Medical Quackery: Let's talk.

[Spidey's mom]

As a well-seasoned nurse I've come across so many medical quackery kind of stories but this one sort of pushed me over the top of the frustration meter. We were talking about it yesterday at work with some of the physicians and nurses so I came home and looked it up.

I've already heard about bleach enemas curing autism by removing toxins from your system. But this one was new to me. I'm hoping this "archbishop" gets the book thrown at him for peddling this elixir (aka "sacrament"). Watch the video . . .

Husband Says Fringe Church's 'Miracle Cure' Killed His Wife - Yahoo

Quote

The U.S. government and medical experts say MMS is really nothing more than a kind of industrial bleach -- a mixture of sodium chlorite and water -- and, when used as directed can cause serious harm to a person's health.

"They might as well be selling Clorox," said Ben Mizer of the U.S. Department of Justice. "You wouldn't drink Clorox, so there is no reason you should drink MMS."

How about the rest of you? Any quackeries you'd like to rant about?

[Here.I.Stand, BSN, RN]

H2O2 infusions for cancer

[catsmeow1972, BSN, RN]

I recently worked with a fellow NURSE! that pushed the whole essential oil thing. Even kept a bottle of some mixture up at the nurse's station. i kid you not, it was a communal bottle of something that purportedly helped with cold/allergy symptoms. Um, okayyyy.

Now that being said, I've gone to yoga classes where the instructor whips out the essential oils, but That's more of a relaxation thing, not a cure for cancer.

Some years ago, i had another fellow nurse that observed my annual bout with bronchitis/URI (not flu related, i assure you, even if i did just get a flu shot:cheeky:) She suggested colloidal silver. I declined. Not too long ago i saw a patient who was into the stuff....he was BLUE! i mean blue all over. Like cyanotic blue, except he was breathing. Folk's that's what extended ingestion of a heavy metal willl do to you, and it does not go away if you stop taking it.

I can see where some of the general public could possibly be sucked in by this stuff, but we're talking medical professionals!

[BeckyESRN]

I work in a school, my first year I had a diabetic kiddo in my office and another older boy comes in for a bandaid. He then proceeds to tell my diabetic that it a shame that his dad won't just give him these 3 magic oils, it would cure his diabetes and he would no longer be a "slave to the medical industry" He made my diabetic cry and he also got a lecture on why we trust doctors, not 4th graders, when it comes to medical advice.

[klone, MSN, RN]

I just moved to a place where, for the first time in my life, a good portion of the nurses where I work don't believe in the flu shot. It's a little...um...bizarre.

[TheCommuter, BSN, RN]

In this modern day era of patients and families with honorary medical degrees from Google University, I expect the prevalence of quackish treatments and snake oil cures to increase. This situation is utterly pathetic.

[AdobeRN]

School nurse here....so I run across alot of essential oil people and those that use a chiropractor for every illness....Please don't think I am bashing those that use these treatments but I just don't understand how rubbing oils across your temples will cure an ear infection or going to a chiropractor for an adjustment will help with allergies???

[Spidey's mom, ADN, BSN, RN]

klone said:

I just moved to a place where, for the first time in my life, a good portion of the nurses where I work don't believe in the flu shot. It's a little...um...bizarre.

I'm dealing with someone who won't get a flu shot to protect someone else's immune-compromised situation because "they don't work 100%" and "you have to get a new one every year" and "I got sick after a flu shot".

There are some good pro-vaccine pages over on FB but I like this one a lot because they use humor and satire as weapons of logic.

Refutations to Anti-Vaccine Memes

Also, web sites like this:

http://www.skepticalraptor.com/skepticalraptorblog.php/

[NurseGirl525, ASN, RN]

I recently worked with a fellow NURSE! that pushed the whole essential oil thing. Even kept a bottle of some mixture up at the nurse's station. i kid you not, it was a communal bottle of something that purportedly helped with cold/allergy symptoms. Um, okayyyy.

Now that being said, I've gone to yoga classes where the instructor whips out the essential oils, but That's more of a relaxation thing, not a cure for cancer.

Some years ago, i had another fellow nurse that observed my annual bout with bronchitis/URI (not flu related, i assure you, even if i did just get a flu shot:cheeky:) She suggested colloidal silver. I declined. Not too long ago i saw a patient who was into the stuff....he was BLUE! i mean blue all over. Like cyanotic blue, except he was breathing. Folk's that's what extended ingestion of a heavy metal willl do to you, and it does not go away if you stop taking it.

I can see where some of the general public could possibly be sucked in by this stuff, but we're talking medical professionals!

I saw a guy guy who was into it who actually turned silver. He was silver!! Craziest thing I had ever seen.

[SummitRN, BSN, RN]

For many believers of quackery there is a fervency on par with fundamentalist religion... and many love to evangelize their belief in woo as a form of validation.

[brownbook]

People who do not test positive for Celiac Disease but insist they feel so much better on a gluten free diet.

ANY wacky diet plan! So you are going to go back to the way you were eating before that caused you to be 50 pounds over weight when your wacky diet is done?

At least these diets wont kill you. So sad when people die from quackery. When I read about it I do a little teeth grinding, then remember that they at least get the Darwin Award.

I don't know all the details but an acquaintance had been to Mexico, and had gotten her and her daughter's passports all ready go to to China, to cure her daughter's colon cancer. So sad, so desperate clutching at straws. I can't blame them, but still....?

The mother started a foundation in her daughters name, unfortunately pushed vitamin and diet cures for cancer. And is even involved with a doctor who has some ???? machine that measures the toxins in your body with a small machine you put your hand in, then she prescribes supplements based on what the machine finds!

[catsmeow1972, BSN, RN]

People who do not test positive for Celiac Disease but insist they feel so much better on a gluten free diet.

My mother has bona fide, medically diagnosed Celiac Disease. So her kitchen is totally gluten-free, understandably. When i was living there for a while, by extension, i ate the same way. I did stop having a lot of GI trouble etc. However i assure you it had absolutely nothing to do with the gluten. I think it was because i stopped eating a lot of junk/fast food/prepared frozen stuff. I actually got in the habit of cooking real food. i can say, i most certainly DID NOT lose any weight. If anything I ate more because the stuff actually tasted good.

That's the only reasonable explanation I can think of for this line of thinking.

[Spidey's mom, ADN, BSN, RN]

How about those amber necklaces? Someone I know has her infant wearing one even after I sent a link to the choking risk . . . plus there is NO medical evidence they work.

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