Cancer News

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Known in China as a ‘Qi’ tonic, astragalus is one of the most beneficial immune tonics and cancer-fighting herbs. It increases the body’s resistance to disease, strengthens the digestion, and improves the vitality of the immune system. Astragalus increases the ‘bone marrow reserve’, enabling the body to produce more immune effector cells {such as t-cells}, aiding the immune system in its fight against pathogens. In China, health practitioners prescribe astragalus as a daily tonic. Astragalus is often blended with other immune tonics such as ligustrum. Astragalus has a taste of SWEET and a temperature of WARM.

• Treating Cancer with Astragalus
• Treating HIV (Human Immunodeficiency Virus) with Astragalus
• Treating Immune Deficiency with Astragalus
• Treating Spleen Tonic with Astragalus

Astragalus Proper Dose

Astragalus Reference Information

Supporting Research

Leung, A. and S. Foster. 1996. Encyclopedia of Common Natural Ingredients. New York: J. Wiley & Sons.

McGuffin, M. et al. 1997. Botanical Safety Handbook. Boca Raton: CRC Press.

Bensky, D. and A. Gamble. 1986. Chinese Herbal Medicine. Seattle: Eastland Press.

http://www.altmd.com/Articles/Astragalus-Herbal-Remedies

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By Rita Goldman

Many oncologists are doctors who treat cancer believing that patients should be evaluated for fatigue when undergoing cancer treatment. Fatigue often means that patients have to give up many activities that could be considered normal, because they are too tired to function. There is an argument that you should be discussing your levels of fatigue with your oncologists. They should be providing the initial screening, because they can provide the basic education that those levels of fatigue lead to pain, loss of sleep, emotional disturbances, hypothyroidism and anemia.

If any of those five primary symptoms of fatigue are present they need to be treated within the guidelines of the practise of each patient. Further assessment can include a review of the system of treatment and a total review of all medications, metabolic evaluations and an accurate assessment of current physical activity levels.

There are certain symptoms of fatigue such as electrolyte imbalances, infection and cardiac dysfunction that needs specific treatments but when these are not present then there are non-pharmacological options of treatment. These can include hypnosis to manage the pain, and improve the mood, and aid sleep. This can be in conjunction with a moderate gentle exercise program designed to make activity more tolerable.

Many cancer patients use hypnosis to alleviate their symptoms, but it is estimated that few of them discuss the results of alternative treatment with their oncologists. Many discuss it as a primary option, but once hypnosis is underway it is not discussed again. In fact it should be discussed and incorporated into a regime to manage your levels of fatigue as you undergo treatment. This is because the exact cause of fatigue in cancer patients has not been isolated.

A research study in Pakistan studied one hundred and ninety-one patients (1994) who each had a twenty five minute interview to assess how many of them used alternative therapies. Pakistan is a developing country, 54.5% of all patients used alternative therapies as part of their treatment. Traditional herbal medicines accounted for 70.2% and homeopathy was used by 64.4%. What was interesting is the fact that 36% or just over a third of the people studies used these treatments before conventional treatment was sought.

Only 15% used alternative methods after conventional therapeutic treatment options had been exhausted. Patients perceived that these treatments were less expensive and toxic. They have the opposite problem. The belief in Western therapies is not sufficient, that cancer patients will not use alternative therapies first, thus wasting a great deal of time before employing proven methods of treatment. However a recent American Cancer Society survey revealed that mind therapy which included mental imagery, hypnosis was employed by 49% of the users.

Obviously in Pakistan, dangerous consequences of using unconventional therapies instead of proven medical care mean direct physiological harm and needless deaths, but there has to be a happy medium of using alternative therapies with the full knowledge of your oncologist who is supposed to be coordinating your treatment.

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The Health of Your Back Can be a Sign of Your Overall Health! Does Your Back Hurt? You May Need a Lifestyle Adjustment

By: Dr. Tod Sinett And Dr. Sheldon Sinett

Losing weight, changing dietary and exercise habits, and reducing stress may not seem like common prescriptions for treating those aches and pains that may ail your back — but these things often go hand in hand with successful treatment for back pain. This is why successful treatment for back pain means a patient often ends up with benefits way beyond simply a healthier back!

