The Benefits of Alternative Medicine and Radiotherapy

Alternate medicine and radiotherapy are a combination that is growing in popularity. Radiotherapy treatment is normally used in cancer patients, with the most common type known as external beam therapy. This name evolved because the treatment consists of a beam of radiation that comes from a very sophisticated machine. The beam is focused on the part of the body that contains the tumor, and the largest amount of radiation possible is used to kill the cancer cells.

Radiotherapy is very hard on the body. The treatments are short in duration, no more than 10 to 15 minutes. There is no pain involved with these treatments, but the side effects afterwards can be brutal, depending on the individual. Extreme tiredness and nausea, pain, hair loss, and red and tender skin are a few of the most common. The use of alternate medicine and radiotherapy together is indicated when the patient wants natural relief from the ravages of radiation side effects.

Nausea is one of the most severe side effects of radiotherapy treatments. Most of the people who must go through the treatments would do anything to get some relief from the seemingly never-ending sickness. Alternative medicine and radiotherapy research has been done on a test group of cancer patients to determine whether or not acupuncture was effective in diminishing the persistent nausea and vomiting. Patients reported that they could tell a dramatic difference in the frequency and amount of nausea they had. Written records were kept by each patient of the times they were sick, and at the end of the research, these records were collated. The final analysis in this study was that acupuncture is useful in preventing nausea in radiotherapy patients.

Acupuncture has also been tested on groups of alternative medicine and radiotherapy believers to see if it could possibly be of help in the relief of pain, another unwelcome side effect of radiation treatments. Nearly all patients undergoing radiotherapy reported various degrees of pain that was definitely related to their treatments. Acupuncture once again proved to be effective in helping cancer patients undergoing treatments for their condition.

The Chinese medicine called acupressure works well with alternative medicine and radiotherapy in helping cancer patients control nausea. This natural technique involves massaging certain areas on the body, normally just under or on top of the skin. These areas are called acupoints, and they are supposedly interconnected with each other as well as to various organs and systems of the body. Devotees to this 5000 year old healing method say that a careful massage in a certain area can stimulate a person’s essential life force, which flows from area to area rather like the circulation of blood. A look at an acupressure chart reveals that the areas that control nausea and vomiting are directly above the kneecap, on the wrist, and about 2 inches above the wrist. People who have tried acupressure are both surprised and delighted with how quickly it relieves their symptoms.

Alternative Medicine Another Alternative Treatment For Us

People around the world have begun to realize that allopathic medicine is not the panacea they have put their trust in for most of their lives. Medical practices that were once widely accepted are now questioned by many as their main concern is safeguarding their health and that of their family. Alternative medicine is fast becoming the gold standard in health care for those who are disenchanted with the results for their conventional medical treatment.

We are bombarded with television and magazine advertisements for medications that promise to cure, or at least control, almost every ailment known to mankind. If you watch any TV at all, you’ve seen the skillfully edited commercials that feature smiling, happy people who seem as if they don’t have a care in the world because they were given a pharmaceutical drug for some sort of medical problem they were having. The magazine ads are just as misleading to the public. Though each of these media outlets mentions the drug’s side effects, it is done quickly and unobtrusively, almost as if it is an afterthought.

Alternative medicine has become so popular in part because of these undesirable effects. Take for example these adverse side effects of the popular hormone replacement therapy Premarin :
• Migraine headache
• Chest pain
• Confusion and memory problems
• Swelling of the lower extremities

Most women would probably prefer to have the hot flashes of menopause than to experience any of these reactions on a regular basis. But, you don’t have to put up with either one when you use alternative medicine! A consultation with an herbalist would reveal that a combination of dong quai and black cohosh extract will safely control all symptoms related to the change of life.

Alternative medicine believes that achieving wellness involves treating the entire body. Traditional allopathic, or Western medicine, concentrates on analyzing and managing specific complaints and illnesses. Treatment of these complaints almost always includes the prescription of one or more drugs. People have become rather leery of taking these medications without first doing a little research about what they are putting into their bodies. Many times, once they discover that the side effects are as bad or worse than the illness for which they were prescribed the drug in the first place, they seek a better, safer, and more natural approach to good health.

Many allopathic doctors have begun to embrace certain alternative medicine remedies and treatments, as they have seen for themselves the power behind these age-old solutions for good health. Herbs, acupuncture, yoga, massage therapy, and holistic living all contribute to good health in ways that the medical profession is just now beginning to realize. You can expect alternative medicine to continue to influence the way we approach health care as it permeates mainstream medicine a little more each year.