Alternative Treatments

edgarblythe- Personally, I happen to be open minded about alternative health care. Doctors have been trained in the medical model- You break/I fix. Obviously, they don't want their "turf" violated.

Until recently, MDs have pooh poohed the mind/body connection, but there has been a subtle change in attitude.Recently, I actually heard an MD say that he thought that chiropractic was a viable option for some orthopedic conditions.

When I was sick with a life threatening form of cancer, over a decade ago, I used a whole arsenal of treatment. I underwent traditional medical treatment, but I also became involved in meditation and imagery.

My husband claimed that I could have meditated from today until doomsday, but it was the medical treatment that saved me. I disagree. I needed the medical treatment, but the meditation and imagery helped me to maximize that treatment.

One of the problems with alternative treatments, is that since most "evidence" of efficacy is anecdotal, the scientific community is slow to accept the findings. Also, you have to admit, that there are a lot of "fast buck" artists in the alternative medicine business.

I think like anything else, a person needs to use common sense when embarking on an alternative treatment. Learn as much as you can, speak to people who have used the treatment.

Phoenix
I have read of using positive mental imagery in fighting cancer. There is something to it. I know of doctors telling patients to imagine they are fighting the specific cancerous tumor with something like a knife or sword.
As for me, I was bleeding internally and passing it in the toilet and had a badly agitated esophogus with soreness and plenty of mucus all in addition to the skin cancer. At first I began to take multivitamin supplements and for three months ate only vegetables. Then I discovered Johanna Budwig's work with flax oil. She has worked on her cancer treatments in Germany since the 1950s and is credited with personally saving the lives of a few thousand cancer patients. Eating her diet, I lost 50 pounds and the bleeding stopped almost immediately. The esophogal symptoms also vanished. The diet does not cure every form of these problems. For instance, it does not touch skin cancer. I searched and found a product called Curaderm, invented in Australia. It actually "eats" the skin cancer tumors off of the skin. Under a microscope the bad cells appear to explode. I chose this for my treatment because the cancer was heavy around my eyes and in my ears. I did not want the doctor cutting out layer after layer of skin or using anything like radiation.
All this began nine or ten years ago. Today, at sixty, I am in better health than at fifty.

Edgarblythe this is a really interesting subject. I have been able to use positive mental imagery to stop the onset of panic attacks and control them. Actually I have not had a panic attack in over ten years because I have learned to meditate and use visual imagry. A friend of mine did his doctoral research on chaplaincy in hospitals and how the effect of prayer and faith helped in curing illness. When I read his dissertation I was surprised at how many people have been healed through meditation and prayer and the treating doctors were the first to admit that many people are healed using a combination of meditation, self hypnosis, and prayer to recover from even the most serious illnesses.

In addition, I have been very sick this week, turns out to be bronchitis and a sinus infection. The doctor said that he believed I because sick as a result of stress. Last Saturday I received some very bad news that was extremely distressing to me. I began feeling sick early Sunday afternoon.

The mind is the primary key to one's health. That is why faith healing often works. It is why my mother lost her health after my brother was killed. I have a friend whose wife cannot let herself be well. She has multiple pains and woes all the time. Fix one troublesome ailment, another immediately pops up in another location. They have been married three years. None of her problems has been fixed in that time, no matter what my friend and her tries or how many doctors treat her.

edgarblythe- The problem is that much illness is self created. Have you every noticed that when you are feeling particularly stressed out, that's the time that you invariably come down with a cold?

There are some people who constantly create illness within themselves. I have the same situation with my mother. The solution to one medical problem always leads to the emergence of another. She is very old now (93) but it was no different when she was a young woman.

My first wife was always having aches and pains for no discernable reason. I finally quit babying her and it all went away.

One time my mom was pissing and moaning about how her life was over, and that she wished that she would die. I turned to her and said, "Whatever turns you on", and she immediately snapped out of it.

