Alternative and complementary therapies – Shelley

 

Shelley describes different complementary treatments and how they have helped her.

Transcript

The other treatment that has been very successful with me has been acupuncture, to help manage hot flashes. Being jolted into menopause at 46. I’m still suffering the side effects of hot flashes that could go on throughout the 5 years of hormone treatment, but it does help. I find it helps immensely. It works for myself and for other patients I’ve heard it doesn’t help as much. But once you find your niche it’s a good thing and the doctors have been very accepting of the lymphedema massage therapy, the acupuncture, the Reiki treatments.

So I’ve done Reiki and I continue to do Reiki on myself as a trained Reiki, we call it a Reiki master, and I have success with it. It’s very calming. I also do yoga and the breathing meditation through yoga is phenomenal. I’m not where I used to be in yoga and all these poses. I’m lucky if I can get up from a downward dog now. It’s just, it’s different. So, again we’re fortunate enough to have cancer yoga classes that focus a lot on breathing and exercises to help with muscle and joint aches and pains and the muscle cramping that is often a side effect of chemo or the hormone therapy that I take. All these tools and toolkits and compression garments that I’ve been equipped with, helped me to get back to a normal life or a more new normal life is what I should say.


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