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Richard A. Kirkpatrick, MD; M. Thomas Stillman, MD; Doyt L. Conn, MD
Mayo Clinic Rochester, Minn

JAMA. 1975;231(8):810.

	Since this article does not have an abstract, we have provided the first 150 words of the full text PDF and any section headings.

To the Editor.—

Many patients who come to the Mayo Clinic have previously had health care elsewhere. Frequently, they have traveled to foreign countries in quest of a dramatic cure for some chronic condition. For patients who have arthritis, one of the most common places to visit is Mexicali, Mexico.

Personal experiences with these clinics have been detailed elsewhere (Today's Health, vol 51, No. 10, October 1973, p 30). Previous analyses of the medicines prescribed there have shown them to be mixtures of corticosteroids and hormones. Recently, in one month, we saw four patients who experienced difficulties at least partially attributable to the indiscriminate use of corticosteroids in these clinics.

These sequelae included withdrawal flare-ups of arthritis, neuropathy due to vasculitis, and paraplegia from epidural abscess. A fourth patient, who was to have reconstructive knee surgery, denied the use of corticosteroids, yet she was obviously cushingoid. She might have suffered . . . [Full Text PDF of this Article]

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