Let’s get right down to it. When it comes to maneuvering your diagnosis, treatment and management of cancer, you and your health are a top priority. As a whole, the conventional cancer care model allows for the potential of successful anti cancer therapies, as when it comes to the need for aggressive care, it’s the best we have in terms of cancer killing ability. This being said however, although chemotherapy, radiation, surgery, or other cancer therapies are often robust in their therapeutic activity, they also fall short when it comes to minimizing side effects and collateral damage. Enter, integrative cancer care; the most advanced cancer care model that not only allows for direct anti cancer treatments, but does so while protecting your health and quality of life all at the same time. So when it comes to approaching your cancer care, the question is: conventional or integrative, which one do I choose?
Difference between conventional and integrative cancer care
Conventional cancer care is the medical model that we are most familiar with; treating cancer using chemotherapy, surgery or radiation. Although conventional cancer care is often effective at killing cancer cells, it doesn’t usually take into account the overall health of a patient. What I mean by this is that the treatment options offered by conventional medicine are often extremely poisonous to both cancer cells and healthy cells. Most people cringe when it comes to thinking about the overall profile of side effects that these therapies can likely create. Integrative cancer care, on the other hand, is also an advanced, evidence based medical model, driven by science, that not only allows for conventional modes of cancer therapy, but parallels it with the addition of adjunctive cancer care treatments. Most often, integrative cancer care focuses on the overall health and wellbeing of a patient. So the question still remains, which option is best for you?
Conventional or integrative cancer care, which one is right for you?
Decades of conventional cancer care has underpinned the decision of treating and managing cancer. When it comes to making decisions about your health, many people often default to what they’ve understood to be the most effective, or only strategy to treat their cancer. Although that is a logical approach, the optimal way to decide on what’s best in terms of your care is to investigate all of your possible options. Integrative cancer care often provides this exact opportunity; choice and optimal options. At Cornerstone Naturopathic Inc., providing patient focused medicine is exactly how we feel when it comes to supporting you through your cancer journey. With integrative cancer care, you’re technically not making a choice between a conventional or alternative approach, but rather integrating the two together.
Alone, conventional cancer care can succumb to a variety of downfalls (as previously mentioned). Alternative medicine, which is different than integrative medicine, can also succumb to treatment pitfalls (alternative cancer care is an approach that uses only alternative or natural cancer treatments). Although somewhat effective, alternative medicine may not provide the spectrum of anti cancer treatment needed to consistently or predictably kill your cancer (and is not robustly proven by science either). Although there is no guarantee with any cancer approach, integrative cancer care tends to lead the way when it comes to approaching your cancer diagnosis as it provides room for conventional modes of cancer treatment (chemotherapy, radiation, surgery) while intervening alongside the most proven natural (or complimentary) medical approaches. In the case of cancer, a multi faceted treatment approach is typically the most effective approach to take. And as a worst case scenario, using integrative cancer care as a collaborative approach also offers effective options in situations where conventional cancer treatment alone may no longer be an option.