The C.A.M. Report
Complementary and Alternative Medicine: Fair, Balanced, and to the Point
  • About this web log

    This blog ran from 2006 to 2016 and was intended as an objective and dispassionate source of information on the latest CAM research. Since my background is in pharmacy and allopathic medicine, I view all CAM as advancing through the development pipeline to eventually become integrated into mainstream medical practice. Some will succeed while others fail. But all are treated fairly here.

  • About the author

    John Russo, Jr., PharmD, is president of The MedCom Resource, Inc. Previously, he was senior vice president of medical communications at www.Vicus.com, a complementary and alternative medicine website.

  • Common sense considerations

    The material on this weblog is for informational purposes. It is not medical advice or counsel. Be smart, consult your health professional before using CAM.

  • Recent Posts

  • Recent Comments

    Self-care for peripheral neuropathy in HIV/AIDS

    Peripheral neuropathy is the most common neurological complication in HIV, and it’s often associated with antiretroviral therapy. Patients experience muscle weakness and atrophy, pain, and numbness.

    Here’s what people use to manage the discomfort.

    450 respondents from several US cities, Puerto Rico, Colombia, and Taiwan identified self-care behaviors.

    • A hot bath was the most frequent strategy listed by 292 patients, and it received the highest overall rating of effectiveness among self-management strategies listed 8.1 (scale 1 [least] – 10 [most effective]).

    Other self-care strategies (from most to least common) to manage this symptom included?

    • Staying off the feet
    • Rubbing the feet with cream
    • Elevating the feet
    • Walking
    • Prescribed anti-epileptic agent
    • Prescribed analgesics
    • Over-the-counter medications
    • Vitamin B
    • Calcium supplements
    • Magnesium
    • Massage
    • Acupuncture
    • Reflexology
    • Meditation

    Several less commonly used behaviors that the authors referred to as “unhealthy” included?

    • Marijuana
    • Cigarette smoking
    • Drinking alcohol
    • Street drugs

    MayoClinic.com discusses other CAM and mainstream treatments.

    7/30/07 20:53 JR

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