Naturopathic Medicine for Pancreatic Cancer

Supportive Therapies for Pancreatic Cancer Patients: Naturopathy

Pancreatic cancer patients at Cancer Treatment Centers of America (CTCA) are encouraged to make naturopathic medicine a component of their treatment plans. Highly trained and experienced naturopathic practitioners are ready to join your CTCA care team. They can help you maintain your physical well-being during pancreatic cancer, and lessen the harsh side effects of medical treatments such as chemotherapy.

What is naturopathic medicine?

Naturopathic medicine (also known as naturopathy) is a distinct system of healthcare. Although it is not a licensed healing art in all states, it is a science, philosophy and practice of diagnosis, treatment and prevention of illness, including pancreatic cancer. 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 in pancreatic cancer treatment. Naturopathic therapies recommended for your pancreatic cancer treatment plan must be synergistic with the conventional pancreatic cancer treatments you are receiving.

The healing power of nature

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 naturopathic practitioner's role in pancreatic cancer 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

Both health and disease can result from a combination of genetic, physical, mental, emotional, environmental, social, and other factors. Naturopathy recognizes the harmonious functioning of all aspects of you as being essential to your health and recovery from pancreatic cancer. The multifactorial nature of health and disease requires a comprehensive approach to diagnosis and treatment of all forms of disease, including pancreatic cancer. Naturopathic practitioners treat the whole person—taking all factors into account.

Naturopathic practitioner as teacher

The naturopathic practitioner-patient relationship has inherent therapeutic value. Your naturopathic practitioner should work to create a healthy and caring relationship with you that transcends diagnosis and appropriate prescription. Your practitioner's role in pancreatic cancer treatment is to educate and encourage you to take responsibility for your health. Working with you, he or she can become a catalyst for healthful change, empowering and motivating you to assume responsibility in your fight against pancreatic cancer.

Prevention

The main goal of naturopathic medicine is to help prevent recurrence of the disease. This is accomplished through education and promotion of lifestyle habits that can improve your quality of life, throughout pancreatic cancer treatment and beyond. Your naturopathic practitioner 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 naturopathic practitioners 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, 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 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 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 health, but to recovery from pancreatic cancer. 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. Naturopathic practitioners use diet, natural hygiene, fasting, and nutritional supplementation.
• Eastern medicine: Eastern medicine is a healing philosophy which shares many of the same principles as 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 pancreatic cancer treatment 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. Naturopathic practitioners 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 pancreatic cancer patients heal psychologically and gain strength during treatment. Therapies may include counseling, nutritional balancing, stress management, hypnotherapy, biofeedback, and more.

Next Topic: Mind-Body Medicine for Pancreatic Cancer