On October 31, 2011, The Philadelphia Inquirer published an article by Michael Yudell, an associate professor at Drexel University School of Public Health, in which he chastised the late Steve Jobs for choosing to treat his pancreatic cancer with alternative therapies, rather than conventional medicine.
Yudell said, "Jobs spurned the best medical advice and the pleas of his family and friends and pursued his own path. He sought out, according to Walter Isaacson's new biography, a hodgepodge of alternative therapies including a diet of carrot and fruit juices, acupuncture, herbal remedies, and even the advice of a psychic. Nine months after his initial diagnosis, his tumor was found to have grown and spread. It was too late. His cancer was now incurable...Jobs was quoted in his biography as saying that he 'didn't want them to open up my body, so I tried to see if a few other things would work.'"
"A friend believed that Jobs had 'such a strong desire for the world to be a certain way that he wills it to be that way.' This magical thinking may have worked in his world of computers. But for his health, as one friend put it, 'reality is unforgiving.'"
I would like to address several of the points in this article.
As a breast cancer survivor, I learned first-hand that our response to a life-threatening medical diagnosis is very personal. Well-meaning family and friends frequently have their own agenda, which colors their advice. Jobs was entitled to follow his own path, even if his decisions were faulty, inaccurate, and ultimately, fatal. That doesn't mean that he made the most effective choices, but it was, indeed, his body, and his right to treat the cancer in a way that made him most comfortable and in sync with his values and desires.
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With that said, in my own situation, I chose to use Western medicine and had a mastectomy, even when offered the option of a lumpectomy and radiation. This horrified some of my friends, who couldn't imagine why anyone would elect to have a breast removed if there was another choice. What they didn't recognize was that I had done considerable research and had spoken with many survivors before deciding on a course of action that would give me peace of mind.
Peace of mind is a crucial concept when making a healthcare decision. It is knowing that, no matter what the outcome, you are at peace with your decision and are not in a state of anxiety.
Throughout my experience with cancer, I had acupuncture treatments, which supported me on many levels and increased my energy, lifted my spirits, and enabled me to focus and think clearly and calmly, despite the overwhelming amount of decisions that needed to be made.
As an acupuncturist, I am keenly aware of the benefits and limits of my field. I always tell patients that acupuncture is complementary to Western Medicine and does not replace it. I believe that it's important to have a family doctor or internist who oversees a patient's care. Hopefully, this physician is willing to recognize that acupuncture can play an important role in helping resolve or minimize healthcare problems and maintain wellness.
I also believe that Western medicine is well-suited to treating acute illnesses and injuries. Certainly, if a person was in a car accident, he or she wouldn't first seek the services of an acupuncturist; a hospital's emergency room would be the place to go.
On the other hand, I've had conversations with physicians who formerly scoffed at acupuncture and now realize that it can provide relief for a variety of chronic problems -- everything from pain to insomnia, menopausal symptoms, and stress relief. In many cases, physicians can only offer medication or surgery and feel frustrated when neither works or is desired by the patient.
In regard to cancer, I recommend to patients that they discuss the use of acupuncture with their oncologist, surgeon, and other physicians who provide their cancer treatment. It is important to get their approval and acceptance of acupuncture as part of the team effort, since it can help with problems such as nausea, fatigue, depression, pain, and body temperature changes.
In general, acupuncturists and other holistic healthcare professionals can usually spend more time listening to and getting to know their patients than can physicians, who are frequently saddled with a large daily caseload. This is not the fault of the doctors, but more frequently the result of financial constraints and demands of their hospital, group practice, and insurers.
Patients who have experienced acupuncture usually enjoy it and are pleased with the benefits. So is it "magical thinking" to believe that this ancient profession can be the answer to at least some of their healthcare issues? A core belief in acupuncture is the importance of maintaining balance in our lives, known in Chinese terms as yin and yang. In choosing their healthcare, I believe it is essential for patients to educate themselves by investigating the conventional and complementary options available to them and selecting the mix that best suits their needs, on a physical, emotional, and spiritual level.
I invite your comments and questions, which you can write on this blog or send to my professional Facebook page, "Donna Greenberg Traditional Acupuncture." Thanks for reading!
