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 MS TOOLKIT - The Patient's & Caregivers' Guide to Multiple Sclerosis
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Stop the misinformation of the quacks who prey on MS patients and their families every day. |
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Trick or Treatment: The Undeniable Facts about Alternative Medicine 
by Simon Singh and Edzard Ernst
The ultimate verdict on alternative medicine.
Welcome to the world of alternative medicine. Prince Charles is a staunch defender and millions of people swear by it; most UK doctors consider it to be little more than superstition and a waste of money. But how do you know which treatments really heal and which are potentially harmful? Now at last you can find out, thanks to the formidable partnership of Professor Edzard Ernst and Simon Singh. Edzard Ernst is the world's first professor of complementary medicine, based at Exeter University, where he has spent over a decade analysing meticulously the evidence for and against alternative therapies.He is supported in his findings by Simon Singh, the well-known and highly respected science writer of several international bestsellers. Together they have written the definitive book on the subject. It is honest, impartial but hard-hitting, and provides a thorough examination and judgement of more than thirty of the most popular treatments, such as acupuncture, homeopathy, aromatherapy, reflexology, chiropractic and herbal medicine. In "Trick or Treatment?" the ultimate verdict on alternative medicine is delivered for the first time with clarity, scientific rigour and absolute authority.
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 | Suckers: How Alternative Medicine Makes Fools of Us All
by Rose Shapiro
Suckers reveals how alternative medicine can jeopardize the health of those it claims to treat, leaches resources from treatments of proven efficacy and is largely unaccountable and unregulated. In short, it is an industry that preys on human vulnerability and makes fools of us all. |
 | The Cure Within A History of Mind-Body Medicine
by Anne Harrington
Reviewed by Dr. Jerome Groopman
In “The Cure Within,” her splendid history of mind-body medicine, Anne Harrington tries to explain why we draw connections between emotions and illness, and helps trace how today’s myriad alternative and complementary treatments came to be. A professor and chairman of the history of science department at Harvard, Harrington has produced a book that desperately needed to be written. |
| The Cure Within A History of Mind-Body Medicine
by Anne Harrington Reviewed by Dr. Jerome Groopman In “The Cure Within,” her splendid history of mind-body medicine, Anne Harrington tries to explain why we draw connections between emotions and illness, and helps trace how today’s myriad alternative and complementary treatments came to be. A professor and chairman of the history of science department at Harvard, Harrington has produced a book that desperately needed to be written. |
 
Snake Oil Science: The Truth about Complementary and Alternative Medicine by R. Barker Bausell
Millions of people worldwide swear by such therapies as acupuncture, herbal cures, and homeopathic remedies. Indeed, complementary and alternative medicine is embraced by a broad spectrum of society, from ordinary people, to scientists and physicians, to celebrities such as Prince Charles and Oprah Winfrey. In the tradition of Michael Shermer's Why People Believe Weird Things and Robert Parks's Voodoo Science, Barker Bausell provides an engaging look at the scientific evidence for complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) and at the logical, psychological, and physiological pitfalls that lead otherwise intelligent people--including researchers, physicians, and therapists--to endorse these cures. The book's ultimate goal is to reveal not whether these therapies work--as Bausell explains, most do work, although weakly and temporarily--but whether they work for the reasons their proponents believe. Indeed, as Bausell reveals, it is the placebo effect that accounts for most of the positive results. He explores this remarkable phenomenon--the biological and chemical evidence for the placebo effect, how it works in the body, and why research on any therapy that does not factor in the placebo effect will inevitably produce false results. By contrast, as Bausell shows in an impressive survey of research from high-quality scientific journals and systematic reviews, studies employing credible placebo controls do not indicate positive effects for CAM therapies over and above those attributable to random chance. Here is not only an entertaining critique of the strangely zealous world of CAM belief and practice, but it also a first-rate introduction to how to correctly interpret scientific research of any sort. Readers will come away with a solid understanding of good vs. bad research practice and a healthy skepticism of claims about the latest miracle cure, be it St. John's Wort for depression or acupuncture for chronic pain.
