Complementary and Alternative Medicine in Multiple Sclerosis

Many patients with multiple sclerosis use complementary and alternative medicine (CAM). However, health professionals may have limited knowledge about CAM therapies and may not know which CAM therapies are being used by patients who are under their care. These CAM therapies may be beneficial or harmful and may interact with conventional multiple sclerosis medications. Therefore, quality of care may be improved if clinicians have the skills and knowledge to provide unbiased, evidence-based CAM information to patients and, when appropriate, to guide patients away from harmful or ineffective therapies and toward low-risk, possibly effective therapies. This chapter provides information to practicing clinicians so that they will be able to guide and inform their patients with multiple sclerosis about CAM.