Cinco Vidas

After chemotherapy treatments, you can have lingering side effects. Several, unfortunately, seem to hit the hands—things like numbness and tingling, rough skin, split nails, and even carpal tunnel syndrome.

To help you deal with these troubling symptoms, we’ve gathered a few recommendations. Whatever you may be experiencing, be sure to tell your doctor. Even if you don’t think it could be connected to your cancer treatments, it often is, and your doctor may be able to help.

Lingering Numbness & Tingling: According to Dr. V. K. Gadi, writing for Everyday Health, Taxol (paclitaxel) is associated with neuropathy (numbness), and also weakening of the reflexes. Sometimes just waiting it out will result in an improvement. Physical therapy may also help. Other survivors recommend massage, acupuncture, and supplements like vitamin B and glutamine (10 grams 2-3 times a day). Mark Stengler, MD and contributor to Daily Health News, recommends acetyl-L-carnitine, a natural substance that can have a regenerative affect on the nerves, along with a B-complex vitamin, vitamins E and C, selenium, and pycnogenol (an antioxidant). Read our other post for more natural recommendations. (more…)

It’s hard to imagine that our own thoughts or emotions could have any real affect on creating disease, but that’s just what author and teacher Louise Hay—and many others—believe.

Ms. Hay asserts that disease is caused by mental thought patterns—particularly patterns of criticism, anger, resentment, and guilt. In her book, Heal Your Body, she talks about different diseases and the mental patterns associated with them. When she was diagnosed with cervical cancer, she put her money where her mouth was, and embarked on a regiment of therapy, (as well as nutrition and reflexology), working through her own resentments over being raped when she was 5 years old. She says she rid herself of the cancer. (more…)

Have you jumped on the mineral makeup bandwagon? If so, you’re probably enjoying the benefits. Mineral makeup doesn’t clog or irritate pores, contains few (if any) preservatives or dyes, feels lightweight, and often includes ingredients that are good for the skin, like sunscreen (e.g., zinc oxide) and anti-inflammatories. However, they also contain very small particles that may pose some health risks. (more…)

When the microwave first came out, wasn’t it wonderful? We reveled in the ease of taking leftovers out of the fridge, tossing them in this new wonder of technology, and zap, a few minutes later, dinner! So much easier than slaving over a hot stove!

Well, as you’ve probably heard, microwaving in certain plastic containers is not all that smart for our health. Since the warnings coming at us via the media and e-mail stories can get confusing, let’s narrow it down so you know exactly what to avoid to reduce your risk of cancer from this source, at least. (more…)

It’s hard enough finding out your child has cancer. What if you discovered that some of the pesticides you’d been using in your home could have had something to do with it?

A study by researchers at the Georgetown’s Lombardi Comprehensive Cancer Center found just such a link—a higher level of common household pesticides in the urine samples of children with acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL). “In our study,” said lead investigator Offie Soldin, Ph.D., “we compared urine samples from children with ALL and their mothers with healthy children and their moms. We found elevated levels of common household pesticides more often in the mother-child pairs affected by cancer.” (more…)

For most people, a cancer diagnosis is a definite downer. Surely no one would admit to feeling “happy” about their cancer. But is it possible to feel happiness and joy while going through cancer? And if so, what’s the secret?

Strangely enough, according to many survivors, cancer can be a catalyst for more happiness, for one reason: It teaches us to be grateful.

“I woke up early one morning and realized I was happy,” says two-time breast-cancer survivor and writer, Betty Rollin. “The weird part is, I realized that the source of my happiness was, of all things, cancer—that cancer had everything to do with how good the good parts of my life were.” (more…)

So many cancer patients suffer from stomach upset that researchers have developed many medications to treat it—but there are also several natural solutions you can try.

Why is it that cancer treatments so commonly cause stomach upset? According to Dr. Harman at cancergrace.org, both cancer and the treatments for it can be factors in creating stomach problems. Chemotherapy-induced nausea and vomiting usually occur because the drugs stimulate a part of the brain that controls the vomiting response. Damage to the intestines from chemo can also stimulate that same response in the brain, and in the stomach. Other causes unique to cancer include: (more…)

Lynn Lane, founder of “Voices of Survivors,” shooting a documentary film in Southern West Virginia.

What does it really mean to be a “survivor?” The term is constantly used in the media and related cancer publications, but if you’ve actually experienced cancer in your life, what does survivorship really mean? That’s what Lynn Lane, founder/executive director of “Voices of Survivors,” has dedicated his life to find out.

“A lot of people don’t like the word ‘survivor,’” he says. “Does it mean you’re just barely hanging on, or you ‘just’ survived? We’re not just surviving. We’re living. We’re thriving.”

Diagnosed with prostate cancer when he was only 41, Lynn found the experience very isolating. (more…)

The word “cancer” can bring up lots of other dark and unfriendly words. Fear, pain, struggle, exhaustion—these and more pop up in the minds of most people when they’re diagnosed.

Shanda Sumpter, founder of HeartCore Bootcamp, suggests a different word: gift.

Cancer, a gift?

“You’re not a victim no matter what has happened in your life,” says this clarity coach. “Whether you’ve had a divorce, suffered an injury, gotten cancer…anything that has come up in your space. (more…)

“I just got back from Christmas,” says a caregiver on Cancercompass.com, “and I am just so sad. My dad who was diagnosed with EC [esophageal cancer] in November couldn’t eat his dinner.”

There’s no doubt that cancer, treatments, and side effects can make it harder for you to eat, and harder for your body to absorb nutrients from your food. “Our doctors have some amazing weapons in their arsenal when it comes to knocking out cancer,” says Heather Borsa, Oncology Dietitian at Elkhart General Hospital, Indiana. (more…)