Category Archives: Alternative Cancer Treatment

Alternative Cancer Treatment, Cancer Care Tips

Cancer Caregivers Must Also Take Care of Themselves

Care Giver Resting
Care Giver Resting

In focusing their energy and attention on taking care of a spouse or family member with cancer, those providing their loved one with care often fail to look after their own health needs. Battling cancer can be an exhausting and frustrating fight.

The daily struggle against cancer is both physically draining and mentally exhausting for both the cancer patient and family caregivers. Caregivers often feel it is selfish to take time to address their own needs, but family caregivers must take care of themselves in order to care effectively for a loved one with cancer.

To prevent burnout and maintain the energy needed to support the cancer patient, family caregivers must see to their own health needs. The 24/7 nature of cancer care means that family and friends must step up to support cancer caregivers and be willing to step in and provide caregivers with regular breaks for rest, relaxation and recreation away from their care giving duties.

If you’re a caregiver or a member of a cancer patient’s support community, consider these tips for caring for cancer caregivers:

  • Get regular exercise.
  • Practice good nutrition.
  • Manage stress with deep breathing exercises, yoga or mind-body techniques.
  • Plan fun things to look forward to during care giving breaks.
  • Spend time with friends doing things you enjoy.
  • Prepare yourself for what’s to come by educating yourself about cancer, cancer care and cancer treatments.
  • Join online caregiver support groups.
  • Look beyond your family and friends for additional support.  Many community groups, churches and healthcare agencies offer support groups, direct aid and/or resources for cancer patients.
Alternative Cancer Treatment, Stress Management

Cancer and Stress

Exercising to Reduce Stress
Exercising to Reduce Stress

Whether you or a loved one has just been diagnosed with cancer or have been living with it for years, the importance of practicing healthy lifestyle choices is important now more than ever.

The Issels Treatment® has a proven track record of more than 50 years of long-term tumor remissions of standard therapy-resistant cancers. Whatever medical treatment you may be undergoing, learning ways to positively deal with stress related to the disease can vastly improve your quality of life.

Exercise

Mild to moderate exercise (we’re not talking marathons) reduces blood pressure and keeps your heart healthy. The heart is a muscle after all. Walking or swimming for 20 to 30 minutes at least four times a week provides weight-bearing resistance and increases your heart rate. One easy way to stick with your exercise routine? Find a buddy to walk or jog with you.

Eat a Healthy Diet

It’s true. Eating the suggested six servings of fruits and vegetables a day can do wonders for your body. So you don’t feel completely cut off from your favorite foods, allow yourself to have a treat every once in a while. A glass of wine or a cup or frozen yogurt are good choices.

The Mind-Body Connection

Many holistic cancer treatments champion the mind-body connection. Doing activities that stimulate both have a two-for-one effect. Yoga or stretching exercises help regulate breathing while allowing you to focus on positive thoughts. Some experts recommend becoming involved in artistic expression – dancing, painting, writing, singing and the list goes on.

The bottom line, small changes can be the difference between living with joy or staying in fear of cancer.

Alternative Cancer Treatment, Cancer Research

New Strategies May Fast-Forward Search for Cancer Cure

Man Holding Film Reel
Man Holding Film Reel

Noted Chicago film critic Roger Ebert lost his battle with cancer yesterday after a long and public fight. For years, Ebert and fellow film critic Gene Siskel shared their passion for movies on PBS’ Sneak Preview, achieving cult status with their thumbs-up/thumbs-down review style. Ebert suffered from metastasized thyroid cancer that stole his voice but not his passion for film or life. Only two  days before his death, Roger blogged about the return of his cancer, vowing to continue writing.

Ebert’s fight illustrates one of the most frustrating aspects of searching for a cancer cure. It takes time to develop and approve new cancer treatments, time that cancer patients simply do not have. A new collaborative approach to fighting cancer pioneered by the celebrity-driven Stand Up 2 Cancer is changing the cancer research paradigm. (Click here to read Time magazine’s interesting article The Conspiracy to End Cancer.)

By creating and heavily funding collaborative dream teams that bring together top experts in cancer research, genetics, medical technology, oncology and pharmaceuticals, Stand Up 2 Cancer is encouraging an integrative approach to cancer research and treatment that may fast-forward the development of a cancer cure. Already partnerships between cancer researchers and Big Pharma have significantly shortened the time it takes to turn new research discoveries into drug treatments ready for clinical trail.

For 60 years Issels Integrative Oncology has fostered a collaborative approach to the treatment of cancer, enjoying remarkable success by applying an integrative approach to the development of new cancer vaccines and immunotherapy treatment protocols. Visit our website to find our more.

