BREAST CANCER/COMPLEMENTARY TREATMENT: TALK BEFORE STARTING
It is smart to talk with a practitioner before starting his or her treatments, just as you would when selecting any doctor or health care provider. Feel free to ask as many questions as you would of your conventional doctors. Ask especially about their previous experience in treating women with breast cancer and what they believe the impact of their care will be on your chemotherapy or radiation treatments. Be advised that most medical insurance companies do not cover complementary therapies, although there are a few exceptions. For example, chiropractors are more often included in coverage, and a few policies cover acupuncture. It is worth a phone call to your insurance carrier ahead of time to determine what might be covered.
Many women find that during the first weeks or months of breast cancer, they are very interested in any treatment that might help them. Newly diagnosed women may embark upon an ambitious program of careful diet and other modalities of care. These same women oftentimes lose interest in these activities, decide that they do not wish to spend so much time, energy, and money focusing on cancer, and resume their usual life patterns and habits. Once again, you will find your own way and make choices that fit you and your life. Do not feel that, on the one hand, you must partake of multiple complementary therapies or that, on the other, you must avoid them all.
At the very least, it is worth knowing that these other therapies exist. If you like, you might consider how to use them as adjuncts to your medical care, once you have discussed these possible choices thoroughly with your physicians. Reserve the right to change your mind as time passes.
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