Complementary Therapies Used Among Adult Patients with Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus in Aceh, Indonesia

Purpose: This study aimed to reveal Complementary Therapies (CT) use among adult patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) in Aceh, Indonesia, and to determine the reasons of using the CT.Methods: A descriptive, cross-sectional study was undertaken using a self-reported questionnaire. One hundred and fifty four adult patients with T2DM has been completed the questionnaire. Descriptive statistics was used to analyze the data.Results: Herbs as a part of biological based therapies were the most popular of CT use among subjects in this study (100%) followed by mind-body intervention (94.2%), manipulation and body based methods (19.5%) and alternative medical methods (3.9%). The reasons for using each CT based on the belief in effects of CT on lowering blood sugar (100%), maintaining healthy body (76.6%), and relieving symptoms of DM (35.7%). Relatives and friends (98.7%) were main resources to obtain the CT information, and the family members (91.0%) were main support of CT use. While, the nature (89.0%) was the easiest source to access a CT product, followed by local markets (36.4%).Conclusion: This study found that herbs were believed by all subjects could reducing blood glucose, maintaining healthy body, and relieving symptoms of DM. Family members and easy to access the CT products from nature took the important role in influencing a person to use CT. More experimental studies examining effects of each CT especially herbal medicine and mind-body intervention are needed in the future

Circumventing the Snake Oil: An Analysis of CAM Cancer Therapies

Since the dawn of recorded human history, humans have searched for ailments to the diseases that plague our everyday lives. However, as each new cure or treatment was discovered, thousands of unsubstantiated and unproven therapies follow behind it. With the advancement of the internet and modern communication, these therapies have found their ways into the minds of consumers. The article highlights three common unproven therapies used by patients, as well as addressing the nuances of Complementary and Alternative Medicine (CAM)

Personal health budgets: a new way of accessing complementary therapies?

The popularity and use of complementary and alternative therapies and medicines (CAM) has remained high in the UK and many other countries over at least the last two decades. Access to such modalities via publicly funded health and welfare systems has remained very limited over the same period. Personal health budgets, designed to offer significant control and personal choice over health care, offer a potential mechanism for some individuals to access publicly funded CAM treatments more directly. This development brings into sharp focus debates about evidence based health care and conflicts between public policy which is geared towards consumer choice and public policy which is based on certain forms of scientific evidence. This paper will examine some of the arguments for allowing access to CAM via personal health budgets, and potential objections and obstacles to this

Terapi Komplementer dalam Mengatasi Gangguan Tidur Pasien yang Menjalani Hemodialisis

This study aims to collect relevant information on the effectiveness of complementary therapies in treating sleep disturbances in patients undergoing routine hemodialysis. The method used in this study is a literature study by collecting and reviewing several published articles regarding the role, use, and effect of complementary therapy in patients on routine hemodialysis with sleep disturbance problems. The results showed the effectiveness of complementary therapies such as music therapy, acupressure, and Benson's relaxation in overcoming sleep disturbances and improving patients' sleep quality. In conclusion, the three complementary therapies can overcome sleep disturbances and improve hemodialysis patients' sleep quality. However, of the three therapies, the authors concluded that Benson's relaxation intervention was an intervention that had better effectiveness than other complementary therapies. Keywords: Complementary Therapy, Sleep Disorders, Hemodialysi

Systematic reviews of complementary therapies - an annotated bibliography. Part 1: Acupuncture

Background Complementary therapies are widespread but controversial. We aim to provide a comprehensive collection and a summary of systematic reviews of clinical trials in three major complementary therapies (acupuncture, herbal medicine, homeopathy). This article is dealing with acupuncture. Potentially relevant reviews were searched through the register of the Cochrane Complementary Medicine Field, the Cochrane Library, Medline, and bibliographies of articles and books. To be included articles had to review prospective clinical trials of acupuncture; had to describe review methods explicitly; had to be published; and had to focus on treatment effects. Information on conditions, interventions, methods, results and conclusions was extracted using a pretested form and summarized descriptively. Results From a total of 48 potentially relevant reviews preselected in a screeening process 39 met the inclusion criteria. 22 were on various pain syndromes or rheumatic diseases. Other topics addressed by more than one review were addiction, nausea, asthma and tinnitus. Almost unanimously the reviews state that acupuncture trials include too few patients. Often included trials are heterogeneous regarding patients, interventions and outcome measures, are considered to have insufficient quality and contradictory results. Convincing evidence is available only for postoperative nausea, for which acupuncture appears to be of benefit, and smoking cessation, where acupuncture is no more effective than sham acupuncture. Conclusions A large number of systematic reviews on acupuncture exists. What is most obvious from these reviews is the need for (the funding of) well-designed, larger clinical trials

