Hi all, am going to see a naturopath tomorrow and wonder if anyone has experience being treated? It's my first time to consult one and wonder what I should ask to get the most out of the session. My main concerns are related to diet and supplement but also interested in seeing how else a naturopath can help in the post-chemo recovery phase?
Thanks a lot for your input in advance!
Hi Amanda,I personally have never visited a naturopath, but am totally supportive of investigating other methods of cancer treatment,other than toxic chemicals.Since my diagnosis, I have changed my diet considerably to include all foods which are recommended as anti-cancer ie Kake, green veg,tumeric Brazil nuts, green tea , to name just a few.
It is unfortunate that the medical profession in this county pay little attention to our diet,When I recently discussed this with my oncologist, he said there was no evidence to support the food supplements.
My research has shown that the United States has heavily invested in this field and strongly promotes anti cancer foods, with specific juice diets.
I consider that healthy foods together with any of natures natural remedies have to be a bonus , even if they support chemo.
Will be very interested to learn how you get on.
Best wishes xxxxx
Thanks Jackie! I live in Hong Kong and the Naturopath I am meeting is from Canada, where I think naturopathy is popular. Hopefully will get some insights on how to manage health more holistically. Surgery and chemo has helped me a lot in the past few months and My surgeon and oncologist has been at the helm. Noe I feel like they are starting to take a backseat and I need to take charge (even though am still feeling tired!) so am going to need all the help I can get!
Hope your consultation goes well. I know that there is lots of evidence that exercise helps a great deal....diet is bound to be hugely important too.
Take care xxx
Hi Amanda
I too hope all goes well wth your consultation and Perhaps you would update us when u can? I felt exactly the same and adapted diet. I felt it gave me back some power at the very least!
Very best wishes x
Hi Amanda,
Naturopaths are of different types. Some are alopatic and some are holistic in their approch.
The alopatic one is very much like the doctors, but instead of drugs they use natural supplements.
The holistic one is looking at the whole of you searching for causes and try to modify thinking, lifestyle, diet, improve nutrition, give suplements, some do cleansing or detox some not.
Then there is a different approch that is of vitalists which believe that the body has the inherent ability to survive therefore an ability to heal itself if given the right condition. Also a vitalist has a wholistic view and reasons the cause and effect in this context. A vitalist understanding of disease is that disease is caused by a unfit condition of the body and malnutrition. A vitalist assists the body to recover by cleansing it and feed it to achive the balance the body needs to function at its optimum.
So depending on what kind of naturopath you see so questions will differ.
The holistic vitalist is my prefered pathway, I have seen one and helped me very much. Did to me detox/cleansing, healed my gut, personalized diet, gave me exersise program and did health education as well. I felt so much better after that. I already wrote about some of this things, see my activity.
Hope this helps
and all goes well for you in your journey to recovery
Naomi
I have been to see various complementary and holistic practitioners and changed my diet and lifestyle considerably and I believe it's helped me a lot as I've lived well for over 10 years now after diagnosis with stage 2/3 oc. I have had 5 lots of chemo but bounced back to good health v quickly in between and still go running, swimming, aerobics, etc I would ask about a naturopath's experience of working with cancer and qualifications of course.
I eat lots of veg, mainly organic and whole foods and mostly vegetarian with a little fish and chicken. I have done quite extreme diets like gerson and v low carbs, injected mistletoe and I do take a lot of vitamin supplements, have regular acupuncture and reiki plus going to tai chi and yoga.
Good luck with it and let us know how you get on
Francesca x
I've had great advice from my naturopath as well. All of the comments here, have great advice. I found the advice given by my naturopath, geared toward a paleo diet (which we adapted as I'm vegetarian) was invaluable. She specializes in nutrition and is very well informed. I also appreciated her knowledge of antioxidants, ie. foods and supplements, that should be reduced/discontinued if you are having chemo, as they can blunt the effects of the chemo drugs. One of the best things I've done, on her advice and my oncologists as well, is to exercise. I'm feeling very well and have had good results from my new lifestyle. I'm hoping to keep the nasty OC knocked back or better yet GONE. All the best with your appointment.
