Posted by MarieM on 10/4/2006, 1:16 pm, in reply to "Re: How Can This Be?" I'm fortunate to live in the Seattle area. A fairly clost hospital has state of the art everything, so far anyway, and my onc is a wonderful woman who doen't really understand cam, but is very supportive of my seeking it and even keeps lists of practitioners to send her patients to. That's a big leap from the ones who "shame" their patients into ingnoring this avenue. Bastyr Univeristy, a premier training center for naturopaths, accupuncturist, ets is nearby and I'm sure thier influence has helped in the lcoal area. My Naturopath actually worked at a local hostipal cancer treatment center for a while. Cancer Treatment Centers of AMerica combine western and alternative practitions under one roof, and all the treatment plans are integrated. I don't agree with all their philosophies, but their overall concept is great. I don't know where you live, but if you decide on complimentary med, make sure anyone you see has experience treating people who are in active cancer treatment. There are things that a less experienced ND might give her that could interfere with certain chemo drugs, etc. If there's no one in your area, this is a process that could happen over the phone, as much of the evaluation is an evaluation of labs and path reports, etc. and long discussions about side effects helpful daily routines etc. Not optimal, but it would be better than trying to make due with someone who didn't know a lot about this. Conventional wisdom is run everything by your MD, but they don't have time to do the reserch and probably can't give practical advice in this area. I tell my onc, but just to let her know what is working, so she can encourage/discourage other patients in a valid way. It's unfortunate that alternaive treatments can't get the funding to do the research the way we'd all like to see. but there are people out there doing their best with smaller projects and come up with amazing results. That where an ND who specialized will have a big leg up. There a lot to plow through to differentiate the hype from the real stuff. I'm rambling again, anyway, My best to you and your friend. If I can help with more information and you can stand my bad typing, let me know!
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It sounds like you've got the emotional part of this down pat, and that is huge!! So many woman go through this alone.
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