I feel like there's a disturbing trend that's getting more and more common. People put words on pictures and share them online as fact. They get shared around social media as fact and get so much attention. If real, evidence based health information got shared half as often we'd be in good shape. The examples are getting more and more egregious, too. This nonsense is believed, but truth is dismissed as a conspiracy by the government or "Big Pharma."
Examples of this I've seen just this week:
2 handfuls of Cashews is equivalent to a dose of Prozac (this one specified as "prescription dose. Don't want to get confused with any of that over the counter Prozac).
Graviola Fruit is apparently 100,000x more powerful chemotherapy, but we don't know about it because "Big Pharma" can't make money off of it. I wonder which chemotherapies? Oh...ALL the chemotherapies, no doubt.
Finally, apparently Johns Hopkins admitted this week that diet and exercise and other lifestyle changes can cure cancer.
Hopefully most people are smart enough not to discontinue their cancer treatment or SSRI's in lieu of fruit and nuts.
It's funny how coconut oil is the new wonder food. 10 years ago it was considered a dangerous saturated fat. Still, I like it and am glad it's okay to eat now, without guilt.
Don't even get me started on Dr. Oz. I'm on a weight loss forum, and OMG the things people bring up, particularly ones endorsed by he who will endorse anything offering a paycheck.
Sooooo funny! I was just chatting with a friend of my on FB re: Johns Hopkins cancer "admission." A guy that I went to high school with shared it. So sad- they def. do NOT teach kids critical thinking skills in High School. And to be honest, I don't think I really learned how to critically think and analyze until I went to grad school. People with freaking believe ANYTHING you throw out there.
Sadly there are way too many crooks and creeps out there. That is why I always steer my patients to websites that have sound, reliable information only such as NIH & CancerNet. If they want patient-friendly drug information, I point them towards DRUGS.COM. And many large insurance companies now have medical information on their own websites. Then hopefully this will keep a few more people from going for colonics, weird gadgets, and even more deadly things such as peach-pit therapy (cyanide).
Any time I see something like this posted on facebook, I google the claim and instantaneously find either a snopes.com or urbanlegends link debunking the claim... and I have no qualms about posting these links as a comment on the person's post, regardless of if it is a close friend or just someone I went to elementary school with.
Any time I see something like this posted on facebook, I google the claim and instantaneously find either a snopes.com or urbanlegends link debunking the claim... and I have no qualms about posting these links as a comment on the person's post, regardless of if it is a close friend or just someone I went to elementary school with.
Problem is, even the perfectly intelligent people will believe the stupidest BS when they are desperate. And hearing stuff like "eating this fruit every day will cure cancer" seems like a certain, immediate answer they crave than a physician's long lecture on cell cycles and chemo regimens and probabilities. They don't understand the language, so how could they trust medical establishments?
It is partly our responsibility to be able to speak on their level of comprehension. I've seen some amazing hematologist who can explain things to people who didn't even know there were different blood cells. Then I've met some terrible physicians who barely talk to patients...
Any time I see something like this posted on facebook, I google the claim and instantaneously find either a snopes.com or urbanlegends link debunking the claim... and I have no qualms about posting these links as a comment on the person's post, regardless of if it is a close friend or just someone I went to elementary school with.
I do this a lot too. I'm disappointed I can't find the cashew/Prozac one.
Emergent, RN
4,301 Posts
It's funny how coconut oil is the new wonder food. 10 years ago it was considered a dangerous saturated fat. Still, I like it and am glad it's okay to eat now, without guilt.