Altie Meds

OK, so it's a repost from the old blog. I'm on vacation so gimme a break. --PalMD When I get bored, I sift through the "articles" section of Gary Null's site to see what kind of stupidity he is willing to host. Thankfully, it never takes long to find the stupid. This time, it was more on the so-called blood type diet. The article (not written by Null, just hosted on his site) is one of those wonderful oeuvres whose very title contains an unfounded assertion. Exposing falsehoods such as this may have its own benefits, but I would like to show how poor logic can easily lead to poor…
Here at denialism blog, we've written a bit about so-called Morgellons syndrome. Every once in a while, when I tire of sanity, I scan the news for more Morgellons madness, and when it comes to madness, Mike Adams never disappoints. In his latest foray into paranoid idiocy, he tries to link this non-existent illness to genetically modified (GM) foods. And what abuses of logic does he use to create this connection? He starts with the classic "begging the question". The entire first section of his article simply assumes that Morgellons exists as some sort of unique pathology. On what…
A reader of ours ran into a questionable book ad, and being a good citizen, sent it on to me. I glanced at it, and it seemed to be the usual silly book purporting to cure all that ails, but on deeper inspection, it was much uglier. The book says that it "renders insulin and related medicines unnecessary within four days...". This is a bit scary, not because this would be a bad thing, but because many diabetics are completely dependent on insulin to live. But, hey, maybe this is a good diet plan for type II diabetics and will at least help them reduce their need for meds. I mean, it could…
Skepchick has apparently discovered that, as of yesterday, this is World Homeopathy Awareness Week. (Yes, starts on a Thursday...they were going to start on Monday, but the succussion took a while.) Well, I can get behind a public service like this. My contribution will be a side-to-side comparison of a homeopathic treatment and a real one. Let's pick a fun disease, say, heart attacks (the website I found offered homeopathic remedies for anthrax, but I think I'll skip that). Unfortunately, this will require a brief tutorial on myocardial infarctions (MIs, heart attatcks). As is usual with…
What is alternative Medicine, anyway? That's a great question. I know it is, because I asked it. I get this question almost daily. The secret answer is that there is no such thing as alternative medicine. You don't believe me? Why not--I am a doctor. There are several ways to define alternative medicine, and sometimes it is contrasted with "complementary medicine". CM refers to treatments that "complement" traditional medicine, while AM refers to treatments that stand in the stead of mainstream medicine. CAM is a broad category used to refer to both. So what's my problem? How can I say…
I recently posted an article on a particular "holistic" doctor's take on salt--the bottom line is the bottom line; more expensive is better. You'd think I'd call it a day. However, if someone is going to advertise widely, he's leaving himself open for criticism. How can one family physician have so many answers? He sells books and DVDs purporting to cure and treat a remarkable number of diseases from arthritis to thyroid disorders to fibromyalgia. These works are not available for free, so I can't evaluate their validity. They may contain harmful advice, helpful advice, or none at all.…
As it turns out, in my own neck of the woods there is a small woo-factory. I came upon it when I saw an internet add extolling the virtues of salt, as long as it's expensive salt. The author of the article turns out to be a doctor in my very metropolitan area. There is so much woo here that it may take a few posts to get through it all. The article is called "Salt Your Way to Health" and is featured on the website for a company that just happens to sell, well, fancy salt. There is a bit of a cage match going on with my internal writer and internal scientist. To properly deconstruct and…
I am not pleased. I am not pleased at all. Of course, hospitals need to make money, and in my part of the country, that's getting damned hard. More and more people are jobless, without insurance, and broke. Hospitals are focusing more on customer service---and that includes providing what the customer wants whether or not there is any evidence to support it. Orac maintains a database of such atrocities occurrences. This is from a table card at a large, local hospital. ENERGY BALANCING FOR PATIENTS Energy Work is a calming technique in which the body's energy field is eased into…
In another fit of sloth, I am migrating one of my favorites over from my old blog. If you haven't read it, it's new to you! --PalMD Many of my patients ask me about it; the TV is full of ads for it; you can't avoid it. "Detoxification" is apparently the pinnacle of modern health care, if you believe folks like Joseph Mercola and Gary Null, and the dozens of adds on late-night TV. For me to explain to you why even the very idea is laughable, I have to teach you a bit of human biochemistry---just a little, I promise. My scientific readers will find this grossly oversimplified, but hopefully…
I was thinking about poor Orac and his death crud, so I thought I'd do a little research for him. I did a quick google search for holistic healing (call a doctor? Are you kidding?) and immediately found my answer--Pranic Healing. First, I gotta tell you, it's a deal--a steal, really--because you get knowledge, and no one can take that away from you. I mean, penicillin, you take it, you're cured, and that's it--nothing left, just "wham bam thank you ma'am". The Level One class is under $400.00. Compared to the expense of a doctors visit (about $80.00), and some online research from…
