STOP NEGLECTING
3 FLU on
COLO) ZOUOS
I f SNEEZES fl
I I AND
SNIFFLING
RAW V
' SORE L. i
1 THROAT I
V
COUCH I
, AND CHEST 1
t CONGESTION j
SUPER AHANIST Mris nliit
ti 3 znes wfcwt ispirw-buffirini
cimpraads ioi't wtrfc
SUPER
AIIAI1IST
COLD
TABLETS
COUM
! " Mm I
A Dssstepaaat el Ifce Aasant
In rd. Iwiiitiiits .
NEW MEDICAL ADVANCE
Corrects
constipation
without laxatives!
Regitol is not a laxative no ir
ritating, not habit-forming. Laxa
tives "whip" your intestine, but new
i -, . L - i.. ,:
ntuuiui. wui ! uiiijt wi KvutTuiyai-
ing waste keeps it soft, moist,
movable with the natural moisture
in your colon. Corrects constipa
tion and establishes continued
regularity usually in just 3 days!
Regutol is hospital-proved safe
even for children and expectant
mothers. 30 tablets, Sl.OO-at any
drug store.
letter Hnm loxativ
II Hmm weyst
I.
I Doea mat Irritate salnrtai
t. Dae mo i
4.
ttj mi ly, lib ao ku-
aSvacaa!
WhatYou Should
Know About
ARTHRITIS
by William Kitay
Scitnca Editor, Arthritis and Rhaumatitm Foundation
She sat there, confused and afraid. "You have rheu
matoid arthritis," the doctor had said.
The questions that raced through her. mind had
troubled millions of arthritics before her: "Will I be
crippled? Will I be able to take care of my children? Will I
be able to hold the love of my husband?"
Here she was, a woman in her early thirties, a mother in
the prime of life. It didn't make sense that arthritis should
strike her. Arthritis was for old people!
The doctor began talking again. She heard him say
something about crippling rheumatoid arthritis being a
woman's disease, one that strikes three women for every
man. She also learned that the disease strikes most often
between the ages of 20 and 35, and that even children get it
What's more, while arthritis can strike anyone in any
walk of life, it seems to select those in the middle-income
groups men and women who through the years have
worked hard in their struggle for existence.
"We have a long fight ahead of us," the doctor said.
"Arthritis is a chronic disease. You will have to learn to
live with it We will have to watch the hold it takes on you
and work out a plan to ease your pain. Perhaps, with luck,
we'll even prevent any crippling effects."
"Doctor," she said, "what about the medicines I can get
at the drugstore? People are buying them, so they must be
of some help. I've been reading about wonder drugs and
miracle drugs that doctors give their patients to cure
arthritis. Can't you give me some?"
This scene is re-enacted day after day in arthritis clinics
and doctors' offices all over the country. And it is all
because wonder drugs and miracle cures have become a
part of our way of life.
The public demand is for a tablet, a pill, a capsule, or a
teaspoonful three times a day that can bring recovery
within a reasonable period and relief within minutes!
Yet the only miracle in the treatment of rheumatoid
arthritis, the commonest and most crippling form of the
disease, is the skill of the physician in selecting from the
wide range of available drugs and procedures those which
are best for the patient
Except for this, thert it no miracle drug and no miracle
cure for rheumatoid arthritis.
Research scientists hope to control arthritis by medica
tion. Many investigators feel a drug eventually will allevi
ate the pain and suffering from the disease, will prevent
deformity and crippling, and will permit a person to live
comfortably and actively.
A number of drugs are now being used, and new ones
are being developed all the time. Most never get beyond
animal experiments in the laboratory. A few have reached
the stage of clinical investigation of trial use on human
beings in arthritis clinics.
I n 1950 when cortisone was first released for public use,
arthritis specialists hoped that this was the long
sought cure for rheumatoid arthritis. But long-term
use showed that some of the resulting unpleasant and
complicating side reactions were far worse than the disease! .
Researchers then turned to evolving a less-toxic, syn
thetic variation of cortisone, one that most arthritics could
take with greater safety. The most recent such variation is
prednisone, which has all but replaced the original hor
mone. But this drug, too, after two years of wide use, has
been found to have its limitations.
Today only about one of every five persons with rheu
matoid arthritis receives cortisone or any of its synthetic
variations. Even they in time must be taken off the drug,
either because they no longer benefit from it or because of
the side reactions which eventually seem to develop.
Most arthritis sufferers today are being treated by the
same techniques arthritis specialists were using long before
the so-called wonder drugs were even thought of. Treat
ment basically consists of ordinary aspirin to lessen the
discomfort .of the disease, and physical medicine, with its
heat, massage, and selected exercises.
Of all the drugs used today in the treatment of arthritis,
aspirin is the most common. Recently, a new enteric
coated aspirin came into use for arthritics who suffer
stomach irritation from plain aspirin. This new aspirin has
a coating which breaks down in the intestines; it is here
that the aspirin is dissolved arid absorbed, rather than in
the stomach as ordinary aspirin does.
In addition to cortisone and its synthetic variations, the
prescription drugs now in use are gold salts, phenylbeuta
zone, ACTH, and hydrocortisone. None of these drugs is
the final answer, nor can any of them be considered a
universally effective treatment, much less a cure.
Every one of these potent drugs poses problems of selec
tion and management of patients. They affect people in
different ways.
Some cause withdrawal problems, the symptoms of uV
disease returning with greater impact when the drug b
stopped. And all produce side reactions on the patient
some minor and some serious.
One of the difficulties in treating arthritis scientifically
M
family WU, febrvary If, MM