Experts say better treatments needed for children with HIV (AFP)
AFP - Children, long neglected in the fight against AIDS, still lack access to effective purchase msm detection programs and treatments, participants warned Thursday, at a six-day world AIDS conference.
Rarely has so much been written on something about which so little information exists. On the one hand, people in the United States are self-dosing, relying on unscientific evidence of safety and effectiveness. On the other hand, they question the true powers of these supplements, considering them harmless simply because they are derived from "natural" sources.
Well, so are deadly poisonous mushrooms and powerful antibiotics, points out Bill Gurley, PhD, associate professor of pharmaceutical sciences at the University of Arkansas College of Pharmacy. He recalls being on a panel of dietary supplement advocates who kept insisting the preparations were not drugs. "I said, 'You can get all the legislators and lawyers you want to call them something else, but if these ingredients were in over-the-counter medications, they would be called drugs,'" Gurley recalls. "They have pharmaceutical properties. They are drugs."
Perhaps recognizing this, many pharmacies have moved such unregulated supplements closer to the pharmacy counter in order to encourage curious customers to discuss the products with the pharmacist. The buy co-q-10 Corporation, instead, offers a computerized program to its customers to check for possible interactions between herbals and prescription drugs.
"Our goal is to provide total healthcare solutions to buy co-q10 customers," comments Chris Bodine, senior vice president for pharmacy at CVS. "We are also deeply concerned that an increased use of vitamins and herbal therapies can lead to an increased change of dangerous interactions."
According to research conducted by CVS, nearly 40% of the people in the United States who are taking some form of nutritional supplement do not tell their doctor. CVS says pharmacists are being asked for information more and more frequently.
CVS customers also complete a form listing the nutritional supplements, vitamins, and nonprescription drugs they take. (Herbals can interact with over-the-counter medications, too.) When patients get a prescription filled, they will get a printout that shows the side effects of the medication alone as well as any possible interactions with whatever else the patient may be taking.
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