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" Think alternative medicine and a mystic&amp;#039;s office filled with exotic herbs and touchy-feely music might come to mind. But today it means something very different: A cardiologist recommends a fish oil supplement to lower her patient&amp;#039;s heart disease risk. Another hands his patient a referral\u2014to an acupuncturist in a neighboring medical suite. Welcome to the new world of integrative or complementary medicine.   &amp;quot;We haven&amp;#039;t forsaken conventional medicine\u2014we&amp;#039;re using both conventional and nonconventional treatments together to get the best results,&amp;quot; says Adrian Dobs, MD, lead investigator at the Johns Hopkins Complementary and Alternative Cancer Center in Baltimore. In practice, that means a cancer patient gets chemotherapy, but might also have acupuncture to reduce its side effects.   Studies show more than 1 in 3 Americans\u2014about 72 million people\u2014have tried a complementary or alternative treatment. But it&amp;#039;s not only patients who are leading the charge. Top medical centers like Duke University, the University of California at San Francisco, and Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center now have integrative medical centers. And the number of hospitals offering complementary therapies has risen to more than 18% (from 7.7% in 1998). What&amp;#039;s more, 78% of medical colleges now require students to take a complementary medicine course.   Another reason they&amp;#039;re catching on: A large, growing body of research shows they work. Since the National Institutes of Health (NIH) established the National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine a decade ago, the center has funded more than 1,200 research projects, many bearing out the potential of nontraditional approaches. No wonder when we consulted top docs, the response was overwhelmingly positive. The next time you&amp;#039;re dealing with a medical issue, you may just want to consider one of the following therapies.   YOGA    How it works Yoga combines specific postures, breathing and relaxation to strengthen and stretch the body and calm the mind.   What docs use it for Treating back pain.A study recently published in the Annals of Internal Medicine showed that yoga was more effective than a self-care book for reducing lower back pain. &amp;quot;Yoga increases flexibility and stretches the muscles in a way that helps reduce discomfort,&amp;quot; explains Mark Young, MD, author of Women and Pain.   Cindy Leonard, a stay-at-home mom in Rancho Santa Fe, California, credits yoga with relieving her back pain and speeding her recovery after surgery for a disc problem in her neck. &amp;quot;Yoga kept me from losing too much range of motion,&amp;quot; Cindy says. &amp;quot;After the four-month follow-up, my surgeon said the X-ray was what he would expect to see a year later.&amp;quot;   Easing the physical effects of stress. Thanks to its calming effect on the body, yoga helps relieve the anxiety associated with illness. Case in point: Researchers at the University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center found that it helped lymphoma patients sleep better.   The same idea may be at work with asthma. &amp;quot;It&amp;#039;s a vicious cycle: Not being able to breathe creates anxiety, which in turn makes it hard to breathe,&amp;quot; says allergist Clifford Bassett, MD, assistant clinical professor at the Long Island College Hospital in Brooklyn, New York. In fact, a study in Allergy and Asthma Proceedings found that asthma patients who took up the practice used less medication.   ACUPUNCTURE    How it works An acupuncturist uses very fine, small needles to stimulate specific spots on the body to ease symptoms. Practitioners believe it works by balancing the body&amp;#039;s qi (energy). In plain physical terms, applying a needle to a particular area can cause your body to release chemicals called endorphins, which help you relax.   What docs use it for Reducing side effects of cancer treatments. Acupuncture has a long track record of easing the nausea associated with chemotherapy and surgery. For instance, researchers at Duke University recently found that acupuncture was more effective at reducing nausea and vomiting after major breast surgery than antinausea medications. Brian Lawenda, MD, a radiation oncologist at the Naval Medical Center in San Diego, originally set out to disprove the effects of acupuncture, but now he routinely recommends it to breast cancer patients during and after radiation to combat fatigue and nausea. &amp;quot;To study it, I had to learn it,&amp;quot; he says. &amp;quot;After getting practice treatments from other students, I had more energy and a greater sense of well-being.&amp;quot;   Promoting pain relief. &amp;quot;I&amp;#039;ve long recommended acupuncture to surgery patients; I even used it myself when I had surgery to remove a benign tumor from my throat,&amp;quot; says Dr. Gaudet, adding that she didn&amp;#039;t use any pain meds afterward. &amp;quot;I wasn&amp;#039;t trying to prove anything\u2014I just didn&amp;#039;t need them.&amp;quot; Data has also shown that acupuncture can help relieve pain and improve functioning in people with osteoarthritis in the knee.   Boosting fertility. A recent review of seven clinical trials suggests that if women with fertility problems get acupuncture in addition to undergoing in vitro fertilization (IVF) they may be more likely to get pregnant.   