Health & Fitness Info

Two naturopaths introduce us to the world of brain biochemistry, translating the science into laymen’s terms, so that the reader can understand the potential power of herbs and nutrients to enhance health, prevent disorders, and affect existing health disorders. These alternatives, or supplements, to medication are being used across the country to help treat health conditions with a psychological component–from ADHD and anorexia to insomnia, menopause, and Parkinson’s Disease. Authors Meletis and Barker explain 18 of these conditions, and review the most current research into how–or whether–the use of herbs and supplements has been proven to prevent, affect or remove these health conditions, or at least some of their symptoms. Can the Chinese herb Salvia curb cravings in alcoholics? Can niacin help treat anxiety? Other herbs, nutrients, and conditions addressed include the use of zinc to reduce symptoms of anorexia and bulimia, ginkgo biloba for Alzheimer’s, and 5-HTP for depression. One appendix to this volume lists the top 20 brain-enhancing herbs and supplements. Another lists nutrient deficiencies and their links to health and brain function. It is not the intent of this book to advocate for the replacement of standard drug therapy, but for the integration of these “natural medicines” with traditional medical treatments. Consumers are urged to discuss these herbs and nutrients with their physician before beginning use, as some allergic reactions or interactions with traditional medicines can occur. The central argument of this book is that when properly nourished people can operate at maximum physical and mental capacity, with maximum ability to fend off or recover from disease and disorder.

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This digital document is a journal article from Social Science & Medicine, published by Elsevier in . The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Media Library immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.

Description:
There has been an explosion of literature on the attitudes of a variety of health care providers, particularly physicians, to the growing utilization of complementary and alternative medicines and modalities (CAM). What is most seriously lacking is a conceptual framework that helps to distill this mountain of literature into a manageable and more understandable amount. In this paper, we address these important issues by examining the literature that surveys the attitudes and behaviour of providers regarding CAM comparatively across the professions of medicine and nursing and across settings. We do so by drawing upon existing, more general theoretical contributions to the area of CAM in order to propose a comparative conceptual framework with which to interpret the diverse and at times discrepant results of this body of research.

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Integration of complementary and alternative medicine therapies (CAM) with conventional medicine is occurring in hospitals and physicians offices, health maintenance organizations (HMOs) are covering CAM therapies, insurance coverage for CAM is increasing, and integrative medicine centers and clinics are being established, many with close ties to medical schools and teaching hospitals. In determining what care to provide, the goal should be comprehensive care that uses the best scientific evidence available regarding benefits and harm, encourages a focus on healing, recognizes the importance of compassion and caring, emphasizes the centrality of relationship-based care, encourages patients to share in decision making about therapeutic options, and promotes choices in care that can include complementary therapies where appropriate. Numerous approaches to delivering integrative medicine have evolved. Complementary and Alternative Medicine in the United States identifies an urgent need for health systems research that focuses on identifying the elements of these models, the outcomes of care delivered in these models, and whether these models are cost-effective when compared to conventional practice settings. It outlines areas of research in convention and CAM therapies, ways of integrating these therapies, development of curriculum that provides further education to health professionals, and an amendment of the Dietary Supplement Health and Education Act to improve quality, accurate labeling, research into use of supplements, incentives for privately funded research into their efficacy, and consumer protection against all potential hazards.

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This digital document is a journal article from Social Science & Medicine, published by Elsevier in 2006. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Media Library immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.

Description:
Individuals living with cancer are faced with numerous treatment decisions that encompass both conventional therapies and complementary and alternative medicine (CAM). Although a beginning body of research has explored the CAM decision-making process by cancer patients, the social context of these treatment decisions has been largely ignored. As a part of a larger grounded theory research project exploring CAM decision-making processes of cancer patients living in British Columbia, Canada, the purpose of this secondary inquiry was to explore how significant others were involved in patients’ decisions related to CAM. In total, 61 patients with early and advanced-stage breast and prostate cancer and 31 significant others participated in semi-structured interviews. Using constant comparative analysis, four main types of decisional involvement by significant others were identified: creating a safe place for the patient to make a decision, ”becoming a team”: collaborative decision-making, moving the patient towards a decision, and making the decision for the patient. Significant others were often found to engage in more than one type of decision involvement as a consequence of several key factors. Within the types of decisional involvement, nine distinct roles in the CAM decision-making process were described by the significant others. The findings of this inquiry extend previous research by highlighting the importance of significant others in cancer patients’ CAM decisions and challenge past conceptualizations of autonomy in treatment decision making.

