Complimentary therapies

Not on chemo but I use Manuka Honey which someone reffered me to use.

I take vitamin D, I suggested it to my onco and he agreed that it helps cope with the side effects. There is also some evidence that it might help with the cancer itself: https://www.dana-farber.org/newsroom/news-releases/2019/high-dose-vitamin-d-shows-benefit-in-patients-with-advanced-colorectal-cancer/

I'm also taking Manuka honey, which is believe to help and increase the effects of 5-FU, quite expensive though (if I had known I would have loaded my shipping container with manuka honey when I moved from New Zealand 3 years ago!!!).

Cecile

The programme 'Sliced Bread' on R4 recently looked into Manuka honey, & the outcome was that it had no beneficial properties. In fact, some of those high value numbers, were also achieved by local beekeepers in the UK

Shout out to anyone who has tried therapies such as Reiki, Acupressure, Shiatsu, Reflexology, Massage, Hynotherapy, Lymphatic drainage... would love to hear your experiences

Thanks for the info Marianne, I'll see if I can listen to it, sounds interesting. From what I can gather the jury is still out and there is not a lot of research published on it yet regarding the effect of honey on cancer, and the tricky bit is always around what dose may be beneficial. I have found this article, but it is look at the effect at a cellular level and it is an in vitro study so the results still need to be confirmed in vivo: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/34883427/.

The other question is whether the active ingredients come from the Manuka tree or whether British honey from other trees can also provide the same active ingredient (maybe some beekeeper have planted Manuka trees - can't see why they wouldn't grow here).

Cecile x

Hi! 

I tried Reiki years ago, before cancer, got a voucher when I was pregnant; the meditation music, essential oil burning and dimmed lights were very relaxing but I don't feel the lady's hands hovering over my body did much. When I was treated for cancer 3 years ago in New Zealand I was offered massages and physio/pilates as complementary therapies. I was diagnosed whilst in the middle of moving from NZ to the UK and, at the time, we had moved out of our house, all of our stuff was already on a shipping container over to the UK, and we were staying at my mother-in-law, sharing a room with our 3 kids with just our suitcases for 9 months. In that context, the massages were so relaxing, there were my little escape from reality. I really loved the physio as well as I was struggling to get back into running after surgery and while on chemo, made me feel like I could actually achieve something and make some progress.

Here's the link to the programme Cecile  https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/m0018nt6 which was broadcast last June.

The evidence seems to suggest that Manuka honey works very well topically, if applying to wounds. However, when ingested, those properties get broken down in the digestive system.

Marianne x

I suggested that to Jay but he doesn't like honey says its too sweet for him.