"The ASCO Post" printed this article on melanoma, November 15, 2013, Volume 4, Issue 18
By Caroline Helwick
http://www.ascopost.com/issues/november-15,-2013/ipilimumab-conveys-long-term-survival-in-pooled-analysis-of-metastatic-melanoma-patients.aspx
Tuesday, November 19, 2013
Monday, November 4, 2013
The Intriguing Health Benefits of Qigong
The Claim: Qigong, a Chinese health practice based on gentle movements, meditation and breathing, has wide-ranging benefits, including improving balance, lowering blood pressure and even easing depression.
The Verdict: Increasingly popular in the U.S., qigong (pronounced chee-gong) has been found in recent studies to improve quality of life in cancer patients and fight depression. Other studies have found improvements in balance and blood pressure. But so far, there aren't enough large, well-designed studies to constitute solid proof of any benefits, scientists say.
Qigong, with its roots in traditional Chinese medicine, is a close cousin to the better-known tai chi. Unlike that practice, qigong isn't based in martial arts. Instead, it uses a variety of gentle movements, says Stanwood Chang, who teaches qigong classes at the Benson-Henry Institute for Mind Body Medicine at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston. Because its motions are simple and repetitive, qigong is more accessible to many people than tai chi, which has long sequences that need to be memorized, Mr. Chang adds.
Traditionally, qigong is described as a practice that cultivates "qi," or life energy. Qi can't be measured objectively, says Shin Lin, a professor of cell biology at the University of California, Irvine. But his studies of qigong and tai chi practitioners have found a boost in both alpha brain waves, suggesting relaxation, and beta waves, indicating strong focus. "It has the dual benefit of relaxing you, but also sharpening your mind," says Dr. Lin.
Some studies have found improvement in balance from qigong. At least one cites the fact that participants are taught to take a wider, more stable stance when standing.
Natural Standard Research Collaboration, a Cambridge, Mass., scientist group that evaluates natural therapies, gives qigong a grade of "B," for hypertension, concluding that there is "good evidence" to support its use along with standard medications to treat the condition.
Earlier this year, a three-month, 14-person study of depressed Chinese-Americans, who were offered one-hour qigong classes twice a week and encouraged to practice at home, found that 60% of those who took at least 15 classes saw a significant improvement in depression based on a standard rating scale. "One theory is that qigong helps people to relax and combat stress," which tends to aggravate depression, says study co-author Albert Yeung, associate professor of psychiatry at Harvard Medical School in Cambridge.
The study was too small to be conclusive, adds Dr. Yeung, a senior consultant at the Benson-Henry Institute. But he's excited enough about the potential that he already recommends qigong to patients with mild and moderate depression, and in combination with medication to patients with severe depression.
For cancer patients, qigong can be done sitting and lying down if a person has physical constraints or is in pain, says Yang Yang, a kinesiologist and researcher, who teaches qigong at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York.
In a study of 96 women getting radiation therapy for breast cancer, published earlier this year, a team of Chinese scientists and researchers at the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston found reduced depression in women who took five weekly classes of qigong, compared with a control group that didn't take the classes. Among those depressed at the start of the trial, fatigue was lessened and overall quality of life improved.
Many people take qigong group classes, which typically cost $10 to $20 an hour, or practice at home after learning the exercises in a class or from a qigong DVD or online video.
Read the original article in the Wall Street Journal here.
The Verdict: Increasingly popular in the U.S., qigong (pronounced chee-gong) has been found in recent studies to improve quality of life in cancer patients and fight depression. Other studies have found improvements in balance and blood pressure. But so far, there aren't enough large, well-designed studies to constitute solid proof of any benefits, scientists say.
Student Krupa Patel warms up during class. Dominick Reuter for The Wall Street Journal
Traditionally, qigong is described as a practice that cultivates "qi," or life energy. Qi can't be measured objectively, says Shin Lin, a professor of cell biology at the University of California, Irvine. But his studies of qigong and tai chi practitioners have found a boost in both alpha brain waves, suggesting relaxation, and beta waves, indicating strong focus. "It has the dual benefit of relaxing you, but also sharpening your mind," says Dr. Lin.
