Alternative Forms Of Medicine For Breast Cancer Rates

The Spine and Sport website proposes that the main disadvantage of acupuncture is infection, soreness and pain. However, this can be 100% avoidable if the service user receives treatment from a licensed acupuncturist. If a service user undergoing chemotherapy was to receive treatment from an un-licensed acupuncturist they would be more likely to get an infection as their immune system is already low. This could unfortunately result in the services reducing their chances of making a full/ quick recover. Furthermore, if the individual receiving chemotherapy was to get an infection due to acupuncture they wouldn’t feel relaxed and comfortable even though acupuncture is known to promote this. Also, if an individual feel under the weather and un-comfortable their progress may be stunted and the time taken for them to recover will increase because research has shown that mental determination helps individuals to recover. If the individual feels uncomfortable they will not have the determination and energy to mentally feel well.

One area that has had many studies conducted regarding the effects reflexology is Cancer treatment. The role of complementary therapy in this instance is to help manage a client’s symptoms that they may be experiencing from the aggressive cancer treatment. In 2000 Hodgson found using 12 patients who were in the palliative stage of cancer that there was 100% improvement in many areas of the lives of the participants within the group who were given reflexology, whereas the participants within the placebo group only reported an improvement of 67.6% within the same categories. The categories included their general mood, pain, mobility, tiredness, constipation, concentration and nausea.

Breast cancer is the most common malignant disease occurring in women in Saudi society. After study and research, it found that two-thirds of the injuries in the Saudi society are diagnosed in advanced stages. The reasons for that are the lack of education for necessary of Self-examination and clinical examination annual, leading to the spread of the disease further. In addition to genetic changes, environmental pollution, bad lifestyle , Obesity ,Lack of exercise are also factors that helped in the spread of the disease. The delayed age of marriage and lack of breastfeeding are the risk factors for breast cancer(1,10,14).Early detection and diagnosis of breast cancer is important for successful treatment selection , and increase mortality rate of breast cancer.

Evidence-based practice according to Stevens (2013) began when nursing recognized a gap between what we know and what we do regarding the care of patients. Grove, Gray, & Burns (2015) noted that the goal of evidence-based practice was to include the patient and family taking an active role in their health as well as nursing to provide the best possible quality care in a safe fashion with cost effectiveness. Evidence-based practice nursing was utilized in a study by Kratzke, Wilson, & Vilchis, (2013) that reached out to rural women regarding breast cancer prevention, information seeking behaviors and interest with the use of the internet, cell phone and text messaging.

Breast Cancer affects one in eight of American women, and is the second most common cause of cancer death in America. I chose to write my term paper on breast cancer because it is a disease that has effected some members of my family. Due to this possibly inherited condition, I felt that researching the topic would help me learn ways to prevent the disease and educate myself to perform self-exams that may result in early detection.

Conventional treating of patients is not always the best treatment; there are routes a provider can explore to assist in the overall health and wellbeing of the patient. Complementary and alternative therapy (CAM) is the other route for the patient. Each of these modalities can produce a healing effect or relief from an ailment that will have an effect in a positive manner on the quality of life. Too many times patients become settled or complacent in his or her disease process and never look into the other routes.

In a cohort-study performed by Rosenbaum and Van de Velde (2016), the efficacy and utilization of therapeutic services in a cancer resource center was studied. Researchers identified that cancer patients and healthcare professionals may not fully understand the specific purpose and benefits of all therapeutic services available. This study was performed to provide insight on how healthcare professionals should approach the presentation of integrative therapies to their patients. Specifically, their experiment investigated the effects yoga, massage, and Reiki services had on the well-being of cancer patients in a cancer resource center.

The uses of complementary or alternative medicine(CAM) has increased dramatically over the past decade. CAM is a group of health care therapies or practices that not considered part of the conventional medicine. However, CAM will be used along with or in place of conventional medicine. In America, nearly 38 percent of the adult population and 12 percent of child population are using CAM (NCCIH, 2016). CAM has been used for varieties of diseases or symptoms such as chronic pains, headaches, insomnia. In addition, there are more than forty types of CAM have been recognized in the United States. Natural products, deep breathing, and mediation are the most three common CAM used by Americans (NCCIH, 2016). For the ease of this assignment, an analysis of a type of CAM called acupuncture will be conducted. Acupuncture has been practiced in some Asia countries, especially China for thousands of years. People in those countries generally believed that it is beneficial in treating varieties of health conditions. Acupuncture was introduced into the United States in 1971 by a New York Time reporter (“NCCAM Acupuncture Information”,

