What is cam?
Complementary medicine
Complementary medicine is meant to be used along side conventional biomedical treatments. It may help a patient cope with the unpleasantness of certain treatments.
Some examples include: acupuncture, Reiki, and guided imagery. |
Alternative Medicine
Alternative medicine includes all other treatment practices that are not used in conventional medicine.
Some examples include: homeopathy, naturopathy, and functional medicine. |
Tension between CAM and biomedicine
Integrative medicine, which strives to weave the best of CAM and with the best of conventional biomedical practices, is an up and coming field; however, the hostility between CAM and biomedicine continues to perpetuate in the media and the clinical setting. Since most of the evidence of successful health outcomes with CAM use comes from retrospective studies, the biomedical world continues to doubt the efficacy and reliability of using CAM to cure acute or chronic illnesses and cancer (Ventola 2010). However, it is important to acknowledge that patients' health-seeking behaviors often times entail research into and reliance on CAM use as a way to cope with the illness and the depersonalization and dismissiveness of biomedicine (Broom 2008).
According to the 2007 National Health Interview Survey (NHIS), approximately 38 percent of adults reported using CAM within the previous 12 months(The Use of Complementary and Alternative Medicine in the United States 2018). It was difficult to find recent data on the prevalence of CAM use among adults, for the only recent data available was disease specific and not generalizable to the entire CAM-utilizing adult population. However, although the NHIS 2007 statistics are outdated, it is not unreasonable to infer that the prevalence of CAM use among US adults has increased due to the fact that disease specific CAM use data shows an increase in CAM use and integrative medicine has gained popularity in the past decade.
The bottom line is that patients are using CAM, whether it be to replace or supplement conventional biomedicine, and it is important for physicians to know how to navigate the illness and treatment journey of patients who choose to do so. With this being said, it is important for the patient to disclose CAM use to their provider. There seems to be a lack of research surrounding the obstacles patients face in disclosing their CAM use to their medical provider; however, it is important to do so in order to decrease the likelihood that two incompatible forms treatments would induce adverse side effects in the patient.
According to the 2007 National Health Interview Survey (NHIS), approximately 38 percent of adults reported using CAM within the previous 12 months(The Use of Complementary and Alternative Medicine in the United States 2018). It was difficult to find recent data on the prevalence of CAM use among adults, for the only recent data available was disease specific and not generalizable to the entire CAM-utilizing adult population. However, although the NHIS 2007 statistics are outdated, it is not unreasonable to infer that the prevalence of CAM use among US adults has increased due to the fact that disease specific CAM use data shows an increase in CAM use and integrative medicine has gained popularity in the past decade.
The bottom line is that patients are using CAM, whether it be to replace or supplement conventional biomedicine, and it is important for physicians to know how to navigate the illness and treatment journey of patients who choose to do so. With this being said, it is important for the patient to disclose CAM use to their provider. There seems to be a lack of research surrounding the obstacles patients face in disclosing their CAM use to their medical provider; however, it is important to do so in order to decrease the likelihood that two incompatible forms treatments would induce adverse side effects in the patient.
Cam and Breast cancer
Breast cancer is an example of an illness where it is not uncommon to see women resorting to CAM as a way to supplement their biomedical treatment. Data from 2006 shows that as high as 75% of women with breast cancer use CAM during their course of treatment and that breast cancer patients are more likely to use CAM than any other cancer patient (Wanchai 2010). In the context of breast cancer, CAM provide women with additional healing remedies like reducing pain, increasing the strength of the immune system, and reducing the side effects of conventional medical treatments as well as providing emotional support during difficult times (Wanchai 2010). Often times women site CAM use as the healing aspect of their treatment.
Although it is less common, women can solely use CAM to cure their breast cancer. What makes Halina's case an outlier from the trend is that she heavily relied on CAM more than she did on biomedicine; her only involvement with the conventional breast cancer script was when she removed her tumor prior to starting her alternative treatment. Halina knows she took a risk, but she defends her choice as a "well-researched and calculated decision".
Although it is less common, women can solely use CAM to cure their breast cancer. What makes Halina's case an outlier from the trend is that she heavily relied on CAM more than she did on biomedicine; her only involvement with the conventional breast cancer script was when she removed her tumor prior to starting her alternative treatment. Halina knows she took a risk, but she defends her choice as a "well-researched and calculated decision".
Halina's treatments and successful journeyBelow are some of the alternative medicinal therapies that Halina resorted to when she decided she would not adhere to conventional treatment of her breast cancer. It is important to note that in Halina's case these therapies were not short term fixers to cure the breast cancer. Halina says that she must now live up to this life style change until her old age in order to remain in remission.
Halina follows a strict vegan diet, preforms coffee enemas daily, exercises and uses her sauna daily, and visits either the Tijuana or German alternative clinic nearly twice a year. In all, it was Halina's self-initiative, access to information, and freedom to make choices that led her to engage in medical pluralism as her form of breast cancer treatment. |
Knockout: Doctors who are curing cancer
Suzanne Somers
In her book, Knockout, Somers sheds light on how Western doctors and specialists are challenging conventional medicine by using innovative cancer treatments that build a strong body as opposed to weaken an already vulnerable one. Halina used Somers' cancer experience as a scaffold to how she would approach her own treatment journey.
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Gerson Therapy
Founded by Max Gerson in the 1920s and 30s, Gerson therapy (Gerson regime, Gerson diet, Gerson method) is an alternative form of cancer treatment in which a patient uses food to heal the body. The underlying premise of Gerson therapy is that cancer manifests when there is too much sodium in the body in relative concentration to potassium (Cancer 2019).
The Gerson regime includes:
The Gerson regime includes:
- an organic vegetarian diet composed of high potassium/low sodium fruits and vegetables
- vitamin and mineral supplements and supplemental enzymes
- coffee and/or castor oil enemas
- low meat and dairy consumption
Functional Oncology
Functional oncology is a technique that the Tijuana clinic and functional clinics alike use to combat cancer. The principle behind the treatment is to increase the body's immunity in order to fight off and suppress the cancer cells (5).
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Alternative cancer treatment in Tijuana, Mexico; a Whole-Person Approach to Cancer Treatment.
Therapies include:
What is the premise of this treatment?
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*We do not endorse any of the complementary or alternative medicine strategies above. The material is meant solely to educate the public about the practices some people choose to employ in fighting cancer.