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Archive for the ‘Cancer’ Category

OVERCOMING CANCER: THE RELAXATION TECHNIQUE

Tuesday, July 26th, 2011

The relaxation technique we developed while working with our patients is taken largely from a program devised by Dr. Edmond Jacobson, who calls his technique “progressive relaxation.” In practice, we combine this technique with the mental imagery process we describe later in this chapter. However, we have detailed the relaxation process separately here so that you will see its value for use anytime. We recommend to our patients that they complete the combined relaxation/mental imagery activity three times a day for ten to fifteen minutes each time. Most people feel relaxed the first time they use this technique. But since relaxation is something that can be learned and improved upon, you will find that you’ll enter into increasingly relaxed states as the process is repeated.

To make the relaxation/mental imagery process easier to learn, we provide our patients with a cassette tape of instructions. You may also find it helpful to have a friend read the following instructions to you or to make a tape recording of them. Allow plenty of time for completing each step in a comfortable, relaxed manner.

1. Go to a quiet room with soft lighting. Shut the door and sit in a comfortable chair, feet flat on the floor, eyes closed.

2. Become aware of your breathing.

3. Take in a few deep breaths, and as you let out each breath, mentally say the word, “relax.”

4. Concentrate on your face and feel any tension ifl your face and eyes. Make a mental picture of this tension—it might be a rope tied in a knot or a clenched fist—and then mentally picture it relaxing and becoming comfortable, like a limp rubber band.

5. Experience your face and eyes becoming relaxed. As they relax, feel a wave of relaxation spreading through your body.

6. Tense your eyes and face, squeezing tightly, then relax them and feel the relaxation spreading through’ out your body.

7. Apply the previous instructions to other parts of your body. Move slowly down your body—jaw, neck, shoulders, back, upper and lower arms, hands, chest, abdomen, thighs, calves, ankles, feet, toes— until every part of your body is relaxed. For each part of the body, mentally picture the tension, then picture the tension melting away; tense the area, then relax it.

8. When you have relaxed each part of the body, rest quietly in this comfortable state for two to five minutes.

9. Then let the muscles in your eyelids lighten up, become ready to open your eyes, and become aware of the room.

10. Now let your eyes open, and you are ready to go on with your usual activities.

If you have not already done so, we encourage you to g through this process before reading on. You can find the relaxation it produces pleasurable and energizing.

People sometimes experience difficulty picturing the mental image or keeping their minds from wandering the first few times they try the process. There’s no need to feel discouraged. It’s very natural and criticizing yourself will only increase your tension. At the end of this chapter, when you are more familiar with relaxation and visualization techniques, we will deal with a few of the common problems patients have with these procedures and suggest how to overcome them.

The next section provides instructions for moving directly from the relaxation process into the mental imagery process. Although the relaxation technique is valuable by itself, as we said earlier, we use it primarily as a prelude to mental imagery, because the physical relaxation reduces tension that could distract from concentrating on the mental imagery. The relaxation technique is also a prelude to mental imagery in another sense: Learning to use mental guidance to produce physical relaxation should help strengthen your belief that you can use your mind in support of your body.

*40\347\2*

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FIGHTING CANCER: TALKING WITH YOUR DOCTOR ABOUT CANCER

Monday, May 23rd, 2011

Anytime the presence of cancer is suspected, the person involved is likely to react with great anxiety, fear, and anger. Emotional distress is sometimes so intense that the person is unable to serve as his or her own best advocate in making critical health care decisions. If you find it difficult to know what to ask your doctor on a routine exam, imagine how hard it would be to discuss life or death options for yourself or a loved one. Having a list of important questions to ask when you appear at the doctor’s office may help tremendously. Remember, your health care provider should be your partner in making the best decisions for you. By actively challenging, questioning, and letting the physician know your wishes, difficult decisions may become easier.

If the diagnosis is cancer, you may want to ask these questions:

- What kind of cancer do I have? What stage is it in? Based on my age and stage, what type of prognosis do I have?

- What are my treatment choices? Which do you recommend? Why?

- What are the expected benefits of each kind of treatment?

- What are the long- and short-term risks and possible side effects?

- Would a clinical trial be appropriate for me? (Clinical trials are research studies designed to answer specific questions and to find better ways to prevent or treat cancer. Often new cancer-fighting treatments are used.)

If surgery is recommended, you may want to ask these questions:

- What kind of operation will it be, and how long will it take? What form of anesthesia will be used? How many similar procedures has this surgeon done in the past month? What is his or her success rate?

- How will I feel after surgery? If I have pain, how will you help me?

- Where will the scars be? What will they look like? Will they cause disability?

