Homeopathic meds can co-exist with conventional cancer treatment

Homeopathic meds can co-exist with
conventional cancer treatment

Thursday, April 15, 2010

…Something we homeopaths have been saying for many years.
Excerpt from Medical News Today:

A new Cochrane review did not find serious side effects relating to the use of homeopathic medicine in patients having orthodox cancer care.

“Furthermore, there was no indication that the homeopathic medicine interfered with conventional cancer care,” said lead author Sosie Kassab, M.D., director of Complementary Cancer Services at the Royal London Homoeopathic Hospital.

The reviewers assessed whether homeopathic medicine, used alongside traditional cancer treatments, benefits patients who suffer from painful or uncomfortable side effects from chemotherapy, radiation or other therapies.

Although it is not intended to treat cancer, patients sometimes turn to homeopathic medicine to prevent or ease side effects arising from cancer treatments, such as nausea and vomiting from chemotherapy, mouth soreness caused by chemotherapy, skin reactions from radiotherapy and hot flashes from breast cancer treatment.

Homeopathic medicine is an alternative medical system with a basis in the belief that “like cures like.” Homeopathy relies on small, highly diluted medicinal substances to treat symptoms that in higher, more concentrated forms would actually cause the same symptoms.

The new review appears in the latest issue of The Cochrane Library, a publication of The Cochrane Collaboration, an international organization that evaluates medical research. Systematic reviews like this one draw evidence-based conclusions about medical practice after considering both the content and quality of existing medical trials on a topic.

The reviewers analyzed eight studies involving 664 cancer patients. Three studies looked at the use of homeopathic medicine in patients having radiotherapy; another three studies looked at chemotherapy; and two studies focused on how homeopathic medicine might help patients with menopausal symptoms associated with breast cancer treatments.

The reviewers did not find any studies on the use of homeopathic medicine to treat emotional side effects that could result from cancer treatments.

The review did not lead to any conclusions on whether homeopathy works. “The sum total of the evidence in this area is small and there is no evidence at present of sufficient quantity or quality to confirm either the effectiveness or ineffectiveness of these interventions,” Kassab wrote in an e-mail.

Kassab uses homeopathic medicine in her practice for patients with cancer who are also receiving conventional care.

While homeopathic medicines are often highly diluted and can be made from a variety of substances, they are typically prepared from botanical, zoological, mineral, chemical, synthetic or microbiological elements. The review looked at all types of homeopathic medicines, to reflect what a clinician might use for a variety of patients with cancer.

http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/146036.php