Erica
Berridge
Biology Senior Seminar
Prof. Trent Smith
11/26/01
The Use of Complementary and Alternative Medicine
in the Fight against HIV/AIDS
and Cancer
Conventional (allopathic)
medicine has been the mainstream Western approach to medicine ever since the
early twentieth century. Previous to the widespread popularization of the
allopathic tradition, other more holistic traditions of medicine were accepted
and practiced without bias. The founding of the American Medical Association
(AMA) brought with it a swift turnabout for other traditions and placed the
monopoly of the industry solely in the hands of allopathic physicians. However
many of the procedures and techniques for dealing with illness in conventional
medicine are invasive and involve the introduction of severe and even toxic
agents and many people are now expressing a desire to return to more natural
means of fighting disease.
The use of alternative
medicine is becoming increasingly popular in the Western world, although
patients are hesitant to inform their allopathic physicians of this use. The
prevalence of HIV/AIDS and Cancer cases is growing in leaps daily and these
diseases even represent the leading causes of mortality in some countries.
Conventional medicine is undoubtedly not always able to successfully treat many
of these cases but it has been suggested that a combination of allopathic and
alternative therapy would increase success rates by providing the optimal
treatment of illness, as in the treatment of HIV/AIDS and Cancer. Western
culture should endeavor to explore alternative practices instead of brushing
aside what it does not understand.
There are many different forms of alternative medicine, some of which are centuries old. The term 'alternative medicine' covers the broad category of unconventional forms of medicine, many of which are not accepted by the allopathic tradition due to their inability to be evaluated under the scientific method and their consequent lack of empiricality, both of which have strong bases in the Western tradition. The systems that fall under alternative medicine are Chinese Medicine, Ayurveda, Naturopathic Medicine, Homeopathy, Osteopathic Medicine, Chiropractic, Massage Therapy and Bodywork, and Mind/Body Medicine. Five of these treatments will be discussed in their general approaches to illness as a demonstration of alternative models of medicine.
Chinese Medicine is an
ancient form of alternative medicine, dating back over 3000 years. The key
principle of this tradition is the belief in an unseen entity called chi, which symbolizes the vital life
force energy inherent in all things. Chi flows
through the human body in pathways known as meridians, which enable the passage
of this energizing force through all the organs of the body. Chi is
influenced by yin and yang, two opposing concepts. The symptoms
of an illness are indications that there is a problem with the normal flow of chi and thus treatments are designed to
affect the whole person rather than the treatment of an isolated body part as
seen in conventional medicine. Treatments are thus of a subject-specific rather
than a symptom-specific nature. Modern Allopathic physicians consider this to
be a major drawback in Chinese Medicine as two different people with the same
symptoms might be treated differently based on their impairments of chi flow. The major forms of Chinese
Medicine are Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM), Five Element Acupuncture,
Ethnic Chinese Traditional Medicine, Japanese Acupuncture, Auricular
Acupuncture and Eclectic practices.
The unconventional nature of
Chinese Medicine can also be seen in its diagnostic and treatment techniques.
The aim of diagnosis is to reveal the underlying cause of the problem and not
just to alleviate the symptoms. Patterns of signs and symptoms are noted as
well as features such as complexion, tongue, mental state and demeanor as well
as others. Another diagnostic procedure is pulse diagnosis, in which the pulse
is used to track the flow of chi in
the hope of locating the source of chi
blockage or depletion. Treatments include herbal therapies, which can be in the
form of raw materials, pills or herbal extracts. It is interesting to note that
the word “herb”, in the Chinese sense, means “any natural material of plant,
animal, or mineral origin, or any traditional or modern preparation of the
natural materials short of preparing an isolated chemical” (Collinge, 29).
Other forms of treatment include acupuncture, moxibustion, massage, and chi kung.
Ayurveda is perhaps even
more ancient than Chinese Medicine, materializing over 5000 years ago by holy
men called Rishis who put together
the ancient Hindu philosophical and spiritual texts known as the Vedas. David
Frawley, O.M.D., says of Ayurveda that, “It is the purpose of Ayurveda to give
us the means of health and healing on a physical and psychological level so
that we can pursue the path of Yoga” (Collinge, 55). As Frawley states, this
tradition was put in place as a means of maintaining physical health so that
greater emphasis could be placed on spiritual development. Supporters of
Ayurveda claim it to be the oldest system of natural healing and the ancestral
origin from which other medical treatments were derived. Ayurveda was the
traditional health care system used in India, involving 8 main branches of medicine:
pediatrics, gynecology, obstetrics, ophthalmology, geriatrics, otolaryngology
(ear, nose and throat), general medicine and surgery. Deepak Chopra, M.D., is
an endocrinologist who is responsible for bringing about the growing acceptance
of Ayurveda in the alternative medicine spectrum.