Some studies have found improvement in balance from qigong. At least one cites the fact that participants are taught to take a wider, more stable stance when standing.
Natural Standard Research Collaboration, a Cambridge, Mass., scientist group that evaluates natural therapies, gives qigong a grade of "B," for hypertension, concluding that there is "good evidence" to support its use along with standard medications to treat the condition.
Earlier this year, a three-month, 14-person study of depressed Chinese-Americans, who were offered one-hour qigong classes twice a week and encouraged to practice at home, found that 60% of those who took at least 15 classes saw a significant improvement in depression based on a standard rating scale. "One theory is that qigong helps people to relax and combat stress," which tends to aggravate depression, says study co-author Albert Yeung, associate professor of psychiatry at Harvard Medical School in Cambridge.
The study was too small to be conclusive, adds Dr. Yeung, a senior consultant at the Benson-Henry Institute. But he's excited enough about the potential that he already recommends qigong to patients with mild and moderate depression, and in combination with medication to patients with severe depression.
For cancer patients, qigong can be done sitting and lying down if a person has physical constraints or is in pain, says Yang Yang, a kinesiologist and researcher, who teaches qigong at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York.
In a study of 96 women getting radiation therapy for breast cancer, published earlier this year, a team of Chinese scientists and researchers at the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston found reduced depression in women who took five weekly classes of qigong, compared with a control group that didn't take the classes. Among those depressed at the start of the trial, fatigue was lessened and overall quality of life improved.
Many people take qigong group classes, which typically cost $10 to $20 an hour, or practice at home after learning the exercises in a class or from a qigong DVD or online video.
Read the original article in the Wall Street Journal here.
Living With Cancer: Brains on Chemo
By SUSAN GUBAR from The New York Times Well Blog:
Over the past few months, a number of headlines in The New York Times have stumped me.
Chemo brain is a phenomenon that patients have described for quite some time as a thick mental fog resulting from chemotherapy. For quite some time, too, physicians discounted chemo brain as a figment of patients’ imaginations. Now, however, the American Cancer Society terms it “a mild cognitive impairment” that for most people only lasts a short time.
Doctors were skeptical about chemo brain because many factors can induce mental glitches. Forgetfulness, trouble concentrating, memory blanks, inattention, word loss, retention problems and disorganization can result from aging, sleeplessness, depression, fatigue, anxiety, low blood counts, the onset of menopause and other medications.
Isn’t it curious, though, that chemotherapy often accelerates aging, causes sleeplessness and depression, promotes fatigue and anxiety, lowers blood counts, causes the onset of menopause and requires powerful secondary medications to deal with its side effects? We seem to be caught in a dupe — oops, I mean a loop.
P.C.C.I., or post-chemotherapy cognitive impairment, after being attributed to patients’ hang-ups, finally became the subject of serious research while I was undergoing treatment. Such investigations therefore could not yield pragmatic solutions quick enough to help me locate my car in the parking lot or my keys maybe inside it.
While I was going through chemotherapy, the phrase “mild cognitive impairment” did not pertain to the stupefaction I experienced at forgetting a close friend’s name. I found myself bewildered about what task had led me to my university office and then lost on the way home. I had to enact a convoluted guessing game to get my husband to provide the word “egg.” On more than one occasion, it became apparent that one of my daughters was confiding in me, but about what?
From that time on, I got hooked on two aids many people use to survive with a minimum of mortification. First, on my computer and iPhone, I have an elaborate calendar listing not only events that must be attended or tasks that must be accomplished but even menus and their ingredients. I study it hourly so I will remember what needs to be performed, purchased or produced — when, and for or with whom.
Second, I always have a small pad in my purse, another by the side of my bed, another next to my computer, another in the kitchen. Often I scribble suggestions or snippets of conversation so — if they are decipherable — I can mull them over later and learn to remember the information they convey in a new, if more laborious, manner.
