Toronto-Centre Naturopathic Medicine is a Toronto naturopathic clinic dedicated to providing safe and effective treatment of a wide variety of health conditions using natural therapies and the principles of naturopathic medicine.
Naturopathic medicine can play an important role in the successful treatment of breast cancer. Breast cancer can occur in either men or women, but it is far more common in women. It is a process of abnormal breast cell growth in which cells divide more rapidly than healthy cells do, causing an accumulation of cells which form a tumor. The tumor may then spread (metastasize) through your breast, to your lymph nodes or other parts of your body.
The cause of breast cancer is not clear, but it is believed that it is likely due to a complex combination of your genetic makeup and your environment. Complications of breast cancer include spread (metastasis) of cancer to other tissues of your body.
Professional healthcare should be sought out if you find a lump, or other changes in your breast tissue, even if a recent mammogram is normal.
Symptoms of breast cancer
Possible symptoms of breast cancer include:
• A breast lump or thickening that feels different from the surrounding tissue
• Change in the size or shape of a breast
• Redness, pitting or dimpling of the skin over your breast (giving the appearance of the skin of an orange)
• Changes to the skin over the breast, such as dimpling
• Bloody discharge from the nipple
• Nipple inversion
• Peeling or flaking of the skin of the nipple
Naturopathic treatment of breast cancer
At Toronto-Centre Naturopathic Medicine, the goals of breast cancer treatment are to identify and address environmental factors that have contributed to the development of the cancer, improve your body’s own ability to combat the cancer (e.g., immune system support), reduce discomfort associated with the cancer or conventional medication side effects and prevent recurrence.
Conventional treatment for breast cancer may include removal of the breast cancer (lumpectomy), the entire breast (mastectomy) or lymph nodes (lymph node dissection). Radiation therapy may also be used externally (external beam radiation) or by placing radioactive material inside your body (brachytherapy). Chemotherapy, the use of medications toxic to cancer cells is also a treatment option. Other medications used include therapies that interfere with estrogen (e.g., tamoxifen) or ovarian hormone production. These treatments may have short- or long-term side effects. For this reason, you may choose to try natural treatment together with conventional medications in order to decrease dosages of conventional medications required to manage your breast cancer.
Naturopathic treatment of any chronic health concern must be recognized as a process that involves identifying specific treatment goals, a thorough understanding by your naturopathic doctor of all factors affecting your health, including physical, psychological, emotional and lifestyle factors, development of a comprehensive treatment plan and execution of that plan through periodic monitoring and adjustment.
At Toronto-Centre Naturopathic Medicine a typical approach to treating breast cancer may be to identify and address underlying factors in your lifestyle (e.g., poor diet, radiation exposure, use of postmenopausal hormone therapy, alcohol intake) or general health (e.g., obesity) that may support cancer progression, support your body’s own ability to combat cancer by supporting immune system activity using botanical (herbal) medicines and manage discomfort associated with tumours or conventional medication side effects through the use of acupuncture.
Where appropriate, a number of therapeutic options are available, to be used alone, or more often in a complementary fashion, including:
• Diet therapy
• Nutritional supplements
• Botanical (herbal) medicines
• Homotoxicological medicines
• Homeopathic medicines
• Acupuncture
• Lifestyle counseling
• Relaxation techniques
• Bowen therapy
References
Mayo Foundation for Medical Education and Research. Breast Cancer [Online]. [cited 2010 Jan 30]; Available from: http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/breast-cancer/DS00328 .