EDMONTON - Children with chronic medical conditions are often given prescription drugs, but according to a new study at the University of Alberta, the majority are using alternative forms of treatment as well. While they can be extremely helpful to some, the problem, researchers say, is that doctors aren't always told these treatments are being taken.
Of the more than 700 patients surveyed at specialty clinics in the Stollery Children's hospital, 71 percent said they had used complementary therapies that include anything from taking vitamins or herbal medicine, to seeing a chiropractor, massage therapist, or acupuncturist.
20 percent of the parents never told their child's physician or pharmacist about the alternative treatments, though. And that can have potentially harmful consequences.
"Take something like fish oils," explains Dr. Sunita Vohra. "Widely used, thought to be quite safe. If you take them at high doses, they can have a blood thinning effect. If that same patient has been prescribed Warfarin, a blood thinner, by their doctor, then suddenly they've got too much blood thinner on board, they're actually at risk of bleeding."
Dr. Vohra says parents need to tell their child's doctor and doctors need to ask if other treatments are being used.
"Regardless of what their health care team thinks about it, whether they're personally for it or against it, we think it's important they have the discussion," she adds. "It's not the idea that the product is dangerous, it's that the lack of knowledge...what they wanted was better health, and instead, what they're getting are potential side-effects, so we think that can all be avoided by having discussions."
12 year-old Ryan Al-Rimawi's doctors are fully aware and in support of his alternative therapies. His first experience with acupuncture was actually at the dentist's office four years ago.
"He was so anxious that he wouldn't let (the dentist) do any freezing," recalls his mom, Diana Mah. "The dentist knew acupuncture and from there he gave him acupuncture and (Ryan) just calmed right down and (the dentist) managed to do the filling without any freezing."
Despite initially being quite skeptical about alternative medicine, after seeing the effect acupuncture had on her son, Mah decided to take him to a Chinese practitioner. Ryan now undergoes regular treatments of fire-cupping, a procedure which is said to remove excess heat from the body.
"It's made a big difference," Ryan says.
"He's just done wonders for him," his mother says. "Ryan was really anxious and always stressed. He had lots of period of sadness, always talking about this black feeling in his stomach, and what not. So after his therapy, after his acupuncture, and firecupping he was just instantly, instantly relieved. One time it was so extreme that he actually started crying because it just felt so good to get that feeling out of him."
According to the College of Naturopathic Doctors of Alberta, naturopathic doctors are required to advise their patients to let their medical doctors know about any alternative treatments.
With files from Su-Ling Goh, Global News
© Global News. A division of Shaw Media Inc., 2013.