Complementary and alternative therapies

Choosing whether or not to use a complementary or alternative therapy is a personal decision. The answer is not the same for everyone. If you’re thinking about trying a complementary or alternative therapy during or after your conventional cancer care, be sure to make a safe and informed choice.

Making a safe and informed choice means:

understanding the differences between conventional, complementary, integrative and alternative therapies
finding out as much as you can about complementary or alternative therapies you are thinking about, including the possible benefits and risks
talking to your healthcare team about complementary therapy or alternative therapies and how they may interact with the care you are receiving

Before using any complementary or alternative therapies be sure to talk to your doctor or other members of your healthcare team about all the possible risks and benefits. Together, you can decide what’s best for you.

You have the right to choose

Patients have the right to choose what treatment is right for them. This includes refusing all conventional, complementary and alternative options.

We believe that people with cancer must make treatment decisions with the best available information, including knowledge of what the treatment can do and what the side effects may be. Treatments that offer the best hope of success are backed up by good scientific evidence.

Conventional cancer treatments

Conventional cancer treatments are those accepted and widely used today to treat people in the Canadian healthcare system. Healthcare professionals such as doctors, nurses and radiation therapists provide these treatments. Studies have shown they improve outcome and quality of life for people with cancer. Conventional cancer treatments, such as surgery, chemotherapy and radiation therapy, focus on interfering with the cancer’s ability to grow and spread.

Conventional treatments are approved by Health Canada after being tested to see whether they are safe and helpful.

Complementary therapies

A complementary therapy is any practice, therapy or product that is not considered conventional medicine for cancer care. Complementary therapies can be used for easing symptoms and improving your overall health and feeling of well-being.

Most Canadian medical schools now provide some training in these therapies. However, they are not typically used as part of standard patient care in most doctor’s offices, hospitals or cancer centres.

Complementary therapies are used together with conventional cancer treatments. The purpose of a complementary therapy is not to treat the cancer itself. Complementary therapies help a person cope with cancer, its treatment or side effects, and to feel better. They take a holistic approach by focusing on the whole person.

For example, acupuncture to help manage nausea caused by chemotherapy is considered a complementary therapy.

Integrative cancer care

Integrative cancer care is a comprehensive approach to treating people. It offers the best of both complementary and conventional medicines. At cancer centres with integrative cancer care, complementary therapies are offered along with conventional cancer treatments by a team of health professionals from both fields.

An example of integrative cancer care is a cancer centre that offers a number of complementary programs such as massage therapy as a standard way to help patients manage stress and create a sense of well-being.

Alternative therapy

Alternative therapies are those used in place of conventional treatments. They are considered scientifically unproven therapies. You may have heard the words complementary and alternative used to mean the same thing, but they mean something very different. While complementary therapies are used together with conventional treatment, alternative therapies are used instead of conventional treatment.

For example, a complementary therapy can be choosing care from a naturopath doctor or using herbal medicine together with conventional cancer treatment. An alternative therapy is deciding not to use conventional care and only using these therapies for cancer.

This is a personal decision. But relying on alternative treatments alone for cancer may have serious health effects. If you decide to postpone or refuse conventional treatment in favour of an alternative treatment, stay in touch with your cancer doctor. It’s important to keep track of how you are doing and you may decide to have conventional treatment later on.

Last modified on: 13 September 2011