The connection between health and back pain

It’s always interesting to look at the statistics between other areas of health and back pain. Eighty five percent of Americans do not exercise regularly. Eighty five percent of Americans also suffer from back pain. The truth is, back pain is almost always multi-factorial, and not addressing all pieces of the puzzle means managing back pain rather than treating it! There are three main causes of back pain. They are structural: (muscles and bones), nutritional (diet and hormones), and emotional, (stress, anger, resentment, etc.) This dynamic triad is in constant flux. If one side gets thrown off balance, the other sides will be affected as well.

In treating back pain, I always make sure to address each of these areas because they almost always overlap. For example, overweight people tend to have more back pain because of the pressure on their spine (a structural problem). Even though changes in eating habits, such as reducing refined sugars and caffeine, can have their own positive effects on back pain, these healthy dietary changes can also lead to weight loss. And that weight loss alleviates the structural problem of too much pressure, as well. A similar situation is found in smokers. Smoking cigarettes actually causes a structural problem within the back by dehydrating the spinal discs, resulting in serious pain. However, many smokers also lead less healthful lifestyles, including drinking more caffeine and exercising less.

Additionally, high stress levels (emotional) can cause a rise in a hormone called cortisol, leading to inflammation in the body and increased back pain. Combine this with a tendency to eat foods high in sugar caffeine while stressed and you’re just adding more fuel to the fire.

The back door approach

The great thing about a multi-factorial approach is that you can usually work on one aspect of back pain by taking care of another part of the triad — and wind up solving multiple problems at once. This approach of treating the root cause rather than just the symptom is referred to as the “back door approach”. In other words, it’s not always what hurts that is what needs to be fixed! If someone is suffering from back pain from emotional causes, you can use the back door approach and treat the emotional stress to relieve the back pain without ever touching the back. For example, exercise and stretching is a proven stress reliever. So even though exercise might not seem like the best cure for back pain, in this case it might just do the trick. The results are then cyclic — as you reduce stress, back pain becomes lessened, mood improves, you’re less likely to eat sugary foods or reach for caffeine, and so on.

On the same note, someone who has great difficulty changing their diet might fare better by first focusing on structure and stress reduction. When this happens, their cravings for sugary foods are diminished because the body is in better balance. Once again, an effect of the back door approach — by impacting one aspect of back pain you solved the other two.

Patients often ask me for my favorite strategies for managing back pain. Here are the three things that I tell them:
Keep stress levels under control. This means effectively juggling work, family, and personal needs. Over time I have learned that this is one of the areas that most people neglect most. Finding the right ways to deal with stress (which can be different for everyone) is one of the healthiest things that you do for yourself. And remember, if you don’t take care of yourself, it’s more difficult to take care of the people who depend on you.
Maintain dietary balance and decrease overall portion size: Eat a variety of healthful foods, avoid most processed foods, and choose organic whenever possible. I definitely still enjoy an occasional bowl of ice cream, dessert, or potato chips, but always aim for moderation. You’ll find that filling your body with healthful foods leaves little room for the not so healthy stuff! Overeating the wrong, or even the right, foods causes fluctuations in blood sugar and digestive irritation/overload. Unstable blood sugar can cause irregular moods, which leads to stress and inflammation in the body. Digestive irritation and inflammation causes stomach upset, muscles cramps, body aches, and back pain.
Take care of your structure: Get treated once a week by a chiropractor, stretch and exercise regularly, and see a massage therapist about once a month.
I’d like to leave you with this: If you have back pain, embrace the pain and figure out what your body is telling you. You may not like the message, but you can be sure that if you work on the emotional, chemical, and physical aspects of your health, it will be more than your back that feels better!