In light of recent discussions in this corner of teh intertubes, I've been thinking about anti-quackery writing. To what extent does our debunking actually feed the ducks? Many of us don't link to crank sites---that makes sense, since click-throughs probably put money in their pockets. But speaking out works. Most people don't know medicine. It's a profession that takes years to learn. People count on information from experts, and most doctors are too busy working to put together slick ads for their services (that plus the whole ethics thing). That leaves the field wide-open to any…
So-called alternative medicine beliefs are an interesting and perhaps inevitable phenomenon. They make use of uniquely human qualities such as our intelligence, our pattern-recognition abilities, and our tendency to over-estimate how well we understand things. Most "science", including medicine, relies on similar human qualities, but modern science has made some improvements. Medicine used to be based on observation mixed with superstition and other non-evidence based ways of understanding the world. Many of these systems were internally consistent, but ultimately failed to accurately…
I gotta admit, this is one of my favorites. I was browsing around the alternative health corners of the web when I came across a lovely site peddling "alternative" remedies. My gaze was immediately drawn to a link for "shock and emergency: rescue remedies". For a physician, shock means something in particular--something very bad. Shock is a medical state wherein multiple organs stop working for a variety of possible reasons, such as severe infection or physical trauma. Patients with shock die quickly without immediate medical attention. So I followed the link to the product page: First-…
"These statements have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. This product is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure or prevent any disease." This "Quack Miranda Warning" is on every just about every woo-meister's website. I see dozens of patients every day, and I never Mirandize them, so whats the deal? There are three ways to look at this: the truthful way, the sinister way, and the bat-shit insane way. Truth: Anyone who wants to sell you something that's a load of crap must use this statement to cover themselves legally. Sinister: Variation of above--someone wants to sell…
When I use the word "scientist", I mean something pretty specific---someone actually doing experiments and publishing the results. Some physicians are scientists. In fact, the MSTP that Mark H is a part of exists specifically to train doctors to do research and bring the results to the bedside. Most doctors aren't scientists, by my definition. But good doctors these days have to be able to read and interpret scientific literature if the wish to practice science-based medicine. I think of ScienceBlogs as a community of scientists communicating with the lay-public and other scientists. I'…
This is another one migrated from my old blog. It is the first in a series that generated an unusually large number of comments. Thanks, PalMD This particular woo-encounter was non-fatal. A patient came to see me. He's middle-aged, generally quite healthy, and physically active. After a recent return to physical activity, his elbow began to hurt, so rather than call his internist, he visited a chiropractor. Not surprisingly, the back-cracker was unable to effect a cure. What did he do next? Asked his friend for the name of a "better chiropractor" (which is a bit like trying to find a…
A frequent argument of (weak) support for alternative medicine is that, well, maybe it doesn't help much, but it couldn't hurt. Wrong! Aside from the usual arguments that it wastes resources, distracts people from real medical treatments, etc., there are more, real dangers. One of the hallmarks of woo is that treatments are humorously broad. One idea or treatment is often touted for many different illnesses, and even different species. How is it that, despite all my years of training, I'm only an expert on adult human disease, and yet Gary Null, with a cracker jack box Ph.D. not only…
Just returned from an excellent trip to Guatemala, where I spent some of my time at Late Atitlan, near San Marcos. So, San Marcos is known as a hippie town, and I thought you'd love to see the various services offered at local businesses. They include (click for full size): Past-Life Regression, "Introject," Soul Agreements... Emotional stress release (hmmmmm) Emotional Freedom Technique (EFT, for those of you who use this term frequently), and Neuro-Lymphatic Massage...
Usually Deepak Chopra's nonsensical writings at the Huffington post about mind-body healing are so vague and bland I don't bother addressing them. The mind controls the body, the mind is powerful, blah blah blah, who cares right? Well, today Chopra pulled back the curtain and we see the crank within. It's a reminder that behind the facade of all the touchy-feely nonsense of the alties is a campaign against science and legitimate medical practice. We start with the standard quack appeal to the individual, which sounds nice, but in practice basically means they have no consistent method to…
Sometimes people wonder why the skeptic types get all worked up over a behavior that is usually seen as at-worst harmless. Ben Goldacre explains why, in one of the best, and clearest articles on the problem of homeopathic medicine. This is exactly what I said, albeit in nerdier academic language, in today's edition of the Lancet, Britain's biggest medical journal. These views are what homeopaths are describing as an "attack". But I am very clear. There is no single right way to package up all of this undeniable and true information into a "view" on homeopathy. When I'm feeling generous, I…