Emphysema is a factor in the progression of chronic obstructive
pulmonary disease (COPD), a condition that limits the flow of air when
you breathe out. Emphysema occurs when the air sacs at the ends of your
smallest air passages (bronchioles) are gradually destroyed. Smoking is
the leading cause of emphysema.
As it worsens, emphysema turns the spherical air sacs — clustered like
bunches of grapes — into large, irregular pockets with gaping holes in
their inner walls. This reduces the number of air sacs and keeps some
of the oxygen entering your lungs from reaching your bloodstream. In
addition, the elastic fibers that hold open the small airways leading
to the air sacs are slowly destroyed, so that they collapse when you
breathe out, not letting the air in your lungs escape.
Airway obstruction, another feature of COPD, contributes to emphysema.
The combination of emphysema and obstructed airways makes breathing
increasingly difficult. Treatment often slows, but doesn't reverse, the
process. (Source: the Mayo Clinic )
Because Emphysema/COPD is difficult to treat, many
people try to find a treatment outside of mainstream medicine. This
makes COPD sufferers prime targets for
predatory scammers who look for people with medical problems to exploit
for their own gain.
There are two types of scam site to look out for:
- The straight scam product
- The comparison scam site
Let's start with straight product scams. like the ones listed
below. These sites are all for a single product, each of which claims
"guaranteed treatment" or "results within days" and list all sorts of
herbs, -some of which may be dangerous- as ingredients.
The scam
sites have a lot in common: there is no real contact information listed
anywhere: No names of people, no phone numbers, no e-mail addresses.
The contact information is a mail forwarding service, and/or an online
form which you fill out, which gives you no e-mail address and no way
to follow up. Every single scam site I have found (over 900!) uses CCNow to process their payments. Make of that what you will. I am just stating the fact.
Here
is the list of scam products I have found for Emphysema and COPD. The
product name is linked back to their site. If you click on the company
name, you will be linked back to my article on the particular company
selling that product and why it is bad. Please be aware that
most of these companies advertise directly on WebMD and other legitimate medical sites.
This does not make their products legitimate. Contrary to what WebMD
would like you to believe, they do not verify all of their advertisers,
due to a
loophole in their advertising policy.
Emphotab by Oslo Health Solutions (OHS) -more on OHS, detailing the kind of garbage they put in some of their preparations here and a little more info on them and the psychology of scamming here.
Emphotin by Berlin Homeo Products
Hismatax by Botanical Sources
Hysmeton by Gordon's Herbal Research Center
Phenofax by Healing Plants Ltd
Physmical by Solutions By Nature
Please
don't buy any of the above products. They are all scams. None of them are
based in the country they claim to be based. All of the addresses are
mail forwarding services. If you receive any pills, they will arrive
from Pakistan. I have received tons of feedback from readers who tell
me this is so.
The other type of scam site is more
sneaky. These are the so-called "philanthropic" sites, the ones which
want to "help" you find the "correct" cure for your "problem". These
sites will list between two or four herbal treatments (all of which you
will find listed above) in varying order, and will make an "independent
recommendation" of which one they think is best. Of course, the catch
is that the "independent" evaluator actually owns all of the bogus
cures in the first place, so they don't care which one you choose, as
long as you choose one. They get the money regardless.
(And they think we are the ones who are sick?)
Here is a list of the scam evaluators, along with the link to my background info on them.
Emphysema-options.com run by The Society for the Promotion of Alternative Health (SPAH)
Emphysema-products.com run by Herbal Product Reviews
Emphysemahelp.org run by Towards Natural Health. A little more on them here.
I
have tried everything I can think to try and get these scams shut down;
-and I am still trying, however, they are still operating. In the
meantime, I am trying to get the word out as much as possible so that
people won't buy these products and be ripped off (I still get e-mails
every day from people who have been. Look at the comments on my
articles).
Please spread the word that these products are
scams. If you belong to a support group or messageboard, please let the
other members know about these scam products, so that they are not
conned into wasting their time and money.
Emphysema is a factor in the progression of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), a condition that limits the flow of air when you breathe out. Emphysema occurs when the air sacs at the ends of your smallest air passages (bronchioles) are gradually destroyed. Smoking is the leading cause of emphysema.
As it worsens, emphysema turns the spherical air sacs — clustered like bunches of grapes — into large, irregular pockets with gaping holes in their inner walls. This reduces the number of air sacs and keeps some of the oxygen entering your lungs from reaching your bloodstream. In addition, the elastic fibers that hold open the small airways leading to the air sacs are slowly destroyed, so that they collapse when you breathe out, not letting the air in your lungs escape.
Airway obstruction, another feature of COPD, contributes to emphysema. The combination of emphysema and obstructed airways makes breathing increasingly difficult. Treatment often slows, but doesn't reverse, the process. (Source: the Mayo Clinic )
Because Emphysema/COPD is difficult to treat, many people try to find a treatment outside of mainstream medicine. This makes COPD sufferers prime targets for predatory scammers who look for people with medical problems to exploit for their own gain.
There are two types of scam site to look out for:
Let's start with straight product scams. like the ones listed below. These sites are all for a single product, each of which claims "guaranteed treatment" or "results within days" and list all sorts of herbs, -some of which may be dangerous- as ingredients.
The scam sites have a lot in common: there is no real contact information listed anywhere: No names of people, no phone numbers, no e-mail addresses. The contact information is a mail forwarding service, and/or an online form which you fill out, which gives you no e-mail address and no way to follow up. Every single scam site I have found (over 900!) uses CCNow to process their payments. Make of that what you will. I am just stating the fact.
Here is the list of scam products I have found for Emphysema and COPD. The product name is linked back to their site. If you click on the company name, you will be linked back to my article on the particular company selling that product and why it is bad. Please be aware that most of these companies advertise directly on WebMD and other legitimate medical sites. This does not make their products legitimate. Contrary to what WebMD would like you to believe, they do not verify all of their advertisers, due to a loophole in their advertising policy.Please don't buy any of the above products. They are all scams. None of them are based in the country they claim to be based. All of the addresses are mail forwarding services. If you receive any pills, they will arrive from Pakistan. I have received tons of feedback from readers who tell me this is so.
The other type of scam site is more sneaky. These are the so-called "philanthropic" sites, the ones which want to "help" you find the "correct" cure for your "problem". These sites will list between two or four herbal treatments (all of which you will find listed above) in varying order, and will make an "independent recommendation" of which one they think is best. Of course, the catch is that the "independent" evaluator actually owns all of the bogus cures in the first place, so they don't care which one you choose, as long as you choose one. They get the money regardless.
(And they think we are the ones who are sick?)
Here is a list of the scam evaluators, along with the link to my background info on them.
I have tried everything I can think to try and get these scams shut down; -and I am still trying, however, they are still operating. In the meantime, I am trying to get the word out as much as possible so that people won't buy these products and be ripped off (I still get e-mails every day from people who have been. Look at the comments on my articles).
Please spread the word that these products are scams. If you belong to a support group or messageboard, please let the other members know about these scam products, so that they are not conned into wasting their time and money.