© 2008 Dr. Tod Sinett and Dr. Sheldon Sinett

Author Bio
Dr. Todd Sinett is the owner of the Midtown Chiropractic Health and Wellness practice in New York City (www.midtownchiro.com), which provides chiropractic care and applied kinesiology, nutritional and supportive counseling, and physical and massage therapy to thousands of individuals, including noted sports figures and celebrities. The center hosts weekend wellness programs and corporate informational seminars and publishes a periodic online newsletter, Balance in the Body (www.balanceinthebody.com). Sinett has appeared as clinical expert on many television programs including The View, FoxMD, and Good Day New York. Visit his website at www.drsinett.com.

For more than forty years, Dr. Sheldon Sinett was a leading chiropractor and pioneer in combining chiropractic medicine with a variety of cutting-edge, holistic practices.

About the Author:

For more information, visit www.thetruthaboutbackpainbook.com.

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• Reduces inflammation

• Pain  & Joint Stiffness
  

• Cramping

By Thomas Garran

Pain is a common response to various types of conditions in the body. Mostly, people experience pain due to physical injury but pain can be caused by arthritis, shingles, cancer, menstrual problems, and many other diseases. The pain response is generally thought to be a way that the body tells the mind that there is a problem. Unfortunately, the sensation of pain is often very difficult to bear and can lead to a variety of health problems in itself such as loss of sleep, depletion of energy, further illness, and a general loss of well-being. This is, of course, not to mention a person’s inability to perform some basic functions in their life such as work, certain physical movements, and even just sitting can be a challenge. This article will address some of the basic causes of pain and how some herbs from Chinese medicine can help to relieve pain.

In Chinese medicine it is said that when there is pain there is stagnation of blood or qi, or both. This roughly means that there are various biological functions of the body that are not flowing smoothly and can often lead to or be the result of inflammatory conditions. For this reason Chinese herbs are used to encourage (quicken) the blood flow and move the qi. At the same time “clearing heat,” i.e. reducing inflammation is a common strategy used to assist in the relieving pain.

There are a number of herbs is Chinese medicine that relieve pain by encouraging the blood flow and moving qi. Of these, Notoginseng, Red Peony, Curcuma rhizome (Turmeric), Ligusticum (Cnidium), Carthamus (Safflower), and Red Sage are some of the most frequently used herbs for encouraging the flow of blood and relieving pain. Notoginseng is probably the most famous for the treatment of pain and is also used to stop bleeding. Turmeric, Red Sage, and Red Peony are used for relieving pain, especially associated with various types of inflammation including, but not limited to arthritis. Red Sage is also very famous for the treatment of various circulatory conditions and is extremely important in the treatment of impaired circulation due to high cholesterol and diabetes. Ligusticum is used for many types of pain and is used extensively for headaches and menstrual pain. Carthamus is used in Chinese medicine for many different types of pain and is considered a very strong herb for encouraging the flow of blood.

Cyperus is one of the most important herbs in Chinese medicine for moving the qi. It is very effective to relieve pain in the abdomen and breasts associated with menstruation. This herb is very often combined with White Peony for menstrual pain and breast tenderness/pain in premenstrual conditions. It is sometimes also combined with Chinese Hawthorn for the treatment of digestive complaints such as pain in the stomach and intestines.

Chinese Licorice is one of the most frequently used herbs in Chinese medicine and is often combined with many of the above herbs to “harmonize” their action. Also, Chinese Licorice is combined with White Peony in a famous formula to relieve abdominal pain due to digestive problems.

Pain is tiring and Astragalus is well known to increase the strength and endurance of the body. Because healing requires strength, Astragalus is a very good herb to help the body endure pain as well as heal from it.

While pain is inevitable in life, suffering is optional. The above herbs are very effective in the treatment of a variety of conditions caused for resulting from pain. They are generally safe and often effective.

• Reduces inflammation
• Pain  & Joint Stiffness
• Cramping

Thomas Avery Garran is a Chinese medicine practitioner with 17 years of experience, a number of articles, and a book, “Western Herbs According Traditional Chinese Medicine: A Practitioners Guide.” His blog is http://sourcepointherbs.blogspot.com .