- Will I have any activity limitations after surgery? What kind of physical therapy, if any, will I have? When will I get back to normal activities?

If radiation is recommended, you may want to ask these questions:

- Why do you think this treatment is better than my other options?

- How long will I need to have treatments, and what will the side effects be in the short and long term? What body organs or systems may be damaged?

- What can I do to take care of myself during therapy? Are there services available to help me?

- What is the long-term prognosis for people of my age with my type of cancer who are using this treatment?

If chemotherapy is recommended, you may want to ask these questions:

- Why do you think this treatment is better than my other options?

- Which drug combinations pose the fewest risks and most benefits?

- What are the short- and long-term side effects on my body?

- What are my options?

Before beginning any form of cancer therapy, it is imperative that you be a vigilant and vocal consumer. Read and seek information from cancer support groups. Check the skills of your surgeon, your radiation therapist, and your doctor in terms of clinical work and interpersonal interactions. The time spent asking these questions and seeking information is well worth the effort.

*33/277/5*

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THE IDENTIFIABLE CAUSES OF CANCER: RADIATION

Thursday, January 20th, 2011

The question the reader will ask at this point is ‘Given all this epidemiological study, do we know the causes of cancer?’ Broadly the answer is ‘yes’ in many circumstances and for many cancers, and the opportunities for prevention that this understanding generates are there to be taken. We do not always know how the factors that have been identified by the epidemiological studies discussed in this chapter link up to what is being learned in the laboratories of the molecular biologists. This connection is being made rapidly and will be increasingly clear by the end of the century. Epidemiology has been very successful in discovering or confirming which features of our lives in the Western world can be now identified as causes of cancer.

The effects of radiation as a cause of cancer are probably as well understood as anything else, except perhaps those of smoking. Survivors of the atomic bombs and people given low doses of radiation for medical treatments decades ago ail have a higher chance of getting certain cancers, particularly leukaemias. Ordinary diagnostic X-rays now deliver only tiny amounts of radiation and appear not to have any adverse effect in adults but it is wise to keep them to the minimum necessary. Uranium miners seem to get more lung cancer than would be expected and there is Currently much research, which is not yet conclusive, into a connection between cancer and the indoor levels of some radioactive gases (such as radon) rising from rocks. One of the difficulties in dealing with radiation as a cause of cancer is uncertainty about the relationship between the dose of radiation received and the level of increased cancer risk. Under some circumstances, very low doses may be associated with subtle effects on cancer risk.

Protection against radiation is well established in the workplace but more research work is needed on the effects of low levels of radiation. The protection of society as a whole against the possible hazards of radiation obviously raises complex economic, political and social issues.

*32\194\4*

THE IDENTIFIABLE CAUSES OF CANCER: RADIATIONThe question the reader will ask at this point is ‘Given all this epidemiological study, do we know the causes of cancer?’ Broadly the answer is ‘yes’ in many circumstances and for many cancers, and the opportunities for prevention that this understanding generates are there to be taken. We do not always know how the factors that have been identified by the epidemiological studies discussed in this chapter link up to what is being learned in the laboratories of the molecular biologists. This connection is being made rapidly and will be increasingly clear by the end of the century. Epidemiology has been very successful in discovering or confirming which features of our lives in the Western world can be now identified as causes of cancer. The effects of radiation as a cause of cancer are probably as well understood as anything else, except perhaps those of smoking. Survivors of the atomic bombs and people given low doses of radiation for medical treatments decades ago ail have a higher chance of getting certain cancers, particularly leukaemias. Ordinary diagnostic X-rays now deliver only tiny amounts of radiation and appear not to have any adverse effect in adults but it is wise to keep them to the minimum necessary. Uranium miners seem to get more lung cancer than would be expected and there is Currently much research, which is not yet conclusive, into a connection between cancer and the indoor levels of some radioactive gases (such as radon) rising from rocks. One of the difficulties in dealing with radiation as a cause of cancer is uncertainty about the relationship between the dose of radiation received and the level of increased cancer risk. Under some circumstances, very low doses may be associated with subtle effects on cancer risk.Protection against radiation is well established in the workplace but more research work is needed on the effects of low levels of radiation. The protection of society as a whole against the possible hazards of radiation obviously raises complex economic, political and social issues.*32\194\4*

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HELIOSphan.com – The Health Blog

Archive for the ‘Cancer’ Category

OVERCOMING CANCER: THE RELAXATION TECHNIQUE

FIGHTING CANCER: TALKING WITH YOUR DOCTOR ABOUT CANCER

THE IDENTIFIABLE CAUSES OF CANCER: RADIATION

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