A lot of times when someone is diagnosed with cancer or has a cancer recurrence, there is a need on the part of the people in the support environment to be helpful. One way that people think they are being helpful is to give advice and suggestions. While this may be important at times, it can also be overwhelming. It is important for patients to know that they do not have to follow everyone’s advice and that it is okay to disregard assistance that does not seem helpful.

Often times, people want to share things they have heard about cancer in the newspaper, the Internet, or through friends and family who were diagnosed. All information is not equally good, and if you feel like you are being overwhelmed, look for ways to communicate to those around you that they need to stop overwhelming you. This can be done in a pleasant way. Sometimes it is hard to know what ideas to accept from others, especially when it comes to complementary approaches. This is a common concern that patients and family members struggle with during cancer treatment and beyond.

We developed our educational program called the Integrative Assessment here at our Center with an integrative oncology specialist in part to help people become informed and to make decisions that have the greatest likelihood of helping with the least financial burden. In addition, we want to help patients to be safe in the choices that they make so that whatever decisions they make they do not compromise their conventional treatment and do not create additional toxicities.