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ROBERT JOHNSONA spoonful of information helps the medicine go down, so here's a list that strips the mystery from some frequently prescribed medical treatments.
There's an old saying that the cure can be worse than the disease.
That may seem true with treatments that are invasive, painful and loaded with side effects, but they're usually preferable to the alternative.
Understanding the treatment can be essential, experts say, especially to the patient's outlook. It's easier to be optimistic about getting well when you comprehend what's being done for you.
"With some people, if the doctor tells them they have, say lupus, they may spend hours on the Internet researching everything about the various treatments. With other patients, the attitude may be, "Just give me some stuff to read and do what you have to do'," says Ruth Huntley Bahr, an assistant professor of communication science and disorders at the University of South Florida's Institute on Aging in Tampa.
She's optimistic about the American Medical Association's new national program to educate physicians to explain diagnosis and treatments to their patients. The terms need to be fully explained, she says, or "you turn people off. You don't want to overcomplicate, or oversimplify."
In an attempt to find that common ground, here is an A to Z list of cures, treatments and therapies that are less intimidating when they are explained. And for most of us, they're still better than having the disease they treat.
Arthroscopy: Procedure that can be both a test and treatment, when a small fiber-optic camera is inserted into a joint space, allowing the doctor to take a biopsy and, if necessary, to perform surgery on the joint.
Brachytherapy: Inserting radioactive implants into the prostate to treat cancer. One advantage over traditional radiation is that this treatment requires fewer trips to the hospital or doctor's office, but the cure rates may be lower.
Chemotherapy: Using drugs to destroy cancer cells. Unfortunately, most of the drugs that kill cancer cells also damage normal cells, causing side effects that range from uncomfortable to debilitating. Chemo may be used alone or combined with radiation, surgery, or both.
Corticosteroid shots: Injections made directly into joints to reduce pain and inflammation. Can have dramatic results, but they are for short-term use only.
Dialysis: The process of removing waste products and excess fluids from the body, a method most commonly associated with kidney disease. A single treatment usually takes three or four hours.
D&C: Dilation and curettage. The cervix is stretched open with metal rods so a small, sharp instrument called a curet can be used to scrape the lining of the uterus.
Elastic stockings: Often recommended for varicose veins in the legs, or for swelling of the ankles and feet.
Fluid filtration surgery: Glaucoma treatment in which fluid produced by the eyes is drained from clogged or blocked canals to relieve damaging pressure on the optic nerve.
Gastric bypass: A treatment for severe obesity, popularly known as stomach stapling. The staples are used to divide the stomach into two parts. Food can enter only the smaller upper part, drastically reducing the amount that can be eaten at one time.
Hemapheresis: Purifying the blood, usually of a seriously ill patient who hasn't responded to more conventional treatment. The blood is removed and returned intravenously after certain fluids and substances are eliminated.
Intraocular lens: An artificial lens, made of plastic or silicone, implanted in the eye during cataract surgery. It replaces the natural lens removed to eliminate the cataract.
Joint replacement: Surgical implantation of an artificial joint, usually in the hip, knee or shoulder, to improve movement and decrease pain from an injury or arthritis.
Keyhole surgery: Any of the technically advanced surgical procedures featuring small incisions into which tiny video cameras and miniature instruments are inserted. It's called laparoscopy when done in the abdomen; arthroscopy in joints; and thoracoscopy in the chest.
Labyrinthectomy: A highly invasive ear surgery used when dizziness caused by vertigo has become disabling and hearing loss in the involved ear has deteriorated. Severe hearing loss can be expected.
Mastectomy: Surgical removal of a breast following a diagnosis of cancer. Surgeons may also remove lymph nodes and surrounding muscle tissue, depending on the size and location of the cancer.
Nerve block: A procedure in which an anesthetic (such as lidocaine) is injected near a nerve to block pain. Used for short-term relief of certain kinds of pain and as a local anesthetic during surgery.
Oxytocin: A hormone that causes contractions of the uterus, used to induce or to speed up labor and childbirth.
Pacemaker: An electronic device installed through surgery to correct a heart rate that is too slow. It stimulates heartbeat by firing electrical impulses. These devices must be replaced after 10 to 15 years.
Palliative: A measure to relieve symptoms or enhance the comfort of the patient without actually treating the underlying disease.
Psychopharmacology: Using drugs to treat mental, emotional and behavioral disorders. Antidepressants are now among the top-selling prescription drugs.
Quinine: This medicine, extracted from the bark of the cinchona tree, is used to treat malaria. Also helps relieve leg cramps at night. At high doses, it has been linked to birth defects in lab animals and negative side effects on the heart.
Radiation therapy: Aiming a beam of intense energy on a specific area of the body or an organ. Radiation kills cancer cells, some more effectively than others. Another radiation strategy is to inject the radioactive substance into a vein to travel to the cancer, or implanting radiation directly into it.
Stent: A small, wire-mesh tube placed inside a narrowed artery to hold it open.
Traction: An array of ropes, pulleys and weights used to continuously pull a severely broken limb and keep the bones aligned while they heal.
Ultraviolet Light: This much-maligned component of sunlight can actually help those with certain skin disorders, notably psoriasis. A series of phototherapy (ultraviolet light) sessions, sometimes combined with drugs, may offer months of symptom relief. Unfortunately, UV light also causes skin cancer.
Vertebroplasty: Surgery to repair collapsed vertebrae caused by osteoporosis. An acrylic "bone cement" is injected into each collapsed vertebra, helping to relieve pain and reduce deformity.
Warfarin: An anticoagulant given to people at high risk of forming blood clots. Often called a "blood thinner," warfarin (brand names Coumadin and Miradon) doesn't actually thin the blood but instead inhibits the action of blood proteins called clotting factors.
Xylometazoline: Medicine found in some over-the-counter nasal sprays. Temporarily effective to relieve congestion, but as with its cousins - Naphazoline, Oxymetazoline and Phenylephrine - the disadvantage can be a "rebound" effect in which congestion is worse when the drug wears off.
Y-F Vax: Brand name of the vaccine to prevent yellow fever. It is a required immunization for travel to certain parts of Africa and South America in which the mosquito-borne illness is common.
Zinc: Nonprescription zinc lozenges have become popular as cold remedies. Small studies have shown them to be useful, but the effectiveness hasn't been confirmed in large-scale clinical research.
-- Robert Johnson is a freelance writer in Orlando.
Sources: MayoClinic.com, MedicineNet.com and "The Merck Manual of Medical Information."