Breast Cancer Treatments: What Complementary and Alternative Medicine (CAM) to Consider?

Many people with cancer are interested in trying anything that may help them, including complementary and alternative cancer treatments. If cancer makes you feel as if you have little control over your health, alternative cancer treatments may offer some feeling of control. But many alternative cancer treatments are unproven and some may even be dangerous.

Alternative cancer treatments can't cure your cancer, but they may provide some relief from signs and symptoms.

How alternative medicine help people with cancer

Alternative cancer treatments may not play a direct role in curing your cancer, but they may help you cope with signs and symptoms caused by cancer and cancer treatments. Common signs and symptoms such as anxiety, fatigue, nausea and vomiting, pain, difficulty sleeping, and stress may be lessened by alternative treatments.

Integrating the best of evidence-based complementary and alternative cancer treatments with the treatments you receive from your doctor may help relieve many of the symptoms associated with cancer and its treatment. Discuss all of your options with your doctor and together you can determine which strategies might work for you and which are likely to have no benefit.

Work closely with your doctor to determine the right balance between "the traditional right medicines" and alternative cancer treatments. While complementary and alternative cancer treatments, such as acupuncture, may reduce nausea or pain, they generally aren't powerful enough to replace cancer medications from your doctor.

So how CAM treatments can help with breast cancer?

If you have breast cancer, you may want to explore different treatment methods to supplement traditional medicine. Options include acupuncture, detoxification diets, traditional Chinese medicine, and antioxidants, among other alternatives. These are known as complementary and alternative medicine (CAM).

Many people use CAM treatments to help ease side effects, relieve pain, and improve their quality of life. Although some CAM treatments are effective, not all are safe. It’s important to keep in mind these are complementary remedies and shouldn’t be used in place of your doctor-approved treatment plan.

Cancer of the breast is among the most frequently diagnosed cancer and the leading cause of cancer-related deaths in females globally.

CAM treatment 1: Special diet

A healthy diet is an important part of cancer treatment. You should eat well whether you’re using traditional methods or CAM.

However, some people with breast cancer may start on a special diet in place of taking anticancer drugs.

You should avoid foods that are:

• high-fat
• salt-cured
• smoked
• pickled

You should also double up on fruits, vegetables, and plant-based foods.

Before switching up your diet, talk with your doctor. They can work with you to come up with a nutrition plan that can help you build strength and maintain your body’s natural defences.

CAM treatment 2: Antioxidant supplements

Antioxidants lower your risk of cancer by helping protect your body from damage caused by free radicals. Free radicals are molecules that can harm cells.

Certain grains, fruits, and vegetables are rich with dietary antioxidants, including:

• beta carotene
• lycopene
• vitamin A
• vitamin C
• vitamin E

These antioxidants may be found in the following foods:

• goji berries
• wild blueberries
• dark chocolate
• pecans
• kidney beans

They’re also available through dietary supplements. However, research is mixed on whether antioxidant supplements are safe to use during cancer treatment.

Dietary supplements may:

• interact with prescription drugs
• contain contaminated synthetic prescription drugs
• contain unknown contaminants

This can result in a number of unexpected complications. People with breast cancer should use them with caution.

If you want to try antioxidant supplements, be sure to talk with your doctor first. They can explain your individual risks and benefits.

CAM treatment 3: Mind, body, and soul therapies

Mind-body practices are meant to improve your mind’s positive impact on the rest of your body.

Examples of these practices include:

• art therapy
• music therapy
• aromatherapy
• meditation
• yoga
• labyrinth walking
• reiki
• tai chi

Each therapy targets your mind, body, and soul using meditative techniques and creative activities that help enhance your quality of life. Some remedies, such as art therapy and music therapy, are most effective when working with a licensed practitioner.

Research has proven that these types of mind, body, and soul therapies are effective at relieving stress, anxiety, and pain, but they shouldn’t be used in place of a doctor-recommended treatment plan.

CAM treatment 4: Massage therapy

Massage therapy is known to boost immunity and ease anxiety, pain, and fatigue. One 2003 study found that in women who had breast cancer, massage therapy helped reduce not only anxiety and pain, but also the need for pain medication.

Another study released around that time found that massage therapy and progressive muscle relaxation helped increase protective white blood cells in women with stage 1 and stage 2 breast cancer.

If you’d like to incorporate massage therapy into your routine, make sure you work with a licensed practitioner who’s trained to avoid or work around sensitive areas affected by traditional treatment.

CAM treatment 5: Acupuncture

Acupuncture is a central part of traditional Chinese medicine that may help relieve symptoms of breast cancer and side effects of treatment. Acupuncture requires a practitioner to place sterile, hair-thin needles into acupuncture points — specific points on your skin — then gently move them to stimulate your nervous system.

Research has shown that acupuncture can help:

• relieve fatigue
• control hot flashes
• reduce vomiting
• reduce pain
• help decrease nausea

However, it does carry some risks, such as:

• infection
• bleeding
• lymphedema, which is swelling caused by excess fluid, in your arm

Sometimes practitioners incorporate herbal supplements into an acupuncture treatment. People undergoing chemotherapy shouldn’t use herbal supplements because they’re known to reduce the effectiveness of chemotherapy. Be sure to talk with your practitioner about your needs and what techniques they may use for you.

CAM treatment 6: Biofeedback

Biofeedback training is used to treat the side effects of chemotherapy. During biofeedback, you’re hooked up to electrical sensors that monitor subtle changes in your body.

This method may help you gain conscious power over your body so that you can control actions that are normally autonomic, or involuntary. These functions include:

• muscle tension
• heart rate
• blood pressure

Your doctor will determine which type of biofeedback technique is best to treat your symptoms.

Talk with your doctor

Make sure you talk with your doctor before you begin any of these alternative treatments. Your doctor can tell you if complementary or alternative therapies will be effective for the stage of your breast cancer, and steer you away from fraudulent products.

CAM treatments shouldn’t be used in place of your doctor-recommended treatment plan. CAM treatments aren’t considered an effective alternative to first-line treatment for breast cancer.