Because of the cumulative effect of chemicals, sometimes those aids do not help. A few years ago, I suffered the bane of chemo brain most intensely toward the end of six infusions of Taxol and Carboplatin, when a fuzzy hesitancy spiraled into blank enervation. I could not think to think, stand to stand, or feel to feel. Vacancy morphed me into a zombie or humanoid. I felt somehow exiled from myself, a mishap never mentioned in the cheerful brochures on chemotherapy displayed in oncology waiting rooms.
A friend of mine now on the same drug combination weeps while considering suicide, although she is taking an antidepressant. “It’s the chemicals, stupid,” she has to keep reminding herself.
Even when Carboplatin alone was later prescribed for me, I had trouble reading. I tried, but when I turned the page I became convinced that either there was a page missing or I had skipped a page. My eyes would roll over a paragraph without being able to snag on a sentence … sort of a hindrance for an English teacher.
These days, while I take a targeted drug, the aftereffect of chemo brain persist in milder forms, making my reading quite stimulating — but for the wrong reasons. As I study a recipe calling for 1 ¼ teaspoons of salt, I wonder how to measure 11 fourths. I am regularly surprised by discussions of kidney stores (instead of kidney stones), dejection tissues (instead of digestion issues), the sex dive (sex drive) and constipations after surgery (rather than complications after surgery).
As a self-identified “chemosabe” in my support group assures me, at least the recognition and naming of chemo brain prove we are not (completely) crazy.
Check out the original post from by Susan Gubar from The New York Times Well Blog.
Tomatoes Have Devastated American Indian Families in OklahomaOf course, those weren’t actually the headlines The Times had written. But why am I staring at the word “Tornadoes” and reading “Tomatoes”? Looking at “Cuts” and reading “Cats”? Interpreting the abbreviation “Wall St.” as “Wall Saint”? After three cycles (or 18 sessions) of chemotherapy, I seem to be dealing with a weird sort of dyslexia.
U.S. Workers Are Grounded by Deep Cats
Wall Saint Banks Woo Children of Chinese Leaders
Chemo brain is a phenomenon that patients have described for quite some time as a thick mental fog resulting from chemotherapy. For quite some time, too, physicians discounted chemo brain as a figment of patients’ imaginations. Now, however, the American Cancer Society terms it “a mild cognitive impairment” that for most people only lasts a short time.
Doctors were skeptical about chemo brain because many factors can induce mental glitches. Forgetfulness, trouble concentrating, memory blanks, inattention, word loss, retention problems and disorganization can result from aging, sleeplessness, depression, fatigue, anxiety, low blood counts, the onset of menopause and other medications.
Isn’t it curious, though, that chemotherapy often accelerates aging, causes sleeplessness and depression, promotes fatigue and anxiety, lowers blood counts, causes the onset of menopause and requires powerful secondary medications to deal with its side effects? We seem to be caught in a dupe — oops, I mean a loop.
P.C.C.I., or post-chemotherapy cognitive impairment, after being attributed to patients’ hang-ups, finally became the subject of serious research while I was undergoing treatment. Such investigations therefore could not yield pragmatic solutions quick enough to help me locate my car in the parking lot or my keys maybe inside it.
While I was going through chemotherapy, the phrase “mild cognitive impairment” did not pertain to the stupefaction I experienced at forgetting a close friend’s name. I found myself bewildered about what task had led me to my university office and then lost on the way home. I had to enact a convoluted guessing game to get my husband to provide the word “egg.” On more than one occasion, it became apparent that one of my daughters was confiding in me, but about what?
From that time on, I got hooked on two aids many people use to survive with a minimum of mortification. First, on my computer and iPhone, I have an elaborate calendar listing not only events that must be attended or tasks that must be accomplished but even menus and their ingredients. I study it hourly so I will remember what needs to be performed, purchased or produced — when, and for or with whom.
Second, I always have a small pad in my purse, another by the side of my bed, another next to my computer, another in the kitchen. Often I scribble suggestions or snippets of conversation so — if they are decipherable — I can mull them over later and learn to remember the information they convey in a new, if more laborious, manner.