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Part of the Medical Guides to Complementary and Alternative Medicine series, this comprehensive review presents complementary and alternative therapies as they relate to rehabilitation. With an emphasis on evidence-based medicine, this practical resource offers clinical examples, historical and theoretical information, and current research for four groups of therapies – mind/body therapies, body-oriented therapies, energy-based therapies, and emergent approaches. It also covers some of the most widely encountered clinical conditions in rehabilitation, focusing on clinical practice and solid research.

Contributors: Bernie Siegel
John Upledger
Herbert Benson
Ram Dass

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Alternative and Complementary Treatment in Neurologic Illness provides comprehensive coverage on alternative remedies and techniques being used to treat and alleviate symptoms of neurologic disorders. Like other volumes in the Medical Guides to Complementary and Alternative Medicine series, it provides integrated coverage on both traditional allopathic and complementary approaches and how they can be applied as viable treatment options. It discusses the strengths and weaknesses of clinical studies and offers a practical approach to various neurologic symptoms and syndromes. By understanding these alternative therapies, medical students and practitioners will feel more comfortable recommending complementary therapies to their patients.

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The Encyclopedia of Complementary and Alternative Medicine provides a comprehensive source of definitions, explanations, case studies, and perspectives on homeopathic therapies from ancient times to the present. According to a Stanford University National Survey, 69 percent of Americans have used non-conventional therapies in recent years. Interest in the subject is at an all-time high in the U.S., and many health care providers have begun including such treatments as part of their standard coverage. The Encyclopedia of Complementary and Alternative Medicine includes more than 400 entries, written for general readers but authoritative enough to be of use to the professional. It provides detailed descriptions of alternative practices, how they work, who developed them, anecdotal evidence, and what to look for when seeking a professional. The author, a journalist, presents the information objectively and allows readers to decide if complementary medicines are right for them. Appendixes include a directory of organizations, a bibliography and sources for further research, a list of herbs and supplements, and a timeline of complementary and alternative therapies.

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(Haworth Information Press) Offers a commonsense approach to getting the most out of the Internet for finding reliable information on complementary and alternative medicine. Written in an easy-to-understand format and lists web sites and useful tips for searching. For consumers.

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More and more medical schools are offering complementary and alternative medicine content in their programs, or elective courses in complementary medicine. There are many exhaustive, comprehensive books on complementary and alternative medicine but what students want are the essential elements that impact them. Those interested, for instance, in Reiki can then research it further.

Ready access to accurate information on contemporary therapies keeps clerks and residents ahead of their patients (and colleagues)

Medical doctors and healthcare professionals as contributing authors offer a brief, authoritative resource written by content experts on most prominent therapies

Concise size and templated format give “essentials? of CAM without burden of exhaustive texts and journal articles

Topics aligned with public interest to answer patient questions supplies basic knowledge of topics for discussion with patients who want an alternative to biomedical traditions

Handy pocket guide, reasonably priced provides clerks and residents quick access to specific therapies to answer patients questions and concerns

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Millions of Americans suffer with allergies, yet medicine has yet to determine exactly what causes a person to be allergic. In this comprehensive book, naturopath Chris D. Meletis examines a wide-range of allergies, including those to foodstuffs, dust and other airborne allergens, and materials like latex and chemicals. He explores theories of why allergies occur and are rising, including the “hygiene hypothesis,” which argues that overbathing and overuse of antibiotics and antibacterial agents means our immune systems never build up the necessary resistance to these substances when we are young.

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