(For those who would consider me a monster for doing that, trust me, I knew what I was doing. My mother is a Grade "A" manipulator!)

I can see it, Phoenix.
Also, many times in my own past I have begun to feel ill. Suddenly I will say to myself, "It's psychosomatic" and that snaps me out of it.

I certianly have to agree with your mind, state of mind and acceptance and a healthy attitude going a very very long way. I also am a cancer survivor and although I was young, I think that helped a great deal. My mind was perfectly able to adapt and react to it in a healthy and formidable way. Without that, I certainly dont think I would have been as strong and continue to be happy with life.
It is a great and wonderful thing our mind is, and is a great helping hand when we let it be. Accepting, dealing and going on with your life is such a great deal of the healing process that i dont think anyone could debunk it no matter how they tried.
This however is only my personal opinion from my personal experience and although I wouldnt just count on my mind to get me through the ordeal, I thik it is the first and most important step.
I have not had to go to a Chiropracter myself but, know very many people who have benefited from it. I belive it is being more widely accepted by the medical community.
Faith healing in my opinion is just another way of getting someone to think well/accept/deal, and if thats what is going to work for them, then i say, go for it.

quinn1
Congratulations for beating cancer. Yes you are right that we must also treat the diseases as well, but without that positive attitude, I think we all agree, the treatment has a hard time working.

Thanks..although it is always, and probably always will be in a little spot back there in my mind...but, my mind is good <so far> and thats a great thing!
Great that you feel better now than you did, thats always a good sign for better thing to come, keep up the great work!

I think it's important to have balance in our attitude toward health and health care. Be aware of your options through traditional practitioners, whether North American, Asian, African or whatever. Be aware of the effect your mind can have on your body. It's all one organism.

A fascinating study was released just 2 weeks ago, about the possible negative impact of a caring, supportive spouse on back pain. There was not nearly enough coverage of it (in comparison to the fascination with J.Lo's latest entanglement).


link to google search on spouses + back pain

Interesting...my first reactions were, well, Ive heard of spouses being a pain in the butt <I know, wiseguy> but, then I was thinking about the effects shown with using/not using back braces for workers. Studies have shown that by using the braces for working conditions can actually weaken the back.
Also, since our environment does have an effect on us, its not that incredibly surprising, interesting though.

There is a physiotherapy clinic here where staff can be fired for asking how clients are. They are simply to discuss progress in the program. It was considered very revolutionary when Dr. Hall developed that aspect of his program about 10 years ago.

I went to a seminar on a particular kind of pain about 3 weeks ago - the doctor talked about how the use of pain medication can actually cause a person to 'grow' more pain receptors - which meant they'd feel more pain and then need more medication.

At the same conference where the back pain/spouse study was released, there was also a study released that suggested that giving pain medication to newborns meant they would feel more pain as adults.

The studies in these mind/body areas are appearing with an increasing frequency - the results of decades of research are ready for publication.



Clearly, not everyone is going to get worse because their spouse is kind to them, but it's good to be aware of the danger of being nice!

Well there certainly is a danger of over medicating, medicating when not needed, etc.
Okay, so being overly nice could have its negative effects....but, lets not go crazy

skin cancer
Edgar:

You didn't say what kind of skin cancer you had. Based on your description, I would guess that it was actinic keratosis. The thing about this form, is you can peel off the lesions and cure yourself.

Likewise for skin warts. You really don't need liquid nitrogen. Wait till the wart if elongated and then just snap it off with your fingers.

It was basel cell (think I spelled it correctly). It is sneaky. It was all around my eyes with not a symptom. When it first appeared I got an itchy spot in front of an ear, with like a little kernal under the surface. At about the same time a bump that at first looked like a dark mole appeared high on my chest, growing so fast I became frightened. It had a sort of white ring around it. Also my ears got to itching inside. It took a long time to beat it.

Skin Cancer
Good idea to have an MD check it out.

It's long gone. I be very watchful for any new problems.