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Ease Pain Naturally:neck,back, shoulder,arms, hands & fingers, menstrual cramping

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Cancer pain: Relief is possible

From MayoClinic.com
Special to CNN.com

Not everyone with cancer experiences cancer pain, but one of out three does. If you have advanced cancer — cancer that has spread or recurred — your chance of experiencing cancer pain is even higher.

Cancer pain strikes in many ways. Your pain may be dull, aching or sharp. It could be constant, intermittent, mild, moderate or severe. Timothy Moynihan, M.D., a cancer specialist at Mayo Clinic, Rochester, Minn., offers some insight into cancer pain, reasons why people might not get the pain treatment they need and what they can do about it.

What causes cancer pain?

Cancer pain can result from the cancer itself. Cancer can cause pain by growing into or destroying tissue anywhere near the cancer. Cancer pain can come from the primary cancer itself — where the cancer started — or from other areas in the body where the cancer has spread (metastases). As a tumor grows, it may put pressure on nerves, bones or other organs, causing pain.

Recent research has shown that cancer pain may not just be from the physical effect of the cancer on a region of the body, but also due to chemicals that the cancer may secrete in the region of the tumor. Treatment of the cancer can help the pain in these situations.

Cancer treatments — such as chemotherapy, radiation and surgery — are another potential source of cancer pain. Surgery can be painful, and it may take time to recover. Radiation may leave behind a burning sensation or painful scars. And chemotherapy can cause many potentially painful side effects, including mouth sores, diarrhea and nerve damage.

How do you treat cancer pain?

There are many different ways to treat cancer pain. The ideal way is to remove the source of the pain, for example, through surgery, chemotherapy, radiation or some other form of treatment. If that cannot be done, pain medications can usually control the pain. These medications include:

• Analgesics, such as aspirin or acetaminophen (Tylenol, others)
• Nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs), such as ibuprofen (Advil, Motrin, others)
• Weak opioid (derived from opium) medications, such as codeine
• Strong opioid medications, such as morphine, oxycodone, hydromorphone, fentanyl or methadone

These drugs can often be taken orally, so they’re easy to use. However, it you’re unable to take medications orally, they may also be taken intravenously, rectally or through the skin using a patch.

In September 2006 the Food and Drug Administration approved a new form of the opioid fentanyl (Fentora) that dissolves in your mouth. This medication may be particularly effective for intermittent pain episodes, which are sometimes called “incident pain.” These fentanyl tablets dissolve rapidly, and the drug is absorbed through the lining of your mouth.

Specialized treatment, such as nerve blocks, also may be applicable. Nerve blocks are a local anesthetic that is injected around or into a nerve, which prevents pain messages traveling along that nerve pathway from reaching the brain. Other therapies, such as acupuncture, acupressure, massage, physical therapy, relaxation, meditation and humor, may help.

In your experience, what are some reasons for not receiving adequate treatment for cancer pain?

Unfortunately cancer pain is often undertreated. There are many factors behind that, some of which include:

• Physician knowledge. One factor has to do with a physician’s knowledge and ability to treat and recognize pain. Some physicians and other health care professionals may not specifically ask about pain, which should be a normal part of every cancer patient’s visit. Cancer patients should be asked if they are having any pain. If they are, the physician should stop there and deal with the issue. Some doctors don’t know enough about proper pain treatment. If this is the case, your doctor might refer you to a pain specialist.
• Patient reluctance. A second factor might be a patient’s own reluctance. Some people might not want to “bother” their doctors with the information, or they may fear that the pain means that their cancer is getting worse. Some are reluctant to report it or report it as thoroughly as they should because they’re worried about what doctors or other people might think of them if they complain. They might feel that because they have cancer, they’re supposed to have pain and be able to deal with it. That simply isn’t true.
• Fear of addiction. Another factor might be a person’s fear of becoming addicted to the pain medications. This is something that we know doesn’t typically happen if you take medications for pain. If you take them when you’re not in pain or to get high, then, yes, you can get addicted. But the risk of addiction for people who take pain medications in an appropriate fashion — for pain — is very low, so this shouldn’t be a concern.
• Fear of side effects. Some people fear the side effects of pain medications. Many are afraid of being sleepy, unable to communicate with family and friends, acting strangely, or being seen as dependent on medications. People are also sometimes afraid that taking morphine may shorten their life. There is no evidence of any of these happening if the medication is dosed appropriately. And although strong pain medications can cause drowsiness when you first take them, that side effect usually goes away with steady dosing.

