By the next morning my ailments are so severe that I am terrified out of my mind. I visit my doctor, barely able to stumble into his office on my limp, rubbery legs. Oddly colored sweat drips from every pore. My body is a grotesque mass of open sores and cancerous growths. I collapse on the examination table and beg my doctor to help me. He sighs deeply and appears exasperated. But just to ease my mind, he offers me a prescription for a topical ointment which he says may help ease some of my symptoms. I gladly pay several hundred dollars for the tiny tube and immediately use all of it. It has no noticeable effect.