Combination of Rehabilitative Therapy with Ultramicronized Palmitylethanolamide for Chronic Low Back Pain: An Observational Study

Chronic low ba,:k pain (LBP) caused by intervertebral disc herniation was reported in the 2010 Global Burden of Disease study to be the main reason for;zears lived wittL disability. It causes significant personal, social, and economic burdens. Many of those who suffer from LBP find convent:ional medica.l treatments to be unsatisfactory for treating their pain, so they are increasingl'g resorting tcr complementary and alternalive medicine (CAM) therapies. Given that thr: population ir; aging, there is an urgent need to characterize the combinations of complementary therapie:; that yield the best outcomes and treatments, even for prolonged periods. The multiple action of PEA in connbination with CAVI therapies may represent the multitarget approachr needed trc tackle the as-yet unsolved problem of chronic pain resistant to conventional therapie

Systematic reviews of complementary therapies – an annotated bibliography. Part 3: Homeopathy

Background Complementary therapies are widespread but controversial. We aim to provide a comprehensive collection and a summary of systematic reviews of clinical trials in three major complementary therapies (acupuncture, herbal medicine, homeopathy). This article is dealing with homeopathy. Potentially relevant reviews were searched through the register of the Cochrane Complementary Medicine Field, the Cochrane Library, Medline, and bibliographies of articles and books. To be included articles had to review prospective clinical trials of homeopathy; had to describe review methods explicitly; had to be published; and had to focus on treatment effects. Information on conditions, interventions, methods, results and conclusions was extracted using a pretested form and summarized descriptively. Results Eighteen out of 22 potentially relevant reviews preselected in the screening process met the inclusion criteria. Six reviews addressed the question whether homeopathy is effective across conditions and interventions. The majority of available trials seem to report positive results but the evidence is not convincing. For isopathic nosodes for allergic conditions, oscillococcinum for influenza-like syndromes and galphimia for pollinosis the evidence is promising while in other areas reviewed the results are equivocal. Interpretation Reviews on homeopathy often address general questions. While the evidence is promising for some topics the findings of the available reviews are unlikely to end the controversy on this therapy

Systematic reviews of complementary therapies – an annotated bibliography. Part 2: Herbal medicine

Background Complementary therapies are widespread but controversial. We aim to provide a comprehensive collection and a summary of systematic reviews of clinical trials in three major complementary therapies (acupuncture, herbal medicine, homeopathy). This article is dealing with herbal medicine. Potentially relevant reviews were searched through the register of the Cochrane Complementary Medicine Field, the Cochrane Library, Medline, and bibliographies of articles and books. To be included articles had to review prospective clinical trials of herbal medicines; had to describe review methods explicitly; had to be published; and had to focus on treatment effects. Information on conditions, interventions, methods, results and conclusions was extracted using a pre-tested form and summarized descriptively. Results From a total of 79 potentially relevant reviews pre-selected in the screening process 58 met the inclusion criteria. Thirty of the reports reviewed ginkgo (for dementia, intermittent claudication, tinnitus, and macular degeneration), hypericum (for depression) or garlic preparations (for cardiovascular risk factors and lower limb atherosclerosis). The quality of primary studies was criticized in the majority of the reviews. Most reviews judged the available evidence as promising but definitive conclusions were rarely possible. Conclusions Systematic reviews are available on a broad range of herbal preparations prescribed for defined conditions. There is very little evidence on the effectiveness of herbalism as practised by specialist herbalists who combine herbs and use unconventional diagnosis