What side effects can you expect from cancer pain treatment, and what can you do about them?

Each pain treatment may be accompanied by its own unique side effects. For example, radiation treatments may cause redness and a burning sensation of the skin. And, depending on what part of the body the radiation is applied to, the radiation may cause diarrhea, mouth sores or other problems, such as fatigue. Chemotherapy certainly can cause side effects, such as nausea, fatigue, infection and hair loss, but it can be effective in relieving pain if it shrinks the tumor. There are medications to help with nausea. Relaxation techniques also may help.

Pain medications each have their own unique side effects that should be reviewed with your physician before taking them. One of the common side effects of the stronger pain medicines is constipation — common to opioids. It can be treated with appropriate bowel regimens as prescribed by your doctor, such as adding a stool softener and something to stimulate the bowels. Preventing constipation is much easier than treating it, so anyone who takes these strong pain medications should automatically begin a regimen to keep their bowels moving. Some of the other side effects of the strong pain medications include confusion, lethargy and sleepiness. The severity of these effects varies from person to person and commonly occurs with the first several doses. But once a steady amount of the medicine stays in your body, the side effects usually resolve. Hallucinations and behavior changes are uncommon.

The less potent pain medications actually may have more side effects, which also should be discussed with your physician before taking them. For instance, anti-inflammatory drugs might damage your kidneys, cause ulcers or increase your blood pressure. Aspirin can cause gastrointestinal bleeding, and acetaminophen (Tylenol, others) can cause liver damage if you take too much.

When should you discuss cancer pain with your doctor, and what points should you bring up?

Report any bothersome pain to your physician. If there is a minor pain that goes away, don’t worry about it. But if the pain interferes with your life or is persistent, it needs to be reported and should be treated. Although no one can guarantee that all pain can be completely eliminated, most pain can be lessened to the point where you can be comfortable.

It may help to keep track of your pain by noting how strong it is, where it’s located, what makes it worse, what brings it on, what makes it better and anything else that happens when you have the pain. A pain-rating scale from 0 to 10 — with 0 being no pain and 10 being the worst pain you can imagine — may be helpful in reporting pain to your doctor. In addition, pay attention to what happens when you attempt to relieve your pain. If you take medicine, do you feel any ill effects from it? If it’s a massage or something physical that relieves the pain, those therapies are important to report, too. Note whether they cause any ill effects.

What steps can you take to make sure you’re receiving adequate cancer pain treatment?

First, you need to talk to your doctor or health care provider if you’re having pain. Second, you and your doctor should set a goal for pain management and monitor the success of the treatment against that goal. Your doctor should track the pain with a pain scale, assessing how strong it is. The goal should be to keep the pain at a level with which you’re comfortable. If you aren’t achieving that goal, talk to your physician. If you’re not getting the answers you need, request a referral to a facility more skilled in the care of pain, particularly a major cancer center. All major cancer centers have pain management programs. For the most part, the medications and treatment for pain are covered by standard insurance.

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By Reshma Jirage

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Eezapein
Ease Pain Naturally:Herbal Tea

Secondary Benefits

• Non-addictive
• Stimulates the body’s natural healing response
• Calms the mind and body

ScienceDaily — Many people with fibromyalgia — a debilitating pain syndrome that affects 2 to 4 percent of the population — have faced the question of whether the condition is real.

Fibromyalgia often has been misdiagnosed as arthritis or even a psychological issue. Increasingly, though, the scientific knowledge about fibromyalgia is growing, and a new paper from the University of Michigan Health System says there are “overwhelming data” that the condition is real, is characterized by a lower pain threshold and is associated with genetic factors that can make some people more likely to develop fibromyalgia.

