Naturopathic Medicine for Melanoma

Melanoma Treatment: Naturopathy

At Cancer Treatment Centers of America (CTCA), our integrative approach to melanoma treatment means that you have the opportunity to explore the healing benefits of a variety of alternative and complementary medicines, including naturopathic medicine. Expert physicians at our cancer hospitals consult with naturopathic practitioners to customize melanoma treatment programs, including modern and traditional, scientific and empirical methods. We believe that naturopathic therapies can assist you in maintaining your physical well-being. In addition, we believe these therapies may lessen the side effects of medical cancer treatments (e.g., radiation, chemotherapy) and help you avoid physical weakness.

What is naturopathic medicine?

Naturopathic medicine is a distinct system of primary healthcare. Although it is not a licensed healing art in all U.S. states, it is a science, philosophy and practice of diagnosis, treatment and prevention of illness. Naturopathic medicine encompasses different healing traditions. All accepted methods focus on using noninvasive, physiologically supportive therapies that leverage the natural healing power of the body.

Listed below are some of the founding principles of naturopathic medicine.

First do no harm

Naturopathic therapies focus on minimizing the risk of harmful effects on you when diagnosing or treating illness, applying the least possible force or intervention necessary. Naturopathic practitioners respect and work with the healing power of nature. Naturopathic therapies recommended for your melanoma treatment plan must be synergistic with the conventional melanoma treatments you are receiving.

The healing power of nature

Naturopathic medicine (also known as naturopathy) applies the healing power of nature and the body's inherent ability to establish, maintain and restore health. The healing process is ordered and intelligent; nature heals through the response of the life force. Your naturopath's role in melanoma treatment is to facilitate and augment this natural healing process. This is accomplished by identifying and removing obstacles to your health and recovery, while enabling a beneficial internal and external environment for healthy living.

Treat the whole person

It is known that both health and cancerous disease can result from a complex web of physical, mental, emotional, genetic, environmental, social and other factors. Naturopathy recognizes the harmonious functioning of all aspects of you as being essential to health and recovery from melanoma. The multifactorial nature of health and disease requires a personalized and comprehensive approach to diagnosis and treatment of all forms of disease, including melanoma. Naturopaths treat the whole person that is you, taking all of these factors into account.

Naturopath as teacher

Because the naturopath-patient relationship has inherent therapeutic value, your naturopathic practitioner should work to create a healthy and caring relationship with you that transcends mere diagnosis and appropriate prescription. Your naturopath's major role is to educate and encourage you to take responsibility for your own health. Working together with you, your naturopath can become a catalyst for healthful change, empowering and motivating you to assume responsibility in your fight against melanoma. Your naturopath must strive to inspire hope, as well as understanding.

Prevention

The main goal of naturopathic medicine is not merely to treat disease, but to ultimately help prevent its recurrence. This is accomplished through education and promotion of lifestyle habits that can improve your quality of life throughout your treatment for melanoma. Your naturopath assesses risk factors and hereditary susceptibility to disease. He or she makes appropriate lifestyle interventions to avoid further harm and risk to you. The emphasis is on building strength, health and resilience.

Naturopathic practice

While naturopaths are trained to be primary care physicians, some specialize in particular treatment methods (see below), while others concentrate on particular medical fields (e.g., pediatrics, gynecology, allergies, arthritis). Even though it has its own therapeutic specialties, naturopathic medicine incorporates the natural therapies of many different healing traditions. What makes a therapy part of the naturopathic scope of practice centers on whether or not it is applied according to the six naturopathic principles of healing. The current scope of naturopathic practice includes, but is not limited to the following:

• Botanical medicine: Many plants naturally contain substances that are powerful medicines. Where most drugs normally only consist of a single chemical, medicinal plants can contain dozens of different chemicals to help address a variety of problems simultaneously. Their organic nature also makes most botanical medicines more synergistic with the body's own chemistry, and less prone to toxic side effects.
• Homeopathic medicine: Homeopathic medicine is a natural healing system based on the principle of "like cures like." Clinical observation has shown that, by using minute doses of natural materials that simulate the symptoms of a disease, homeopathic medicine can work on a subtle, yet powerful, energetic level to strengthen the immune response and trigger a healing process.
• Clinical nutrition: Proper nutrition is essential not only to maintaining your health, but to your recovery. That "food is the best medicine" is a cornerstone of naturopathic practice. Nutritious foods and dietary supplements can often treat many medical conditions effectively and with fewer complications and side effects than by other means. Naturopaths use diet, natural hygiene, fasting and nutritional supplementation in their practice.
• Eastern medicine: Eastern medicine is a healing philosophy which shares many of the same core principles of naturopathic medicine. Invested in the close relationship between the body and the mind, meridian theory adds to the Western understanding of physiology. Acupuncture is one type of Eastern medicine used as a complementary melanoma therapy at CTCA. It can harmonize the imbalances present in disease conditions, stimulating your immune system and healing response.
• Physical medicine: Naturopathy has its own methods of therapeutic manipulation of the muscles, bones and spine. Naturopaths use ultrasound, diathermy (the controlled production of "deep heating" beneath the skin in the subcutaneous tissues, deep muscles and joints for therapeutic purposes), exercise, massage, water, heat and cold, and gentle electrical therapies to help relieve pain and treat musculoskeletal disorders.
• Psychological medicine: Mental attitudes and emotional states may influence, or even cause, physical illness. Naturopathic medicine embraces a wide variety of therapies to help melanoma patients heal psychologically and gain strength during their treatment. Therapies may include counseling, nutritional balancing, stress management, hypnotherapy, biofeedback, and more.

Next Topic: Mind-Body Medicine for Melanoma