Ugly as the truth is, there are a lot of fibro treatment scams out there today. Anytime you have a chronic condition, marketers know that you will buy on the promise of relief, rather than investigate their claims as you would with any other major purpose.
Here is an overview of what you should watch out for when you encounter some new “miracle” cure. There is no cure for fibromyalgia. There are great advances being made in its treatment, but these are advances – not magical treatments. Always talk with your doctor before you try any new treatment to make sure it won’t counteract the treatments you are on.
Look for – the “secret” and the “conspiracy”
The biggest gambit that marketers use to push fibro treatment scams is that they have a secret product that the healthcare industry doesn’t want you to know about. This reveals that the company not only thinks that the consumer is ignorant, but that they fail to understand how pharmaceutical companies make money.
Chronic diseases drain profits from everyone involved with medicine. If there was a cure they would rush to make it available. Not only would it be a long term cash resource for the healthcare industry, but it would let them avoid the long term care costs associated with chronic conditions such as fibromyalgia.
How to know if something is really FDA approved
The FDA approves many things. It also approves them for very specific uses only. Be wary of the phrase “FDA approved.” There are only three things that the FDA has approved for the treatment of fibromyalgia and they are all well-known prescription medications. Marketers can get away with listing something as FDA approved if one of the ingredients is on an approved list for anything.
It should also be noted that FDA approval is not required for any beauty aid or health supplement. They are prohibited from making claims about it treating a specific disease or condition. Make sure you read all of the fine print on an ad, as the FDA disclaimer that says the item has not been tested is required on supplements and natural therapies.
The magic of “clinically proven”
One of the catch phrases of marketing is “clinically proven,” or any variation that states that the product has been studied. In many cases, there may be a connection to a study, but the interpretation of the findings is not correct. In the worst case, there are many fabricated studies that exist on the Internet.
Be wary of any study that is referenced that you cannot find, or cannot find anywhere else but the product site. PubMed is an excellent and free resource where you can read the study findings yourself to see if the evidence shown matches the marketing hype.
How to weigh testimonials
Old school thinking would caution you to exclude any product that features customer testimonials on their site, and to look for customer reviews instead. The new school of thinking is that both testimonials and reviews should be taken with a very large grain of salt. Writing reviews of products is a cottage industry that is perfected by freelancers and marketing executives.
That doesn’t mean that they aren’t worth anything. It does mean that they shouldn’t be the deciding factor on whether or not you should try a product. The real deciding factor comes in knowing how realistic the product promises are, whether it is supported by solid clinical evidence, and if your doctor and pharmacist say that it won’t interfere with anything else you are taking.
The big, fat lie of the secret cure
Another solid clue that you are looking at one of the fibro treatment scams is when they promise a secret, or immediate cure. As soon as someone starts talking about how the healthcare industry doesn’t want you to know something, you are sure that they are lying. The cost of treatment for Fibromyalgia is hugely expensive to insurance companies, doctors, schools, places of work and society in general.
If there was a cure then it would be passed around for free because fibromyalgia costs big business, big pharma and society too much to let it just happen to people. The intensity of the criteria for fibromyalgia diagnosis shows you just how serious medicine and society is about making sure that those who have it get treatment as soon as possible. That is half about helping people feel better, and half about trying to cap its cost to society too.
The problem with Ancient Wisdom
Another common claim with products is that they are based on “ancient wisdom,” or come from traditional medicines. The problem with this claim is that much of the ancient and traditional cures didn’t do anything, but they are what people did when they encounter fibromyalgia centuries ago.
Many of the traditional medicines have been extensively studied, and some of them are effective – but most are not – especially for modern illnesses. You also have to keep in mind that the traditional medicines were taken into bodies that lived traditional lifestyles – which were more active, ate fresher food, and generally followed a much healthier lifestyle than the modern person can.
Be safe, be smart and stay educated
Keep yourself safe from fibro treatment scams by remembering the golden rule, “if it sounds too good to be true, it probably is.” Before you invest in a cure-all, investigate it. Get your doctor involved too. You would be surprised at how willing they are to help you navigate new treatments. Everyone is going to fall for one of the fibro treatment scams at some point.
It is just human nature to want to take or do one thing and have all the hurt and pain go away. That doesn’t mean that you have to fall for every one, or not be open to trying alternative treatments. Educate yourself with solid evidence and clinical findings that can be traced and you will find more ways to improve your quality of life than you can dream.
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