 

Alternative Cancer Treatment, Cancer Research

What You Eat Can Affect Your Cancer Risk

Mediterranean Foods.
Mediterranean Foods.

A recent groundbreaking cancer study conducted by the National Institutes of Health tracked the eating habits of more than half a million older Americans over a 15-year period and found that what we eat can have a profound effect on cancer risk. While study participants were age 50 and older, cancer treatment experts feel the nutritional findings are applicable to people of all ages.

The study found a marked decrease in cancer and heart disease in people who ate what is considered a Mediterranean diet: a diet rich in vegetables, beans, fruits, nuts, whole grains, olive oil and fish but low in red meat, processed meat and saturated fats. In comparing dietary choices to cancer incidence, researchers also discovered some interesting associations with specific foods:

  • Women who drank more than three cups of caffeinated coffee daily decreased their risk of endometrial cancer by 35%.
  • Coffee drinkers of both sexes who drank at least 4 cups of either regular or decaf coffee daily reduced their risk of colon cancer.
  • Blueberries and other antioxidant-rich berries offer protection against mouth and neck cancers.
  • Breads and pastas made from 100% whole grains decrease colon cancer risk.
  • Lycopene-rich tomatoes, both whole and in sauces, help protect against prostate cancer.
  • Consumption of alcohol at any level increases the risk of breast cancer.
  • High alcohol consumption increases the risk of colon and liver cancer for both men and women.

Making healthy food choices that support a strong immune system may help decrease cancer risk and support the effectiveness of cancer treatments should cancer strike.

Alternative Cancer Treatment

3 Lifestyle Changes that Can Lower Cancer Risk

Stay Healthy To Fight Cancer.
Stay Healthy To Fight Cancer.

More than 1 million Americans are diagnosed with cancer every year. Men have a 1 in 2 chance of developing cancer during their lifetimes. For women, the risk is 1 in 3. In the U.S. more than 13 million people are actively battling cancer or have survived the fight. Cancer has numerous causes, only some of which we understand.

We know that smoking, alcohol abuse, unprotected sun exposure and genetics can increase the risk of developing certain cancers. In fact, our lifestyle choices may play a significant role in cancer risk and prevention. Researchers are discovering that the same healthy lifestyle choices that can decrease the risk of heart disease and diabetes may also decrease cancer risk.

“We know that we can prevent about a third of all cancers if people would maintain a healthy weight, eat a plant-based diet and be physically active,” American Institute for Cancer Research dietitian Alice Bender told AARP.

People who make healthy choices about diet, exercise and weight control — the Big 3 of cancer prevention — can significantly reduce their chance of developing cancer and, should cancer develop, improve their odds of survival.

  • Weight. Maintaining a healthy weight may be the most critical step people can take to reduce cancer risk. People who are overweight or obese experience higher rates of many cancers.
  • Diet. Eating a Mediterranean diet rich in vegetables, fruits, nuts, beans, whole grains, olive oil and fish has been shown to reduce cancer risk.
  • Exercise. Regular physical exercise aids weight control, boosts the immune system and may aid cancer prevention.
Alternative Cancer Treatment, Cancer Care Tips

How to Help a Friend or Family Member Who Has Cancer

Help those you love with cancer.
Help those you love with cancer.

When we learn that a friend or family member has been diagnosed with cancer, we instinctively want to help but may not know what to do. The usual “get better soon” platitudes are obviously inappropriate when serious illness strikes and the prognosis may be dire. Yet, it is at times like these when hopelessness and despair threaten to overwhelm someone we love that they and their family need us most.Serious illness generates unfamiliar discomfort for both the cancer patient and his friends. In watching someone else face death, we are reminded of our own human frailty; something most of us prefer not to think about. If a friend or family member is diagnosed with cancer, don’t stay away out of embarrassment or a misplaced desire not to intrude; but do use the following suggestions to offer meaningful aid:

  • Be specific. Even people who have a minor illness are unlikely to take you up on a vague offer to “call me if there’s anything I can do.” This is even more true of people who are diagnosed with cancer. Making a specific offer of help is more useful. Life goes on when you have cancer. Dogs must be walked, children taken to school and activities, meals cooked, houses cleaned, etc. Shouldering even one of these responsibilities for your friend will be deeply appreciated. Offering to drive your friend to doctors’ appointments or treatment sessions, walk the dog, pick up the kids from school, bring over a hot meal every Monday night or take over carpool duties to kids’ activities will make your friend’s life easier and be appreciated.

To be continued