The review paper, in the December issue of the journal Current Pain and Headache Reports, cites recent studies involving pain, genetics, brain activity and more. The paper’s authors hope these findings will lead to a better understanding and acceptance of fibromyalgia and related conditions.

“It is time for us to move past the rhetoric about whether these conditions are real, and take these patients seriously as we endeavor to learn more about the causes and most effective treatments for these disorders,” says Richard E. Harris, Ph.D., research investigator in the Division of Rheumatology at the U-M Medical School’s Department of Internal Medicine and a researcher at the U-M Health System’s Chronic Pain and Fatigue Research Center.

A growing amount of research related to the neurobiology of the condition supports the notion that the pain of fibromyalgia is real. Studies at U-M and elsewhere using two neuroimaging techniques — functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) and single photon emission computed tomography (SPECT) — indicate there is a difference between patients with and without fibromyalgia.

“In people without pain, these structures encode pain sensations normally. In people with fibromyalgia, the neural activity increased,” says Daniel J. Clauw, M.D., director of the U-M Chronic Pain and Fatigue Research Center and professor of rheumatology at the U-M Medical School, and an author of the new paper. “These studies indicate that fibromyalgia patients have abnormalities within their central brain structures.”

In a 2003 paper in the journal Science, a U-M team reported that a small variation in the gene that encodes the enzyme called catechol-O-methyl transferase, or COMT, made a significant difference in the pain tolerance, and pain-related emotions and feelings, of healthy volunteers. Researchers also have found that individual mutations in the COMT gene are related to the future development of temporomandibular joint disorder, also known as TMD or TMJ, a condition related to fibromyalgia.

Together, these studies about COMT and numerous studies with animals suggest that pain sensitivity is determined at least in part by a person’s genetic makeup, Clauw says.

The authors note that there are some legitimate areas of debate regarding fibromyalgia, including disagreements about how precisely it should be defined and whether people with the condition deserve compensation. But none of those disagreements should detract from the acceptance of it as a condition causing real pain, they say.

Reference: Current Pain and Headache Reports, Dec. 2006, pp. 403-7.

Adapted from materials provided by University of Michigan Health System.

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ScienceDaily — Patients with fibromyalgia treated with a synthetic form of marijuana, nabilone, showed significant reductions in pain and anxiety in a first-of-its-kind study, published in The Journal of Pain.

Fibromyalgia syndrome has no cure, is difficult to diagnose, and effective pain management strategies are a must to help patients cope with the disease. An estimated 12 million Americans have fibromyalgia, which is characterized by widespread muscle and joint pain and myriad other symptoms. The condition is far more prevalent in women and the incidence increases with age, reaching 7 percent among women 65 years and older.

Forty subjects were selected for the nabilone trial, conducted by researchers at the University of Manitoba Rehabilitation Hospital. They were divided into nabilone and placebo groups and were treated for four weeks. The authors noted this was the first randomized, controlled-access trial to evaluate nabilone for pain reduction and quality-of-life improvement in fibromyalgia patients. Nabilone is one of two oral marijuana-based compounds, known as cannabinoids, available in Canada and is approved for treatment of nausea and vomiting during chemotherapy.

Results of the Manitoba study showed the nabilone group had significant reductions in pain and anxiety, measured by comparisons with baseline scores on the visual analogue scale for pain, the Fibromyalgia Impact Questionnaire (FIQ) and the FIQ anxiety score. From the data, the study concluded nabilone has significant benefits for pain relief and functional improvement in fibromyalgia patients. Although the improvement was significant, none of the nabilone-treated subjects had complete relief of their fibromyalgia symptoms.

The drug was well tolerated by treated patients, which the authors characterized as reassuring since fibromyalgia patients are sensitive to most medications and have difficulty tolerating side effects. The downside, however, is cost. In Canada, nabilone would cost about $4,000 for a year’s supply.

The authors believe their findings warrant consideration of nabilone as an adjunct to current medical management of fibromyalgia.

Adapted from materials provided by American Pain Society, via Newswise. (Feb. 18, 2008)

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