What are complementary therapies?

Complementary therapies include herbal medicine, nutrition, acupuncture, homeopathy, osteopathy, chiropractic, traditional Chinese medicine, aromatherapy, reflexology, and remedial therapy such as massage and kinesiology.

Natural therapies are often referred to as complementary medicines, that is, they work in conjunction with, or alongside, other treatments.

A preference for non-pharmaceutical therapy is sometimes based on the idea that natural therapies are safe and that side effects do not occur. This is not always the case. It is important to understand that with any therapy, natural or pharmaceutical, careful review of potential side effects should be undertaken together with your health practitioner before use.

Natural remedies should only be prescribed by an experienced qualified practitioner - preferably with an interest in women’s health and PCOS. Your general practitioner or specialist should be informed about all natural remedies you are taking.

Complementary therapies and PCOS

There have been a small number of studies performed on the effects of Chinese herbal medicine or herbal supplements such as chromium picolinate on reproductive symptoms (fertility, ovulation etc.) and insulin resistance in PCOS.

In these studies, the alternative therapy often has not been compared directly to the effect of a standard treatment (lifestyle or medical) so it is difficult to say how effective these treatments are. As yet, the results are preliminary but larger controlled clinical studies are needed before any comment on their usefulness either in combination with current therapy or instead of current therapy is made.  

 Natural Therapies and Complementary Medicine (86.42 KB) 

 Natural Therapies and Complementary Medicine (4 MB)

Content updated July 31, 2009