Chemo Pills Are Effective, But Patients May Skip Doses
Although chemotherapy pills are able to target certain cancers better than traditional intravenous drugs, some patients have trouble taking them. More than 40 percent of patients took the wrong number of pills or skipped doses altogether. They noted severe side effects and complicated instructions for some oral prescriptions often are to blame. Some require patients to take pills several times a day or cycle their doses, taking one pill a day for three weeks, then stopping for a week before starting again. And some patients take two types of pills to treat their cancer or have multiple medications for other chronic conditions. It can be very complicated. “It's cutting-edge treatment, but we don't know enough about it yet," said Barbara Given, associate dean for research in the university's College of Nursing. "People think if they had a life-threatening disease and their doctor recommended treatment, they'd follow the recommendations. But it's really not that simple."
http://www.cancercompass.com/cancer-news/article/43412.htm?c=NL20130124
Self-help books for treating depression
http://www.cancercompass.com/cancer-news/article/43412.htm?c=NL20130124
Self-help books for treating depression
New research suggests self-help books could treat depression better than antidepressants or therapy, relatively cheaply and without side-effects. One in five of us will get depressed at some point in our lives. A GP argues that antidepressants are prescribed too readily, for too long, and are less effective than people think. Research suggests another way of dealing with depression. Instead of medication, it recommends self-help books.They're relatively cheap and, unlike antidepressants, won't make you constipated or lose your libido. There is already support from the Royal College of Psychiatrists, which is involved in the Books on Prescription scheme, selecting books for libraries that can help people with mental health problems. So should you turn to literature to help treat your depression?
http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/2013/jan/28/useful-self-help-books-treat-depression
PROTON THERAPY
Physicians at the Proton Treatment Centre at Loma Linda University & Medical Centre in southern California are keeping a close eye on a promising clinical study designed to treat patients using proton therapy. The clinical study, gives patients with early-stage, medically inoperative lung cancer an alternative to x-ray radiation therapy.
http://www.proton-therapy.org/pr08.htm
http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/2013/jan/28/useful-self-help-books-treat-depression
PROTON THERAPY
Physicians at the Proton Treatment Centre at Loma Linda University & Medical Centre in southern California are keeping a close eye on a promising clinical study designed to treat patients using proton therapy. The clinical study, gives patients with early-stage, medically inoperative lung cancer an alternative to x-ray radiation therapy.
http://www.proton-therapy.org/pr08.htm
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