Analogous to the Chinese
concept of chi is the Ayurveda
concept of prana, an invisible energy
that nourishes the body and makes it alive. The five elements of earth, air,
fire, water and ether represent principles of action and interaction in life.
These elements can be grouped into 3 broader elements called doshas: vata (ether and air), pitta
(fire and water), and kapha (earth and water). The organization of the doshas determines an individual’s unique
constitution, which further determines physiological and psychological
functions. As such, illness is seen as a state of imbalance and disharmony
among a person’s internal forces and their external environment. Diseases are
categorized as psychological, spiritual, or physical, by location in the body,
and by what dosha they represent.
Diet is instrumental is reharmonizing interactions among doshas as certain foods either aggravate or pacify different doshas. Elimination of waste through
sweat, urine and feces is also important for the maintenance of health. As a
holistic medicine, Ayurveda is mostly concerned with prevention and enhancement
leading to the goal of maintaining the whole body in a state of equilibrium so
that the resistance of the host to disease is strengthened. This differs
somewhat from the conventional model of treatment against specific pathogens
invading the body. Diagnosis is based on interviews, written questionnaires and
pulse diagnosis in an effort to determine the individual’s unique constitution
rather than a specific disease condition. Ayurveda thus lives up to the
alternative model of subject-specificity as seen in Chinese medicine.
Mind/Body Medicine is a form
of alternative medicine that has gained significant credibility for itself in
the Western world and is fast becoming more of a mainstream style than an
alternative one. In 1993, a study in The
New England Journal of Medicine documented that 1 in 3 adults in the United
States had used some kind of unconventional medicine and Mind/Body Medicine was
found to be the primary choice. Further familiarization of the nation on the
topic came with the airing of the PBS television series called Healing and the Mind, hosted by Bill
Moyers (Collinge, 168). The key principles of Mind/Body Medicine suggest that
health is under the influence of many interacting factors, such as genetic,
environmental, psychological and social. Also included in the system of beliefs
is that the mind (brain) and body are connected via the nervous and circulatory
systems. The brain influences behavior through electrical signals in the
nervous system and also through the release of chemicals into the bloodstream,
both of which target organs and tissues throughout the body. Likewise, the
brain also responds to sensory input from the body and to the presence of
chemicals in the vascular system released by the tissues. The stress response
and the relaxation response observed in Mind/Body Medicine are opposing sets of
changes that occur in the body and have opposite effects on the efficiency of
the immune system. The stress response takes place in the body in response to
situations that appear to be threatening, regardless of whether the threat is
real or imagined. This prepares the body to perform at an increased level of
efficiency. However chronic stress wears away at the immune system and causes
its functioning to deteriorate. Counter to the stress response is the
relaxation response that improves the ability of the body’s immune system to
resist illness and to repair itself.
The stress response of Mind/Body Medicine is important in demonstrating the influential effects of the mind on the physiology of the body. An example of this is a study that was conducted on humans to show the effects of exam stress on medical students. Results showed a significant decrease in the activity and numbers of natural killer cells (key cancer-fighting and virus-fighting cells), along with a significant decrease in the percentage of T-helper cells in the blood (key in the immune response of the body)(Collinge, 186). Another finding of 59 patients who embarked on a 10-day, 60-hour group program of different mind/body techniques, such as imagery, relaxation training, emotional release therapy, group support and breath therapy, showed significant improvements in psychological well-being that were still being experienced 3 months after the end of the program.
The three major components to the Naturopathic system are elimination of evil habits, incorporation of corrective habits and new principles of living. The eclectic style of this system comes from the finding that natural therapies from different medical traditions are incorporated here.
The issue of illness in
Naturopathic Medicine is dealt with under the conviction that the body heals
itself and that the role of the physician is to support this intrinsic healing
process as much as possible. Symptoms of disease are favorably seen as part of
the healing process as the body attempts to deal with the illness and thus
should not be suppressed through the introduction of external chemicals.
Detoxification is a useful and important process in preventing the accumulation
of toxic substances in the body which can lead to lowered immune function and
disease.
Homeopathy represents yet
another type of alternative medicine, with associations to Hippocrates, who
founded the law of similars 2400 years ago. This law reemerged in the 1790s
with the German physician Samuel Hahnemann after a lengthy dormant period in
the medical arena. The law of similars is used to define the phenomenon in
which a substance (usually derived from plants, animals and minerals) that
cures a set of symptoms would also cause those same symptoms if administered to
a healthy individual. As in Naturopathic Medicine, symptoms are seen as the
body’s response to pathogen invasion in an attempt to restore balance and
harmony. Similar to many of the other forms of alternative medicine, the
homeopathic approach to treatment is subject-oriented as it depends on the
patient’s responses and not on the cause of the symptoms.
