Alternative Treatments

Finding out that you have breast cancer is too much too deal with at one time. But before the diagnosis has even fully sunk in, you have to be shoved with medical terms and lingo that you are most probably entirely clueless about.

Getting a disease as serious as breast cancer can be very difficult to handle not only because of the gravity of the disease, but also because there are a million things to think about. How little or far has the cancer spread? What are the treatment options? What to choose -- conventional, complementary, or alternative treatments?

Although it is common knowledge that there are no known miracle cures for cancer, it does not mean that a cancer patient is doomed to die of the disease. Science has made numerous cancer treatments available. A patient’s response to a particular treatment would depend on the “severity” of her cancer. Conventional treatments include the following: surgery, hormonal therapy, chemotherapy, radiation, and biologic therapy. However, patients may be prescribed to undergo more than one kind of treatment.

While some patients are “satisfied” with the traditional methods of treatment, there are those who feel that there are better options for them. Alternative breast cancer treatments are rapidly becoming as popular as the conventional treatment methods. In fact, the United States consider alternative treatments as among the most thriving treatment modalities available. Because of this fact, there is an increasing demand for doctors and health care professional to become more knowledgeable about complementary and/or alternative treatments for breast cancer.

Both complementary and alternative therapies are broad. They cover a huge range of discipline which includes, mind-body techniques, diet and body nutrition, and Chinese medicine. However, the alternative treatments most commonly used were meditation and/or prayer, Chinese medicine, and health supplements.

About half to up to 70% of all breast cancer patients in the United States are currently into alternative treatments. Women who have sought such treatments cited various reasons for doing so. They say that the breast cancer alternative treatments they are into were responsible for the following: boosting their immune system; preventing the possible recurrence of the disease; treating the disease and the side effects that come with the treatments; enhancing the quality of their lives; and giving them control over their lives.

Studies made on these women found out favorable results, as well as better control of pain, improved chances of survival, efficient treatment of symptoms like vomiting and nausea; and reduced anxiety. There are certain studies conducted however, that did not find any significant benefit or disadvantage of using alternative treatments.

According to a five-year research about women who have incorporated some form of alternative treatments with their conventional treatments, two-thirds of them never told their health care advisors about it. Although these women gave different reasons, the three most common ones were due to the belief that doctors: were uninterested to know, were likely going to respond negatively, and wouldn’t have extensive knowledge about it or may simply be skeptic about the whole thing.

Since this is happening to a great number of breast cancer patients, there is now an intense need for doctors to reach out to their patients. Understanding the various reasons cited by these women about alternative treatments is important in patient care.

And whether medical professionals like it or not, alternative treatments is a fast growing aspect of patient care, particularly among those who have breast cancer. Oncologists should try to be more open about discussing alternative treatments with their patients and should help them gather as much information as they can about such treatments. After all, we all want to win the battle right?