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  | Blind Faith: The Unholy Alliance of |
Multiple Sclerosis
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WANTED - MS Patients
Major researcher on MS treatments needs to hear from Canadian patients who have used or are using Procarin patches for multiple sclerosis.
In Canada only compounding pharmacists are allowed to make it. Some of them have to pay large royalties to the inventors.Have you used Procarin patches? Ever since the announcement that Procarin was available there have been some speculation that this is just a flim-flam. The company's representatives were in Toronto in April, 2000 and promised a double-blind university study to show how Procarin works. The trouble is, even though the company's principle investigator revealed to me that the protocol was accepted by Bastyr University in Washington State, Bastyr did not do the study because of inadequate funding. At one meeeting comments were made that indicated that the Procarin study would be the first drug study financed by Mastercard. I don't think that made anyone in the room feel comfortable. In fact, not one peer reviewed research study has been completed. This has those in the media and in MS organizations very comfortable with the conclusion that this is indeed an unsound treatment at best. Recently, it has been reported that some doctors in the Toronto area have demanded an extremely large sum of money to write a prescription for it, even though a prescription is not necessary.
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Claims that Procarin can treat multiple sclerosis appear to be based on anecdotal reports from about ten people. We are aware of no clinical trials of this treatment, which would be necessary to evaluate the safety and effectiveness of this agent.
The Procarin® System is being marketed to pharmacists to compound (create a preparation using several ingredients). Procarin has not been demonstrated through any accepted methods to be of benefit to people with MS, and the Society's medical advisors believe there is no scientific rationale to suggest possible benefit.
Details of the composition of Procarin were not provided but the reports indicate that it is apparently based on an hypothesis about histamine, dating from the 1950s, that is not generally accepted.
The claims that Procarin can treat multiple sclerosis appear to be based on anecdotal stories from about ten people. We are not aware of any controlled clinical trials of this treatment; such trials would be necessary to evaluate the safety and effectiveness of the treatment.
The use of procarin for treatment of multiple sclerosis is considered to be an unsubstantiated therapeutic claim. Individuals with multiple sclerosis who are concerned about this approach should consult their personal physicians.
A telephone operator says, "CMO is effective in the treatment of multiple sclerosis, leukemia, lupus, emphysema, cancer, benign prostate hyperplasia, silicone breast disease, asthma, fibromyalgia, and scleroderma"
Plus, it's not harmful to anyone!!!
They lied in press releases, they lied about almost everything that they did.
If you have ever seen one of those magnetic pads or wraps demonstrated at a shopping mall, or on an infomercial, this one's for you. I don't know about you, but P.T. Barnum never did say "There's a sucker born ever minute", but he could have.
The trouble is this, mainstream departments stores, Shoppers Drug Mart's Doncaster Home Health Care division and tens of thousands of pharmacists stock magnetic bracelets, pads, splints, and other devices. Award winning radio stations like CHML 900 AM-radio in Hamilton regularly run infomercials from fraudulent scammers who think that they can come up here to Canada to sell their crap. Half of Japan, maybe more the MLMers will tell you, use magnetic mattresses to give them more staying power. It's a wonder that the North Pole hasn't shifted toward Yokahama, eh? What next, magnetic condoms?
In this case, the magnetic scammers claim benefits for dozens of diseases and conditions:
B. Magnetic therapy products significantly lower high blood pressure.
C. Magnetic sleep pads stabilize or increase the T-cell count of HIV patients.
D. Magnetic sleep pads significantly reduce muscle spasms in persons with Multiple Sclerosis.
E. Magnetic sleep pads significantly reduce nerve spasms associated with diabetic neuropathy.
F. Magnetic sleep pads significantly increase bone density, immunity, and circulation.
G. Magnetic therapy products are as effective as prescription pain medicine in alleviating severe pain caused by conditions such as arthritis, carpal tunnel syndrome, and chronic back pain.
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