Complementary therapies are types of therapies not scientifically proven but accepted as ways that may help treat a certain condition.
Alternative therapies are used in place of conventional therapies and the risks may be unknown. You should always consult your treating clinician when considering complementary and/or alternative therapies.
The following complementary therapies are examples that can be used in combination with conventional medicine for those with melanoma.
To maintain energy levels and enhance your immune system it is important to have a nutritionally balanced diet. This should include fresh fruit and vegetables, healthy carbohydrates that are low in fats and sugar (bread, pasta, rice, cereals) and protein (lean meat, eggs, milk, beans/lentils). Alcohol and caffeine should be kept to a minimum. Discussing your diet with a dietitian may be helpful.
Dietitians Association of Australia www.daa.asn.au
Exercise can have a positive impact on your mood and wellbeing but you should be active at a level that is comfortable for you. Even small amounts of activity may make you feel better and improve your sleep.
Evidence shows that physical activity can be effective in lifting low mood, improving sleep, lowering blood pressure and reducing stress.
Discussing your physical activity with a physiotherapist may be helpful.
Australian Physiotherapy Association www.physiotherapy.asn.au
Fatigue is commonly experienced by people with melanoma and can be a side effect of melanoma treatments. It is important to allow yourself adequate time to rest and recuperate. To manage excessive fatigue you should talk with your treating clinician.
Research has shown that relaxation and mindfulness techniques can counter the harmful physical effects of stress. Methods to elicit deep relaxation include guided imagery, visualisation, meditation, progressive muscle relaxation, massage, breathing techniques, yoga, Tai Chi and prayer.
Ensuring a healthy mind and spirit are important and self-care is essential, especially when dealing with the stress of melanoma. Self-care is any activity that helps you maintain your physical, mental or emotional health and is best when practised routinely.
Connecting with communities of faith or accessing local counsellors may also help in anxiety and stress reduction as well as enabling avenues to discuss difficult and often avoided issues such as the meaning of life, death and dying.
“By having a short walk outside each day I feel better in myself and have noticed that I am less stressed and sleeping better at night.” – Chris
Level 8, East Wing
Wesley Research Institute
451 Coronation Dve, Auchenflower QLD 4066
Our Spring Newsletter 2018 with an important message from CEO Victoria Beedle.
Also featured:
The lovely Belinda Smith, wife, mother and daughter, shares her insights on living with a melanoma diagnosis and hopes it provides inspiration for others.
Fear of melanoma recurrence following an early stage diagnosis can have a huge and sometimes negative impact on day to day life especially in the first couple of years. It's rational, justified and yet can be very distressing.
Our proud corporate partnership with the wonderful Smiling for Smiddy team and the Mater Foundation.
mailchi.mp/melanomapatients/melanoma-patients-australia-spring-newsletter
So true and can relate to all what Belinda is going through. It certainly isn’t easy. Keep fighting.
Optimistic news from Dr Jeffrey Weber, world leading melanoma expert, talking about anti-PD1 Keytruda (pembrolizumab) immunotherapy complete response data suggesting metastatic melanoma cures.
Immunotherapy Complete Responses Suggest Metastatic Melanoma Cures
medscape.com
Because complete response from pembrolizumab is durable, Dr Weber is predicting that a cure for melanoma may be possible.
Love this sort of news
PD1 gave my late partner more time perhaps but that was all and he was BRAF wild type. I'm glad it works for some though
For what percentage? Because it did 0% for my dad. Nothing no reduction of cancer. In fact the side effects contributed to his death.
Rebecca Ann pfffft
Which braff is it working well on
Great read, thankfully to date I have been a complete responder 😊
Interesting information for sure.
Lyn Frame Andrew Frame❤️
I’m very lucky to continue to be disease free 12mths post treatment. Amazing work and research, absolutely life changing 🙏🏻
Justin Batrouney
Yazz Min
Robyn Kopp show Dad.
Helen Elizabeth Power - you helped get this through x
I started on Keytruda in March this year & have had 3 all clear PET scans. Have to have treatment for 12mts before it is stopped. Very happy with it.
Have been on this treatment and it seems that it has worked! Last PET scan to confirm in two weeks 😁😃
Grant Stork Watch the video!
Individuals with an inherited form of melanoma responded well to immunotherapy in a small trial in Sweden.
Hereditary melanoma effectively treated with immunotherapy
upi.com
Individuals with an inherited form of melanoma responded well to immunotherapy in a small trial in Sweden.
Rosemary Jones
Ours is inherited melanoma. We would still get them even without the sun exposure. Julie Morgan. Sounds good.
How do you know if it's an inherited melanoma? My mum passed away last January from metastatic melanoma, my sister, brother and myself have skin checks but no one has told us there is an inherited melanoma.
They seem to know Casey Sanders did u read this
L
Meika Burey This is the organisation I was talking about
Khali-Anne Dunn...interesting .... For sure..
Zara McLeod Miranda Kirkland
Rebecca Ann just in case
MPA was delighted to have attended and presented at the Australasian Melanoma Conference 2018.
CEO Victoria Beedle (right), Board Directors Prof Mark Smithers, Karen van Gorp and Alison Button-Sloan were joined by Adrianna Henderson Zadro, Melbourne Support Group Co-Facilitator (left) and many of our brilliant MPA members and supporters including Di Mason, CEO Melanoma TAS.
It was an inspirational 2 days and has renewed our focus to ensure no melanoma patient or their family walks alone.
We are always here to help - call us on 1300 88 44 50 or email info@melanomapatients.org.au
Breaking News: MPA, along with the global melanoma cancer community, warmly congratulates Dr James Allison on sharing the 2018 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine today.
Dr Allison’s work led to a greater understanding of CTLA-4, a key checkpoint in the immune system that help regulate the body’s response to disease and infection. That research led to the development of multiple immunotherapies called checkpoint inhibitors, which act as a brake on the immune system.
The first such drug ipilimumab, has been shown to dramatically extend the lives of many patients with deadly advanced melanoma.
parkerici.org
Allison shares medicine’s top prize for uncovering keys to regulating immune system, leading to major advancements in cancer treatment James P. Allison, Ph.D., a director at the Parker Institute for...
Thanks for sharing MPA it is great knowing the history if your life saving drugs!
Hopefully working for me
How awesome....xxxxx
It’s excellent to see cancer research being recognised in such an elite field , can only be good news 👍
This is fantastic and James Allsion deserves it together with Tasuku Honjo
This is the best news ever . One day soon there will be a cure for melanoma as I lost my husband to this. He had stage 4.
What a legend!
Fantastic, and thank goodness!!
Thankyou great man. This was my lifesaving 5 years ago. XX
Absolute legend no words will ever be enough 💯😘
Fantastic news. Well deserved Rose.
He would be a saint to many & deservedly so. Thank you.
