Complementary therapies recommended by Supersue
Complementary therapies recommended by Supersue Complementary therapies recommended by Supersue
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Good balanced diet (fruit, veg, fish, etc., plus a bit of good quality chocolate)
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Getting some exercise (walks on wild and windy autumn days)
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The occasional glass or two of champagne (yes please)
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Chatting with friends (on the phone, over coffee, in the street)
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Lots of hugging with spouse/partner/family/friends (definitely yes please)
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Trying out new things (I’m going to teach myself Swahili and take some ski lessons before Christmas)
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Alton Towers (nobody can think about breast cancer when riding on ‘Oblivion’ the world’s only vertical rollercoaster)
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‘From our own Correspondent’ BBC Radio Four (it is entertaining, informative, sometimes harrowing and certainly puts our lives in context with what is going on in other parts of the world)
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Singing in the shower (good for the lungs and not bad as an antidepressant)
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The occasional visit to the Breast Cancer Care website for a chat (thanks everyone here)
Best wishes,
Sue
sounds good to me I loved your comp therapies and will try a few especially the champagne!
Your wanting to learn Swahilli made me laugh, a few months ago when I was working (as a social worker in a stroke rehab unit) the speech therapist was was working with a client who was English speaking. However on starting the session the therapist could not understand a word this man was saying and was thinking what has happened because previously he was improving. It turned out that during lunch the client had been taught a few sentences in Swahilli by another client and was using the therapist to try out his new language skills. LOL
complementary therapies Dear Sue
loved your recommendations bar Alton Towers. Do all the things you do plus some others. So to add to your list…
- have weekly sessions of osteopathy and acupuncture
2.Have a body massage every so often
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Take spirulina for energy
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speak to a therapist if you need someone to talk to
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sing, sing ,sing. So good for the spirit and the lungs
Sorry to read you’re sceptical about complementary medicine. Have you had bad experiences?I can only speak from experience as have had marvelous results from the above.
Hope everything continues to go well for you
Dear Fisher Dear Fisher,
Thanks for your message. I must try the massage.
I suppose I have several issues with complementary medicine:
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Not scientifically/rigorously tested;
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No system of reporting adverse effects or side effects (with or without the presence of other treatment);
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Issues of long term use - how and when do you stop?
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The whole thing is dependent on hearsay rather than evidence;
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The strong undercurrent of having to believe in it for it to work (placebo effect) and the resultant guilt in vulnerable people if it doesn’t work;
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The assumption that man-made stuff is nasty while natural stuff is good for you (not necessarily true biochemically speaking);
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The emphasis on ‘food magic’ where foodstuffs are presented as ‘cures’;
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The assumption that it cannot harm you - I think because complementary medicine doesn’t have an end point it encourages people to be dependent on it rather than recovering emotionally, dealing with uncertainty and getting on with the rest of their lives;
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The lack of control on the concentration of ‘natural’ drugs - one bottle may have a different amount of active ingredient than another;
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My fear that somewhere in all the dross there is actually something that works but that it is buried under so much rubbish that it is impossible to find;
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The pseudo-scientific bit - people don’t say ‘it works but I haven’t a clue how’, instead they produce a theory or a mythology that you have to buy into;
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The fact that the moment I start asking difficult questions people get affronted and become defensive - I don’t know why I’m required to leave my brain behind in all this - it’s part of me and I’m very fond of it;
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The fact that we need to take responsibility for each other - the unscientific ‘placebo’ approach means that even if some complementary medicines are harmless (or even helpful she said graciously) the door is open for charletans to take advantage of very vulnerable people;
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The suspicion that what is really working is giving people lots of care, attention, understanding and time, something that the underfunded, overworked NHS doesn’t always manage to do;
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The fear of hurting someone by saying points 1-13, I have this picture in mind of someone barely coping and me coming along and knocking their crutches away (strangely enough I don’t have a picture in my mind of someone barely coping and another person coming along and knocking their scientific crutches away).
Sorry, I’m on my hobby horse. Where is that glass of champagne?
With very best wishes,
Sue
Hobbyhorses are very uncomfortable to ride - they have shart spines and little flexibility. Maybe it’s time to dismount and relax.
made me laugh Dear sue
laughed out loud at your “list”. Don’t feel slightly affronted. You certainly have strong feelings. However I won’t be giving up acupuncture/osteopathy/massage/psycotherapy etc as I know I feel better after a good dose of needles and talk. I can feel it physically and emotionally. It can’t be denied so I say “science shmience”. Scientific rigour is there to test just that----- science. It doesn’t take into account the other big part of who or what we are ------- the emotional psycology.
Anyway, enjoy your champagne as I fully intend to
Love Jenny X
Hi Jenny and Phoebe As Hamlet says:
'There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio, than are dreamt of in your philosophy."
With Sue on this I’m with Sue on this.
Love your lists.
I think those of us who feel strongly about this must be confident in our views. Don’t lets put ourselves down by talking of ‘hobby horses’. Having cancer doesn’t mean we have to neglect our intellects.
I am very interested in the socio/psychological impact of having cancer but that doesn’t mean that I want to throw science and rationality out the window.
Jane
taking sides Why do we take sides on the efficacy or not of complementary treatment? Surely it’s about the relativity of the approach. Extremes in any approach, conventional or complementary are unhealthy. Why not keep an open mind, try “tested” treatments and decide for yourself what works for you. Noone is suggesting we should abandon our intellects by trying acupuncture or such. In fact I would go as far to say that by opening our minds to things that can’t always be proven in a laboratory, is a way of using your intelligence.
