By Tate Gunnerson

While more than half of Americans surveyed use alternative therapies, for most it is a clandestine affair that is kept secret from their doctors -- even in the emergency room, a report suggests.

A recent survey of emergency room patients showed that 1 in 4 had tried herbs as a remedy, most often to relieve pain. But experts note that side effects from herbs can be confused with disease symptoms, making it important for patients to tell healthcare staff when they have used alternative remedies.

Janet Gulla, a registered nurse, and Dr. Adam J. Singer of the University Medical Center, State University of New York at Stony Brook, surveyed 139 emergency room patients and found that approximately half of the patients had painful conditions, including chest pain, abdominal pain, back pain, and headache. Of the patients, 78 (56%) had used at least one alternative therapy in the past.

Patients used alternative therapies most often for pain and the most commonly used therapies were massage (31%), chiropractic treatment (30%), meditation (19%) and acupuncture (15%), according to the report published in the Annals of Emergency Medicine.

While 87% of the patients surveyed gained some relief from alternative therapies, 70% had not informed their doctor of the practice, the investigators found.

"Some of the alternative therapies -- especially the herbal therapies -- may cause side effects, especially when taken with conventional medicine," Singer told Reuters Health.

For example, severe bleeding has been reported in patients using gingko biloba while they were taking anticoagulant drugs, the researchers note.

The majority of patients use alternative therapies because they are compatible with their own beliefs, but other reasons include the failure of their normal healthcare, the need to control their treatment and a general preference for natural or holistic therapies, the authors suggest.

However, the researchers note that their study has several limitations. For example, people who answered the survey may have been more inclined to have a favorable attitude about alternative therapies. Furthermore, all the people surveyed were English-speaking and were able to walk. This may have led to the exclusion of sicker patients, which may have affected the results of the survey.

"People's needs maybe are not being met by conventional medicine so we need to question ourselves what we are doing wrong," said Singer. "We need to evaluate these alternative therapies scientifically, and those that are found to be effective should be embraced by conventional medicine and those that are found to be ineffective should be rejected by both conventional medicine and patients."

( From Reuters Health)