Not all cancer care is created equal!
Cancer is a frightening word for most people. When we hear it, images of debilitating diseases and long, painful treatments with many meds come to mind. What many people don’t realize is that treating a body with cancer can look differently for most people, and not all cancer requires aggressive treatment. In fact, unless one’s cancer is late stage with organ failure present, you can achieve a much better outcome with less drugs by taking an integrative approach that considers the best of both the conventional and natural medicine worlds and combines them together into one care plan. This may include diet and lifestyle changes, safe supplements to protect your healthy cells and give energy, and personalized mentorship so you know what to do for yourself versus someone else with your same condition. Because we are all different and need to be treated as such. If you or someone you love has been diagnosed with cancer, please consider exploring a more integrative approach.
An integrative oncologist can help you mitigate side effects and learn how to avoid further immune depletion and increased inflammation from cancer and its treatment. Then once you are done with treatment, this type of care can set you on a path to become stronger and more resistant to recurrence.
Typically, when people think about cancer treatment they immediately think of surgery, radiation and chemotherapy. While these treatments may be the most effective way to kill cancer cells, it’s also important to consider what those treatments are doing to the important hormonal, digestive, and metabolic systems of the body. Because those impacts can have lasting effects that snowball into other serious issues downstream once treatment is over.
In reality, integrative oncology is a one-plus-one equals three models, where there’s a synergy that exists when you combine the best evidence-based conventional treatment and complementary treatment together.
Medical oncologists I have worked with have told me how many fewer medications their patients are on who are also working with me simultaneously vs. those who aren’t. They also are appreciative of the time I spend with their patients further explaining results and answering their questions about why they have been offered a particular conventional regimen and what to expect. This helps people feel more empowered with understanding and confidence in what they have chosen to do, not to mention gives them peace of mind that their entire care team is working together to offer them the best treatment possible.
Supplements can be a controversial topic during treatment since many medical practitioners don’t know enough about which ones are safe or not. You may be told to avoid all supplements or antioxidants. But specific supplements given at the right time can actually heal and restore function to important tissues damaged by treatment. This can often lead to a person responding to their chemotherapy for longer before needing to switch to the next line of treatment or needing to stop due to toxicities. Thus, you can neutralize the impacts of chemotherapy and radiation to a large degree. THen after active treatment is over an integrative oncologist can restore your health and prevent the need for medications many people end up on for life after treatment such as those for heartburn and high blood pressure. The goal is to restore the function of the body so you don’t need to take them nor have to take numerous natural remedies to keep symptoms at bay. That can be expensive and frustrating.
After treatment, your integrative oncologist knows what the correct, safe supplements and dietary recommendations are based on your current maintenance and past treatments. The most appropriate recommendations for you will change over time, depending on your symptoms, what medications you’re taking, test results, and more.
As an integrative oncologist and health coach, I want to pick up where your oncology team left off and get you back to a state of health versus focus on your disease. While cancer is not always preventable, there are many things you can do to reduce your risk of recurrence and improve your long-term health. Most people are able to avoid being on extra or as many medications, lose stubborn weight, and improve hormone balance leaving them with a much higher quality of life and peace of mind. By working together, we can create a sustainable plan that will protect and fortify your body against cancer recurrence. Thanks for reading!
To learn more about this important aspect of taking care of your health with cancer, sign up for a free 15-min discovery call where we can discuss your specific situation to see if we are a good fit.
