Daily Archives: August 15, 2017

Treating curable cancers with alternative medicine techniques is a choice that at least one in three Americans makes, including former Apple CEO Steve Jobs before his death from a curable form of pancreatic cancer in 2011. But even if treating the body with these natural methods sounds appealing, a recent study suggests that using alternative medicine to treat cancer more than doubles the risk of dying within five years.

Scientists examined a decades worth of medical records and found 281 patients with curable forms of breast, prostate, lung and colorectal cancer. All of these 281 patients decided to try alternative forms of medicine instead of more conventional treatment such as chemotherapy, surgery or radiation. Compared to the 560 patients who opted for regular treatment, the alternative medicine patients overall were two and a half times more likely to be dead five years later. Among specific cancers, that rate was higher breast cancer patients were 5.68 times more likely to die, while those with colorectal were 4.57 more likely to die.

We now have evidence to suggest that using alternative medicine in place of proven cancer therapies results in worse survival, study author and oncologist Skyler Johnson said in a release. It is our hope that this information can be used by patients and physicians when discussing the impact of cancer treatment decisions on survival.

Alternative medicine is a loose term, but it can encompass anything from hypnosis, yoga and aromatherapy to ingesting herbs and dietary supplements. Steve Jobs reportedly tried hydrotherapy, consulting psychics and limiting his diet to just fruits and vegetables before his death at the age of 56, according to Scientific American. But at the end of his search for cutting-edge treatments, Jobs reportedly regretted his choice to delay traditional surgery for alternative medicine, biographer Walter Isaacson told CBS.

He said, I didnt want my body to be opened. I didnt want to be violated in that way. Hes regretful about it, Isaacson said. I think that he kind of felt that if you ignore something, if you dont want something to exist, you can have magical thinking. And it had worked for him in the past.

The study also showed that some people are more likely to try alternative medicine than others. It may be counterintuitive to survival rates, but those who chose alternative medicine generally had the advantages of higher incomes and higher education levels, plus they tended to be much younger.

These patients should be doing better than the standard therapy group, but theyre not, James Hu, the studys senior author and the director of Yales prostate and genitourinary cancer radiotherapy program, told MedPage Today. Thats a scary thing to me. These are young patients who could potentially be cured, and theyre being sold snake oil by unscrupulous alternative medicine practitioners.

See the article here:

Treating your cancer with all-natural alternative medicine may double your risk of dying - Mic

When a mysterious illness strikes, people may become more open to using complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) to get well.

This is also the case when the illness is a severe one. Cancer patients often explore alternatives such as traditional Chinese medicine (TCM), homeopathy or products like herbs and vitamins in the belief that they can strengthen their immunity or fight the disease.

Two recent studies done in Singapore acknowledge the widespread use of CAM among people here and conclude that CAM may sometimes do more harm than good.

One of the studies found that the use of CAM led to a delay in patients seeking medical help for early inflammatory arthritis or the early stage of rheumatoid arthritis.

Inflammatory and rheumatoid arthritis are autoimmune diseases that cause chronic inflammation of the joints and other areas of the body. They are different from osteoarthritis - the most common form of arthritis - which is wear and tear of the cartilage.

50,000

Estimated maximum number of people in Singapore who have rheumatoid arthritis.

60%

Early arthritis patients who can go into remission after six to 12 months of being treated with disease- modifying anti-rheumatic drugs.

40%

Those who stand a good chance of avoiding major joint damage and the need for joint replacements.

Osteoarthritis can cause joint damage requiring joint replacement. It is not treated with disease- modifying anti-rheumatic drugs (DMARD) as it is a wear-and-tear problem and not inflammation.

In the study of 180 patients with early inflammatory arthritis, 74 patients (41 per cent) used CAM before seeing a specialist.

CAM users tended to delay treatment by an extra six weeks, compared to non-CAM users. The study found that the median time from symptom onset to starting the first dose of anti-rheumatic medication was 15.6 weeks for non-CAM users and 21.5 weeks for CAM users.

Oral tablets or powder (55 per cent) and acupuncture (47 per cent) were the most common types of alternative medicine used.

Researchers pointed out that the earlier rheumatoid arthritis is treated, the better the outcome.

"There's a window of opportunity for treatment of early rheumatoid arthritis. Six months or less is considered early arthritis - it's much easier to switch off the immune trigger," said Dr Manjari Lahiri, the study's lead author and a senior consultant at National University Hospital's division of rheumatology.

Research shows that up to 60 per cent of early arthritis patients can go into remission after six to 12 months of being treated with DMARD, she said. During this time, treatment is closely monitored and medication continually adjusted.

"The remaining 40 per cent stand a good chance of avoiding major joint damage and the need for joint replacements."

Aside from joint damage and disability, patients who delay starting medication could end up needing joint replacement surgery (for permanently damaged joints).

An estimated 25,000 to 50,000 people in Singapore have rheumatoid arthritis but not many know it can be treated. "People equate it with rheumatism, which is not considered a serious disease," said Dr Lahiri. Rheumatism is a term commonly used for feeling achy.

If you have spongy swellings over several joints and feel a "niggling pain" or are often tired, it could be rheumatoid arthritis, she said.

"It's not just the pain, patients feel run down because their body is inflamed. Their hands and wrists get affected, so turning the door knob and opening a jar can be hard. When they wake up, they feel stiff."

Dr Lahiri added: "Patients should avoid tablets and powders as we don't know their content, how they interact with Western medicine and the toxicity they may cause."

In the second CAM-related study, it was found that a decision aid - a booklet that discusses CAM and whether it is safe - may reduce the use of such medicine among cancer patients.

