similar promise. This has led some researchers to recommend further exploration of pomegranate extract for human therapeutic use.
As with lycopene, drinking pomegranate juice and eating the whole fruit can easily be incorporated in a balanced, healthy diet. And doing so is not harmful when the juice or fruit is consumed in moderate amounts.
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Exploring Alternative Therapies For Prostate Cancer
Prostate cancer is one of the most common cancers in American men. Its also highly treatable if caught early. For many men, the standard treatments for prostate cancer radiation, chemotherapy, prostatectomy, hormone therapy, etc. often come with unpleasant, life-altering side effects, including incontinence, impotence, fatigue, etc. Therefore, some men wonder if alternative treatments might offer health benefits without unwanted side effects.
Research and clinical trials are investigating whether natural, alternative remedies, such as herbs and diet changes, might help prevent prostate cancers progression.
Some alternative options being explored for prostate cancer patients include:
- Saw palmetto This palm, which grows in the southern United States, produces berries that have historically been used as medicine, as Native American men used them to help with urinary problems. Saw palmetto has become more commonly used in Europe and the U.S. as a treatment for enlarged prostate, and it may help reduce frequent urination, improve urine flow and ease painful urination. Before taking saw palmetto check with your doctor, as they may interfere with other medicines, tests or treatments.
Please note: some alternative therapies arent research-based and havent been proven to be effective or safe in treating cancer. Refusing conventional medical therapies may have serious health consequences for prostate cancer patients.
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Clinical Trials To Test Cam Therapies
NCI and the National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health are currently sponsoring or cosponsoring clinical trials that test CAM treatments and therapies in people. Some study the effects of complementary approaches used in addition to conventional treatments, and some compare alternative therapies with conventional treatments. You can find a list of all cancer CAM clinical trials here.
Lifelines: Complementary and Alternative Medicine
Dr. Jeffrey D. White, OCCAM Director, explains the use of complementary and alternative medicine in cancer.
Patients, their families, and their health care providers can learn about CAM therapies and practitioners from the following government agencies:
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The Grade Group And Psa Level Are Used To Stage Prostate Cancer
The stage of the cancer is based on the results of the staging and diagnostic tests, including the prostate-specific antigen test and the Grade Group. The tissue samples removed during the biopsy are used to find out the Gleason score. The Gleason score ranges from 2 to 10 and describes how different the cancer cells look from normal cells under a microscope and how likely it is that the tumor will spread. The lower the number, the more cancer cells look like normal cells and are likely to grow and spread slowly.
The Grade Group depends on the Gleason score. See the General Information section for more information about the Gleason score.
- Grade Group 1 is a Gleason score of 6 or less.
- Grade Group 2 or 3 is a Gleason score of 7.
- Grade Group 4 is a Gleason score 8.
- Grade Group 5 is a Gleason score of 9 or 10.
The PSA test measures the level of PSA in the blood. PSA is a substance made by the prostate that may be found in an increased amount in the blood of men who have prostate cancer.
Complementary And Alternative Medicine Modality Use And Beliefs Among African American Prostate Cancer Survivors
Purpose/Objectives: To examine the cultural beliefs and attitudes of African American prostate cancer survivors regarding the use of complementary and alternative medicine modalities.
Research Approach: Mixed methods with primary emphasis on a phenomenology approach.
Setting: In-person interviews in participants’ homes and rural community facilities.
Participants: 14 African American men diagnosed with and treated for prostate cancer.
Methodologic Approach: Personal interviews using a semistructured interview guide.
Main Research Variables: Prostate cancer, CAM, African American men’s health, culture, herbs, prayer, spirituality, and trust.
Findings: All participants used prayer often two men used meditation and herbal preparations. All men reported holding certain beliefs about different categories of CAM. Several men were skeptical of CAM modalities other than prayer. Four themes were revealed: importance of spiritual needs as a CAM modality to health, the value of education in relation to CAM, importance of trust in selected healthcare providers, and how men decide on what to believe about CAM modalities.
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