The hidden costs of untested treatments

[Guest guest]

The hidden costs of untested treatments

http://www.allaboutarthritis.com/arthritis.cfm%3FdoWhat=living%26amp%3BdocID=281

It is understandable that people with a chronic disease such as arthritis will search diligently for relief. Medicine has advanced arthritis treatments tremendously in recent years. Yet the fact remains that there is no cure for arthritis. There is no shortage of unproven devices and “miracle” treatments. Many of these do no good and in some cases can do considerable harm. Arthritis is not just one disease – the Arthritis Foundation indicates that there are as many as 100 different types of arthritis. Treatment programs must be tailored to individual patients because the disease varies from person to person, and people themselves vary in the way they react to therapies and medicines. Promoters of unproven remedies don’t always take such factors into consideration. Watch out for promotions that describe medical treatments with adjectives such is "secret,” “proven,” miracle,” “foreign,” “breakthrough,” and “overnight.” Prescription and over-the- counter medicines that are approved by the Food and Drug Administration have been tested. Scientific medicine is based on standard methods of prevention, diagnosis and treatment. New treatments undergo extensive review involving medical schools, research centers, professional organizations and their journals, and regulatory offices of the government. Unproven treatments, on the other hand, are those of unknown value. This doesn’t mean they have been proven worthless. But it means there is a lack of evidence to support them. What are the costs of using untested treatments? In addition to the obvious cost of purchasing the remedies themselves, there are significant hidden costs. One hidden cost is the lost opportunity for effective treatment. Some diseases respond well to treatment, especially with early detection. But if you rely on useless “therapies,” the time you lose could harm your chance of successful treatment. Another cost is that some unproven products can be downright dangerous. Unproven compounds are not necessarily produced under the quality control standards required for prescription and over-the-counter medications. They may contain substances that do not mix safely with one another, with other drugs you take, or with what you eat and drink. Claims made on packaging are not regulated in any way by the Food and Drug Administration; their contents may differ widely from the label in terms of dosages of active ingredients. Words such as “natural” mean nothing in terms of product safety (think about it – tobacco, cocaine and heroin are “natural”). So how can a person with arthritis evaluate new, untested treatments? The answer is surprisingly simple: ask your doctor. New products may have some value, and it would be a mistake to dismiss all unproven remedies outright. But you owe it to yourself to evaluate these products with the help of your physician, who understands your condition and your current medical regimen. If there is a high likelihood of potential value (or harm) in a product, your doctor will probably know about it.