How Integrative Medicine Can Change Your Approach to Cancer Treatment
The following is adapted from The Grace of Cancer by Veronica Villanueva.
In 2016, doctors told me that I had six months to live. I had stage four metastatic lung cancer, and it was incurable. Chemotherapy wasn’t even an option.
Although my diagnosis had the word “incurable” attached to it, I never wavered from the idea that I would, one day, be healed. The reason I am here today is because I explored more than one avenue for treatment. I was committed to being open to any natural cancer therapy, regardless of how bizarre or strange it may have seemed.
A great deal of misunderstanding still exists around alternative treatments in the public sphere in that people believe the approaches are pseudoscientific “woo-woo” and not evidence-informed. We have been programmed to believe that conventional doctors know best, but the Western and integrative approaches to healing complement each other and can help you beat cancer.
I am a firm believer that the best things in life are the result of a collaborative effort. Years after my diagnosis, I am alive and living tumor-free. Without integrative medicine, that wouldn’t have been possible. Read on to learn how it changed my approach to cancer treatment and how it can positively affect yours.
Differing Philosophies
A huge disconnect exists between Western treatments and holistic therapies when it comes to preventing and treating cancer.
Conventional medicine is tied up in the old belief system, which argues that illnesses arise from our genetics and biochemistry. According to Western philosophies, genetic predispositions cause cancer more than lifestyles. Statistically, fewer than 20 percent of cancer cases result from DNA damage. The other 80 percent or more are caused by poor diet and generally unhealthy lifestyles. This connection to lifestyle is known as metabolic.
Western medicine only looks at cancer from a genetic perspective. Many Western doctors do not believe cancer can be reversed. That is why doctors work with pharmaceutical companies to provide chemical medications to treat the disease.
Integrative medicine believes that the cause of cancer is metabolic. When you believe in metabolic causes, your goal becomes to reinstate the balance of your body in order to heal. Instead of focusing on only symptom management, integrative medicine spends time finding the root cause of the illness.
Doctors spend a lot of time with patients, not only on their cancer treatment, but also on their everyday health practices such as what they eat, how they exercise their body, and how they detox with a healthy gut and immune function.
Obviously and tragically, people do die of cancer. Despite this, it is still realistic to believe that cancer can be reversed. Integrative medicine taught me that you can heal yourself. I’m living proof.
Necessary Lifestyle Changes
Cancer expert Dr. Patrick Quillin supports the argument that most cancer is metabolic, saying, “Lifestyle is at least 90 percent responsible for cancer, while genes play a 5–10 percent role.”
In my case, the cancer was not genetic. That was one of the first questions I asked after my diagnosis because I wanted to make sure my children did not have the disease, too. As soon as I knew the cancer was not genetic, I became interested in the impact of my lifestyle on my overall health.
Think of lifestyle as the crossroads of your mind, body, soul, and spirit. How you feel mentally and physically influences how you live, and vice versa. Integrative medicine helped me look at my body holistically, as an entire system, and made me realize I had to change my lifestyle. It takes courage, discipline, consistency, and commitment to see the benefits of a holistic path to healing, but it can work for you.
Our bodies want to be healthy. While the body can genetically generate disease on its own, the biggest problem is us and the abuse we inflict on our bodies. In my case, I put my body under so much stress as a consequence of my unhappy marriage and subsequent divorce. My integrative doctor suggested a cortisol (stress hormone) manager to help deal with my stress levels. At the time, I also ate a ridiculous amount of sugar, which I have eliminated from my diet.
Alternative medicine promotes an integrative approach focused on lifestyle changes. Western medicine promotes pills, the side effects of which could be detrimental. The beauty of alternative treatments is that they have few to no side effects.
Combating Chemotherapy
Some people have no choice but to go through chemotherapy, which causes many negative effects like nausea and hair loss. However, by combining a Western approach (chemotherapy) with alternative therapies, you can counteract some of the symptoms and damage. For example, if you are going through chemotherapy, an integrative doctor might suggest a way to boost your immune system to minimize poisoning your body and reduce the serious side effects of radiation.
If you are going through chemotherapy and radiation, it is in your best interest to arm yourself with a naturopathic doctor who can help with the detoxification of your body as well as rebuilding your immune system.
When your immune system is depleted, you become more vulnerable to other illnesses. That is why chemotherapy patients often get sick right after treatment, because their immune system cannot fight anymore. For a chemotherapy patient, a cold is not just a cold. A cold could quickly turn into pneumonia.
A chemotherapy treatment typically lasts six weeks: one treatment a week, and sometimes two. Chemotherapy patients often feel nauseous, lose their appetite, and feel extremely weak. These effects can—and should—be offset by integrative treatment therapy. Remember, not only does integrative medicine help detox the body, but it rebuilds the immune system, too.
Lifestyle as Medicine
During my illness, I regularly saw a Western oncologist. I trusted her advice, and she was a positive force in my healing journey. But when I formed my medical team, I also selected an integrative doctor. I wanted to have the best of both worlds. That way, I would achieve the unthinkable—to live!
Integrative medicine taught me that my lifestyle was playing a significant role in my illness. If our lifestyles are causing cancer, the key to beating cancer is within those lifestyles. We need natural medicine and approaches that treat underlying issues, not only drugs that treat our symptoms on a surface level.
In treating cancer through lifestyle, your medicine is your food. Your medicine is your positive and empowering thoughts. Your medicine is your quiet time, lack of stress, and ability to forgive yourself. Your medicine is joy! With this approach, you’re sending your body the right messages for it to avoid illness and thrive.
For more advice on integrative medicine, you can find The Grace of Cancer on Amazon.
Veronica Villanueva discovered her “why” after being diagnosed with stage IV cancer in 2016. She knows she is alive today to share grace, blessings, and the lessons that cancer has taught her. Her “incurable” disease gave her the gift of knowing herself, loving herself, and sharing herself with others in a profound way. Through her work as a trained Cordon Bleu chef and certified health coach, Veronica aims to inspire others to embrace a holistic lifestyle built on a commitment to growth, eating healthy foods, taking the time to create memorable moments, and of course, fostering loving relationships.
