The Guide to Complementary and Alternative Medicine on the Internet

Learn to identify Internet-based complementary/alternative medicine resources you can trust!

This well-organized book takes a commonsense approach to getting the most out of the Internet when it comes to finding reliable information on complementary and alternative medicine. Author Lillian Brazin teaches classes on finding and evaluating health information on the Internet. In this book, she shares her years of experience in using and evaluating medical Internet sites to teach you to spot authoritative resources and avoid misinformation, sales pitches, and out-and-out quackery. In addition to showing you where to find the information you need, this book stresses the importance (the how and why) of working closely with your physician to get the best results from your complementary/alternative medical experience. More than 20 screen shot illustrations give you a preview of what to look for on various sites!

The Guide to Complementary and Alternative Medicine on the Internet will show you how to separate the wheat from the chaff when confronted with hundreds of Web sites purporting to provide reliable information. This jargon-free book addresses vital questions, such as:

• How can I be certain that the information I find is correct?
• How can I locate a Web site that was recommended to me?
• How do I start out to research a particular health problem?
• What do Internet terms like .com, .edu, .gov, listservs, :), BTW, LOL, flames, netiquette, etc. mean?

This book will also help you understand controversial hot topics that include:

• the Pilates exercise method that Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis helped popularize in the 1960s is trendy again, with Pilates studios in most major cities
• supermarket supplements, such as St. John's wort, gingko biloba, and vitamins A-Z: how can I find out which, if any of them, are for me?
• the validity of celebrity endorsements for supplements and alternative therapies

While providing you with the skills to find the information you seek, this book reflects the author’s cautious perspective. The Internet can be frightening and overwhelming because there is so much information to sift through, digest, and evaluate. The Guide to Complementary and Alternative Medicine on the Internet (first in the new Internet Guides to Consumer Health Care series from The Haworth Information Press) will help you identify Internet resources for complementary and alternative medicine that you can trust.

M. Sandra Wood and Lillian R. Brazin