Restored Harmony: An Evidence Based Approach for Integrating Traditional Chinese Medicine into Complementary Cancer Care - Softcover

Sagar, Stephen M., M.D.

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0968948804 ISBN 13: 9780968948804

Publisher: Dreaming Dragonfly Comm, 2001

Synopsis

Restored Harmony weaves the science and art of Traditional Chinese Medicine into the conventional treatment for cancer. It takes the reader on a poetic journey through the diagnosis, therapeutic plan, and supportive care of patients with cancer. The author blends current scientific knowledge of mind-body medicine,psycho-neuro-immunology and quantum physics with the ancient wisdom of acupuncture, herbs, and energy medicine. The evidence for specific complementary therapies are clearly stated. A new model of holistic cancer care is presented in which the patient and all healthcare providers work together as a seamless system, focused on care of the body, mind, and spirit.

About this title

About the Author

Dr. Sagar received his graduate training in pharmacology and medicine at the University of London, UK. His postgraduate training was in internal medicine and clinical oncology.

His special interests include mind-body medicine, spirituality and consciousness, the psycho-biology of healing, and Oriental Medicine. He is an educator and researcher for the developing healthcare model of integrative and humanistic medicine, and is an international speaker on these topics. He has appeared on television and in news print to discuss mind-body medicine and the role of spirituality in healthcare.

Dr. Sagar is an associate professor at McMaster University, Hamilton, Ontario. He is a cancer specialist who practices radiation oncology in Canada. He is a founding director of the Complementary Medicine Section of the Ontario Medical Association. He is also proud to serve the Center for Mind-Body Medicine, Washington DC and contribute to many of its educational programs. He is on the international editorial board of the evidence-based journal, Focus on Alternative and Complementary Medicine.

From the Inside Flap

Foreword By James Gordon MD

Over the last twenty years I ve been exploring the integration of Chinese medicine into individualized programs of comprehensive care for cancer patients. Each year, at the Comprehensive Cancer Care Conferences of the Center for Mind-Body Medicine, we hear about the latest research on these therapies, in the West as well as in China. It is now clear to me and to many others in the field, that Chinese medicine can and should be available to everyone who is being treated for cancer.

This new book, by Dr. Stephen Sagar, makes this case in a way that is at once evidence-based, thoughtful and poetic. Dr. Sagar is a radiation oncologist who deals every day with the challenges of cancer treatment, and with the accompanying side effects of treatment. He is a fine clinical observer and an imaginative, indeed, visionary thinker. What he has done in this book is to describe precisely and well the worldview of the 4000-year-old Chinese medicine, and how its traditional approach to cancer treatment may dovetail with our most modern western scientific understanding and technological approaches.

Dr. Sagar understands the power of Chinese therapies acupuncture, herbal therapies, the exercises of Qi Gong, hands on healing, and above all, intention. He shows us how these therapies are already being used to enhance immunity, improve overall physiological functioning, frustrate tumor growth, improve mood, and provide relief for such debilitating treatment side effects as nausea, vomiting, pain, fatigue, diarrhea, and mouth ulcers. He shares with us the modern scientific papers on which his conclusions are based, and lets us know when evidence is lacking. Equally importantly, he gives us a sense of Chinese medicine, and of how it may well contribute in significant ways to the more harmonious functioning of our minds and our spirit, as well as our bodies.

In summary, this book is a fine and eloquent combination of modern science, ancient wisdom, and practical guidance, literate and accessible, as well as scientifically sound. I recommend it to all those who are concerned with creating more effective, humane, and comprehensive programs of cancer care.

James S. Gordon, M.D. Director, The Center for Mind-Body Medicine, Washington DC; Clinical Professor, Georgetown University School of Medicine; Chair of the White House Commission on Complementary and Alternative Medicine Policy; Co-author, Comprehensive Cancer Care: Integrating Complementary, Alternative, and Conventional Therapies

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

Introduction

My interest in Traditional Chinese Medicine was fueled by a fascination of the intricate and sophisticated relationships between the mind, body and the environment, concepts which are surely lacking in current, conventional medicine. I excelled in biology at high school, and my graduate background was in pharmacology. As an adolescent, I was both a mystic and a scientist-in-training. I was intrigued by the dynamic symphony of molecular interactions that were associated with life. As a mystic, how could I integrate the concept of vitalism with science. Is it possible to combine magic and science?

During my arduous training as a physician, many of these mystical concepts were drummed out of me by our boot camp system of medical training. Yet when I practiced medicine, I was not dealing with a reductionist collection of molecules, but a whole person consisting of a unique soul driven by spirit, and subject to all the infirmities of the physical world. The person was much more than the anatomical structure we were taught at medical school. The person is a unique system of memories, emotions, relationships, and individual responses. Many people live their lives through metaphorical representations of their environment. We are not necessarily logical creatures. We are a complex tapestry of our ancestors genes and our own unique experiences. Moreover, we are changing and adapting, undergoing transitions, evolving and growing. These aspects of the human being seemed much more important to me than the dogmatic reductionist proposals that were often espoused by conventional ! medicine.

Yet, our current scientific and technological medical system provides some miraculous therapies when we are sick. I marvel at cancers dissolving after treatment with radiotherapy, the restoration to health of a sick child with leukemia through powerful chemotherapy drugs, and the surgical excision and cure of a malignant bowel tumor. So what is missing? The answer is found in alchemy. The ultimate system of medicine and healthcare is to be found by being open minded and building bridges between the different disciplines. We need to understand how our thought processes and emotions can influence the physical changes in our body. It is important to recognize that there is a potential healing connection between people. Prayer can help us get better. Our states of mind can be as powerful in the restoration of our health as certain drugs. We need to restore faith in the power of ourselves as human beings to heal, and to be healed. We need to recognize that we are all unique individ! uals, not simply an average extrapolation of the general population. In aiming for the alchemical philosophers stone of healthcare, we need to recognize that we are spiritual beings in a human body. For some people, being a spiritual being may be just a metaphor, but it is a powerful one, all the same, and conjures up the mystical complexity that makes us human beings.

Traditional Chinese Medicine is a model that metaphorically and philosophically formulates many of the complexities of being a human being, that I thought were lacking from our conventional healthcare system in North America and Europe. My challenge is to articulate the underlying science that I believe justifies utilizing this philosophy as part of our technology-based healthcare system. My task is made a little easier by the recognition of modern scientific systems theories, the age of computers and information technology, quantum physics, and modern concepts of energy transfer. In addition, public opinion has driven the methodologists to develop ways of evaluating complementary therapies, including the so-called gold standard, the proverbial double blind randomized controlled trial. In addition, governments are now more likely to sponsor research into complementary and alternative medicine. I am confident that this is just the beginning in the evolution of a planetary hea! lthcare system which will recognize the uniqueness of us, human beings.

This book is aimed at all healthcare practitioners, especially those with an interest in cancer treatment. It is also of interest to people who have or who have had cancer, as well as members of their family. You could use this book as a platform for discussion with your physician or other health care practitioner, especially since it provides scientific references. Some of the material may appear naive to some healthcare experts and some of the science may be sophisticated for the layman outside of medicine. However, the aim is to build bridges and to open up your minds to new possibilities, which may be appropriate to your patients health, your own health, and the health of our whole society.

Edition details

• Publisher: Dreaming Dragonfly Comm
• Publication date: 2001
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0968948804
• ISBN 13: 9780968948804
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 154