I am always adding things to the website. You can see what is new by looking on the left side of the page for a little box labeled: Recent Site Activity.
Normally, I leave it to you to identify the new material by simply reading the site. However, I added a few little things to the website today that bear special mentioning...
On the home page, I added a gadget labeled "Health.com Latest News and Wellness Advice Gadget." That box links to the top ten articles at Health.com, and the tabs link to even more news and wellness information. The Health.com Videos are YouTube videos, usually of a doctor, that are pretty useful if you want an overview on the selected topic. I have watched a lot of them and they are well done.
I have no control over what Health.com chooses to present, but I have been playing with with this gadget on my Just For Fun page and found enough worthwhile articles that it seems worthwhile to offer it you you folks on the home page. You will find this on the home page under the introductory text. Just scroll down a bit, you cannot miss it.
The Health.com website is just a good resource anyway. The Drug Finder and other tools are linked to commercial databases used by health care providers, and are as good as the other tools I have listed for looking up medication information. Like any other information, you should check multiple sources to confirm accuracy, eliminate the chance of bias, and also to confirm how timely any particular information is. That is why I list so many choices. You will find which is your favorite site, but I encourage you to cross check that periodically.
Plus, remember that Google is one of your health care partners. Google Health went live this year (www.google.com/health/), and "Google is the default starting point for most health searches. And people are increasingly turning to their computers and the Web for health information and advice. A Harris poll, published last month, found that 52 percent of adults sometimes or frequently go to the Web for health information, up from 29 percent in 2001. "
See: Steve Lohr, “Google and Microsoft Look to Change Health Care,” The New York Times, August 14, 2007, sec. Technology, http://www.nytimes.com/2007/08/14/technology/14healthnet.html.
I also expanded the Natural, Alternative, and Complementary Medicines section of the CNMVF Education page: http://www.nmvasculitis.org/Home/support/education. These new links provide more background information about Complementary and Alternative Medicines (CAM), as well as more resources for investigating CAM therapies BEFORE you try them.
Most vasculitis patients are already taking a pretty smashing amount medications. so it is very important to talk with your doctor AND pharmacist before altering or adding to your treatment cocktail. They need to know what you are taking, so they can factor that information into their decision making, and so they can alert you to any obvious contraindications.
Even if you and your doctor do not agree about CAM therapies, tell them what you are doing.
Do not rely on your doctor and pharmacist alone to know everything, or even to do the research. Your doctor will be familiar with his or her main treatment protocols. The computer at the pharmacy will red flag any documented reactions between medications, and the pharmacist should tell you about those as well as any real world experiential knowledge they may have. However, when you factor in supplements and other alternative products, you are wandering off the beaten path and so must take extra responsibility for your own health care. You must do some research.
I am an advocate that each patient should invest in their own medical care, and think of themselves as equal partners in the mission to improve their own health.
Good doctors are amazing, but they are not going to be able to spend the kind of time you can spend to check out every aspect of your condition. The better informed you are, the better questions you will ask your doctor, and the better your quality of care will be.
: Joseph Carpenter
Email
Albuquerque, NM
CSS Parent, Daughter DX March '08
Celebrating seven months without symptoms!
Central NM Chapter - Vasculitis Foundation
http://www.nmvasculitis.org
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