Always be suspicious of any health professional who:
- Suggests or asks for an intimate sexual relationship. This is totally inappropriate behavior. Any practitioner who crosses this boundary should be reported.
- Promises you can be cured. Many therapies may help your condition, but there is no cure for most kinds of arthritis and related diseases ñ and no reputable practitioner will promise a cure.
- Tells you to stop or decrease prescription medications. Never stop or change doses of prescription drugs without talking to your physician. Stopping certain medications (such as glucocorticoids like cortisone) abruptly can be dangerous.
- Other drugs may be necessary to keep your overall management program in balance. Stopping some prescription drugs, especially those for rheumatoid arthritis or lupus, can lead to flares of disease activity.
- Advises a severely restricted diet. No, we don't mean a vegetarian diet ñ I mean a diet that is extreme or involves eliminating many types of foods. If you want to go this route, ask your doctor for a referral to a nutritionally-oriented physician or to a registered dietitian with expertise in arthritis who will help you plan a well-balanced diet.
- Insists you pay in advance for a series of expensive treatments. No practitioner can predict how you might respond to a treatment, and you should not have to pay for treatments you do not receive or need.
- Cannot show you a license or a certificate from an approved school or organization in his or her specialty. Anyone can claim to be an expert Ask for proof.
Advises you to keep the treatment a secret from your doctor, or anyone else. Good medical treatments are not secrets ñ they are shared in the medical community.
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