Clover
Hi all! My first appointment with the naturopath went well, but I have slightly mixed feelings. Naomi, I think the one I saw was alopatic, so yes I felt like seeing just another doctor. She made some really good dietary suggestions, basing her comments on a 7-day food diary she had asked me to prepare. She also had me do a zinc test (not sure about the proper name) by giving me a fluid to hold in my mouth for 20 seconds then swallow. I didn't taste anything, but she said it should have tasted very bitter. That's an indication that my body is not absorbing nutrients well.
What made me feel unsure was that she didn't do any blood test but oly relied on the test results I brought along from my last visit to the oncologist, which was very recent, but I wonder if it has all the info she needs, e.g there's just a figure for total cholesterol which doesn't distinguish the good and the bad ones. She didn't examine my body physically but only checked my eyes, tongue and well I guess my face!
We had a long chat (at least an hour) and she was very patient and nice, however I left with the feeling that she was quick to prescribe supplements (which they sell at the clinic) without really looking into the cause of my condition. For example she said one of the supplements she prescribed will help me emotionally, but we haven't really talked about emotions, and I felt like she just assumed that after a traumatic surgery and chemo I must be feeling emotionally drained. By the end of our chat she also threw in a prescription of black cohosh after asking if I have hot flushes. I have, but it's not serious. I then googled when I got home and some website said that ovarian cancer patients should not take black cohosh. She didn't mention anything.
Now I have five big and small bottles of supplement at home but am still not sure if I should take them!
Wondering if I am more suited for a more holistic practitioner. Or maybe I have a bias against age - she looked quite young and perhaps subconsciously I have doubts about her!
Hi Amanda,
Yes I see, I think the zinc test does just that, tests for zinc levels, if it feels like you drink water and is tasteless you need some zinc in your system. You desperately need it, the immune system needs it to function normal to make those KILLER CELLS that hunt the cancer cells and the liver beside other things needs it for detoxification.
She knows that you may not absorb it from the food which indicates to her that other elements are not absorbed also. It is a general assumption in the absence of tests, but most likely correct through observations and experience. The causes for this may be deeper than just no intake of zinc through the diet. Could be the digestion is not working as it should, absorption is impaired and all this deeper into it because you may suffer also with constipation.
My naturopath said to me once that she finds most people over 40 dehydrated and with not enough gastric juice to digest the food. Cancer patients on top of that are suffering in particular with enzyme depletion so the food goes down and not much is made used of. Just saw on TV dr. Oz explaining and demonstrating that.
Even though you feel like she is alopatic, is not all too bad in the first phase of your journey, still she nailed for you one important factor that you need to address: that is digestion / absorption issues. Herbs that stimulates digestion are gentian tea before meals; cayenne, black pepper, ginger not cooked but added to food help a lot. For increasing enzymes eat paw paw/ papaya, pineapple daily; cascara sagrada tea or powder will help with the bowel movement. Eat your greens fresh, in juice form or salads. Use broccoli sprout powder or buckwheat sprout powder in apple juice. The same use wheat, barley and alfalfa sprout powder. Spirulina will add to the protein intake. All these greens will boost your nutrition and enzymes if taken daily beside other foods contributing at the improvement of your digestion and absorption of nutrients from other foods. Alfalfa sprout is the most nutritious plant can be used as a multivitamin supplement.
If she read your iris by looking into your eyes, she was after the weak organ in your body that takes the hit always when your health goes down. By examining your tongue she checked to see if you have Candida or Bvit deficiencies. The docs of old used to do that. She did not explained to you much of whats and whys, maybe next time you ask her. Do not have the expectation of her to read the blood tests, they are trained to do very little of that for basic things only and for more functional tests. When she said about emotional help she might have thought of your adrenal exhaustion. Its a lot to take in if she would have explained everything in the first visit.
One naturopath that explain lots of things on the utube is Barbara O'Neil. She is an international health speaker / educator. If you interested and feel it will help you can be found on utube by searching her name.
Naomi
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