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Subscribe to RSSAt the Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, one of the oldest cancer treatment centers in the world, complimentary therapies such as hypnosis and Tai Chi are now regularly offered to patients. NBC's Dr. Nancy Snyderman reports.
Monday on "NBC Nightly News," Dr. Nancy Snyderman examined complementary medicine in the first segment of a two-part series called 'What's the Alternative?' Tune in Tuesday to see part two: alternatives to the treatment of back pain.
Americans spend billions on complementary medicine each year, from acupuncture to herbal remedies. In Dr. Snyderman's first report she talked with patients who use these methods for cancer treatment.
Diane Miller, breast cancer survivor, and Dr. Barrie Cassileth, Chief of Integrative Medicine Service at the Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, on what Dr. Cassileth calls "a very evidence-based, rational approach to symptom control."
Dr. Snyderman fielded questions online about complementary therapies Monday during a moderated chat where she answered as many queries as possible during a half-hour time period.
Please click on the box below to review the conversation.
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OK here is something every else seems to have missed. After all these years how many children have been abducted going t and from school who aren't found. Did anyone ever stop to think that MAYBE these would be a good idea for that. Yes they COULD just take them off the child and ditch them but at the same time and more likely they would not. Would these not aid in finding the child sooner?
Everyone is so bent out of shape about how it "violates" their constitutional rights. Well let me be honest, having been a kid myself, if you don't have something to hide then why would this bother you. Yes the school can track you while you're IN SCHOOL. All this does is force your children to be accountable for their own actions and education.
I was in on part of this Question and Answer session earlier today. I am satisfied with Dr. Snyderman's commentary responses responses. I see acceptance of some of the "complementary" techniques sadly slow in acceptance both within the medical and patient communities.
Thankfully, many years ago, I saw a western trained MD, who used acupuncture in his practice. This was years before I traveled into the Orient and realized how traditional it was there.
Allowing ads for pharmaceutical solutions for everything that ails you, sadly does a great disservice to far too many. Western medicine allows referrals to Physical Therapy for "resolution" of many ailments. I just received one for painfully severe muscle spasms. Before following through, it was a weekend, I stopped at a soon to open gym in my neighborhood and tried out a flat table Hydro Massage. It took me a day or so to realize the painful spasms were gone. It cost me far less to join that gym than the co-pay for the PT would have been. Had my mother had any of the complementary modalities to relieve wrist and finger pain, she could have avoided surgery for a bleeding ulcer courtesy of Motrin.
Thank you Dr. Nancy Snyderman for an open minded discussion.
Saw your piece on "Complimentary medicine" on the NBC Evening News. You barely touched the real reason for the "acceptance" of this treatment suggested. It's simply another form of billing -- like $3 Coca Cola in the hospital, or the mandatory blood testing every 4 hours -- just another source of billing dollars for the uncontrollable medical community. Why not add billable visits by family, friends and pastors? Charge any outrageous amount for nonsense procedures and lobby for their approval under Medicare/Medicaid to force independent plans to pay also. When is the Medical Community going to realize that they are killing this country's population by bleeding citizens financially to death?
Actually at the hospital that I work at, many services of this sort are offered free of charge for in-patient care or for a very discounted price for out-patient care. I run a community acupuncture clinic at Saint Francis Hospital in Hartford CT and we have a sliding scale for payment, $20 - $40 per treatment. Hardly outrageous and there is no insurance involved at all since it is usually cheaper than a co-pay.
OK, I listened to your spot this evening regarding alternative medicine. I have been a long beliver in alternative medicine but I have a real problem with your report. My back hurts NOW! Why do I have to wait until tomorrow to hear about your proposed treatment?
Mention needs to be made of Animal Assisted Therapy as an important complementary or alternative medicine for people with autism, for PTSS sufferers, for people pre and post operative, for people with dementia and for practically everyone who loves animals.
There is a central question not addressed in tonight's report: are there any peer-reviewed reports of controlled, double-blind clinical studies that show these alternative methods are effective. If there are, tell us about them. If not, all you have is anecdotal evidence.
That is a fantastic question, and one that should be focused on. There are in fact numerous, double blind, peer reviewed study's on acupuncture's effectiveness. Simply go to www.pubmed.com and in the search engine, type 'acupuncture'.
If you've read the studies, you'll notice that most of the better ones show that acupuncture performs no better than placebo acupuncture. Neither Qi nor meridians have any proven existence. It appears that it is no more effective to use needles at accepted points than twirl toothpicks at random locations on the skin. If you have specific, high quality studies that show the benefits of acupuncture and show it to be better than placebo, please share.
There is a central issue not addressed in tonight's story: Are there any peer-reviewed reports about controlled, double-blind clinical studies to determine the effectiveness of these alternative treatments? If there are, tell us about them. If not, it is just anecdotal evidence, and not worth much.
@BJRoth Thomas Kuhn, once said: “A scientific fact is a collective decision to stop thinking.” For the most complete peer-reviewed studies on Tai Chi & QiGong, see Dr. Linda Larkey's metanalysis, "A Comprehensive Review of the Health Benefits of Qigong and Tai Chi." Double-blind tests are very difficult with Healing Exercise because of the difficulty of creating placebo exercise. www.HealingExercise.org
www.pubmed.com and in the search box, type in Acupuncture. There are numerous gold standard study's done on acupuncture's effectiveness.
Watched this evening's broadcast as well as this morning's chat. Insofar as supportive information, the physician interviewed has written a book about it, Dr. Barrie Cassileth. I plan to read that as well. Peer review will surface when more traditionally taught physicians open up to the value of nutrition, Asian exercises, Tai Chi, QiGong, as well as Yoga.
Many practicing physicians have written books regarding their own experiences with MS, going from a wheel chair to an 18 mile bicycle competition a year after a diet change. Or a Brain researcher's long but complete recovery after a devastating brain hemorrhage.
My own experience within cancer survivor groups listening to those well beyond end of life projections, introduced me to lifestyle changes which caused worthy life extensions, and yes some were in research studies, and did use complementary methods.
B J Roth, from whence groweth your sour grapes? Try fertilizing with a bit of open mind.
Naysayers like BJRoth above need to watch this PBS documentary about the unsustainable costs of the only medical system they can believe in: "Money and Medicine" video.pbs.org/video/2283573727 After that, come visit us www-HealingExercise-org
For what it's worth, the cost of medicine as practiced in the US are not the issue that B J Roth raised - he asked if there is good evidence that the procedures being advocated are effective. Cheap ineffective medicine is of little use to anyone.
Neither is expensive ineffective medicine.
angelblu, I am very happy for Stephanie and agree with you on every count. I never knew that some in the hearing impaired community did not endorse use of a hearing device. That thinking seems to be way out of sync in my opinion.
I live with a person who refuses to use a hearing aide and I wholeheartedly believe it is pride and stubborn selfishness.
Good luck to you and your daughter. I pray she continues to enjoy God's beautiful gift of hearing. Whether it is through a device or natural hearing, God provided the knowledge for the invention of the devices for use of good.