Medical disclaimer

The short version

What this means in practice

• We do not publish protocols or dosing. Not for supplements, not for medications, not for diets used as treatment. If you find something on this site that reads like an instruction to take a specific amount of something, that is an error and we want to hear about it.
• Nothing here establishes that any product treats, cures or prevents any condition.
• A test result is not a diagnosis. A questionnaire is not a diagnosis. A website is definitely not a diagnosis.
• Where the evidence is contested, we tell you it is contested rather than picking the answer that makes for a cleaner page.

When to stop reading and see someone

Some symptoms need a person, not an article. Seek medical attention rather than researching if you have any of the following.

• Bleeding from the rectum, or black or tarry stools
• Vomiting blood
• Unintentional weight loss
• Difficulty or pain swallowing
• Persistent fever alongside gut symptoms
• Severe or rapidly worsening abdominal pain
• A family history of gastrointestinal cancer alongside new symptoms
• Anaemia, or a new inability to keep food or fluids down

If you are having a severe allergic reaction, difficulty breathing, or symptoms of anaphylaxis, call emergency services. Do not look anything up first.

On the conditions this site covers specifically

Several of the diagnoses discussed here are contested among specialists, and the tests used to establish them have known limitations that we document on the relevant pages. That uncertainty is a reason to involve a clinician, not a reason to self-manage from the internet.