Alternative medicine may be better equipped for the treatment of HIV/AIDS patients than conventional allopathic medicine, in the sense that alternative therapies are more geared towards supporting and strengthening of the immune system, which is a major goal in arresting the progression of AIDS in HIV positive patients (Goldstein, 129). People with HIV/AIDS embraced alternative therapies in the early 1980s because conventional medicine had failed them in the search for a cure and they were determined to take a more active role in their own healthcare. Additionally, conventional medicine had very little to offer the asymptomatic HIV positive individual who showed no symptoms of the disease, so these persons resorted to alternative therapies in the hopes of delaying the spread of the disease (O'Connor, 133). In the U.S., the adoption of these nontraditional approaches, often used to augment the effects of conventional medicines such as the anti-retroviral agent AZT, shifted the emphasis of the HIV/AIDS patient from cure to quality of life (Wooton and Sparber, 2001). It has been reported in more recent studies that patients using complementary and alternative medicine (CAM), particularly mind/body therapies, were more likely to feel better and to deal with the stress of adjusting to illness better (Sparber et al., 2000). No alternative medicine has been found to cure HIV/AIDS and it is recommended that HIV/AIDS patients utilize some form of conventional medicine in addition to whatever other alternative therapies they use. Some alternative therapies used to treat AIDS involve blue-green algae, maitake mushrooms and vitamin therapy.
Blue-green algae is used in the alternative treatment of HIV/AIDS. It is the most basic species of algae as well as the most common type consumed as food, and is characterized by having no nucleus and an unusually soft and easily digestible cell wall. The best known form of blue-green algae is called spirulina. As reported by Robert Henrikson (president of the Earthrise Company in San Rafael, CA) in The Ultimate Guide to Health & Fitness, spirulina is currently being used to treat malnourished children in Third World Countries (Marti, 81). Henrikson reports that in Togo, children taking between 3 and 15 grams of spirulina per day show significant increases in weight gain. The highly nutritious spirulina is said to contain higher concentrations of protein (60%), amino acids, beta-carotene, vitamin B12, gamma-linoleic acid, trace minerals and natural pigments than any other natural food source. Sulfonic acid-containing glycolipids extracted from blue-green algae have been shown to inhibit the AIDS virus in experimental studies (Boyd, 1989).
Native to Japan, maitake mushrooms have been found to improve symptoms associated with AIDS. Maitake mushrooms are suggested by Anthony Cichoke to help prevent the destruction of T-cells by HIV (Marti, 89). Dr. Joan Priestly, a world-renowned AIDS specialist, has found that this treatment generally improved the symptoms of AIDS in Kaposi’s sarcoma patients. Dr. Ber, a homeopathic physician, found that treatment with maitake mushrooms helped to maintain T-cell counts and inhibit further infections, possibly by strengthening the immune system and improving CD-4 cell level maintenance. However more studies into this proposed mechanism of AIDS inhibition are needed.
Vitamin C has an important role to play in the treatment of HIV/AIDS. Vitamin C has been implemented as the key factor in many functions of the immune system and its use in the aggressive treatment of AIDS and other diseases is based on this wholesome, overall goal of improving immune function. Vitamin C positively affects the immune system, e.g. by improving white blood cell function, interferon levels, antibody levels and response (Marti, 48). A study was conducted to evaluate the relationship between plasma levels of nutrients and CD4 cell counts to determine if nutritional status affects HIV-1 disease progression. It was found that vitamin deficiencies correlated to decreased CD4 cell counts while a return of these vitamins to normal levels in the plasma was associated with higher CD4 cell counts (Baum, 1995). These results suggest that nutrient deficiencies are connected to the progression of HIV-1, which might be delayed if nutrient levels could be stabilized at normal levels. Further studies need to be conducted to evaluate just how beneficial nutrient therapy would be in the treatment of HIV/AIDS.
The traditional treatment of cancer employs invasive and severe methods of dealing with the growth and metastasis of a tumor, such as chemotherapy, radiation therapy and surgery. Alternative methods seek to discover more natural treatments that have less of a traumatic effect on the patient. Alternative philosophy holds that cancer is a reflection more on lifestyle than on genetics and as such, the “prevention is better than cure” motto is adhered to. The alternative physician focuses on detecting early signs of cancer as well as paying careful attention to risk factors and recommending corresponding changes in lifestyle. Some of these alternative therapies to cancer include Traditional Chinese medicine’s use of fu-zhen herbs and chi kung, antineoplaston therapy, hydrazine sulfate, vitamin therapies and mind/body treatments.
