A Gentle, Safe, Natural Answer to Cancer Treatment’s Complications
As if cancer weren’t bad enough, the conventional treatment for cancer very often leads to quality of life threatening complications. New research reveals that there is a gentle, natural herb that offers broad spectrum help.
For many people, cancer means chemotherapy or radiation. And chemotherapy and radiation very often means side effects. About 40% of people treated with chemotherapy develop painful mouth sores. Nausea and vomiting is a serious side effect for 54%-96% of people on chemotherapy. Radiation leads to dermatitis in 95% of cases. And it is not just your body that is affected. Cancer and its treatment frequently lead to depression and anxiety.
Chamomile is so common and so gentle that it is easy to forget how powerful it is. A recent systematic review has shown that chamomile can help with a long list of cancer complications.
The systematic review included 18 studies that included a total of 1,099 people. 15 of the studies were controlled studies. Depending on the side effect being treated, many different forms of chamomile were used, from topical and oral gels to ice chips, creams, teas, capsules and aromatherapy massage.
Eight of the studies looked at mouth sores, and 7 of them showed that chamomile, as a mouthwash, ice chips or topical gel reduced the severity and frequency of mouth sores.
Five studies found that topical chamomile reduced skin damage from radiation, including dermatitis, phlebitis, itching, burning and hyperpigmentation.
Other studies found that chamomile improves appetite in people undergoing chemotherapy and decreases incidents of vomiting.
Aromatherapy massage using chamomile essential oil improves anxiety in people with cancer, and a study of chamomile tea found improvements in depression.
Aromatherapy massage using chamomile essential oil also improves quality of life.
There were no side effects in any of the studies from chamomile, meaning that the herb is as gentle as it is powerful.
Integr Cancer Ther. 2023;22:15347354231164600
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For much more chamomile, see our book Healthy Herbs: Your Everyday Guide to Medicinal Herbs and Their Use.
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