Johns Hopkins Integrative Medicine and Digestive Center Reviews

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Johns Hopkins Advocates Integrated Cancer Intendance

For those who were not able to attend the webinar put on by Johns Hopkins Medicine on Dec 17th, following please find my notes and ramblings from that webinar.  I hope you detect them useful.

The webinar was titledIntegrative Medicine: How Acupuncture, The Mind/Body Connection, Holistic Eating and Chinese Medicine and Other Modalities Can Help Survivors During and Subsequently Treatment.  Which is kind of a long-winded title, but they wanted to tell you exactly what they'd be roofing and that championship does the trick

Webinar Overview

The webinar was presented by Dr Linda Lee and Mr Jeff Gould and information technology ran for about an hour.  Dr Lee spoke almost how the Johns Hopkins Integrative Medicine Center viewed integrative medicine as being the best of scientific medicine with a broader understanding of the nature of illness, that integrative medicine enhanced conventional medicine rather than replacing information technology.  They preferred the term "integrative" rather than "alternative" or "complementary" because alternative seeks an "alternate" arroyo to conventional medicine, it connotes a turning abroad, while the term complementary was too broad.

The Johns Hopkins website further defines integrative medicine: "Integrative medicine encompasses a broad range of therapeutic approaches to achieve optimal wellness and health for those who are ill or those who are concerned almost affliction prevention. It is a powerful resource for those seeking to participate actively in their healthcare."

A Holistic Diet for Cancer Patients

Dr Lee spoke first and discussed holistic eating quite simply – she quoted author Michael Pollan, whose advice was to "Eat food.  Not also much.  Mostly plants."  I loved that – it says so much so succintly!

Dr Lee warned us against eating highly candy foods and too many food additives.  She said we should endeavour not to eat besides much meat, specially beef, and that we should strive for a balanced approach in our food choices.  Volumes could exist written (and have been) virtually the best nutrition for cancer patients – for more than definitive information, run across my page Nutrition and Cancer.

Dr Lee addressed the concerns of those going through chemotherapy, she had some good advice for what to eat when y'all don't feel like eating, for those taste bud problems and digestive problems.  She brash using a blender or nutrient processor (I would say JUICER) and put your nutrient into that.

She had no real recommendations nearly WHAT to put in the blender – other than you wouldn't put a spaghetti dinner in there, for instance.  She but said information technology's easier to process liquid foods like smoothies and shakes.  She recommended having multiple small meals, rather than iii bigger meals per day.  Dr Lee recommended the book One Bite At A Fourth dimension – Nourishing Recipes for Cancer Survivors and Their Friends by Rebecca Katz, which I've added to my Recommended Reading list.

I'll go a trivial farther than these recommendations and straight you to my article Do You lot Know The Benefits of Juicers For Cancer Patients.

Dietary Myths in Cancer

Dr Lee discussed some of the dietary myths she had encountered from her patients – we'll outset with the myth, then Dr Lee's refutal:

1. Avoid sugar because it feeds cancer – this 1 surprised me considering I do abet avoiding sugar if yous have active cancer in your body.  Dr Lee disagreed, maxim a moderate amount of carbohydrate is okay, it won't crusade your cancer to get bigger.  Then, I've softened my stance on this a trivial bit and found a good article for you lot that discusses moderation.
2. Eat whatsoever foods you lot want and as much of them as you like – eating equally much equally you like of something isn't advisable if you're undergoing chemotherapy and having digestive issues, smaller meals are better.
3. Eat fried foods because they will give you more calories if you've lost weight during cancer handling – Dr Lee brash fried foods are NOT a expert thought because they increase nausea.
4. Beingness overweight is improve than being underweight – Non true for breast cancer, Dr Lee says.  Fat cells create estrogen and if you had/have estrogen receptor positive tumor(s) being overweight tin can actually cause more than issues for yous.

Vitamin Supplements

Dr Lee advised caution when taking vitamins – considering adverse affects are not e'er known and they may take interactions with some of the drugs you are on.  She did non accept anything against taking vitamins, she only brash caution, suggesting a person see an herbalist or dietician for guidance (I'd say come across a trained naturopath) and always let your oncologist know what yous are doing.  Dr Lee suggested referring to the National Middle for Complementary and Culling Medicine website.

Mind/Body Approach

My favorite part of the webinar was the word of how using mind/trunk medicine tin help cancer patients.  Dr Lee went out on a limb and said that STRESS Tin Touch on CANCER GROWTH.  I've been saying this for years and I was and then glad to hear someone from the medical world acknowledge and affirm this.

Dr Lee advised that chronic emotional stress can have a negative bear upon on cancer, and she discussed how the hormones released during stressful periods affect inflammation, cellular immune response and other central factors and that getting stress treated was really important.  She advocated the use of i or more than of the following therapies (all of which I also recommend on this site and in my newsletters):

• yoga
• meditation
• tai chi
• massage
• Cognitive Behavior Therapy
• guided imagery
• hypnotherapy
• support groups
• journaling
• practice

I found a good article for you from the Mayo Clinic which discusses exactly how stress hormones wreak havoc on our body.

Mr Jeff Gould On The Chinese Medicine Arroyo

The 2d office of the webinar was handed over to Jeff Gould, a Chinese medicine practitioner at the Johns Hopkins Integrative Medicine Middle.  Mr Gould discussed many aspects of Chinese medicine, I volition highlight the most interesting points he made:

• Chinese medicine is what he termed individualized medicine. He might see 10 patients with chest cancer, merely each patient may go a different handling protocol based on the symptoms they present with on that day.
• Chinese medicine is very holistic – practitioners don't just treat concrete symptoms (such as cancer), but also the emotional and spiritual aspects of a person.  He said one of his patients, in an effort to describe what they felt like later on an acupuncture handling, called it "a lightness of being".  I thought that was a very good description.
• Mr Gould chosen Chinese medicine a highly constructive offshoot to Western medicine, it has been utilized quite finer for over iii,000 years.
• Mr Gould mentioned that the Chinese also utilise nutrition as a therapy – that Chinese medicine looks at the energetics of food vs the vitamins, minerals and other nutrients.  They apply food to promote wellness AND also to treat illness.  I was quite interested to find out that certain restaurants in China volition have doctors who will greet you lot at the door, take a look at your vital signs (which are quite dissimilar to Western medicine – they are more than likely to look at your tongue and have your pulses than to check your blood pressure, etc.) and then recommend certain things on the carte du jour to assist with your current signs/symptoms.
• When using Chinese herbs, your herbalist will tailor brand a formula for you based on your unique constellation of symptoms and these are modified each calendar week as symptoms change.
• Mr Gould specifically mentioned chemotherapy-induced neuropathy, saying that the best fourth dimension to treat that is Earlier symptoms brainstorm – he said it's much easier to keep information technology from happening than to treat information technology afterward it has already happened.
• We were reminded that herbs are drugs and as such, can have side furnishings and interactions with other drugs.  He also warned to use a trained herbalist when using herbs for whatever illness.
• Mr Gould as well did not recommend using Chinese medicine alone to treat cancer, but as an adjunct.

All in all, I thought it a very good webinar, well presented, and with good, concise data.  If you have any specific questions, please contact me.

If you would similar my help with getting through chest cancer in an inspiring and ultra-salubrious way, delight sign up for my free eastward-newsletters on the right, or "like" me on Facebook (MarnieClark.com).  Information technology is my honor to help yous through this.

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