Integrative Approaches to Reproductive Cancers

By Charmian Christie

In 2001, Marta Thomas of Homewood, Illinois, was given one year to live. Despite undergoing a mastectomy and chemotherapy three years previously, the cancer had spread to her bones and liver. “I was angry,” Marta says. “They didn’t want to investigate further. They just said I was to start chemo again on Saturday because the doctor was going away over the weekend.” Instead of returning to the hospital for treatment, Marta turned to the Internet and found a clinic that practiced integrative medicine. Thanks to properly applied conventional medicine and a range of holistic approaches, Marta is “still going strong” five years later.

Conventional medicine, which typically focuses on the disease, leaves many women with breast and reproductive cancers feeling half-treated. Jeremy Geffen, MD, board certified oncologist, and founder of Geffen Visions International in Boulder, Colorado, says these cancers carry an added emotional and psychological component that conventional treatments fail to address. In frustration, many women turn to alternative and complementary medicine to replace aggressive treatments like surgery, chemotherapy, and radiation. But rejecting conventional medicine flat out is not the answer either. Integrative medicine provides the best of both worlds by combining the holistic approach of ancient healing with the latest in science.

Reality check
Kevin Block, MD, cofounder and medical/scientific director of the Block Center for Integrative Cancer Treatment in Evanston, Illinois, says it’s unwise to delay conventional treatment in hopes of a kinder, gentler cure. “Conventional strategies can be brutal,” he admits, but they are the most affective means we have to fight cancer. “In 26 years I haven’t seen [alternative] cures. I’ve seen patients miss the window when the disease was easily curable.” Surgery is often necessary in the early stages of breast and reproductive cancers because, “if you leave a tumor, it can break through and become more aggressive.”

Treating cancer with medications that make your hair fall out, leave you exhausted, or burn your skin seems counter-intuitive, but chemotherapy and radiation play an important role in fighting cancer. Even naturopath Dan Labriola, ND, medical director for Naturopathic Services at the Swedish Cancer Institute in Seattle, Washington, agrees that cancer initially requires conventional medical treatments.

But how does it work? “Cancer cells are the most vulnerable and stupidest cells in your body,” Labriola says. “They just reproduce, reproduce, reproduce.” Chemo, which damages the DNA of both normal and cancerous cells, uses cancer cells’ out-of-control reproduction against them. When a dividing cell realizes it’s damaged, it goes into apoptosis (programmed cell death) and commits suicide. Since cancer cells are always dividing they die, but normal cells, which reproduce less frequently, have time to repair the damage and survive. Labriola says chemo is “a poison to which the tumor cells are significantly more vulnerable than the normal cells. The same applies for radiation.”

Reclaiming the body
With “poison” as an active ingredient, some conventional cancer treatments seem worse than the disease. Not only do they produce side effects like nausea, fatigue, skin irritation, and a mental fog known as “chemo brain,” the toxins tax an already strained body. Building your strength before, during, and after treatment is crucial. While diet plays a critical role, (see “Anti-Reproductive Cancer Diet” opposite), food alone doesn’t provide enough nutrients to counteract the effects of chemotherapy and radiation. Here integrative medicine comfortably draws from alternative or complementary sources: Chinese herbs to fight fatigue, coenzyme Q10 for the heart, intravenous vitamin C to speed healing, antioxidants to detoxify, enzymes to activate liver function, and even probiotics for the immune system. With so many options, it’s tempting to try them all. And since they’re natural, they can’t hurt, right? Block disagrees. “Some alternative medicines—high doses of vitamin A, inorganic germanium, and selenium, especially inorganic—are quite toxic.”

Because the interactions are so complex, integrative medicine practitioners work closely with each patient, tailoring diet, exercise, and supplements to the individual’s condition and cancer treatment. Despite seeming harmless, some supplements increase bleeding with surgery and interfere with the effectiveness with chemo. “There’s no chart to follow for what supplements to take or avoid,” Labriola says. “You need to communicate with your doctor, work with someone who understands the intricate interaction.” Block agrees. Doctor-patient communication is so crucial, he says, that if your doctor isn’t open to discussing complementary treatments, then it’s time to look for a new doctor.