In reference with breastcancer.org, breast cancer is the second most common diagnosed cancer among American woman, with 1 in 8 women in the US developing invasive breast cancer throughout their lifetime. Breast cancer occurs when some of the cells in the breast begin to grow in an abnormal form. These abnormal cells divide quickly and produce more, causing a lump to be made. As much as 10% of breast cancer cases in Western countries are due to genetic tendency. The likelihood of being affect by breast cancer is generally passed on genetically as an autosomal dominant trait with little frequency of hereditary condition (McPherson, Steel and Dixon 2000). This research paper will go into depth about what breast cancer is, how hormonal, lifestyle and environmental factors may increase an individuals chances of being diagnosed with breast cancer, the different tests that are used to detect breast cancer, the treatments and how you can prevent it, how ethnicity and genetics can increase the odds, how breast cancer can impact other areas of your body, and the statistics behind breast cancer. Breast cancer is a topic that most people have had to come across throughout their lives, whether it is because they have had it, or knew someone with it. It is important that women especially know what breast cancer is and the ways in which they can live their lives to prevent it. John Diamond, a British journalist who died from cancer once said, “Cancer is a word, not a sentence.”

Acupuncture is one of the biggest clinical trials to test the effectiveness and safety of the alternative practice.  Researchers have also found that acupuncture has complemented conventional therapy as it has effectively reduced pain associated with osteoarthritis of the knee. Acupuncture, has also helped people deal with chronic episodes of tension-headaches, along with chemotherapy patients who experience nausea and vomiting. And, according to another study, 66 people with fibromyalgia, benefited from doing Tai-Chi. Results showed improved moods and sleep

In today’s society an increased number of patient are turning to complementary and alternative therapies to help maintain or recondition health. Alternative therapy is a parasol term that simply defines practices like chiropractic, homeopathy, acupuncture, massage therapy, hypnotherapy, pet therapy, reflexology and many others. Many of these complementary and alternative therapies do not interfere with most therapies prescribed by a medical doctor; they help provide an ongoing method to maintain optimal health. The number of patients turning to alternative therapies has increased tremendously in over the years. This increase is due to people’s awareness that treatments provided by regular medical doctor does not provide relief for a lot of

Greenlee et al. (2009) conducted an ongoing prospective cohort study called the Pathways Study. Due to the ongoing nature of the study, this data includes the first 1,000 participants recruited. These participants are women with invasive breast cancer (BC) diagnosed within two months of recruitment to ensure the timeliness of diagnosis. Baseline data was obtained through extensive interview, and questionnaires were administered to participants two months post-diagnosis to compare the use of CAM methods before and after diagnosis. In the five years prior to BC diagnosis, >20% of women reported use of CAM therapies. However in the time period following diagnosis, CAM use was examined in 86.1% of patients- “body energy therapies” being one of the most popular. 24.5% of participants utilized acupuncture. Greenlee et al., (2009) also reports that frequent use of these therapies after diagnosis “was associated with being younger, lower income, and use of other forms of CAM” (p. 658). More interestingly, use of these treatments, such as acupuncture, was more commonly seen in women having a “hormone receptor-positive and HER2/neunegative tumor” (Greenlee et al., 2009, p.658).

Women facing breast cancer, in every phase of the disease and at every phase of treatment, struggles with some amount of emotional distress (Holland, 2014), which can have an adverse affect on health and recovery (Godbout & Glaser, 2006). Research has evidence that immune functioning is improved by the perception of a degree of restraint over harmful stimuli (Boinon, Charles, Dauchy & Sultan, 2011; Chung, Lee, Hwang, & Park, 2013) and by the communication of positive or negative emotions (Jacob, Kreifelts, Brück, Erb, Hösl, & Wildgruber, 2012; Cohen, 2004). While these are good rationales to include counseling in “survivorship care plans or SPCs” (Rechis, Arvey, & Beckjord, 2013, p. 119), perchance, the principal reason is that psychological treatment can improve the client’s quality of life during a distressful time (Charles, 2000; Kirsch, 2012).

It is known that cancer, in general, is a group of diseases that is characterized by the out-of-control growth and spread of a group of abnormal cells, which can often times result in death. More specifically, breast cancer is a hormonally dependent disease, which causes malignancy in the epithelial cells of the ducts and/or lobules of the breast (Lippman, 2012). Therefore, “women without functioning ovaries, who never receive estrogen-replacement therapy, do not develop breast cancer” (Lippman, 2012).

Evidence presented for acupuncture’s efficacy will be critiqued from both an evidence based medicine and whole systems research perspective. For acupuncture to be integrated into western medicine there needs to be reliable information on the safety of acupuncture, quality evidence of efficacy and contraindications of use. This needs to be reported so as to improve the quality of care provided by CAM therapists and increase referrals by physicians. In addition, physicians need to be educated and open to acupuncture practices to remove the stigma associated with its use