Legal
Medical disclaimer
The short version: this is health education, not medical advice, and nothing here is written with any knowledge of you.
No doctor–patient relationship
Listening to an episode, reading this site or subscribing to the letter does not create a doctor–patient relationship between you and Dr. Azka Afzal or any contributor to the programme. Dr. Afzal is a licensed physician, but she is not your physician by virtue of this show.
This is general education
Every episode discusses published research about treatments in general terms. None of it accounts for your medical history, your current medications, your allergies, your kidney or liver function, whether you are pregnant or breastfeeding, or any of the dozens of other things a clinician would need to know before advising you.
Do not start, stop or change any treatment — prescription, over-the-counter or supplement — on the basis of something you heard here. Talk to your own physician or pharmacist first, and tell them everything you are taking, including supplements.
If this is an emergency, stop reading. Call 911 or go to your nearest emergency department. Never delay seeking care because of something you heard on a podcast.
Supplements are not inert
Dietary supplements can interact with prescription medicines, affect laboratory results, and cause harm on their own — including serious harm. In the United States they are regulated as food rather than as drugs, which means the contents of a bottle are not verified against its label before sale. Several episodes deal with exactly this problem.
Accuracy and currency
Episodes reflect the published evidence as we read it on the date of release. Evidence changes. An episode is not updated as new trials appear; corrections are published on the episode page with the date they were made, and in the next letter. Citations are provided so that you, or your clinician, can check the underlying papers directly.
Independence
The show takes no sponsorship, sells no supplements and carries no affiliate links. Dr. Afzal practises telehealth through TeleTonicMD; that relationship is disclosed on every episode. Editorial standards are set out in The Method.
External links
We link to journals, databases and other sources so you can read them yourself. We do not control those sites and are not responsible for their content.
Questions
Write to contact@thetreatmenttapes.com. Please do not send personal medical details; we cannot answer individual clinical questions.