The Post-Chemotherapy Cancer Patient - A Growing Patient Population

A cancer diagnosis is terrifying.

The questions, the fear and the concept of facing their own mortality are enough to paralyze even the strongest individual.

In the not so distant past, the standard was surgery, chemotherapy, or radiation or some combination of the three and that was it.

Then the patient played the waiting game to see what, if anything, worked.

What people didn't realize was that the end of a course of chemotherapy was not the end of the healing process. They would be dealing with the lasting effects of chemotherapy long after their hair returned and the nausea ended.

And one of those lasting effects is post-chemotherapy peripheral neuropathy.

Fortunately for the chiropractic community, cancer patients are quickly learning that chiropractic, nutrition and often the correct forms nerve stimulation when combined in the hands of a skilled chiropractor can help alleviate the symptoms of their post-chemotherapy peripheral neuropathy.

The post-chemotherapy peripheral neuropathy patient is becoming an enlightened consumer of complementary therapies that go beyond traditional medications and standard medical treatments.

A new-enlightened approach to treating their peripheral neuropathy symptoms gives the chiropractic community an ever-expanding patient population to serve. Treating these patients who have already walked through an experience most people live in fear of can be incredibly rewarding.

To get them in your office though, you need to show them exactly how your chiropractic and specialty care can improve their quality of life. It's not just about marketing the traditional chiropractic care that people associate with whiplash or sports injuries. It's about educating the potential post-chemotherapy peripheral neuropathy patient on a three-pronged approach to their medical issues:

First, Chiropractic- It's Not Just About Adjustments

Chances are that your potential post-chemotherapy peripheral neuropathy patients have never been treated by a chiropractor. They may think they know what a chiropractor does but they may not understand everything that chiropractic can do for managing their condition.

Traditionally, chiropractors have been associated with treatment of injuries and illnesses affecting the bones, muscles, ligaments, tendons and joints. In educating the post-chemotherapy peripheral neuropathy patient, recognize that they can be dealing with gait problems, muscular weakness or even issues caused by radiation. The stress of dealing with any of these conditions cannot always be addressed by standard chiropractic techniques

Chiropractic by itself cannot prevent or cure cancer, but it can help the post-chemotherapy neuropathy patient deal with the symptoms and pain associated both with their cancer and their course of treatment. Often, by carefully mobilizing the spine and related tissues, we stimulate a healthier nervous system and that's a basic building block for regaining their pre-cancer health and alleviating their nerve pain.

Nutrition

Chemotherapy and other cancer medications can wreck a patient's digestive system. In the process of killing cancer cells, it can also damage healthy cells and that's what brings on the side effects of chemotherapy. This can affect not only affect their ability to eat but also prevent the body from getting the nutrients it needs.

Talk to your post-chemotherapy peripheral neuropathy patients about their nutrition issues. They can be dealing with any number of symptoms ranging from nausea and loss of appetite to dry mouth and changes in their sense of taste and smell. Offering nutrition information and dietary planning services is another way to serve this patient population. Good nutrition will boost the immune system and let it do its job in fighting off illnesses brought on by chemotherapy.

Potential post-chemotherapy peripheral neuropathy patients may not realize that this is an area of their recovery you may help with. So, if you are trained in this specialty, make sure you include nutrition information in your patient education materials. Post-chemotherapy peripheral neuropathy patients need to make sure they're getting nutrients to prevent or reverse nutritional deficiencies, lessen the side effects of treatment and improve their quality of life. Without appropriate, simultaneous nutrition, other treatment protocols have no chance of success.

Appropriate Nerve Stimulation

Once a course of treatment has been designed and a nutrition plan established, the final piece in the overall treatment of the post-chemotherapy peripheral neuropathy patient treatment plan is nerve stimulation.

There are some nerve stimulation techniques to help peripheral neuropathy patients.

But some are potentially harmful. Misapplication is dangerous. Learn the correct ways, and then educate your potential post-chemotherapy peripheral neuropathy patients on the options available to them.

Some patients may have adopted an attitude of "I went through chemotherapy and my cancer is gone. I shouldn't complain about nerve pain. I should just be thankful to be alive".

What they need to know is that they don't always have to just live with sleeplessness, pain, and balance and walking issues secondary to their treatment. Your chiropractic practice, when specially trained and equipped can offer them hope for a more normal life without debilitating pain. Yes, they survived cancer but they can beat their post-chemotherapy peripheral neuropathy, too.

Precise combinations of chiropractic, nutrition and often nerve stimulation are showing great promise in helping post-chemotherapy peripheral neuropathy patients return to a pain free life, without the debilitating effects of neuropathy.

Serving this courageous patient population can be incredibly rewarding. But it is a subspecialty that takes some study and time to learn.

When you are ready, let them know you're there to help them.

Dr. John Hayes, Jr. is an Evvy Award Nominee and author of "Living and Practicing by Design" and "Beating Neuropathy-Taking Misery to Miracles in Just 5 Weeks!".

His work on peripheral neuropathy has expanded the specialty of effective neuropathy treatments to physicians, physical therapists and nurses.

