Research Information Regarding Your Health

Article first published as Research Information Regarding Your Health on Technorati.

I was having a discussion with a friend of mine the other day and she made a statement that has been on my mind since that conversation. A friend of hers has been struggling with a health problem and going through various tests. During her last round of blood tests, the Dr. told her that they were going to test for Lyme Disease. Now, here's where that nagging statement comes in: my friend told her that "The Dr.'s test result will come back negative for Lyme disease because they are always negative from the Dr.'s" My friend has been taking treatments for Lyme for the past 2 years and explained that she was tested by 3 different Dr's and the tests always came back negative; however, when she was tested by her nurse practitioner and a naturopath, the tests came back positive. A statement like that makes me wonder "what do THEY have to gain?" For the past 2 years she has been spending large amounts of money on a barrage of medications for the treatment of Lyme.

It's convenient that her Nurse practitioner sells these medications direct to her. For 2 years she has been putting out as much as $600 a month for the medications as well as following, what I personally think is, an unproven treatment program that has cost literally thousands of dollars a year with little or no improvements. However, she has been convinced that this treatment will work and it needs some time - up to a few years - to conquor the disease.

This made me think of the numerous ways that we are being persuaded to open our wallets and transfer the contents to people who want to help us with their various products and services. I am certainly not going to say that every person selling a product or service is simply out for the money. What I AM saying is do your reaserch. Don't simply blindly accept one persons opinion - especially when it comes to the most valuable thing you have...your health.

Before commiting to any product or service, ask yourself the following:
1. What qualifications do they have?
 Places like internet "forums" can be a valuable source of information, they can also be full of unqualified and potentially harmful advice!
3. Does the person/site have a monetary interest?
 Are they going to sell you something for the sake of making a dollar, or is this really going to help you?
4. Check around and do your research!
 Don't blindly take one persons advice. Research what they are telling you to see if other sources of information agree with their opinion.
5. Has the product/service been succesfull for others?
 There is an abundance of people who share their experiences through different media  on the internet.

Think back to english class - when we wrote reports we were told to include the 5 W's, in this case they would be:
                                       WHO is providing the information
                                       WHY are they providing the information
                                       WHAT is their motive
                                       WHERE they got their information from
                                       WHEN was the information relevant
                                       HOW they came to their conclusions.

Back in university, molecular biology was certainly not my favorite course. My prof used to recite a mantra that I kept with me for all these years: Question, investigate, theorize and conclude.