It may encourage patients to discuss the use of CAM with oncologists. "CAM is widely used by patients doing chemotherapy treatment, but some of them do not inform their oncologists about it," said Dr Chong Wan Qin, an associate consultant oncologist with the National University Cancer Institute, Singapore, and the study's lead author.

The ongoing study, started in 2014, recruited 240 cancer patients with an average age of 55 years. Most of them had breast, colorectal or lung cancers, which were mostly in the advanced stage.

Up to 20 per cent of them used oral CAM while on chemotherapy. The most common were vitamins and supplements (40 per cent of patients) and TCM (30 per cent).

Reasons given by patients were that they wanted to cure the cancer or do more to fight it (35 per cent), boost immunity (30 per cent) and improve well-being (20 per cent).

There is emerging evidence that some kinds of complementary therapy can help patients cope with the side effects of cancer treatment. Acupuncture has been shown in trials to be effective in the treatment of nausea and vomiting due to chemotherapy, for instance.

However, doctors do not advise patients to take alternative drugs as they could turn out to be harmful.

Some herbs can reduce the effectiveness of chemotherapy treatment while others may increase the side effects of chemotherapy. Some herbs can also act like drugs and cause side effects when taken in high doses.

Dr Chong said one example is ginseng, a seemingly harmless natural product. Excessive use can cause headaches and high blood pressure.

Ginseng may also cause certain chemotherapy drugs to work less well, she said.

"Oncologists have also heard of patients using coffee enema. It is not backed by medical evidence and may cause diarrhoea and electrolyte loss."

Vitamin C infusion is another example with no evidence to support its efficacy.

Dr Chong has seen patients who wanted to test alternative therapies, such as a special ketogenic diet, instead of going for chemotherapy and radiotherapy treatments.

Because all cancers have a better chance of control and survival outcomes when treated early, by the time these patients returned for chemotherapy, their cancer had progressed and impaired some of their organ functions, she said.

When the organ functions are impaired, chemotherapy poses a higher risk of toxicity, she said.

The use of CAM may delay the treatment of serious diseases and this can lead to adverse effects.

Link:

Use of alternative medicine does more harm than good: Studies - The Straits Times

More than 80 percent of military health facilities now offer alternative medicine treatments.

Researchers with the Rand Corporation report that acupuncture, meditation, yoga, and massage are the most commonly used practices in military hospitals. These services are used to treat chronic pain, PTSD, anxiety and sleep problems.

Healthcare workers said complementary medicine offers military patients an alternative to opioid drugs.

High stress for nurses

The majority of America's nurses are stressed out, according to researchers at Ball State University.

A new study found 92 percent of nurses have moderate to very high-stress levels.

The stress not only affects their job performance but it is taking a toll on their health.

Three-quarters of nurses admitted they get too little sleep and 70 percent said they ate too much junk food.

Other workers stressed out

New research from the Rand Corporation reveals American workers, as a whole, feel physically and emotionally taxed.

One in four people in the study said they don't have enough time to do their job and half say they end up working during their free time. Other major stressors include an unpredictable work schedule and facing hazardous conditions on the job.

But there is some good news on the job front, more than half of employees say their boss is supportive and they have very good friends at work.

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4 Your Health: Nurses stressed at work; alternative medicine for vets - KVOA Tucson News

Can this dank nug heal? Photo credit: Photo credit: Horsma/HamppuforumMedical marijuana advocates have claimed for years that cannabis is an effective and safe alternative to prescription opioids for the treatment of pain. But no one put up the money to prove it until last week.

On Tuesday, the Albert Einstein College of Medicine and Montefiore Health System announced a forthcoming study to ascertain whether medical marijuana can alleviate the need for opioids in both HIV-positive and HIV-free patients who suffer from chronic pain. The National Institutes of Health (NIH) is putting $3.5 million towards the investigation.

A study published last year suggests the Albert Einstein College of Medicine is on the right track.

In 2016, researchers at the University of Michigan published two years' worth of survey results collected from 185 medical marijuana patients suffering from various ailments. Patients reported a 45 percent improvement in quality of life and a 64 percent reduction in the use of prescription opioids.

"We would caution against rushing to change current clinical practice towards cannabis," said Michigan study leader Kevin Boehnke, "but note that this study suggests that cannabis is an effective pain medication and agent to prevent opioid overuse."

The Albert Einstein College of Medicine is right to point out that we have far less data than one might expect, considering the first state to legalize medical marijuana did so 21 years ago. Most research into Schedule I drugs is paid for by the federal government, which has historically underwritten only those studies that either show the harms of such substances or explain their mechanism of action. The federal monopoly on research marijuana, meanwhile, makes studying the drug's therapeutic qualities an exercise in bureaucratic kowtowing.

But we do know there is a correlation between medical marijuana legalization and opioid use. A 2014 study that looked at 11 years of overdose data found that death rates from opioids increased in both states with liberalized marijuana laws and those without, but that "medical cannabis laws were associated with lower rates of opioid analgesic overdose mortality."

When University of Georgia economist David Bradford looked at Medicare prescribing rates, he found that physicians in medical marijuana states prescribed "1,826 fewer doses of conventional pain medication each year."

In addition to receiving funding from NIHitself a noteworthy developmentthe Albert Einstein College of Medicine will conduct its study using marijuana provided by New York medical marijuana dispensaries, rather than the moldy ditchweed provided to researchers by the Drug Enforcement Administration's operation at the University of Mississippi.

Cannabis research has turned another corner.

Read this article:

The Federal Government Is Finally Exploring Marijuana As a Medical Alternative to Opioids - Reason (blog)