A free Ebook, CD and information packet on his unique services and trainings can be obtained by registering your information at http://neuropathydr.com/

To book interviews and speaking engagements call 781-754-0599.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=John_Hayes_Jr

Paying Attention to Cancer Symptoms

Cancer, in its many different forms and types is a disease most of us fear. The different types of treatments are not easy to go through, physically and mentally and their success rates aren't always high. Among factors that can affect the treatment's odds and chances to beat the disease, is the extremely important factor of early detection.

No matter what cancer type it is, early detection always increases the odds to beat the disease and clear one's body from the cancerous cells or remove the tumor. Early detection is sometimes critical while it often leads to the treatments beginning in the early stages of the cancer, when the chances that the cancer has spread are still low and that the tumor hasn't had a lot of time to grow. If the cancer hasn't spread, treatment can be targeted in a better way with any kind of treatment available (surgery, chemotherapy or radiation to name a few) and thus raise the chances to expel the cancer from the body.

To detect a cancer tumor in or on our body in its early stages, we must be alert to possible cancer symptoms and basically be attentive to our body. We mustn't ignore abnormalities in our body and dismiss them as "nothing", as me must look into what's wrong and make sure it is "nothing".

There are many different cancer symptoms, as there are many different types of cancer. But there are a few symptoms that are universal and most cancers share.

One major symptom is of course an abnormal growth or lump that appears anywhere on your body. If the specific part of the body is not supposed to suddenly grow, this may indicate there is a problem. Woman can feel lumps in their breasts that may indicate there is breast cancer; thyroid cancer manifests as a lump under the skin which you can see and feel in the neck area, lymphoma will make your lymph nodes larger than they normally are. In Melanoma, the cancer will appear on your skin as a lump, a brown spot or a mole suddenly changing.

Another very frequent cancer symptom is abnormal bleeding. Different types of cancer manifests in unexpected bleeding. Bladder, kidney and prostate cancer can cause blood to appear in the urine, colorectal cancer causes blood to appear in the stool and endometrial and cervical cancer can cause abnormal vaginal bleeding, both during menstrual periods and between them. Lung cancer can cause one to cough up blood or for blood to appear in the sputum and leukemia can cause excessively bleeding. Once one is experiencing unusual bleeding, they should have it checked out.

Different types of cancer also cause the universal symptoms of sudden weight loss or weakness and fatigue. Cancer can cause an unplanned drop in your weight for no apparent reason, as it can be accompanied by a loss of appetite, but not necessarily. Most cancers also can cause unexplained weakness and tiredness and one will not understand why.

In addition to general cancer symptoms as mentioned, there is always the subjective symptom of sudden unexplained pain in a certain area of the body. One may experience pain in the pelvis area from prostate, cervical and endometrial cancer. Bladder cancer can cause pain during urination, colorectal will cause pain in the stomach as will pancreatic cancer, lung cancer can cause chest pain, thyroid Cancer can cause pain in the neck and throat and your leukemia may cause bone and joint pain.

It is important to understand that any of these cancer symptoms mentioned above do not mean that anyone experiencing them necessarily has cancer. These are also symptoms that can be caused by different and other conditions then a cancerous tumor. However, if one of these does appear, it is important not to neglect it and have a doctor examine the problem.

Anti-Cancer Diet Tips and Healthy Eating for Preventing the Disease

There is a lot of talk about healthy eating lately. Recent research has suggested that a certain type of anti-cancer diet can reduce your risk of suffering from this condition significantly. There are a number of ways in which you can improve your diet and enjoy this and many other health benefits.

There are a lot of foods that may help the body fight tumor cells naturally. They contain various chemical compounds that can increase your level of protection. You might not be surprised to find out that most of these beneficial foods are plant-based.

These anti-cancer foods include beans, asparagus and dark leafy vegetables, such as spinach, vegetables from the cabbage family and tomatoes. Some fruits, such as strawberries, raspberries, blueberries and grapes are extremely beneficial. The first two types of berries contain a chemical compound called ellagic acid, which can prevent tumor formation and slow tumor growth.

You should try to exclude some foods from your anti-cancer diet or at least reduce their consumption to the very minimum. These include process meats, such as sausages, ham and ready meatballs for burgers. The red meats containing a lot of fat are also not good for you. The consumption of all these foods can increase the risk of stomach, colon and rectal cancer.

You should try to limit your consumption of sugar as well. This is important since it can interact with the beneficial foods in your anti-cancer diet and reduce their effect. In addition, it provides for weight gain, which is a risk factor for many types of cancer, including breast cancer.

The way you cook matters a lot for protection. When you heat oils rich in saturated fats the chemical composition of these is altered and they can become carcinogenic. Similar processes go on in the foods that you fry, grill and broil. Some chemicals in them can lead to a higher risk of cancer. That is why the steaming and stewing methods are recommended for healthy cooking.

What you drink matters a lot as well. The consumption of alcohol can increase the risk of certain types of cancer. That is why you should limit your consumption to no more than a glass of wine or beer per day. Other beverages, however, can be good for you. Tomato and grape juices can be beneficial. There is growing evidence that green tea has powerful anti-cancer properties. Water can also help you, since it flushes the harmful toxins out of your body.

For best results, it will not hurt to follow all of these anti-cancer diet tips.