The traditional Indian medicine known as Ayurvedic Medicine, originated over 5,000 years ago. It emphasizes on re-establishing the balance within the body through diet, lifestyle, exercise, and body cleansing, and on the health of the mind, body, and spirit. Today it is used as it has been for many years to help treat certain types of cancer - with cervical cancer being one of them.
Over the last ten years, Ayurvedic medicine has been growing in popularity in North America, due in part to the work of Deepak Chopra, M.D., an Indian doctor, writer, and speaker who has both promoted it's abilities, and influenced it's use alongside modern-day medicines to help cure cancer. However, most people have not even heard of Ayurvedic medicine, let alone actually used it.
What is Ayurvedic medicine?
Originating from India, Ayurvedic medicine (Ayurveda) has been around for over 5,000 years. It emphasizes on re-establishing the body's balance through diet, life-style, exercise, body cleansing, and on the health of the mind, body and spirit - and similar to Chinese medicine, it is a "whole medicine system." That is to say - it is based on both the theories and methods of preventing and treating health and illness.
How is Ayurvedic medicine prescribed?
In Ayurvedic medicine; it is believed that the tongue may offer certain clues to the areas of the body that may be out of balance (also the skin, lips, nails, and eyes are observed). This will allow for the practitioner to determine an individual's balance of doshas (a person's individual differences [vata - space and air, kapha - water and earth, and pitta - fire and water]) or metabolic types.
Also the patient's prakuti (the constitution and essential nature of an individual) is determined ...
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...o attack the tumor and to act on the lymph and blood tissues which help prevent metastases.
This high dosage, aggressive, and prolonged treatment (6 - 9 months) does seem to pull many cervical cancer sufferers into a state of remission (the treatment course has been successfully carried out [not meaning the cancer patient is no longer at risk from a recurrence of the disease, or has been cured]) where a noticeable quality of life and an improved survival rate has be documented.
However, there may actually be a certain amount of doubt as to whether Ayurvedic medicine can actually cure cervical cancer completely; although, there are positive indications to show it has a certain amount of ability to cure. As yet, there is still insufficient evidence to either confirm or deny Ayurvedic medicine's ability to be a suitable contender in the fight against cervical cancer.
In today’s world, many people assume that the latest medical technology and treatments are always the best option. However, all over the world, different techniques for curing diseases and aliments are being used. These methods fall under the category of complementary and alternative medicine.
The famous spiritual leader Mahatma Gandhi said, "Homeopathy cures a greater percentage of cases than any other method of treatment. Homeopathy is the latest, most refined method of treating patients economically and non-violently” (Malik). However, Homeopathy is only one of the many natural forms of treatment that patients are utilizing in an effort to avoid conventional medicine. A clinic practice model that combines conventional medicine with Naturopathic, Complementary and other forms of alternative medicine all in one setting, is the new health paradigm called Integrative Medicine. With the public’s growing concern of being over-medicated by costly and sometimes violent conventional medicine, I am going to explain the movement towards
Adams, Heather P., and Erica L. Carnright. "HPV Infection And Cervical Cancer Prevention." Clinician Reviews 23.9 (2013): 42-50. Academic Search Complete. Web. 10 Nov. 2013
The philosophy and practice is composed of many different systems of traditional medicine, which are all influenced by prevailing conditions, environment, and geographic area within, where it first evolved into WHO (2005). Although it is a common
Some common health traditions based on my culture include the use of Unani Medicine, Ayurveda, Siddha, Yoga, Naturopathy and Homeopathy in daily use in rural villages as well as urban low cost clinics. The treatment however is highly individualized. Unani medicine is ancient Greek medicine that was based on the concept of balancing body humors. They either fell out of balance, which might yield diseases (depending on circumstances), or were restored to balance to heal diseases. Unani systems involve these four elements: earth, air, water, and fire; along with four natures: cold, hot, wet, and dry; and four humors: blood (which is hot/wet), phlegm (cold/wet), yellow bile (hot/dry), and black bile (cold/dry). Ayurveda is mainly based on herbs, plants, flowers, fruits, vegetables and all vegetation that grows around us in plenty. It is our native system based on the peculiar Indian conditions. Ayurveda begins when everything fails and when the treatment is uncertain a...
Cervical cancer is formed in the tissues of the cervix, an organ that connects the uterus and the vagina. Virtually all cervical cancers are caused by Human papillomavirus (HPV) infections (Schiffman et. al., 2007). HPV is the most common sexually transmitted infection in the United States. According to the CDC, 75% of sexually active people aged 15-49 have the infection at some point in their lives. (CDC). Because HPV infection is usually asymptomatic, infected people do not know exactly when they get the infection. In most cases, the body is able to fight off the virus before any symptom. However, health problems such as genital warts and cancer may result with persistent exposure to HPV.
