Undergoing chemotherapy can be a stress on your mind and spirit as well as your body! Complimentary therapies can help reduce stress and ease side effects — but DO NOT take the place of medical therapies. Complimentary therapies add to the benefits of medical therapies and can help you feel more in control of your situation.
Talk to your doctor before undergoing any complimentary therapies — you may have health issues that prevent you from taking part in certain techniques. Your doctor may also be able to help you find a qualified professional to help you learn these therapeutic techniques.
- Hypnosis is a way to put yourself into a deeply relaxed state. A qualified person can hypnotize you, or you can learn to hypnotize yourself. You may want to talk to someone trained in the technique before starting hypnosis on your own.
- Biofeedback uses a machine to help you learn to control body functions like muscle tension, heart rate, and even blood pressure. The machine senses when your body shows tension and signals you with a sound or light. When you relax again, the machine will signal you. Eventually, you can learn to control your relaxation responses without the machine’s feedback.
- Creative Imagery/Visualization is a kind of daydreaming. One method of imagery is picturing a ball of healing energy somewhere in your body. With each breath, you can guide the ball towards the places where you feel pain or tension or discomfort. You may see the ball growing as it absorbs your pain. Visualization is the creation of a mental picture that represents your fight against cancer. You may choose to see your heroic white blood cells as knights in armor, or as an army attacking cancer cells.
- Massage Therapy is a wonderful way to ease stress and muscle aches. Be sure to have a licensed massage therapist work on you!
- Meditation is a relaxation technique that helps focus your thoughts and energy on something very specific. You may want to repeat a word over and over, or look at a picture, or just concentrate on your breathing. Prayer is another way to focus your thoughts and energy and find comfort and inspiration.
- Yoga is a combination of breathing, stretching, and meditation that will help you feel relaxed and energized! Check with your doctor before beginning any physical exercise program, to make sure you don’t have any health issues that may cause problems.
- Muscle Tension and Release, or Progressive Relaxation, helps your body relax completely. Starting with your toes, clench your muscles for a second while holding your breath. Release the tension and release the breath. Move up from your feet, tensing and relaxing muscle groups and by the time you reach your head, you will feel nice and relaxed! If you don’t want to do the full body progression, you can just do your arms or legs or even your fists, for a quick tension and release.