Sysiphus Speaks

The inability to determine what the patient has and needs in an expeditious manner also suggests that NDs have no clue what they are doing. And shows a lack of respect for the patients time. If it takes hours HOURS to misdiagnosis a patient, perhaps you should send the patient to someone with real training who knows what they are doing.

CAM leads to decreased quality of life. Is acupuncture a pseudoscience? It is according to semi professional anti-CAM pseudosceptics, 6600 potentially dangerous drivers on the road thanks to one chiropractor. Auricular acupuncture doesn't help for test taking anxiety. The 2016 legislative year in review. And more.

So it was with some surprise that I recently discovered all of this vital information had been removed from the NCCIH's main information page on naturopathy. Now, there are no warnings whatsoever about the possible dangers of seeing a naturopath, or, as they say, "naturopathic physician."

The weirdest headline popped up in my feeds today: Russian scientist says he is stronger and healthier after injecting himself with 'eternal life' bacteria. That got my attention. Anatoli Brouchkov, head of the Geocryology Department at Moscow State University, found a bacteria in the permafrost that is 3.5 million years old. They call it Bacillus F. How it is dated to that age is not mentioned in the paper. They suggest that the bacteria themselves are 3.5 million years old, but it appears they are extremophiles that live in permafrost that dates to 3.5 million years. As always in the paper, important details are lacking.

Cerebral Hemorrhage Following Chiropractic Activator Treatment, Anti-Vax Movement To Blame For Quadrupling Of Mumps Cases This Year, Vibrational Acupuncture: Integrating Tuning Forks with Needles (17ACUP10). "This constitutionally based treatment protocol for face and body synergizes the resonance of Acutonics® tuning forks with acupuncture needling to balance, tone and unblock the meridians." A class at Bastyr. Selling falsehoods? A cross-sectional study of Canadian naturopathy, homeopathy, chiropractic and acupuncture clinic website claims relating to allergy and asthma. "The majority of alternative healthcare clinics studied advertised interventions for allergy and asthma. Many offerings are unproven" and more.

Naturopathy school, as had been noted at length here and at Science-Based Medicine, is a medical Nutrimatic machine. It produces "something almost, but not quite entirely unlike a physician."

Chiropractors are again trying to muscle their way further into the American health care system, not by dint of their being a demand for their services, but rather through the political process. Two bills now before Congress would force the VA and TRICARE, the military's health benefit system, to offer chiropractic services. Another would give chiropractors access to scholarship and student loan repayment programs for primary health care professionals willing to work in underserved areas.

Brachial Plexus Palsy Following Chiropractic Manipulation. Lead intoxication due to ayurvedic medications. Surge in Mumps Outbreaks Seen Across the US. Discover what a Bogan is. Homeopathy doesn't work in animals. Chiropractors infuriated by "rogue" practitioners who are bringing their profession into disrepute. And more.

In the comment section of SBM Windriven used the term embracing anecdote, a description of NPR report and much of the basis of pseudo-medicine. I have said before that one anecdote is more powerful than a dozen randomized placebo controlled double blind studies. The NPR starts with the story of Doris Keene who had chronic pain. Exactly want the pain was and how long she had it is not clear. Sciatica is mentioned, a disease that more often than not improves with time. So it would be nice to know if that were indeed the diagnosis and how long she the process, but as is so often the case with anecdotes, the important specifics are never mentioned.

The Precautionary principle states that if an action or policy has a suspected risk of causing harm to the public or to the environment, in the absence of scientific consensus that the action or policy is not harmful, the burden of proof that it is not harmful falls on those taking an action…The principle implies that there is a social responsibility to protect the public from exposure to harm, when scientific investigation has found a plausible risk.

Chiropractic stroke. Infection after acupuncture. Mumps outbreak. Chiropractors do not understand science. Water is wet. Fire is hot. To conclude, the evidence from SRs evaluating the effectiveness of CAM in lowering BLL is predominantly equivocal and confusing". And more.

As is too often the case, naturopaths, who have failed to impress both the public and the larger health care fraternity with their alleged, but never proven, ability to deliver safe and effective care, want to use the political process to achieve their goals.

… general anaesthesia can block the effect of acupuncture, as can the use of local anaesthetics. Acupuncture treatment can be effective after the surgery once the anaesthetic has worn off, but not during the period of anaesthesia itself. The quibblers do not mention Chinese mysticism as a mechanism, but who would have thought sevoflurane, propofol and remfentanil, could prevent the unblocking of qi?

What's the harm? Hepatitis, fractures and death. Naturopaths know as much about having a fun night out as they do about medicine. New in the literature: a flawed study gets repeated and acupuncture is placebo. Homeopathic medications recalled as it may kill children. Critical thinking fails. The seat of emotions is where?!? And more.

It occurs to me that trying to rank pseudo-medical studies on a stupidity scale is futile. They are not electrons with only one being able to occupy a given state. No. An almost infinite number of studies could vie for the title of stupidest study ever and they could all win. The article in question is Significant Geometry Features in Tongue Image Analysis.