When choosing a CAM practitioner, you will need to learn about his qualifications for practicing this therapy and the safety and effectiveness of the therapy itself. For example, the practitioner may be licensed by the state or certified by a professional organization. Credentials and training required for various healthcare occupations are provided in a searchable database maintained by the U. S. Department of Labor.

A possible list of questions to ask the practitioners:

What are the training and credentials of the providers? (Who are they licensed by? Who are they certified by? How many years of experience do they have? And so on.)

What is the treatment? What do I have to do? How long does it take? Does it hurt?

How will we know if the therapy is working?

How will we know if the therapy is not working?

What are the potential side effects?

Is the provider willing to communicate with my oncologist?

Are there any potential negative interactions with conventional medicines?

How much does it cost?

Does the method require that I give up regular medical treatment? If so, be sure to obtain an independent and conventional assessment of whether doing so may reduce your chances for a cure because the cancer is likely to become more advanced during the delay.

Does this treatment have a reasonable chance to:

• Support my immune system or other systems?
• Counteract the cancer?
• Enable the conventional treatments I'm having to work better?
• Relieve my symptoms or the side effects of conventional treatments?
• How do you know?

Does the provider believe in this treatment because he/she has seen benefits with similar patients?

• If so, would it be possible to speak to some of these patients?

Can the provider give you any references published by peer-reviewed medical or other scientific journals? Peer-reviewed journals require articles to be reviewed by other people in the field to ensure the research meets scientific standards.

If the practitioner dismisses any of the above-mentioned questions, this is a red flag and you should consider someone else.