Sysiphus Speaks

The anecdotes of the intervention being successful was far more impressive to him than my medical opinion. I may know something about treating infections, but the experience of others was far more compelling. That clinical trials showing lack of efficacy were not as credible as his trying it and seeing if it worked for him.

​An MD is the first choice of 54% of American adults when choosing a health care provider for back or neck pain, according to a recent Gallup poll. Only 29% would choose a chiropractor. Then why does a graphic touting the poll's results on the Palmer College of Chiropractic website say that 57% of adults are likely to see a chiropractor for the same malady?

I run across a lot of information in my feeds that I need to save for further evaluation. The study Does additional antimicrobial treatment have a better effect on URTI cough resolution than homeopathic symptomatic therapy alone? A real-life preliminary observational study in a pediatric population, I saved with the file name, 'jaw droppingly stupid'.

I was under the impression that Barbara Loe Fisher had been so thoroughly discredited that no responsible journalist, least of all one working for Kaiser Health News, would ever quote her as an authoritative source on vaccination. In fact, I'd go so far as to say that a journalist who doesn't know Fisher's backstory has no business reporting on vaccination.

This was on the Oregonian website: Naturopathic clinic designated as top tier primary care facility. Good thing I was not drinking when I read the headline.

​The plague of "integrative medicine" is spreading down under, infecting respectable Australian universities with lectures and courses presenting an uncritical view of so-called "complementary medicine."

The most egregious example of failing to recognize bias and logical fallacies and elevating anecdote above all else is perhaps the People Pharmacy. Week after week they present anecdotes of bizarro home remedies as if they are a reasonable intervention.

The Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center blog had an article called The Truth behind Three Natural Cancer "Cures". When cures is in quotes, you know they will not have a high opinion of the interventions.

Fake medicines do less harm than counterfeit medicines in terms of absolute numbers, because most people do not use fake medicines thinking they are using the real deal.

Unfortunately, pseudoscience is creeping into this profession as well. My correspondent politely pointed out to CDR that CPE credit was being offered for an Institute of Functional Medicine conference called "The Detox Summit," which, in his words, "aims to promote unproven claims about nutrition and dietetics by individual with questionable résumés" who are not RDNs and who promote nutrition and health claims not based on scientific evidence.

And now OHSU is proud to announce a Fellowship in Integrative Medicine.

The FDA is now revisiting it's neglect of duty, a subject we've discussed several times over on SBM (also here and here). It held a two-day hearing and requested public comments on the subject. SFSBM submitted comments to the FDA, one among over 8,000 the FDA received.

The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation went undercover last year to find out what kind of advice homeopaths would give parents about childhood vaccinations. Two moms went, babies in tow, to office visits with 5 homeopaths. Unbeknownst to the homeopaths, the whole thing was filmed.

There have been studies to try and determine if homeopathy adds clinical and economic benefit to patients, and a meta-analysis had mixed results

A growing number of states are enacting "Right to Try" laws, which attempt to bypass the FDA's new drug approval process by allowing terminally ill patients access to drugs that have successfully completed only a Phase I Clinical Trial.