Because of the cumulative effect of chemicals, sometimes those aids do not help. A few years ago, I suffered the bane of chemo brain most intensely toward the end of six infusions of Taxol and Carboplatin, when a fuzzy hesitancy spiraled into blank enervation. I could not think to think, stand to stand, or feel to feel. Vacancy morphed me into a zombie or humanoid. I felt somehow exiled from myself, a mishap never mentioned in the cheerful brochures on chemotherapy displayed in oncology waiting rooms.
A friend of mine now on the same drug combination weeps while considering suicide, although she is taking an antidepressant. “It’s the chemicals, stupid,” she has to keep reminding herself.
Even when Carboplatin alone was later prescribed for me, I had trouble reading. I tried, but when I turned the page I became convinced that either there was a page missing or I had skipped a page. My eyes would roll over a paragraph without being able to snag on a sentence … sort of a hindrance for an English teacher.
These days, while I take a targeted drug, the aftereffect of chemo brain persist in milder forms, making my reading quite stimulating — but for the wrong reasons. As I study a recipe calling for 1 ¼ teaspoons of salt, I wonder how to measure 11 fourths. I am regularly surprised by discussions of kidney stores (instead of kidney stones), dejection tissues (instead of digestion issues), the sex dive (sex drive) and constipations after surgery (rather than complications after surgery).
As a self-identified “chemosabe” in my support group assures me, at least the recognition and naming of chemo brain prove we are not (completely) crazy.
Check out the original post from by Susan Gubar from The New York Times Well Blog.
The Cancer Insurance Checklist: Your Guide to Shopping for Insurance on the Marketplace/Exchange
As implementation of the health reform law (the Affordable Care Act) continues, individuals that do not have insurance through an employer or government plan like Medicare or Medicaid will be required to purchase insurance on state-based Health Insurance Marketplaces, or Exchanges. Open enrollment begins October 1st for coverage that will begin as early as January 1, 2014.
Cancer Support Community has participated in a partnership of 19 cancer and advocacy organizations to develop the Cancer Insurance Checklist.
CancerInsuranceChecklist.org was designed to provide guidance on the issues that you — as a person with cancer, a history of cancer, or a high risk for cancer —should consider when shopping for insurance.
Specifically, the Checklist arms you with the right questions to ask to be sure you can
evaluate and compare plans’ coverage for cancer-related services and the costs associated with that coverage. Although you may not need all of the treatments in the Checklist, and there may be other treatments, costs or aspects of your care that you need to consider, the
Checklist is a useful guide to help you find a plan that will meet your needs.
WHEN TO USE THE CHECKLIST:
CancerInsuranceChecklist.org also provides helpful links to other resources related to cancer and insurance.
We urge you to use and share this helpful new tool with anyone who may need it. And if you need any assistance with cancer related issues, please call CSC’s Helpline at 1-888-793-9355.
Reposted from CSC's Headquarters' blog.
Cancer Support Community has participated in a partnership of 19 cancer and advocacy organizations to develop the Cancer Insurance Checklist.
CancerInsuranceChecklist.org was designed to provide guidance on the issues that you — as a person with cancer, a history of cancer, or a high risk for cancer —should consider when shopping for insurance.
Specifically, the Checklist arms you with the right questions to ask to be sure you can
evaluate and compare plans’ coverage for cancer-related services and the costs associated with that coverage. Although you may not need all of the treatments in the Checklist, and there may be other treatments, costs or aspects of your care that you need to consider, the
Checklist is a useful guide to help you find a plan that will meet your needs.
WHEN TO USE THE CHECKLIST:
- If you will be purchasing insurance on your state’s Health Insurance Marketplace/Exchange
- If you have cancer, a history of cancer, or are at risk for cancer
- When evaluating insurance plans
- When discussing your insurance needs with your Navigator or Marketplace/Exchange representative
- When discussing your cancer care needs with your health care provider
CancerInsuranceChecklist.org also provides helpful links to other resources related to cancer and insurance.
We urge you to use and share this helpful new tool with anyone who may need it. And if you need any assistance with cancer related issues, please call CSC’s Helpline at 1-888-793-9355.
Reposted from CSC's Headquarters' blog.
