Research shows that patients who deal with cancer who use alternative therapies may be more likely to ignore conventional treatments over alternative therapies and could risk their chances of survival. But I think there is more to this. The research does not go far enough.

When mum chose to go the alternative route, she’d been using alternative therapies for years. She believed that going down the chemotherapy route would shorten her cancer fight, but she also knew the benefits of chemotherapy would bring little comfort and reward, and come at a cost of potential side effects.

My mum wanted a better quality of life whilst she still had a life, without having to deal with chemotherapy and its many side effects. This was mum’s reasoning and her reasoning very much made sense.

A study of 1,290 patients in the US, found that people who used alternative therapies often refused chemotherapy or surgery and that fewer patients on alternative treatments survived 5 years, compared to those on the standard treatment.

Alternative therapies which included minerals, vitamins infusions and certain diets were growing in the US, but there was limited research into how effective they were.

The study reported this month in JAMA Oncology, (July 2018) looked at 258 patients who had used these therapies with at least one standard treatment, compared to 1,032 who only received conventional care.

The study found a smaller proportion of those who received such treatment had survived five years after beginning treatment - 82.2% compared to 86.6%.

Separately, they were found to be more than twice as likely to die at any point over the course of the nine-year study, as a result of either refusing or delaying standard treatment.

Comparing people who received alternative therapies with those who did not, the report found:

• 34% refused chemotherapy compared to 3.2%;
• 53% refused radiotherapy compared to 2.3%;
• 7% refused surgery compared to 0.1%.

A key point to mention here is that the study looked at people who refused conventional treatment in preference to alternative therapies rather than using alternative therapies in conjunction with conventional treatment.

There is no doubt in my mind that alternative therapies give us a better quality of life, but it's up to each individual. Mum was more interested in having a better quality of life while she was fighting cancer, even if that meant her passing sooner. She wanted a better quality of life and she concerned that wouldn't happen with conventional treatment.

Source: https://www.bbc.co.uk