Patient Power - Medical Care in the 21st Century

August 2010

In 2010, when someone receives bad news from their doctor, their first stop is often their home computer. This trend is a double edged sword according to many physicians. Their patients are both more knowledgeable about their diagnosis and treatment options, and more likely to run across erroneous information presented as fact. One thing is certain, the days of patients saying, "Whatever you think best, Doctor” are fading away as more people take responsibility for their health care and demand more of their physicians.

The Internet has certainly changed the isolation that many people felt in the past. Someone diagnosed with the rarest of conditions, can, within minutes on the Internet, connect with someone else with the same condition. And sometimes, knowing that you're not alone is medicine in itself.

That kind of reaching out and connecting helped Ann Cherry, 56, to find information and resources which led her to an alternative treatment for her Multiple Sclerosis (MS) three years ago.

Ann was diagnosed with MS in 1998 at the age of 44. Her physician started her on an interferon drug, one that had been available only since 1995. Current cost is about $2500/month. After 8 years of use, both she and her physician agreed that the interferon drug was not helping and she stopped using it. Her physician wanted to try a new, yet more expensive ($7600/month) drug with some scary potential side effects and Ann declined. At about that time, she heard about a drug that was the subject of much talk on an Internet MS discussion group. And that's when it got interesting.

A primer on MS: MS is a chronic, progressive disease that attacks the Central Nervous System (CNS) which includes the brain, spinal cord and optic nerves. In MS, the body's own defense (immune) system attacks the myelin or protective cover over the CNS nerves. When this cover is damaged, the nerve impulses traveling to and from the brain and spinal cord are distorted or blocked. There are several types of MS. The progress, severity and symptoms of MS are unpredictable and vary from one person to another. Most people are diagnosed between age 20-50, but MS is also seen in teens and young children as well as older adults. Women are more likely to have MS than men. There are 400,000 people in the US with MS, 2.1 Million world-wide.

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