CAM -Complementary Alternative Medicine

Have had to write a research essay for English Comp and chose topic of whether Chinese medicine is worth pursuing as adjunct to the more tradional treatments (chemo, radiationm surgery). The keyword here is "research". There are a lot more studies completed and being done on alternatives and there are some good proven results with some of them. In the case of Chinese medicine there have been measurable results using acupuncture, acupressure, some herbs (although much of that work is being done to develop these things into treatment as we know it in the west), Qi-gong, tai-chi. Clear results obtained with nausea and vomiting from chemo, dry mouth from radiation, peripheral neuropathy, blood counts, fatigue and insomnia. These are documented and studies continue in other areas such as pain control. Many of the cancer centers are introducing CAM treatments and studying them.

Which ones have good measurable results and what were those results?

 

On 7/30/2008 tongrenhealer wrote:

Have had to write a research essay for English Comp and chose topic of whether Chinese medicine is worth pursuing as adjunct to the more tradional treatments (chemo, radiationm surgery). The keyword here is "research". There are a lot more studies completed and being done on alternatives and there are some good proven results with some of them. In the case of Chinese medicine there have been measurable results using acupuncture, acupressure, some herbs (although much of that work is being done to develop these things into treatment as we know it in the west), Qi-gong, tai-chi. Clear results obtained with nausea and vomiting from chemo, dry mouth from radiation, peripheral neuropathy, blood counts, fatigue and insomnia. These are documented and studies continue in other areas such as pain control. Many of the cancer centers are introducing CAM treatments and studying them.

Hi

I don't know if you are in high school or college which would dictact how in depth you wanted to go.  If high school - you picked quite a wide spectrum and your teacher may mention it would have been better to focus in on one type of treatment.  If it is a college research paper then you've chosen a good topic.  You should give spectifics rather than generalities though - there have been measurable results (doesn't give anyone information needed to choose which ones worked better), many cancer centers (which ones?), herbs (what herbs?), and the biggest question is "Who are the researchers and what do they claim as to HOW their treatment works.  Generally, the word complementary us used when the treatment goes along w/ a conventional treatment.  The word alternative is generally (but not always) used when the treatment is used instead of conventional treatment. 

The one thing I would like to point out is whenever you view statistics provided in any scenario - ask yourself one very important question - how did they come up with the statistics and how could they be skewed.  The strange thing w/ statistics is they can always be manipulated to achieve what is needed by the person gathering the stats.

As for me, Reichi helped some - acupuncture didn't really help my nausea at all - and those treatments were offered at Cancer Treatment Center of America.

Diana  

It was a college paper and the databases I used from several college libraries had access to medical, oncology, nursing, etc. journals and resources, so you come up with a lot more than if you google something. These are reputable studies that talk about their research methods, groups used, etc, as well as their results. The treatments which showed promise varied with the methods used. It's too bad you didn't have results with acupuncture because stimulating P6 (at the wrist) does in fact work for a large number of people (both acupuncture and acupressure) in reducing chemo induced nausea and vomiting when used in conjunction with antiemetics. I didn't find anything linked specifically to longer survival or reduction of metastases which is one of the reasons people seek out complementary treatments, but there were results for side effects like neuropathy, fatigue, CINV, insomnia, etc as well as stress reduction. There were good results with tai chi and qi gong, but like I said the results varied with method and symptoms being treated and there was way too much info to summarize here.  We've had plenty of side effects with the conventional treatments, so we'll take whatever help we can get on that front since quality of life is a wonderful thing.