Unconventional methods of treatment for prostate cancer

Unconventional methods of treatment for prostate cancer

Especially in an advanced prostate cancer procedures such as nutritional therapy, herbal medicine, homeopathy or mind-body medicine are sometimes used, as a rule, however, in addition to the conventional therapy.

There are countless methods of treating diseases, their application is based on some of millennia of experience, whose effectiveness was, however, not sure that is with modern scientific methods not detected. This area of ​​medicine is referred to by various terms, and divided differently. The earlier dispute over the demarcation of scientific medicine express as: Orthodox medicine against Para medicine, conventional medicine over alternative medicine, technical medicine over natural medicine or engaging over gentle medicine.

Neutral is the distinction between conventional and unconventional methods. Today's integrative medicine is to both bring together: Unconventional medicine with their often holistic perspective - where appropriate - in addition to conventional medicine (complementary medicine) or instead of (alternative medicine, both together as complementary and alternative medicine, CAM, Eng complementary and alternative medicine. CAM). In any case, the assignment because new knowledge is constantly in flux.

A complete overview is not possible at this point, so we have to refer to the "More Information" (see below). From the great wealth we have singled out some common (more or less) unconventional method for the treatment of prostate cancer and briefly summarized below.

All of these methods are complementary medicine in general, that is a complement to the treatment methods described in the previous sections, in particular in advanced prostate cancer. Some involve risks, such as financial health. One of the biggest dangers is their alternative use, ie is that this refrain from a conventional, potentially curative therapy.

Therefore our advice: If you want to apply such a procedure, inform yourself thoroughly and talk to your intimates and other stakeholders, but especially with your doctor so that he can advise you and take into consideration the procedure chosen for your own protection in his therapy can.

Nutritional Therapy

The nutritional therapy aims to keep the patient in a good nutritional state or compensate for deficiencies. This increases the quality of life, strengthens the immune system, facilitates tumor treatment and improved prognosis. It is a complementary (now recognized and therefore more conventional) method that does not heal alone, but may offer some protection against the consequences, the progression or recurrence of the tumor. Must be distinguished from measures of nutrition that are intended to prevent against a tumor (also see the sectionprevention against prostate cancer ).

Malignant tumors can affect the sense of taste, sense of smell and appetite and change metabolism, in particular, increase the energy consumption. In an advanced stage, they often lead to severe weight loss (cachexia), which is why it expects to debilitating diseases.Furthermore, a variety of direct and indirect effects are possible, which affect the absorption and utilization of food. The treatment of tumor, especially a radiotherapy or chemotherapy , may exert such influence.

For nutritional therapy, an individual nutrition plan is established, which must be regularly reviewed and adjusted as necessary. It depends on the current, mostly increased need for energy and nutrients, including vitamins and trace elements, in the form of dietary supplements (see below micronutrients). It also concerns the preferences of the patient, features the foods (eg Avoid any disease-promoting substances and increased supply cheaper materials) and special circumstances in food intake and utilization (eg, other preparation and other condiments in appetite, tube feeding with dysphagia).

In addition, the treatment of nutrition-related complaints should be possible to judge the cause (eg, eliminating a bottleneck in the intestine or anemia). If this is not possible, targeted measures against individual symptoms come into consideration (eg, increase in appetite with drugs, see also the section under palliative gastrointestinal complaints ).

Cancer diets

There are numerous diets that are to serve as a "cancer diets" for the treatment of malignant tumors (eg in the fields of whole foods, food combining, fasting, macrobiotics), "starve" partially adventurous sounding ideas such as cancer. Some are considered healthy (eg, the metabolically active whole foods), and some are indications of possible positive effects against cancer, for example, by a decreased intake of carbohydrates (eg, ketogenic diet). A sure proof of efficacy is, however, succeeded so far for any of these diets. At the same time many of them involve substantial risks such as weight loss and nutritional deficiencies that weaken the body and its defenses. From most is therefore strongly discouraged.