MEDITATION    How it works When you meditate, you focus on a word, an object or your own breath as you inhale slowly and deeply, then exhale to quiet your mind and relax the body. Experts think meditation may decrease activity in the autonomic nervous system (the part that controls fight-or-flight reactions), which results in a lower heart rate and relaxation of the blood vessels.   What docs use it for Lowering blood pressure. Studies funded by the NIH show meditation can help people lower their dose of blood pressure medication, reduce the thickening of artery walls and lessen plaque buildup, thus helping prevent heart attacks. &amp;quot;Stress and anxiety make your cardiovascular system work harder, which over time can increase your risk for heart disease,&amp;quot; says Sharonne N. Hayes, MD, head of the Women&amp;#039;s Heart Clinic at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota, who recommends meditation as one way to relieve stress. &amp;quot;Meditation reduces stress almost instantly, so it can really be a boon to patients&amp;#039; healing,&amp;quot; she says. In one study published in The American Journal of Cardiology, older people with hypertension who regularly meditated lowered their blood pressure and reduced their risk of dying during the 19-year follow-up period by 23%.   Alleviating depression associated with illness. Meditation also has a powerful effect on the mind: Researchers at the University of Louisville found that it helped relieve symptoms of depression in women with fibromyalgia. Tracy Latz, MD, a psychiatrist in Mooresville, North Carolina, teaches patients to meditate as part of treatment for a variety of conditions. &amp;quot;It can give patients an inner peace that helps diminish the feelings of isolation and abandonment that are so intense with depression and other mental health issues,&amp;quot; she says.   HYPNOTHERAPY   How it works  A therapist guides you to a state called restful alertness, which may make you more open to suggestions that can change your state of mind and improve your health.   What docs use it for Relieving pain. &amp;quot;When something physically hurts you\u2014say, you drop a stapler on your toe\u2014the affected nerve or muscle sends a signal to the brain,&amp;quot; explains Guy Montgomery, PhD, director of the Integrative Behavioral Medicine Program at the Mount Sinai School of Medicine in New York City. &amp;quot;Under hypnosis you can train your mind to interpret the signal differently\u2014as less intense.&amp;quot;   One study, led by Dr. Montgomery, showed that getting hypnosis prior to breast cancer surgery reduced women&amp;#039;s need for anesthesia as well as postoperative nausea and discomfort. And NIH reports have found that hypnosis helps ease migraine pain.   Quitting smoking. &amp;quot;Since smoking is the most difficult heart-disease risk factor to eliminate, I recommend using hypnosis in addition to nicotine replacement or medications,&amp;quot; says Nieca Goldberg, MD, clinical associate professor of medicine and medical director of New York University&amp;#039;s Women&amp;#039;s Heart Program. Indeed, studies show that smokers are more likely to quit when they use hypnosis with other methods. The most recent study found that patients who participated in just one hypnotherapy session (along with nicotine replacement) were more likely to be nonsmokers after six months than patients who tried nicotine replacement alone.   NUTRITIONAL SUPPLEMENTS   How they work Herbs, vitamins and minerals can help make up for deficiencies and lower disease risk.   What docs use them for Keeping the heart healthy. Studies have shown that omega-3 fatty acid supplements can lower the incidence of nonfatal heart attacks and strokes as well as slow the progression of atherosclerosis (thickening of the arteries), so many cardiologists recommend them. &amp;quot;I ask virtually all patients who have been diagnosed with atherosclerosis to take an omega-3 supplement, and I also present it as an option for those at risk for cardiovascular disease,&amp;quot; Dr. Hayes says. Dr. Goldberg says she recommends a fish oil supplement to all patients with high triglycerides.   Preventing osteoporosis. Calcium supplements (that also contain vitamin D) are standard for helping keep bones strong. Women should get 1,000 mg of calcium daily, 1,200 mg if they&amp;#039;re over 50.   Soothing stomach problems. &amp;quot;Several double-blind, placebo-controlled studies\u2014the gold standard\u2014have shown that an herbal supplement called Iberogast helps with dyspepsia, a catchall term for stomach ills like gas and bloating,&amp;quot; says Brian E. Lacy, MD, director of the Gastrointestinal Motility Lab at Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center.   Boosting overall health. A growing body of research linking vitamin D deficiency to an increased risk of several diseases, including osteoporosis, heart disease and cancer, has convinced many MDs that their patients need a supplement. In one of the latest studies, from Creighton University in Nebraska, postmenopausal women who took a D supplement for four years had a lower risk for breast cancer than those who didn&amp;#039;t. &amp;quot;I&amp;#039;ve been shocked at how many patients have low levels,&amp;quot; says Sandra Adamson Fryhofer, MD, clinical associate professor of medicine at Emory University School of Medicine. &amp;quot;But it&amp;#039;s not a one-size-fits-all recommendation: Your body makes it as a result of sun exposure, and this varies from person to person. I test patients&amp;#039; blood levels and go from there.&amp;quot; "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
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