Patients go online to search for cures

[Guest guest]

This all sounds very familiar, with the same reactions by status-quo

medicine. - Lenny

Patient-led drug trials defy medical establishment

By MARCUS WOHLSEN http://is.gd/9w3w

AP

Friday, November 28, 2008

CLAREMONT, Calif. — Until last year, Alan Felzer was an energetic

engineering professor who took the stairs to his classes two steps at

a time. Now the 64-year-old grandfather sits strapped to a wheelchair,

able to move little but his left hand, his voice a near-whisper.

Felzer suffers from ALS, also known as Lou Gehrig's disease. The fatal

neurological disorder steals the body's ability to move, speak and

ultimately to breathe. But rather than succumb to despair along with

his illness, Felzer turned to the Web to become his own medical

researcher — and his own guinea pig.

Dozens of ALS patients are testing treatments on their own without

waiting on the slow pace of medical research. They are part of an

emerging group of patients willing to share intimate health details on

the Web in hopes of making their own medical discoveries.

Some doctors caution that such patient-led research lacks rigor and

may lead to unreliable results, false hopes and harm to patients.

" The Internet is a wonderful tool, but you know, it's buyer beware, "

said Dr. Langston, immediate past chairman of the American

Medical Association's board.

+ Read more: http://is.gd/9w3w