The latter is also limited for diets that require only the avoidance or over-consumption of certain foods (eg beetroot, potatoes, grapes), as well as recommendations for the benefit of special foods (eg pineapple, pomegranate, noni, tomatoes, soy, salmon, colostrum = first milk).Your risks are primarily in the risk of unbalanced diet with nutritional deficiency. However, their efficacy has not been conclusively demonstrated, although some of them with prostate cancer may show positive effects and preventive effects (eg, tomatoes, see also the section onprevention of prostate cancer ).

Therapy with micronutrients, phytochemicals and antioxidants

Under micronutrients is understood important substances present in food in only small quantities, in particular vitamins and minerals (for example vitamin C, selenium) to the body.Phytonutrients (English phytochemicals) are, however, no actual nutrients, but sometimes have beneficial health effects (eg, carotenoids, phytoestrogens). As antioxidants substances, the cells covered by pre-oxidation by free oxygen radicals, thus protecting from damage by harmful oxygen compounds. These include, in addition to some vitamins (eg vitamins C and E) and phytochemicals (eg beta-carotene), many other substances (eg, glutathione).

Substances from these groups are available individually or in combination (also with other substances) as a dietary supplement (supplemental foods, supplements), balanced diets (dietary foods for special medical purposes and specific groups) and drugs (with known pharmacological effects, usually at higher doses ). They are used mostly in cancer prophylaxis (see section prevention of prostate cancer ), but occasionally also for therapy: as the sole alternative treatment (eg high-dose vitamin C) as adjunctive treatment (eg to strengthen theimmune system , selenium for mitigating the side effects of radiation or chemotherapy) and to protect against the recurrence of the tumor after conventional treatment.

Play a major role such substances in the orthomolecular tumor therapy and in so-called metabolic cancer therapies. But they are also part of many other unconventional methods.Their use is a matter of scientific contributions happy founded with a preventive effect because the therapeutic effects have often been hardly investigated.

Especially for the treatment of prostate cancer, there are few positive reports. Since these only refer to the conditions studied, the application in a particular case must be examined. On the other hand is considered to be well secured co-administration of micronutrients to compensate for particular deficiencies in the diet therapy (see above).

Immunological treatment

The body's defenses (the immune system ) plays a major role in the fight against malignant cells. The interactions between defense and attack (eg immunosuppression = suppression of the immune system by the tumor), however, are highly complex and not yet fully revealed. An important part of cancer immunotherapy is the activation of the defense system (immune stimulation) either with specific measures to ensure that it combats the disease targeted (eg by "vaccination" for more information see the "Additional systemic therapy" under immunotherapy). Or with non-specific measures to strengthen it in general (eg, sports).

Many unconventional methods to pursue cancer treatment or include the approach to non-specific change with the help of supplied means the immune system (immunomodulators) or excite (immunostimulants). You can sometimes have serious side effects and have for the most part no confirmed evidence of efficacy. Variety of preparations are used in defined compounds (eg, amino acids, enzymes , squalene, ubiquinone, oxygen, drugs), tumor cells (eg, active-specific immunization, ASI), thymus (gland of the immune system, "sweetbread") and other organs (eg spleen, pancreas, blood / autologous blood), plants (eg Thuja, ginseng, soy, pineapple), fungi (eg, shiitake) and microorganisms.

The best known and probably the best studied are the BCG vaccine and mistletoe preparations. BCG (Bacillus Calmette-Guerin) is an attenuated tubercle bacilli and is conventionally used for vaccination against tuberculosis and adjuvant (accompanying) local treatment of superficial bladder tumors. Preparations from mistletoe (Viscum album) are very often used as an unconventional cancer treatment, especially in anthroposophic medicine. In prostate cancer, they show some positive effects, so that it (eg, to increase the quality of life in incurable disease) were approved in special cases for treatment.

