Sysiphus Speaks

The evil twin of the placebo effect is the nocebo effect, when you give an inert substance and get an adverse reaction. Note that is different than a side effect. I give a patient penicillin and they get a rash, that is a side effect. I give them a product with no effect and they get a complication, that is a nocebo effect. "A nocebo (Latin for “I will harm”) is something that should be ineffective but which causes symptoms of ill health. A nocebo effect is an ill effect caused by the suggestion or belief that something is harmful." It is why I was amused by Clinically meaningful nocebo effect occurs in acupuncture treatment: a systematic review.

I see headline 5 powerful antibiotics that don’t require a prescription. and I know the writer knows nothing about antibiotics. When the link leads to the Natural News, I know it is true. His ‘antibiotics’ are garlic, colloidal silver, oil of oregano, echinacea and manuka honey. A the end he adds reishi, pau d'arco, una de gato, olive leaf extract, cloves, turmeric, and even lemons Good on pizza or a roast chicken, not so much for treating for infections.

Kevin Trudeau the author of Natural Cures “They” Don’t Want You to Know About and other books in now in jail for 10 years. Not for so much for defrauding people with his books, but for civil contempt and not paying any of $37 million in fines and hiding his assets. Evidently one of his infomercials is still running on late night cable stations for the book Free Money “They” Don’t Want You to Know About.

Some patients with serious or life-threatening diseases can access drugs not yet approved, referred to as "investigational drugs." This is known as "expanded access" or, colloquially, as "compassionate access." Access is carefully controlled and there are a number of safety features in place to ensure proper use.

I cannot find any calculations for NNTH for chiropractic, homeopathy, or acupuncture, the big three of pseudo-medicine.

Given how important the heart is to maintaining life, I was surprised to find there are a variety of complementary and alternative medical treatments for arrhythmias. In the link they review 6 herbal products, acupuncture and yoga.

I have this somewhat old school, somewhat paternalistic, ethical approach to medicine. I think I have the responsibility to always put my patient first and that I have to give them the best reality-based therapy I can. It is why I find the whole supplement industry slightly sleazy.

Given the numerous styles of acupuncture and the different acupoints, any place on the body, it appears, is amenable to acupuncture so the underlying conceptual framework of acupunctures is, well, pointless. I know. Picky picky. Western reality will never explain the mystery that is acupuncture. At least until the concept of beer goggles becomes accepted.

One of the curiosities of France is “homeopathic medicines are partially reimbursed by the National Health Insurance and are prescribed exclusively by a physician. Besides, patients must choose a ‘treating physician’, who will be responsible for follow-up and referral to specialists. This treating physician may be a physician specializing in homeopathy.”

Why, then, do we have these exemptions? Do parents have a "right" to refuse to vaccinate their children? No, they don't. Here's what the U.S. Supreme Court said about that issue, way back in 1944, in a case named Prince v. Massachusetts:

My home town has been accused of believing in homeopathy. A teenager urinated in a 38 million gallon reservoir and the city decided to dump the water as a result.

The inability to recognize probable medical causality continues in Acupuncture for Essential Hypertension: A Meta-Analysis of Randomized Sham-Controlled Clinical Trials.

An 'ends justifies the means' comment was made to me by one of the audience: If I had to have chemo that is going to make me feel crappy, even though acupuncture is a placebo, if it makes me subjectively better, what is the problem with using it?

Naturopaths are aiming to become licensed as primary care physicians in all 50 states with the same scope of practice as MD/DO family practice doctors, including prescription privileges. However, they will settle for less and keep bugging the legislature year after year until they get what they want.

State legislatures are in large measure responsible for the pervasive infiltration of pseudo-medicine into the American healthcare system. The states hold the power to license chiropractors, acupuncturists, Traditional Oriental Medicine practitioners, naturopaths and homeopaths. And, unfortunately, they do license them.