Use of unconventional therapies by individuals with multiple sclerosis
2003
Objective: To examine the prevalence and patterns of use of complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) among individuals with multiple sclerosis (MS) in the USA and to explore the reasons for use, symptoms treated and perceived effectiveness of these therapies.Methods: Surveys were mailed to the entire mailing list of the MS Foundation, constituting 11 600 individuals with MS or their family members; 3140 adults with MS returned surveys, yielding a response rate of 27.1%.Results: More than half of the responding sample (57.1%) had used at least one CAM modality. The longer that people had MS and the less satisfied they were with conventional health care the more likely they were to use CAM therapies. The most common reasons for using CAMs were the desire to use holistic health care (i.e., treatments that recognized the interrelatedness of mind, body and spirit) and dissatisfaction with conventional medicine. Ingested herbs were the most frequently used CAM modalities (26.6%), followed by chiropractic ma...
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