Mar 12

Acupuncture can boost body’s innate healing process

Acupuncture, Disease No Comments »


Acupuncture, along with other integrative medicine, can help cancer patients better cope with pain.

Nancy Amicangelo, hoping to beat the odds of the five-year life expectancy she was given when her breast cancer spread to both lungs in 2008, knows the benefits of acupuncture, massage, energy healing and naturopathic medicine — even if those benefits lasted only days, and even if she can no longer afford them.

Amicangelo, a 62-year-old Gold Coast resident who is unemployed because of her Stage 4 cancer, still considers herself lucky to have received some relief — albeit temporary relief — from the integrative oncology services offered by Northwestern Memorial Hospital and the Robert H. Lurie Comprehensive Cancer Center of Northwestern University.

The integrative services, offered at 150 E. Huron, are part of a larger 360 Care Program aimed to address cancer patients’ needs through treatment extending beyond conventional medicine and cutting-edge diagnosis and treatment to therapies that include counseling, stress management, integrative medicine and integrative services.

“Our goal is to treat the whole person, not just their illness,” says Dr. Melinda Ring, medical director of Northwestern Memorial Physician Group’s Center for Integrative Medicine and Wellness.

“Research suggests that a holistic approach can alleviate stress and anxiety, as well as the physical pain and discomfort patients often experience while undergoing cancer treatments by activating the body’s innate healing process,” explains Ring, a native Chicagoan.

Amicangelo, diagnosed with breast cancer in 1993 and metastatic breast cancer in April 2008, knows firsthand the benefits of acupuncture and massage. Ironically, the drugs that keep Amicangelo alive have caused nerve damage in her hands and feet — pain so acute that some days she is unable to even hold a pencil, pain so acute she only finds relief from acupuncture and massage.

When, under a new grant, all patients under the care of a Northwestern Memorial Hospital oncologist became eligible to receive a limited number of free integrative medicine services as part of their treatment, Amicangelo was one of the first to sign up.

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Jan 03

Green tea and cancer

Disease, Health and fitness, Herbs No Comments »

A recent study provides more evidence that drinking green tea regularly can reduce one’s risk to cancer.

A new U.S. study has shown that green tea may help reduce the risk of oral cancer, although scientists are reluctant to officially endorse green tea as an effective way of cancer prevention.

The study was published in the November issue of the Cancer Prevention Research, a journal of the American Association for Cancer Research.

Researchers at the University of Texas’ Anderson Cancer Center assessed clinical response of green tea in oral pre-malignant lesions and found 58.8 percent of patients at the highest doses displayed clinical response, compared with 18.2 percent among those taking placebo.

They also observed a handful of biomarkers that may be important in predicting cancer development.

During the study, patients were followed for 27.5 months and atthe end of the study period, 15 of them developed oral cancers.

Patients with mild to moderate dysplasia had a longer time to develop an oral cancer if they took green tea extract, but there was no difference in oral cancer development overall between those who took green tea and those who did not.

Although encouraged by the results, lead researcher Vassiliki Papadimitrakopoulo, a professor of medicine, cautioned against any recommendation that green tea could definitely prevent cancer.

“We cannot with certainty claim prevention benefits from a trial this size,” said Papadimitrakopoulo.

“More long-term research including studies in individuals at high risk is still needed to answer that sort of question.”

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Dec 09

Suzanne Somers, cancer warrior

Alternative therapies, Disease No Comments »

Suzanne Somers is widening her search for a cure for cancer and she’s particularly interested in how alternative medicine can help in the effort.

The limits of America’s arsenal in the fight against cancer became clear to Kathleen Greene of Palm Springs last month when a family member was diagnosed with breast cancer.

Chemotherapy seemed inevitable, but a Reader’s Digest article told her of a promising alternative called laetrile.

“They said a group of scientists from around the world had gone to the Himalayas 10 years ago to try to find out what these people were doing differently than everybody else,” Greene told The Desert Sun. “They found they were eating the pits of apricots and they called (its vitamin) laetrile.

“The frustration is they’re still doing chemotherapy. They’re still doing all these other things when other treatments are available. They’re killing your cells and you lose your hair from this chemo and maybe all they had to have was laetrile. I think we’re in the dark ages in medicine.”

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Nov 24

Hollywood stars embracing alternative therapies

Acupuncture, Alternative therapies, Disease, Health and fitness No Comments »

Hollywood celebrities are seeking alternative therapies for treating diseases like breast cancer, Lyme disease and more. Many have found that alternative therapies, when combined with traditional therapies, can yield better results.

When Suzanne Somers was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2001, she decided to forgo chemotherapy, had a lumpectomy and followed it up with radiation therapy and alternative treatments.

Actress Parker Posey, diagnosed with Lyme disease earlier this year, used not just antibiotics but homeopathic remedies and supplements to help her recover.

Stars aren’t the only ones who are trying alternative therapies to get better.

“More than 30 percent of cancer patients will try some kind of alternative therapy,” says Dr. Roberta Lee, vice chair of the Department of Integrative Medicine at Beth Israel Medical Center and medical director of the Continuum Center for Health and Healing. “As at treatment on its own, alternative therapy is complicated and risky. But when it is supportive, it is a good strategy.”

Some 3,000 patients a month are seen at her program, Lee explains. They may make use of everything from acupuncture and ginger tea for nausea to acupuncture for dry mouth caused by chemotherapy.

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