Traditional Chinese medicine associates cancer with an imbalance of chi flow through the body and hence seeks to treat the whole person rather than just the symptoms of the disease. Chinese physicians utilize fu-zhen herbs, the marital arts technique of chi kung, acupuncture, meditation and nutritional therapies in conjunction with Western medicine to treat cancer and report successes with these therapies. It was reported by The Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) at a Special Hearing on Alternative Medicine convened by the U.S. Senate Subcommittee on Appropriations on June 24, 1993 that fu-zhen herbs significantly increase the life expectancy of individuals dealing with rapidly advancing cancers, when used in conjunction with Western therapy (Marti, 274). Chi kung is a martial arts technique dating back 5000 years. It involves meditation, relaxation training, visualization, movement, postures and breathing exercises and is practiced by an estimated 1.3 million residents of Beijing. In fact, this martial arts technique is being used in the treatment of cancer in a hospital in Shanghai, in the hope of strengthening and directing the flow of chi throught the body for health purposes. Chi kung is practiced daily for 20-40 minutes.
The antineoplaston therapy, used in the treatment of cancer, was developed by a Polish physician named Stanislaw Burzynski. Burzynski explains in a 1986 article of Drugs of the Future that antineoplaston therapy is based on the existence of a biochemical defence system (BDS) that is parallel to, but different from, the immune system (Marti, 268). The BDS is responsible for helping to reprogram cancer cells back to cells that function normally. The BDS consists of naturally-occurring small and medium sized peptides, amino acid derivatives and organic acids which are found in blood, tissue and urine and that inhibit cancer cell growth. Burzynski claims that cancer patients only have 2-3% of the anitineoplastons that are found in healthy individuals. Indeed, it was found that the peptide content in the serum of cancer patients was significantly different from that of healthy individuals (Burzynski, 1986). Hence treatment of cancer employs the administering of synthetic antineoplastons in an effort to restore the BDS to normal functioning. A study of the toxicity of Antineoplastons A-10 and AS2-1 in combination with other anticancer agents or radiation reported that major adverse effects were seen in the combination therapy but were absent when just the antineoplastons were used (Tsuda, 1995). Also, when combined with the conventional therapies, these antineoplastons produced apparent disappearance or significant shrinkage of tumors in some patients while stabilizing tumor size in some others. The antineoplaston therapy is being used to treat lymphoma, leukemia, and cancers of the breast, bone, prostate, lung and bladder.
Hydrazine sulfate is a substance used in the treatment of cancer that addresses the significant weight loss (cachexia) that often accompanies the progression of cancer. Research conducted in the late 1960’s by Dr. Joseph Gold, director of the Syracuse Cancer Research Institute in Syracuse, N.Y., found that hydrazine sulfate reverses weight loss and hence indirectly inhibits cancer by providing the cancer patient with increased energy to fight and overcome the illness (Marti, 271). A 1990 issue of Voprosy Onkologii reported a study conducted by Dr. V. Filov on the treatment of 740 terminal cancer patients. After treatment over a 15 year period it was found that 50% of the patients were able to improve their weight loss, 14% saw significant benefits and all were able to stabilize the process.
Vitamin B6 shows the greatest potential of all the B vitamins for treating cancer (Marti, 275). Hans Ladner and Richard Salkeld were researchers who conducted a study of the effectiveness of using vitamin B6 along with radiation therapy to treat cancer, cited in L. Poirier's Essential Nutrients and Carcinogenesis (Marti, 275). They administered vitamin B6 to 105 endometrial cancer patients, aged 45 to 65, over a period of 7 weeks and found that the patients given vitamin B6 showed a 15% improvement in five-year survival rates over the control group, represented by 105 patients who did not take the vitamin supplement. Ladner and Salkeld also demonstrated that vitamin B6 minimizes radiation-induced symptoms such as nausea, vomiting, and diarrhea in their study conducted on 6300 patients with different types of cancer. It was evident that vitamin B6 helped to improve both the quality of life and the life expectancy of the cancer patients.
