Conventional treatments for breast cancer are effective in helping save lives.
But the power of the mind is effective too.
So says Burnaby health practitioner Louise Evans, who is promoting her new book, The Cancer Conundrum and Ways of Dealing With It.
Evans says the book looks at how hypnotherapy, spiritualism and conventional treatments can be combined to help you feel stronger as you battle cancer.
And she should know.
She was diagnosed with stage 3, grade 3 breast cancer in 2014 and underwent the traditional treatment of surgery, chemotherapy, radiation and hormone therapy. She also used desensitization and exercise, supplementing this with hypnotherapy. In addition to being a registered clinical counsellor, she is also a hypnotherapist.
“Once given the all clear by the doctors, I continued to use hypnotherapy to ensure that the cancer would not return,” Evans said. “I have been cancer-free for the last five years and formed a small cancer group so that people like myself who had either recovered from the disease or were actively fighting it could use hypnotherapy to empower themselves.”
The book explores a variety of ways that people can try to help themselves feel stronger as they struggle through the often-difficult side effects of chemotherapy and other treatments.
These range from eating only organic food, drinking alkaline water, and two other therapies which are not widely known, oxygen therapy - flooding the body with oxygen through an IV - and using a hyperthermia machine, which directs high heat to the tumors.
“I am trying to relate to the reader so they can say yes, that is happening to me and to give people hope and tools that they can choose or not choose to use to help themselves,” Evans said. “During chemotherapy when clients may be lying in bed unable to do anything, they can record scripts from the book on their cell phones and listen to them. It will make them feel better and the power of the mind is incredible.”
Part of the net proceeds of the book will be donated to the BC Cancer Agency, Evans said.