Phytotherapy

Phytotherapy is a popular method of natural healing. The treatment with preparations of plant parts such as fruits, roots, or seeds takes place, for example in the form of juices, teas, tinctures, extracts, infusions, or ointments. These usually contain more active ingredients, and many other substances. If it is standardized preparations, one speaks of herbal medicines.

Examples of plants used to treat cancer are cranberry (cranberry), bilberry, ginseng, turmeric (turmeric, Curcuma longa), aloe vera, frankincense tree (Boswellia), coneflower (Echinacea), tea bush (as green tea) and Aspalanthus linearis (as Roiboos tea). The treatment with herbal preparations have already been mentioned above, one can expect to phytotherapy (eg lycopene, phytoestrogens, mistletoe).

It should be noted that herbal supplements may also like synthetically produced lead to undesirable effects and interactions with other medicines. For their efficacy in prostate cancer although there is also some evidence, but no proof, so that should be decided individually on its application.

Classical Homeopathy

Homeopathy is a holistic drug therapy, which involves the whole person and his personality, his life story, his health and his symptoms. As a classical homeopathy is referred to the original form, to avoid confusion, for example, the treatment with complexing agents (antihomotoxic medicine) or with higher-dose herbal ingredients (herbal medicine, see above).

As homeopathic medicines are over 2000 individual substances from the animate and inanimate nature, often from plants. After painstaking process, they are usually made into globules (beads), tablets or drops (Dilutiones), each with different, sometimes extreme dilutions with simultaneous dynamic by succussion or trituration (potentiation). The choice of drug is individual according to the similarity principle "Similia similibus curentur" (Latin: similar is similar treats): In healthy subjects, the drug would provoke a similar suffering as that which should heal them. Likewise, the individual right potency is selected.

The therapy is to activate the self-healing powers of the body, often after a single dose of the drug. In cancer, it is done to improve the quality of life, usually in addition to conventional therapy. Homeopathy is valid if applied correctly as a very low risk. However, there are few clinical studies on its effectiveness.

Mind-body medicine (MBM)

The MBM provides the interaction between Geist (engl. mind) and body (engl. body) in the center and takes into account the great influence of feelings and behavior as well as mental, spiritual and social factors on health. She looks at the people so holistically, promotes chronic disease his healthy physical and emotional interests and enabled him to become more self help. The MBM is used only as a supplement to conventional medicine.

The methods are not as new as the title: Method for relaxation such as progressive muscle relaxation, autogenic training, meditation, yoga, qi gong and tai chi, psychotherapy process and movement, all mostly in groups. They aim at improving the quality of life and hardly contain risks.

Note: The psycho-oncology involves similar ideas and methods, but is somewhat narrower on the care provided by doctors and psychologists for psychological and social impact of cancer (see the "palliative care" section of psycho-oncological support ).

More unconventional methods

The list of other unconventional method of treating cancer is long. Below are complementary used, in certain cases, generally accepted and used methods such as acupuncture (especially for pain management), neural therapy (injection of a local anesthetic to influence the autonomic nervous system or to "Störfeldtherapie") and the TCM (traditional Chinese medicine, especially to improve quality of life). In addition there are comprehensive, partly ideologically influenced concepts such as Ayurveda and anthroposophical medicine. There are also those facing because of possible severe side effects is strongly discouraged as the ingestion of amygdalin ("vitamin B17", apricot kernels) and PC-Spes (including Chinese herbs, no longer commercially available).

Through various channels, particularly via the internet is a wealth of techniques and preparations are offered that supposedly help fight cancer. Here one should not be guided by hopes and blinded by single case reports and promises. Maybe it is ineffective, fake or even a hazardous substance. Rather, the first attention should be paid to whether and how these were tested for safety, quality and efficacy, especially in prostate cancer (the conventional treatment of another type of tumor is also not without reason otherwise). The alarm bells should in any case not later than shrill with aggressive advertising, high treatment costs, nebulous statements and in particular promises of salvation. To avoid possible risks to your health or finances, so inquire in detail and ask others, especially your doctor.