Talk with your health care provider

When it comes to deciding whether or not to use a complementary therapy, don’t go it alone. Your health care provider can help ensure that complementary therapies are well-integrated with your standard treatments and can help to prevent harmful interactions. Together, you and your provider can make informed decisions about what’s best for your health and well-being.

Use complementary therapy only as an addition to standard treatment

Never replace conventional medical treatment with complementary therapies. Conventional cancer treatments have proven benefits. Replacing these with less-studied complementary therapies is not safe.

Take the initiative

When considering complementary therapy, learn all you can about the therapies you are interested in using (such as safety, effectiveness and any harmful interactions with conventional cancer treatments or other complementary therapies you’re already using).

In addition to the therapies described in Understanding Breast Cancer, the National Library of Medicine’s PubMed and the National Cancer Institute are good sources of scientific articles on complementary therapies.

Be wary of wild claims

If a complementary therapy is said to cure cancer, this is a sign that a product is not effective and, more importantly, could be unsafe. Be sure to do some research and see what the scientific evidence actually has to say about it. Your health care provider is a good resource for this information.

Don’t equate “natural” with “safe”

Natural does not mean safe. Think about poison ivy, poisonous mushrooms and rattlesnakes.

Choose reputable brands

With dietary supplements there’s little guarantee that what is on the label is what’s actually inside. Choosing supplements from known, reputable manufacturers may increase the likelihood that:

• The supplement listed on the label is inside the bottle
• The dose and potency are listed correctly
• The supplement is free of harmful contents, like pesticides and heavy metals (such as lead, arsenic or mercury)

One way to check that a manufacturer follows good practices in preparing supplements is the “USP verified” stamp on the label. For more on this, or to see if a supplement has been USP verified, visit the USP website.

Choose licensed complementary therapy practitioners

Visiting a licensed practitioner isn’t a guarantee that you’ll get good, safe care. However, a license to practice does show that a provider has passed the licensing requirements in his/her complementary therapy field.

Updated 01/27/11