For many centuries, humanity has been on an eternal quest for cures and treatments for many chronic conditions. At the present time, conventional medicine is mostly performed by doctors and other health care professionals, with the extensive use of pharmaceutical drugs, surgery or radiation treatments for disease treatment. Conversely, even though not as popular, complementary and alternative medicine and treatment options are slowly gaining popularity and becoming an addition to traditional medicine.
The Phase I trial will be discussed here as it pertains to the topic at hand. The typical treatment for cervical cancer if surgery is not a viable option – like if the cancer has spread, then called locally advanced cervical cancer – is chemotherapy and radiation treatment at the same time. This phase I clinical trial is simply looking to add ipilimumab to this regimen, but once the chemo/radiation has been completed (LACC article). Chemo and radiation destroy tumor cells, which causes tumor-associated antigens to be released. Once released, these antigens are exogenous (outside the cell) and will be presented to helper T cells to initiate an immune response.
...tantly making efforts to discover new drugs and design better protocols for this cancer. Synthetic anticancer drugs kill the cancer cells but they are also harmful to the normal cells. Since, increase in the use of these drugs in cancer therapy leads to many side effects and undesirable hazards, there is a worldwide trend to go back to natural resources, i.e., traditional plant preparations which are not only therapeutically effective but are actually acceptable and economically within the reach of even the neediest people. The present study was undertaken to understand the effectiveness of the plants against hepatocarcinogenesis. Any practical solution in combating this dreadful disease is bound to be of paramount importance. Generally speaking, integrated approach to combine western and herbal medicines to treat cancer has proved to be relatively satisfactory.
The traditional Chinese treatment of acupuncture is an affective alternative medicine that has been around for thousands of years. Acupuncture is one of the most researched and documented alternative medicines around (Acupuncture). Although a vast majority of people believe Western medicine is the only cure to sickness, many people benefit from acupuncture everyday. Most people disregard the ancient art all together without giving it a chance because are scared of the needles it involves. Also, since no accurate scientific explanation of how and why it works has been found, people shy away from it. The healing powers of the body are taken to a whole different level with this alternative medicine.
...healing process of the patient. Healthcare professionals should frequently ask questions in order to fully understand if certain needs are to be met because of religious practices or beliefs. For example, a fresh bed sheet can be offered to a Muslim in order for a clean space for their daily prayers (pg. 21, Singh, 2009). Certain medical decisions can be difficult to finalize since religion must be taken into consideration. Healthcare providers will come into contact with people of different faiths, nationalities and cultures. All patients should be treated with the same amount of respect and acceptance in order for their medical needs to be fairly met.
Many doctors and researchers are against the use of Ayurveda since they lack the knowledge about how Ayurveda and other traditional methods are truly effective and do not have any side effects after a treatment. Allopathic is not as safe as Ayurvedic in terms of harming a patient with overdosage of chemical and causing side effects. The importance of Ayurveda is not significant in America (one of the leading nations in the World). This is a major problem as many people are unaware that such a method of treatment even exists. In order to inform everyone about the powers of this traditional medicine, Ayurveda should be taught as part of a school curriculum, so that future generations can get a good understanding of the science and continue to safely and naturally cure ailments.
Over the centuries, several treatment methods have been utilized by humans for remedy diseases when they caught. Two of them are modern medicine and traditional medicine. Traditional medicine, which is also called alternative treatment, is older than modern medicine. This effective treatment had been used for many centuries before modern medicine was found. On the contrary, modern medicine has been used since the 1900’s (Lyons). In this system, drugs’ tests are carefully done in the safe laboratories, and their side effects are identified before they are given to the patient. Moreover, the effects of the pills are written on the leaflets which are found in the drug packages to warn the patients for these effects. However, sometimes the side effects are not blocked, so people have to take another pill to get better. It makes people take more chemicals into their bodies. Even traditional medicine, give its place to the modern medicine when its beginning times, it is used efficaciously like modern medicine at the present time. In course of time, people will gain reliance on traditional medicine again, since alternative medicine is more efficient and powerful in order to get better and soothe the diseases than modern medicine. In fact, in traditional medicine, there are fewer drugs, side effects, holistic therapy that people can be availed.
Herbal remedies’ qualities are widespread availability, lower cost, effective for chronic conditions. Herbal remedies are the use of plants or plant extract to treat a person’ overall health. Herbal treatments are prominent for developing countries for instance, “in Africa up to 90% and in India 70% of the population depend on traditional medicine to help meet their health care needs” (Wachtel-Galor & Benzie, 2011), due to their low cost and availability. Herbal remedies have gained attention in the past decades, and expanding their uses due to the increased interest of natural therapies (Wachtel-Galor & Benzie, 2011). Herbs used on the remedies grow in the wild throughout the world, therefore making it easy to
Modern medicine is finally starting to accommodate traditional medicine, though traditional medicine is still overlooked or regarded as a primitive form of treatment, providing nothing but placebo effects. According to the American National Cancer Institute, modern medicine is: