If you are like most cancer patients, you're exploring a variety of traditional treatments with your doctor. And while treatments like chemotherapy are effective options that are more often lifesaving than not, they can leave you feeling fatigued, anemic, and even with hair loss when all is said and done. Luckily, you can help your body counteract some of these side effects by supplementing your traditional treatments with one or more of these techniques:

Intravenous Nutrition Therapy

Traditional cancer treatments tend to alter the physiological and biochemical properties within your body, which can have a negative effect on your overall health and nutrition. And there is a chance that you'll face a decrease in food intake due to nausea from your treatments, which can quickly lead to malnutrition. To improve nutrition intake, intravenous therapy may help.

Short-term nutritional therapy is effectively used for those with acute gastrointestinal problems due to radiology and chemotherapy. Long-term nutritional supplementation is beneficial for those with gastrointestinal obstructions that are untreatable, offering relief from pain while supporting the cells that help fight off side effects from chemotherapy or radiation.

Cancer also often results in body inflammation, which may mean inadequate nutrition intake and weight loss due to metabolic changes. These conditions are usually developed along with a syndrome called cancer cachexia – conditions that may improve with the help of intravenous nutrition therapy.

Animal-Assisted Therapy

Sharing your life with a furry pal has the ability to boost your emotional health, both while you're being treated for cancer and when you're recovering at home. While undergoing treatment, your stress levels can be minimized with an animal companion by your side. Having your service animal always nearby is a surefire way to reduce anxiety and depression symptoms too.

It has been shown that service animals can even improve your perception of pain and reduce the amount of painkillers that you need on a daily basis. You'll enjoy benefits faster by adopting a dog who has already been trained as opposed to starting from scratch. Whether you decide to adopt a dog that is trained or not, consider hiring a personal trainer who can help you train the dog with commands and tasks that support your specific needs.

An Exercise Regimen

As long as you aren't suffering from severe pain or shortness of breath, regular exercise is an important inclusion in your every day life. Exercising reduces stress, lowers blood pressure levels, and improves your quality of life overall. Doing exercises like walking or riding a bike most days of the week improves muscle weakness, minimizes loss of body function, and increases range of motion.

Too much or the wrong kind of exercise can actually irritate the side effects and symptoms you experience while going through cancer treatment. Because of this, it's important to have your doctor help you plan a regular exercise regimen that coincides with your treatment, health status, and physical capabilities.

Adequate Sleep

A lack of sleep tends to negatively affect your body's cortisone and melatonin levels, as these hormones are replenished during sleeping hours. These are extremely important hormones for your body at any given time, but more so while fighting to get rid of cancer. Cortisol is responsible for regulating your immune system, and a lack of it may actually inhibit your recovery efforts. The second hormone, melatonin, is thought to have antioxidant properties which prevents the kind of cell damage that can lead to cancer growth.

Because getting enough sleep at night is crucial, it's a good idea to head to bed a few minutes before you're ready to sleep so you can wind down and relieve the day's stress with a good book. A warm bubble bath, a cup of herbal tea, and spending quality time with loved ones in the evening are all supportive tools you can use to sleep easier at night.

Click here for more info or let your doctor know about any supplemental treatments you decide to implement so they can personalize the traditional treatments you both decide to use.