Surviving AmericanSurviving
American Medicine

In America, use of vitamins, nutritional supplements, and herbs is common, ranging from 10 to 95%. In my practice it is about 50%. But shockingly, a new study http://bit.ly/YVzEAx shows that between 20% to 77% of people who were using complementary or alternative medicines did NOT tell their doctor about which complementary or alternative therapies they were taking. People said they kept this a secret because the doctor never asked, or they were afraid of criticism by the physician. But some of these complementary treatments can interfere with standard medicines and drugs, or have side effects that can be dangerous.

What are my tips for you:

• 

  Complementary or alternative vitamins and nutrients

  Make a list of all the vitamins, herbs and supplements you use and give it to your doctor.

• Ask the doctor if any of these are harmful, or can interfere with medicines the doctor prescribes.
• Inquire about the benefits of the complementary treatments you take, and if there are any others that might help you.
• Always ask the doctor if there are alternative or complementary therapies that other people recommend for your condition, and what the doctor thinks of them. Bring your doctor information from magazines or the internet which promote alternative treatments so you can discuss them.

Never be afraid to talk these issues over with your doctor, as I describe more fully in Chapter 7 communicating with Your Doctor in my book Surviving American Medicine.