Mind/body therapies have been shown to be useful in the treatment of cancer. Several studies have concluded that positive mental states influence the outcome of cancer therapy, enhance the efficiency of treatments, minimize harmful side effects of conventional treatments such as chemotherapy and may even allow for a cure to be more easily facilitated. Dr. Bernie Siegel, 1988 president of the American Holistic Medical Association, founded the therapy group called Exceptional Cancer Patients (ECaP) which is geared towards helping individuals utilize their mental, emotional, physical, and spiritual resources to fight cancer (Marti, 273). Regular group support meetings, nutritional counseling, exercise, meditation, visualization and the development of a trust bond between physician and patient all aim to bestow upon the patient the conviction that they will get better, no matter what. A study was conducted to observe the effects of psychosocial support in women with metastatic breast cancer. The patients who received group therapy and were taught self-hypnosis for pain lived twice as long as those who received standard medical therapy alone (Spiegel, 1989). It is recommended that mind/body treatments should be used in conjunction with conventional medicine and not in place of it.
The acceptance of
alternative medicine is growing, albeit slowly. Evidence of this can be seen in
the decision by Oxford Health Plan to incorporate alternative medicine into
some of its health plans (Goldstein, 127). Other insurance companies have
incorporated limited plans into their program, showing that alternative
medicine still has very far to go to gain the recognition it needs to be placed
alongside allopathic medicine in Western culture. However this is still a big
step for alternative medicine to have insurance companies acknowledge them even
a little bit and to infiltrate a system that was once solely catered toward
allopathic medicine. A 1996 study on the use of alternative medicine presented
to the AMA by its Council on Scientific Affairs revealed that more than a
quarter of patients seeing an allopathic physician were also using alternative
medicine (Tyler, 59). The above report went on to advise that “accurate,
even-handed education about alternative medicine is vital” (Tyler, 59).
A combination of the
conventional allopathic medicine of the West with the ancient holistic approach
of alternative medicine could present a more efficient solution in the quest
for the treatment of disease and the maintenance of health. It makes sense that
symptoms are indicators of a larger problem, which should be taken into
consideration when recommending treatments. It also makes sense that if the
body’s immune system is strengthened, then there is a greater resistance to
disease and the body is better able to repair the damage done by the invading
pathogens. Most of the complementary and alternative approaches to disease that
were offered in this paper need more research into the mechanisms of how they
work and seem to show more notable results when paired with conventional
therapies. The attractiveness of alternative medicine lies in the relatively
non-toxic and non-invasive therapies that place a larger emphasis on prevention
rather than cure. Increasing numbers of individuals in the U.S. are choosing to
turn to alternative medicine, which raises the issue of polypharmacy where both
conventional and alternative medicines are being used simultaneously.
Interactions between certain conventional and alternative medicines may either
hinder or accelerate recovery. It is thus important for allopathic physicians
to be enlightened about these different alternative systems and intensive
research needs to be conducted on the precise effects of these alternatives on
combating illness. An effort should be made to strive for open-mindedness when
dealing with different approaches to medicine as these alternatives could
perhaps offer groundbreaking insights and perspectives in discovering cures for
HIV/AIDS and cancer, diseases which somewhat evade conventional medicine to
this day.
Resources:
Baum,
M. et al. "Micronutrients
and HIV-1 disease progression." AIDS 1995, 9(9): 1051-6.
Boyd, M. et al.
"AIDS-antiviral sulfolipids from cyanobacteria (blue-green algae)." Journal
of the National Cancer Institute 1989, 81(16): 1254-8.
Burzynski, S.
"Antineoplastons: history of the research (I)." Drugs for
Experimental Clinical Research 1986, 12 Suppl 1:1-9.
Collinge, William, M.P.H.,
PH.D. The American Holistic Health
Association Complete Guide to Alternative Medicine. Warner Books, NY, NY:
1996.
Marti, James E. The
Alternative Health Medicine Encyclopedia. Visible Ink Press, Detroit, MI:
1995.
O' Connor, B.B. Healing
Traditions: Alternative Medicine and the Health Professions. University of
Pennsylvania Press, Philadelphia: 1995.
Sparber,
A. et al. "Use
of complementary medicine by adult patients participating in HIV/AIDS clinical
trials." Journal of Alternative and Complementary Medicine 2000, 6:
415-22.
Spiegel, D. "Effects of
psychosocial treatment on survival of patients with metastic breast
cancer." The Lancet Oct. 1989, 888-91.
Tsuda,
H. et al. "Toxicological
study on antineoplastons A-10 and AS2-1 in cancer patients." Kurume
Medical Journal 1995 42(4): 241-9.
Tyler, Lawrence, PHD. Understanding Alternative Medicine: New
Health Paths in America. The Haworth Herbal Press, NY: 2000.
Wooton, J. and Sparber, A.
"Survey of Complementary and Alternative Medicine Part III. Use of
Alternative and Complementary Therapies for HIV/AIDS." Journal of
Alternative and Complementary Medicine Aug. 2001 7(4): 371-7.