Cancer is the name given to any illness resulting from one of our body's own cells growing out of control. There are many processes that control a cell’s growth and division, each of which can go wrong. Several of these control mechanisms need to be damaged before a cell becomes cancerous. There are more than 200 different types of cancers, which are categorized in to carcinoma, sarcoma, lymphoma and leukemia based on the cells from which they arise.

The principles involved in treating cancer are – either directly destroying the cancer tissues or indirectly destroying them by depriving them of blood supply and/or their nutrition. But the irony is that whatever conventional treatment is used to destroy cancer cells do affect to some extent the normal cells also. They may damage the skin, liver, intestine the bone marrow and other rapidly multiplying cells. Sometimes the effect of the treatment is more devastating than the disease itself.

Role of Alternative Medicine in treating cancer
A larger study of Alternative medicine use in patients with different types of cancer was published in the July 2000 issue of the Journal of Clinical Oncology. It was found that nearly 70% of the patients used at least one form alternative medicine along with the conventional treatment. The National Cancer Institute (NCI) and the National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine (NCCAM) are sponsoring a number of clinical trials at medical centers to evaluate alternative medical therapies for cancer.

Alternative medicine includes therapies like herbal remedies, vitamins, special diets, and acupuncture among others.
Acupuncture: effective in the management of chemotherapy associated nausea and vomiting and in controlling pain associated with surgery. Now used in a trial to reduce the symptoms of colorectal cancer

-Homeopathy
-Ayurveda
-Shark cartilage: Being tried in non-small cell lung cancer. it prevents new blood vessels growth
-Hyperbaric oxygen: In patients who had larynx removed for larynx cancer
-Massage therapy: for cancer related fatigue
-Pancreatic enzyme therapy along with specialized diet for the treatment of pancreatic cancer
-Mistletoe extract: for the treatment of solid tumors
-Wheatgrass therapy
-Macrobiotics: The macrobiotic diet is strictly vegetarian and requires you to consume about half of your daily calories from whole grains, about a quarter of your calories from vegetables, and the rest of your calories from beans, seaweed and soups
-Bioelectric therapies
-Moerman's Anti-Cancer diet
-Hoxsey herbal therapy
-Essiac herbal therapy: Essiac is a herbal tea mixture that relieves pain and reduces the size of tumors. It contains four herbs- burdock, rhubarb, sheep sorrel and slippery elm
-Pau D'Arco herbal therapy
-Chaparral herbal therapy
-Laetrile (amygdalin): a chemical found in lima beans, raw nuts and the pits of many fruits. Amygdalin produces cyanide, which proponents claim kills cancer
-Alkaline diet: such as fruits and vegetables and restricting acidic foods
-Antioxidant found in fruits and vegetables
-Vitamins A, C and E: These are very good anti oxidants
-Detox therapies including Gonzales nutritional metabolic therapy, colon therapy, and Gerson therapy
The most successful practitioners integrate various components of the alternative cancer treatments for a better outcome.

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