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Complementary medicines are widely used by Australians in the community and hospital settings. They are often used as adjuncts to conventional medical health-care and not as true alternatives. Unfortunately, patients are not routinely asked about their possible use of complementary Medicines by medical practitioners and surveys indicate that patients don't necessarily volunteer the information. If patients are identified as taking complementary medicines, physicians' poor knowledge about commonly used complementary medicines casts doubt on their ability to provide an informed opinion about safe and appropriate use. This gives rise to a ‘don't ask, don't tell, don't know’ situation that is potentially unsafe and does little to promote patient well-being. Patient expectations, the integration of some complementary therapies into conventional health-care and growing evidence base compel medical practitioners to increase their knowledge about complementary medicines and have access to quality resources so that they can become providers of accurate, up-to-date information to improve patient outcomes, promote patient safety and encourage evidence-based policy.

Now growing at a rate of over 5% per annum, the $3 billion ‘alternative health therapies’ business is now positioned in the top ten growth industries in Australia. With poor regulation of both therapeutic goods and the unregistered therapists who promote them, cancer patients may well be putting their health at risk when they place their faith in many so-called ‘natural’ or ‘traditional’ treatments. With a focus on what complementary therapists refer to as ‘energy medicine’ and ‘nutritional medicine’, this chapter explores the risks and benefits of some of the more popular alternative health-care choices. While investigating their histories, it outlines what influences cancer patients to try these unproven therapies, and the conflict and contrast in information relating to the claims made for them and the conclusions of evidence-based research. Although there are a number of complementary therapies that are of benefit to some patients, both during and after their cancer treatments, ‘natural’ does not always equal ‘safe’, may be expensive and may even compromise their health. More patients now want a greater say in their choices of treatment, and selecting complementary therapies that may help is another of the many challenges faced in trying to make informed choices, as we navigate along our individual roads on our journeys to recovery.