Encyclopedia of Health and Medicine

90 Alternative and Complementary Approaches
health experts recommend BREASTFEEDING mothers
do not use milk thistle or silymarin extract.
Milk thistle is available in dried plant form in
teas, and also in preparations of silymarin extract
in tablet form. People who are allergic to common
thistle, daisies, artichokes, or kiwi (all of which are
in the same plant family as milk thistle) should
not take milk thistle or silymarin in any form.
Milk thistle or silymarin extract may cause digestive
upset including NAUSEA and DIARRHEA. Because
of its enzymatic inhibitory actions, milk thistle
may interfere with INSULIN–GLUCOSE processes. People
who have DIABETES should consult with their
doctors before using milk thistle or silymarin.
MILK THISTLE (Silybum marianum)
Uses Risks/Side Effects Interactions
CIRRHOSIS allergic reaction INSULIN therapy
chronic HEPATITIS digestive upset
mushroom
poisoning
DRUG poisoning
See also HEPATOTOXINS.
mind–body interactions Approaches of care that
engage the interrelationships between the mind
and the body for HEALING and health. Healers have
known for centuries that the state of the mind
influences the condition of the body. Contemporary
physicians will not hesitate to say that the
patient’s attitude and outlook are at least as
important as any technology modern medicine
has to offer. Though the mind alone cannot prevent
or heal significant physical conditions such as
CANCER or CARDIOVASCULAR DISEASE (CVD), an individual’s
mindset shapes the determination with
which he or she approaches treatment and treatment’s
ultimate success or failure.
AROMATHERAPY
BIOFEEDBACK
HYPNOSIS
MEDITATION
REIKI
VISUALIZATION
MIND–BODY THERAPIES
ART THERAPY
CRANIOSACRAL MASSAGE
MASSAGE THERAPY
PRAYER AND SPIRITUALITY
TAI CHI
YOGA
At the most basic level, perceptions about
health, illness, and the success or failure of treatment
influence a person’s compliance with the
doctor’s recommendations from the taking of prescription
medications to lifestyle modifications
such as weight loss or SMOKING CESSATION. At a
more sophisticated level, clinical studies demonstrate
the ability of some people to consciously
alter body functions such as HEART RATE and BLOOD
PRESSURE through methods such as BIOFEEDBACK
and MEDITATION. Cancer treatment programs use
healing visualization, in which the person in treatment
meditates to visualize his or her cancer gone
and the body strong and healthy. Surgeons and
anesthesiologists often recommend visualization
before and after surgery, encouraging people to
“see” the surgery succeed and the body restore
itself to health.
See also BEHAVIOR MODIFICATION THERAPY; LIFESTYLE
AND HEALTH; ORNISH PROGRAM.