WEB REVIEW

DAAIR

Direct Access Alternative Information Resources

by Kevin O’Leary

WE HAVE a soft spot for DAAIR, the not-for-profit buyers club for PHAs and their doctors looking to include complementary and alternative therapies in the treatment of HIV disease. Founded by long-term survivor and activist Fred Bingham, DAAIR, in its own words, “promotes self-empowered healing to help manage HIV/AIDS… through the use of scientifically researched nutrients, other natural therapies and mind/spirit practices.” In their 10 years of operation, the New Yorkers have amassed an encyclopedic knowledge — and inexpensive catalogue (though prices are in U.S. dollars) — of what’s hot on the herbal front. Call them toll-free — yes, even from Canada — at 1.888.951.LIFE (5433) for up-to-the-minute information about accessing non-approved therapies safely.

One downside of the DAAIR website is that much of the information was posted in the year 2000 and many items are simply not dated (undated entries on websites about HIV can be landmines for info seekers). So you’ll have to check with DAAIR if you wish to use its wonderfully comprehensive recommended protocols — what to take and how much it will cost you — as a blueprint for your own treatment strategies against HIV/AIDS as well as lipodystrophy, neuropathy, chronic sinusitis and hepatitis. These plans are a great starting point, but you’ll have to do a bit of the legwork to keep things current. Still, you’ll find a lot on the basics.

Click through the DAAIR catalogue and you’ll see that SB Normal Stool Formula (you can’t buy this at your average health food store in Canada), made from the sap of a tree found in the Amazon rainforest, can be used as a possible treatment for watery diarrhea. And if a practitioner touts a treatment, DAAIR’s catalogue entry will disclose any financial interests on the part of the person recommending it.

So, any complaints we have about the website are stated knowing that they’d do better if they had the resources and time to update it. Though it is well worth your time to check out DAAIR, be sure to call before you take what you read as treatment gospel.

Decisions about particular medical treatments should always be made in consultation with a qualified medical practitioner who is knowledgeable about HIV-related illness and the treatments in question. MORE

Production of this Web site has been made possible through a financial contribution from the Public Health Agency of Canada.

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