It is often said that the cancer is not what killed someone, but the treatment! While western medical advances have proven to increase the odds of survival with most cancers, it is also true that the treatment tools are intensely taxing on the body. Enduring cancer treatment to not only survive but also return to a high quality of life afterward is an important aspect of supporting the journey.
The purpose of cancer treatment is cellular destruction. Killing the tumor, and only the tumor is the challenge scientists face when developing pharmaceutical chemotherapeutic agents. The best of both worlds is to support the cancer destruction while simultaneously protecting and strengthening the rest of the system.
Interestingly, there are tools from the natural world that have an affinity for cancer cell destruction that may facilitate the targeting of the therapies. The foundation of natural medicine is to assist the body’s return to balance and health. Natural medicine products used with appropriate prescribing will facilitate the body’s innate wisdom to correct. While pharmaceutical agents will force physiology in a particular direction, natural medicine tools have the potential to improve and assist physiology normalizing to a higher state of health. Just as when the body receives adequate rest, hydration, nourishment and exercise, there is a greater ease to healing. Natural medicine tools promote the body’s own capabilities.
Chinese herbal formulations have been utilized for thousands of years to encourage the specific balance of an individual’s health. With the recognition of stagnation in a particular region of the body, these formulations can be directed toward that body region in order to assist the transformation. Other formulations may be directed to improve detoxification, which reduces the negative side effects of pharmaceutical drugs. The wisdom behind Chinese Herbalism is the specific knowledge of herbal dynamics and the matching of their effects on the balance of an individual’s organ activity. This addresses the unique ways a cancer and other aspects of a disease are affecting an individual.
One of the body’s most powerful innate mechanisms for cellular repair is fever. Through the immune system’s activity that increases body temperature, a variety of intricate steps unfold that can improve the overall state of health. Heat shock proteins are activated by both extreme heat and extreme cold. These components of physiology facilitate genetic transcription and facilitate the removal of errors in genetic coding. There have been a variety of experiments done to demonstrate this effect on cancer with the most successful methods being promoted as hyperthermia.
Hyperthermia treatments range from sauna therapy, which increases the temperature of the whole body, focal treatments with applications of heat to the skin surface, intravenous administration of agents to activate the immune system and many more. While the developments in this realm of medicine are slow to provide data on large numbers due to the limitation of financial support, it is broadly acknowledged that supporting the immune system is a key to cancer survival.
By the time a patient receives a cancer diagnosis, the internal system is already so compromised that it is indeed a health crisis. Utilization of tools from all systems of medicine provides the best potential for the path to survival. While there is great controversy around the use of antioxidant tools, circulatory support tools, and other natural medicines, the Cancer Treatment Centers of America continues to present a model of integration that works. These hospitals across the US employ both Naturopathic Doctors and Medical Doctors to embrace the dynamic differences in approaches. For any illness in the modern era, making use of the broad spectrum of medicinal tools provides great advantages and potential for cure.
For more information on cancer treatment support with Natural medicine and traditional medicine tools from many traditions around the world, visit Stillwater Healing Arts Clinic in Lyons. In addition to individual support, we offer a Holistic Cancer Care Retreat weekend. The upcoming Retreat is June 30th and July 1st. Visit http://www.stillwaterhealingarts.com.
