Natural breast cancer treatments can be used to help increase a patient’s chances of surviving cancer. The benefits of these treatments are that they are often mild and have few side effects, whereas conventional treatments can make patients feel extremely ill. These natural treatments, however, have not undergone the rigorous testing that conventional treatments have, so there is no clinical evidence to support their effectiveness. Breast cancer is a serious illness that can become terminal if left untreated, so doctors are not usually willing to gamble with natural breast cancer treatments when the effectiveness of conventional treatments has been proven.
In some cases, it may be possible for a patient to use natural breast cancer treatments either in lieu of or in addition to conventional treatment. Many of the natural treatments do not cause undesirable side effects like many of the conventional treatments do. Without these adverse effects, patients will feel better while taking natural breast cancer treatments. Often, patients can also continue with their normal routines while taking these treatments.
When used alongside conventional treatments, natural breast cancer treatments can also increase a patient’s chances of surviving the cancer. Many of these treatments boost the patient’s immune system, helping the patient’s own body fight the cancer, which can make conventional, cancer-killing treatments, such as chemotherapy, more effective. Other natural treatments can elevate the patient's mood, making it easier to cope with the difficulties of fighting cancer. There are even some natural treatments that are believed to target and destroy cancer cells.
Though there are a number of benefits to natural breast cancer treatments, the main drawback to using them is that they have not undergone the same testing as the conventional treatments. Herbal and homeopathic medications have only been shown to be effective through anecdotal evidence, which means that there is a good chance they will not be effective for most patients. Most doctors do not recommend relying solely on natural treatments when there are conventional treatments that are known to be very effective in fighting off breast cancer.
Additionally, herbal treatments can have unexpected interactions with conventional medications. It is possible that the combination of certain herbal remedies and certain medical remedies may lessen the effect of the conventional treatment or even create a life threatening reaction in the patient. The patient’s medical team should be aware of any herbal medicine the patient is taking and should advise the patient which ones to take and which to avoid.