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Bozeman Daily Chronicle | October 23, 2022
2Awareness
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Finding Credible Information
magine walking away from the hospital as a person newly diagnosed with cancer. Your head is swimming, fear is tangible in your heart and you are in shock. As you walk away, you are given choices about treatment options from your trusted doctor. You feel like you are on the right course to conquer this and begin moving forward with your treatment plan. You stop at a coffee shop, run into a friend and share the news. Following your story, she tells you that the doctors are all wrong and you should just eat mounds of asparagus – this will surely cure your cancer. Now, you question everything, and don’t know what to do.
By: Becky Franks, CEO of Cancer Support Community
may be helpful in beating the disease or bring comfort by alleviating side effects. Some of this advice will be helpful and some will not. Some advice will be dangerous. The question is “how do you know?” What we do know is that cancer is increasingly complex and finding solid information can be difficult.
physicians. There are no rules about what can be put on the internet, so it is important to know the difference between “Dr. Smith” and the Mayo Clinic website. Any person with a PhD can put “Dr.” in front of their name, but that does not make them a medical doctor or someone who specializes in oncology. Therefore, there Many people turn to the are many doctors who do internet for information. To not specialize in cancer and begin with, do not Google will not be a good source of “cancer” because you will receive information in this arena. an array of information – some of it credible and some quite Secondly, pay attention to the dangerous. Anybody can make date of information provided. a website, and not all people Dates of information help are qualified nor have your best to judge its timeliness and interest in mind. The following accuracy. Health information maneuvers may be helpful when changes very rapidly, and so do A cancer diagnosis (or any attempting to access trustworthy treatment plans. Be cautious diagnosis for that matter) can websites and authors. of anything printed more than catapult people into a journey of 5-10 years ago. trying to navigate information Begin by looking for in order to make sound health sources of credible health Look for accuracy in the data. decisions. During this time, information, such as Clinical or scientific evidence there are MANY people who government agencies, that supports a position should will come forward with advice universities, hospitals, be clearly stated. Testimonials about treatment options and we l l - k n ow n medical are NOT evidence! Watch for complimentary services that o r g a n i z a t i o n s and common catch phrases such
as the following: Scientific breakthrough! Secret ingredient! All natural! Ancient remedy! Miracle cure! Steer away from false claims on products or information. Beware of websites selling products that improve your health, especially any “cure-all” products. Medical advances have allowed doctors to improve the success rate of many treatments, but these words are not used by the medical world. They are more used by people looking to make money on you. Be leery of anyone who tells you that medical professionals “don’t want you to know” about their information or product. Doctors of all treatment types have the care of the patient as their first priority. It is important that you feel comfortable in talking freely with your health care team and it is vital that you share your entire care plan with your primary care physician. If you are taking supplements or participating in other complimentary treatments, this information is very critical. Continued on page 3