Alternative Medicine

The ABC speaks to those who took alternative and complementary medicines after a cancer diagnosis and asks how they navigated their beliefs.

Nearly one in two incarcerated children in South Australia have been prescribed a supplement to help them fall asleep, amid concerns about "unusual" night-time behaviours.

A range of supplements from cinnamon to chromium claim to improve metabolism and lower blood sugar levels. What's the evidence for them?

Kratom has been used for centuries as a traditional medicine in South-East Asia, but as its popularity has soared in the United States, so too has the controversy around it. 

They check the baby's position and listen to the heartbeat, but they aren't qualified midwives. Parents say a "dangerous" new breed of birth worker has emerged to fill the gap for women wanting to birth outside hospital.

Does disconnection with the ground cause us to become sicker? That's the idea behind the practice of "grounding" or "earthing" which is growing in popularity. We separate the science from the nonsense. 

Supermodel Elle McPherson triggered controversy when she spoke out about rejecting chemotherapy for her breast cancer.

The father of a man who took his own life after being prescribed medicinal cannabis says his family was repeatedly sent more cannabis, despite notifying the telehealth platform of his death. The ABC can reveal the founder of the company has been banned from supplying cannabis and two doctors have been suspended.

Legal experts are among those criticising immediate loss-of-licence laws that apply if a person tests positive to any level of medicinal cannabis, as a parliamentary inquiry unanimously calls for change.

In a region with soaring dialysis rates, these Aboriginal women are brewing traditional bush medicine to bring comfort.

Ads for products purporting to address the symptoms of menopause and perimenopause are flooding social media — but many of the claims "are not substantiated", a Senate inquiry is told. 

Laws around cannabis use are changing in countries like France and Germany, and Australian farmers are hoping to capitalise. 

Experts are worried about a proliferation of "single-issue" cannabis clinics opening in Australia, some of them willing to prescribe via telehealth consultations with few checks.

Sarah Frare had surgery and 28 rounds of chemotherapy before signing up for a trial that hopes to extend survival rates for the most common and almost always fatal form of brain cancer.

Australia has about 50 cultivators of medicinal cannabis but only a handful are grown outdoors in the sun. 

It is hoped MDMA — the active ingredient in the recreational drug ecstasy — will help flood survivors find self-compassion and relief as part of a trial funded by the federal government.

Unregulated psychedelic medicines and therapies have been thrust into the spotlight, following the death of a woman at an alternative wellness centre in country Victoria,

The death of a Melbourne woman after consuming a drink made with mushrooms has prompted fresh warnings against the use of mushrooms as medicines without proper expertise and cautions against mushroom foraging.

Over 1.2 million Australians have used medicinal cannabis, but the industry says cheap imports aren't regulated properly meaning consumers don't know what they're getting.

Yoga has long been thought of as a method for flexibility, but it also emphasises inclusivity, with participants pointing out that the practice can be noticeably different from the way it is sometimes portrayed on social media.