Monday, September 16, 2013
THANKFUL FOR MY CANCER EXPERIENCE? YES OR NO?
By Carol L. Soskin
Flashback to seven years ago . . .
After over a year of weight loss,
flu like symptoms and coughs, a year filled with X-rays, biopsies and other
tests, my neck became very swollen and I was having trouble breathing. I
was informed that my lung had collapsed. I was diagnosed with non-Hodgkin’s
lymphoma. I was immediately admitted to the hospital and started chemo.
My life changed before my very eyes; this wasn't supposed to be happening
to me!
I had treatments every three weeks,
then radiation. All through it I kept my sense of humor but I felt that I
was in another world. Or was it another planet? This was my new reality
now.
My great friends, family and
doctors helped me on this journey to save my life. It was shortly
thereafter that I found the Cancer Support Community-Benjamin Center (CSC).
I made wonderful new friends and regularly attended the Writing
Group. The feedback about my writing as well as listening to other
peoples’ writing helped me move forward with my life both mentally and physically.
I include the support group ‘Time to Talk’ and the many educational lectures at
CSC in this story of gratitude.
CSC understood.
Cancer gave me many gifts.
So the answer is . . .
yes, I am very thankful!!
CSC's Writing Group meets every Wednesday from 1 - 3pm. Time to Talk, a drop-in group for people with cancer meets every Monday from 2:30 - 4:30pm. All CSC groups are run by psychotherapists.
Sunday, September 8, 2013
How Therapy Helped Me During My Breast Cancer Journey
Although the world is full of suffering, it is full also of the overcoming of it. -Helen Keller
I have been in therapy, off and on, ever since I was about 12 years old because besides coming from a dysfunctional family, I've also suffered abuse from others outside of my family and endured several difficult situations in which I had to struggle to survive. Some of it was racial, because I'm an African-American female, and some of it was like a reenactment of the unsupportive and brutal childhood I lived through. In 2003, I was the target of a stalker while working as a Circulation Page at the Santa Monica Library; the experience left me with Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD. PTSD is "a set of emotional problems that can occur after someone has experienced a terrible, stressful life event". I also have an ulcer and lupus. Throughout all of this I tried to function enough to work, go to school and conduct my life.
Just when I thought I had enough on my plate to deal with I was diagnosed with Stage II A Breast Cancer in 2010. I sank into a deep depression following my first chemo treatment due to a low blood count that caused my Oncologist to check me into the Neupogen ward of the hospital. Once there I was told by the doctors that I had to withdraw from my classes, couldn't work or go out in public since my immune system wasn't strong enough. During my three year journey with breast cancer both my ulcer and lupus have given me so many complications I had quite a few setbacks causing further depression. Once, when my general practitioner visited me in the hospital, she noticed how down I seemed so she prescribed Zoloft and told me to make an appointment with a therapist.
Following her suggestion, as soon as I could go out in public, I attended six counseling sessions at Cancer Support Community-Benjamin Center, and other longer term sessions elsewhere. In addition to the counseling I also started going to CSC-BC's Writing Group and the "Cancer and Creativity" art therapy group in Santa Monica. To sum up all of my therapy treatments, thus far, they've helped me start over with cancer as an impetus. I'm learning how to finally seek out supportive environments and relationships, for the first time in my life, and use my sessions as a place to not only express anger and frustration about my past but about cancer, too. I can also clear my head enough to deal with all of the decisions I've had to make regarding my health and life right now without distractions.
My challenge with cancer has also been harder because of my PTSD since cancer has just been one more "terrible event that occurred to me that I didn't choose or want. The difference with the therapy I'm now getting, as opposed to my previous experiences, is it deals with PTSD directly and shows me a way that I can "seek safety" by taking care of myself physically and emotionally. I've continued asking for help when I need it, use community resources, and participate in healthy activities (e.g., reading, writing and tap dancing) to relax and relieve stress on a daily basis. Even though one of the most difficult things was for me to admit I needed help and see my therapists and others as allies, it was the most useful tool I've learned. I was so used to putting on a brave front that I often became overwhelmed. Their advice to "stop and listen to my body" helped me more often than not.
