Important Precautions
This website provides detailed information about many different forms of complementary and alternative medicine (CAM). This information is meant to assist people in evaluating CAM therapies. Several ideas and precautions must be kept in mind when reviewing this information:
1. The information on this website is not meant to “convert” anyone to use CAM therapy and should not be taken as a recommendation to use CAM therapies.
Definitive evidence about the safety and effectiveness of most CAM therapies is not available. Thus, this website does not make recommendations. The information on this website should assist with decision-making about CAM. The use of CAM therapies should be discussed with a conventional health provider. In the end, individuals must decide for themselves about using CAM and must assume the risks and responsibilities of pursuing specific CAM therapies.
2. Be aware of when it is reasonable to use CAM therapies.
CAM therapies need to be considered thoughtfully. For mild symptoms, such as mild muscle stiffness or pain, CAM therapies may be worth considering. On other hand, for treating severe symptoms or trying to slow down a disease process, CAM therapies should not be used exclusively.
3. Have a plan.
Several steps should be followed when considering any type of CAM therapy:
a. Consider conventional medicine options.
b. Evaluate the reason(s) for wanting to use CAM.
c. Obtain accurate information about effectiveness, safety, cost, and effort involved.
d. If CAM therapy is used, discuss it with your conventional health provider, monitor your response to it, and discontinue it when appropriate.
e. Use caution
4. Be aware that information about most forms of CAM is incomplete.
For most forms of CAM, there are limited studies of safety and effectiveness. Thus, it may only be possible to make “best guesses” about CAM therapies. As more studies of CAM are conducted, therapies that are now thought to be possibly effective or low risk may be found to be ineffective or unsafe.
5. Watch for warning signs of unreliable forms of CAM
Several features may indicate that a CAM therapy is unreliable:
a. Heavy use of testimonials.
b. Extremely strong claims about effectiveness.
c. A single therapy is claimed to treat many medical conditions.
d. Inpatient, injection, or intravenous therapy.
e. Anti-conventional medicine or anti-science attitude.
6. Recognize that MS is characterized by excessive immune system activity.
Some lay books on CAM and MS state-erroneously-that MS is an immune disease and that, therefore, people with MS should take supplements to activate the immune system. This information is inaccurate and potentially dangerous. MS is indeed an immune disease. However, it is characterized by excessive immune system activity. Thus, therapies for MS should inhibit, not activate, the immune system.
7. Avoid misconceptions about dietary supplements.
Vendors of dietary supplements may make inaccurate claims about their products:
a. Supplements are sometimes claimed to be safe and effective if they are “natural.” Some natural compounds may be safe and effective. However, others, such as arsenic and poisonous mushrooms, are unsafe and of no benefit for any medical condition.
b. Some supplements are claimed to have beneficial effects and no side effects. Supplements, like conventional medications, are made up of chemical compounds that have the potential to produce beneficial as well as harmful effects.
c. More is not necessarily better. It is sometimes claimed that if a small dose of a supplement is beneficial, then a large dose is even more beneficial. This is not generally true. In fact, high doses may be more likely to produce adverse effects.
d. The use of supplements in combination with conventional medications has not been fully investigated. If supplements are taken in combination with conventional medications, it is important to recognize that the safety of these “combination therapies” is not known. Of note, there are some situations in which a combination therapy is less effective or more likely to produce side effects than a single-treatment approach.
References and Additional Reading
Books
Bowling AC. Complementary and Alternative Medicine and Multiple Sclerosis. New York: Demos, 2007, pp. 22-28.