Prescribed properly, herbs and supplements can make a world of difference. Thomas credits a customized diet and targeted supplements with her ability to withstand chemo. Despite undergoing IV chemotherapy three times a month, she has returned to a busy life. Initially too tired even to unload the dishwasher, within a week of her new regime she felt more energetic. Within two months she was able go shopping and return to work a few hours a week. “It’s easier to bear the chemo now. It’s nothing. No nausea.”

Exercise is also pivotal. Labriola, whose integrative clinic offers a fitness program, says our immune system functions best when we exercise. “You don’t need to do triathlons,” he says, recommending instead a moderate 20 minutes of cardio three times a week. Exercise is so much a part of his program that, “some patients finish their chemo in the best shape of their lives.”

Reclaiming the emotions
A diagnosis of cancer also brings fear, anxiety, and anger. Not only are patients afraid of the disease, they’re afraid of the treatment. Geffen says many patients arrive at his clinic with “built-in, deeply visceral aversions to conventional treatment.” He believes that understanding what motivates an individual is paramount to healing. He never uses the threat of death to force his patients into enduring potentially life-saving treatment against their will. Through education and one-on-one counseling, he guides them past their fears to accepting treatments that will help them the most.

Even though patients must be comfortable with their treatment decisions, the help of family and support groups is just as important. “We know social isolation increases risk factors in all illness, not just cancer,” Geffen says. To provide the needed support, integrative medicine includes family members and loved ones in the process, and provides both group and private counseling.

Thomas admits she arrived at her clinic a mess. Initially, she found individual counseling helpful and later felt safe enough to participate in group sessions. “I realized that everyone has the same issues and questions. Both [forms of support] are helpful for different things at different times.”

Reclaiming the mind
Even with the physical and emotional aspects of the disease taken care of, our minds can still reel. While integrative programs include an array of relaxation options including mediation, yoga, t’ai chi, qi gong, and biofeedback, the approach chosen must suit the client. Although Thomas practiced qi gong to relax, she found biofeedback especially helpful. “I saw it on the screen myself, and it gave me faith that it was making a difference.”

For some, standard cancer treatment is so traumatic simply walking past the treatment room can trigger anxiety—even a year after treatment has stopped. Cherie Perez, RN and RMT with the M.D. Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, Texas, says since smell is the strongest memory trigger, aromatherapy provides an ideal antidote for these deeply ingrained negative associations. To link the scent with a positive relaxation response, Perez recommends developing a relaxation ritual several days before you begin treatment. Put a few drops of aromatherapy oil on a handkerchief, settle into a relaxing spot and inhale. Repeating this ritual a few times a day will set up a relaxation response linked to the scent. When you feel tense during treatment, sniff your handkerchief. The scent will trigger the relaxation memory and your body will respond in kind.

Reclaiming the spirit
While certain alternative and complementary techniques are becoming accepted in mainstream medicine, integrative medicine sets itself apart by addressing the spiritual aspects of healing. “In my opinion, the physical dimension is the tip of the iceberg of who we truly are,” Geffen says. “Many people can be cured of the disease and not be healed. They can live in fear the rest of their lives that the cancer will come back. Others are technically cured but physically and emotionally scarred.”

Kathleen Byerley of Fort Wayne, Indiana, agrees. She turned to integrated medicine in 2004 when diagnosed with endometrial cancer that had metastasized to the bone and liver. Kathleen embraced the counseling her clinic offered. Guided imagery, heart centering, energy drawing, and EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing) were part of her spiritual healing, which she credits with helping her defy the odds. She says her inner journey has been as challenging as the physical, but she feels stronger for it.

The future of integrative cancer treatment
Geffen believes that spreading the word can make a difference. He now speaks, conducts seminars, and lectures to help raise awareness of the integrative approach. He feels conventional medicine is limited by its obsession with curing the body at all costs, and believes that life is more than just survival. “Part of our job is not only to add more years to your life, but more life to your years.” To address the shortcomings of conventional medicine, Geffen’s clinic attends to seven levels of healing, helping patients understand their treatment, connect to others, and find meaning in life, in addition to receiving physical, emotional, mental, and spiritual support. He stresses that no one level is more important than the next. The seven levels are interrelated, not linear steps in a prescribed program because “humans aren’t linear.”