Two problems I constantly deal with, as a person with PTSD going through the cancer journey, are how to establish boundaries and not respond to triggers. Previously I just accepted dramatic situations as a part of my life but ever since I got cancer they've caused me so much stress so I've had to limit the amount of drama in my life. With therapy, I've learned how to detach from unhealthy relationships and walk away from drama.
Today I'm in the post-cancer drug phase of my journey and from where I currently sit my future's still a little hazy but I know with continued therapy it'll become clearer.
Thursday, September 5, 2013
People with Medicare and the Health Insurance Marketplace
Frequently Asked Questions
Posted by by Michael Grodsky, Artist Insurance Services.
HOW WILL THE HEALTH INSURANCE MARKETPLACE THAT STARTS IN 2014 AFFECT MY MEDICARE COVERAGE?
The Health Insurance Marketplace is designed to help people who don’t have any health insurance. You have health insurance through Medicare. The Marketplace won’t have any effect on your Medicare coverage.
Your Medicare benefits aren’t changing. No matter how you get Medicare, whether through Original Medicare or a Medicare Advantage Plan, you’ll still have the same benefits and security you have now, and you won’t have to make any changes.
The Marketplace provides new health insurance options for many Americans. If you have family and friends who don’t have health insurance, tell them to visit HealthCare.gov to learn more about their options.
DO I NEED TO DO ANYTHING WITH MARKETPLACE PLANS DURING MEDICARE OPEN ENROLLMENT (OCTOBER 15 – DECEMBER 7, 2013)?
Medicare Open Enrollment (October 15 – December 7, 2013) is the time when all people with Medicare are encouraged to review their current health and prescription drug coverage, including any changes in costs, coverage and benefits that will take effect next year. If you want to change your coverage for next year, this is the time to do it. If you’re satisfied that your current coverage will continue to meet your needs for next year, you don’t need to do anything. For more information on Medicare Open Enrollment, visit Medicare.gov or call 1-800-MEDICARE.
NOTE: The Health Insurance Marketplace Open Enrollment period (October 1, 2013 to March 31, 2014) overlaps with the Medicare Open Enrollment period (October 15 – December 7, 2013). Therefore, people with Medicare who are looking to make Medicare coverage changes should make sure that they are reviewing Medicare plans and not Marketplace options.
WHAT SHOULD I DO IF I’M CONTACTED ABOUT SIGNING UP FOR A HEALTH PLAN? „„
- The Medicare open enrollment period is a time when there’s a higher risk for fraudulent activities.
- It’s against the law for someone who knows that you have Medicare to sell you a Marketplace plan.
- DO NOT share your Medicare number or other personal information with anyone who knocks on your door or contacts you uninvited to sell you a health plan.
- Senior Medicare Patrol programs are teaching people with Medicare how to detect and report fraud, and protect themselves from fraudulent activity and identity theft.
- To learn more about health care fraud and ways to protect against it, visit StopMedicareFraud.gov or the Senior Medicare Patrol (SMP) program in your area (locate your SMP at SMPresource.org).
If you need help with your Medicare or health insurance, RSVP for a monthly Health Insurance 101 drop in session at CSC, or contact Michael Grodsky.
Michael Grodsky is owner of Artist Insurance Services (www.artist911.com), providing employee benefits for California arts and cultural organizations, and insurance for individuals & families.
An Accredited Investment Fiduciary, he serves on the board of Side Street Projects (www.sidestreet.org), a nonprofit artist-run organization. Michael is also an insurance and financial planning specialist for GYST (www.gyst-ink.com), an company providing information and technology solutions for artists by artists.
At the Cancer Support Community, Benjamin Center (Santa Monica, CA), Michael hosts a monthly educational hour for people wishing to decipher and understand their options for Medicare and health insurance.
Artist Insurance Services
Michael Grodsky, AIF
phone: (323) 293-6800
email: michael@artist911.com
CA insurance license 0F43491
Artist Insurance Services
Michael Grodsky, AIF
phone: (323) 293-6800
email: michael@artist911.com
CA insurance license 0F43491
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