October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month, and all sorts of places from websites to your local grocery market are going pink to spread the word about this widespread disease and raise funds to help fight it. By donating, wearing your pink bracelet or informing friends about breast cancer, you can join the community in promoting this important cause. Individually, you can equip yourself with the proper knowledge so that you can prevent breast cancer, catch it early, or treat it. The cause for breast cancer is still unknown but there are known risk factors and treatments associated with alleviating it. Most breast cancer treatment consists of medical approaches like surgery, radiation, chemotherapy, biological/hormonal therapy and monoclonal antibodies, but breast cancer patients might also choose to seek alternative breast cancer treatment.

Some alternative breast cancer treatment involves consuming certain substances that are thought to fight tumor cells. Mistletoe can help increase immune system activity and kill cancer cells, and various herbs can cleanse the blood and nourish the body. Other treatments are acupuncture, massage, stress reduction, and exercise. It’s possible for acupuncture to relieve symptoms like nausea, fatigue and hot flashes, and nerve problems. Massages help relax the body and they may decrease depression and lymphatic obstruction, and increased immune activity. Stress reduction also helps patients to relax and it can help them to cope with the distress that comes with a breast cancer diagnosis. Exercises like yoga can help patients to distress and improve their physical health.

There are different reasons why patients might prefer alternative breast cancer treatment to standard medical treatment. Some prefer holistic medicine and natural methods because they believe that medical procedures are harmful and unreliable. For example, they contend that mammograms are very expensive, yet they give inaccurate results and may even increase tumor spreading, or they believe that hormone therapy might actually cause hormonal imbalances. Others might find holistic ways to treat breast cancer appealing because they help patients deal with the emotional aspect of having breast cancer as well as the physical consequences, and they may utilize alternative breast cancer treatment in addition to standard medical procedures.

Whether or not alternative breast cancer treatment is effective, it definitely benefits patients psychologically, and even if the treatment might not be “real,” the results are. A placebo effect nevertheless improves the health of the patient and in the end, recovery is the goal of any treatment. 

Tags: alternative breast cancer treatment, breast cancer, breast cancer awareness month