Anyway, I’m glad someone’s posting on this forum even if it is unbelievers as I like a bit of a debate!
Am off to sleep now after a wonderful dose of acupuncture
ZZZZZZZ
Jenny
I also labelled myself as a sceptic, but this past year has found me taking advantage of different complimentary therapies - reflexology, aromatherapy massage, acupuncture.
At the end of the day, they make me feel good, and how is that ‘measured’? I feel that even if the actual treatment is not scientifically doing anything, but if being in those specific surroundings in a darkened room, with relaxing sounds and wonderful smells, plus the undivided gentle attention of the therapist, makes me feel better/relaxed/energised, then its done its job - regardless of which part of it all was responsible for it.
(That having been said, I understand that rigorous research over the past year or two has shown that acupuncture is the one therapy that does actually ‘work’)
If anything looks as if it might help it’s worth trying. If it works it’s worth continuing and if not stop… One of he things I’ve learnt is that anything I can do to help myself does a disproportionate amount of good so I carry on tryng! dilly
My hubby wants to use your list Cos he says it’s the best short summary of everything wrong with alternative medicine that he has ever read. He’s a psychologist and he’s writing a book on such matters - to be entitled (if it ever gets published!)
‘Fitzroy’s Crap Theories of the Mind, Body and Spirit’ excerpts here:
myweb.tiscali.co.uk/redcrow/CTOMBS/
Articles/Articles%20Index.htm
As for me - would like to know if the Budwig diet works. I’ve been on Pub Med and seen interesting stuff from Univ of California, breast cancer survival and eating lotsa lotsa veg.
xx Moley
Budwig Diet Hi, Moley.
I’ve checked out the Budwig diet.
It’s interestingto try it out. as long as you use the plants from the onion family: onions, leeks, chives and garlic, as well as nuts of all sorts instead of the cottage cheese, milk and yogurt. These are either/or’s according to Dr. Budwig’s research and I don’t see how it can be consistent to use dairy products when the diet specifically excludes meat and any food of animal origin. The only justification cited for using the dairy products was it was a more convenient source of sulphur than the nuts and onion tribe which are also sulphur-rich.
Why is it that there isn’t a book of success stories for every sane and scientifically researched nutritional approach?
Why aren’t successful outcomes researched?
Bearing in mind that Johanna Budwig wrote it all up back in the early 1950’s and was already then promoting masses of vegetables, juices, etc. and the key role of crushed linseeds in the diet, it is remarkably similar to the guidelines of the Plant Programme researched and devised by Jane Plant which has worked for a lot of people, though Budwig expressly discouraged chemotherapy and Prof. Plant recommends people adopt her programme specifically as an adjunct to conventional treatment.
The research seems to have stood up to the scrutiny of INDEPENDENT scientists for 50 years. But where are the results? There’s no money in promoting the results - no mega-multinational enriches its shareholders by promoting scientifically researched sound nutritional strategies to overcome cancer.
Does anyone else know someone who has followed Budwig, with or without success?
reflexology Dear all believers and non-believers
just had the most fantastic session on reflexology and can highly recommend it for relaxation, boosting immune system and generally aiding the body in coping with treatment.
I lay on a bed for 1 hour while the therapist massaged my feet. All my vulnerable areas like digestion and shoulder stiffness reacted strongly to corresponding foot area.
Looking forward to my next session at The Haven
Love Jenny X
Hi Jenny I had reflexology whilst having chemo and also prior to starting it as was very anxious…i also would thoroughly recommend it…i also had reiki at the same time.
i am currently having accupuncture for menopausal symptoms and have to say that it seems to be working too.
Hope you enjoy your next session.
karen x
reflexology and chemo Hi Karen
I had planned to have some reflexology after my mastectomy but the reflexologist wouldn’t do it as I was about to have chemo. My GP also backed this up. Their reason being that it works by releasing toxins from the body and as chemo toxins need to stay there and work, they were worried it would have a negative affect on my cancer treatment.
Irene
for supersue Hi Sue
I really enjoyed reading your profile and comments on this thread. It was enlightening to read the comments of an intellgent woman who knows her own mind.
I have felt more vulnerable to ‘outside’ influences during this illness than at any other time of my life. It is so easy to crasp at straws and although I think some complementary therapies may work (massage inparticular for relaxation), they have to be taken with a little pinch of salt when we look at the big scheme of things.
Irene
jennyw Budwig diet has to be good for everyone because of all that omega3- the rest is try it and see.
My understanding is that the cottage cheese is because flaxseed needs protein to benefit.
As for the dairy biz the net is full of dairy saves/ dairy kills and the only acid test is do people feel better or worse after giving with/without a go.
I used BD twice when I clearly had new secondaries and was going through the quite lengthy time waiting for tests and results.
It helped- mainly because I felt I was giving me some protection while all those naughty cells were busy multiplying and spreading- but maybe there was real benefit because I got best part of two years trouble free from 1st and good slow down after second BD.
The same goes for all those alternative remedies. If anything looks as if it might help it’s worth trying and then stopping/continuing depending on whether better/notbetter/worse after month or so.
Wouldn’t it be great to have a few real hard facts! I don’t enjoy being a guineapig. Best wishesdilly
Hi Irene Hi Irene,
Many thanks for the feedback.
Good luck with the treatment and take care of yourself.
With best wishes,
Sue