Since science still plays an important role in integrative medicine, Block hopes that chronotherapy, carefully modulated chemotherapy, will become the norm. Special infusion pumps dispense chemotherapy at the times when the cancer is most sensitive and the healthy cells least vulnerable, resulting in an increased kill rate to the cancer cells with less toxicity. Used in 40 centers in Europe, Block’s clinic is the only US location to use them currently.

Labriola says new therapies for ovarian and breast cancers are in the process of getting FDA approval. Instead of damaging the DNA of all cells, these therapies look to interfere with the tumor itself, either by cutting off its blood supply or impeding gene expression so the cancer won’t spread.

The almost daily announcements of new scientific discoveries, coupled with the growing acceptance of alternative techniques and patients’ desire to be seen as whole beings not just people with cancer, suggests that integrative medicine will play a larger role in future cancer protocols. Patients like Kathleen Byerly and Marta Thomas emphasize the importance of the holistic approach. “They treat the full person, not just your body,” says Thomas. And that can make all the difference.

Anti-Reproductive Cancer Diet
A healthy diet not only helps prevent cancer, it can play a role in recovery and in reducing recurrence rates. Kevin Block, MD, who runs an integrative cancer clinic in Evanston, Illinois, says a diet with increased fiber and decreased fats can reduce the incidence of reproductive and breast cancers. While he recommends working with a trained practitioner to tailor your diet to your treatment, the foods below are his top picks for fighting female cancers.

• A diet low in saturated fats Studies show reducing saturated fats can decrease the recurrence of breast cancer by 42 percent.
• Crucifers Vegetables like cabbage, broccoli, and cauliflower detoxify and shift “bad” estrogen to “good” estrogen.
• Flax Just 10 grams of flax a day can drop levels of unhealthy estrogen and act as an anti-inflammatory. Be sure to grind it first to get the full effect.
• Garlic Even once a week, garlic has been shown to reduce the incidence of breast cancer and helps with detoxification. Crush and let sit for 10 minutes to allow the enzymes to activate.
• Green tea Just 3 to 5 cups a day have been shown to reduce the recurrence of breast cancer at early stages.
• Fish oil Omega 3s and 6s can make cancer cell membranes more vulnerable to chemo, increasing the kill effect for each treatment.
• Cooked tomatoes An Australian study found lycopene (a substance in tomatoes released through cooking) increased the survival rate of women with ovarian cancer by 25 percent.
• Turmeric This spice has an anti-inflammatory effect and is rich in phytochemicals. Populations who consume 2 to 3 grams a day have lower instances of reproductive cancer.

Cancer News
Science reports new developments in the prevention of and recovery from reproductive cancers almost every day.

Here are some of the latest findings.

• hpv vaccine Most cervical cancer is caused by the human papilloma virus (HPV). As of June 2006, the FDA approved an HPV vaccine that could prevent up to 70 percent of new cases.
• Ginger Research out of the University of Michigan shows ginger not only increases apoptosis (programmed cell death) and autophagy (cells digest themselves) in ovarian cells, it shows promise in helping with the nausea and loss of appetite associated with chemotherapy.
• Acupuncture Electro-acupuncture, which passes a small electric current through the needles, reduced vomiting the day after chemo, while acupressure reduced nausea.
• Yoga Practicing yoga during radiation treatment improved the quality of life for breast cancer patients.
• Aromatherapy Not only can essential oils stimulate the immune system, they can be used to relieve anxiety, reduce nausea, and counteract “chemo brain.”
• Turn your lights off at night Exposure to light at night has been linked to breast cancer. Darkness, not sleep, stimulates your brain to produce melatonin, which slows cancer growth.
• Keep fit Obesity (having a Body Mass Index of 30 or more) reduces survival rates for ovarian cancer and increases recurrence rates.

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