False Facebook Health Messages

[blondy2061h]

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.

Le sigh.

[DosmoRN]

I have a few friends who, occasionally, forward these weird claims to me.( As if I don't already see a lot of them on the internet) I usually respond by giving them a short lecture on research techniques and why a few rumored anecdotal "cures" don't prove anything. I sometimes mention that if the "cures" are actually proved to be that good, drug companies probably would sell them! These messages have cut down some on the health claims I receive by email. I would give the same kind of message to patients who had been given the same kind of advice...but sometimes it was hard to squash a little ray hope they may have had facing a serious diagnosis. About all I could do then was review the treatments and meds they were taking explain why they had reason to be optimistic about them.

The more difficult thing to handle is, if you have cancer (I did) or if someone close to you does, these remedies come thick and fast from people who sincerely seek to help. I didn't want to hurt the feelings of any well meaning people. So I was not so outspoken with them. I would always thank them for their suggestions and say that if the chemo or radiation didn't help, I might look into what they advised. That was usually the end of the conversation. But I felt a bit guilty for implying that somehow I might actually try some weird regimen like what they shared with me. Thankfully, the subject hardly ever came up again.

I'd like to know how others have handled situations like this in nursing, not just emails.

[DosmoRN]

My dentist told me once about studies indicating that coconut oil might inhibit cavities if swished around in the mouth for twenty minutes.

He didn't suggest I DO it, but I decided it would be intersting to give it a try. Nothing potentially toxic about coconut oil, I reasoned. Some people even use it in cooking.

But I predict this coconut oil "swish" or "oil pulling" will never catch on... at least not long enough to tell if it reduces dental cavities.

Have you ever tried to hold some liquid (or oil) in your mouth for TWENTY minutes? (by the clock?). I never realized twenty minutes could be so long!

Guess I'll go back to flouride toothpaste.

[blondy2061h, MSN, RN]

This one? Cashews Are A Natural Anti-Depressant

That's the claim. I meant I couldn't find it on any Snopes like site that looks at whether there's actual evidence or if it's just an urban legend.

[mamagui]

My dentist told me once about studies indicating that coconut oil might inhibit cavities if swished around in the mouth for twenty minutes.

He didn't suggest I DO it, but I decided it would be intersting to give it a try. Nothing potentially toxic about coconut oil, I reasoned. Some people even use it in cooking.

But I predict this coconut oil "swish" or "oil pulling" will never catch on... at least not long enough to tell if it reduces dental cavities.

Have you ever tried to hold some liquid (or oil) in your mouth for TWENTY minutes? (by the clock?). I never realized twenty minutes could be so long!

Guess I'll go back to flouride toothpaste.

According to a dentist who was on our local evening news the other day, oil-pulling has been around for thousands of years and was used before the tooth brush and tooth paste were invented. She said that there is not scientific evidence proving that it was an effective method to clean the mouth, however she did say that it does help to eliminate plaque causing bacteria. I had never heard of this before and certainly have not heard the claim that it can eliminate the body of toxins.

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[mmc51264, BSN, MSN, RN]

I love it when I get the memes about something or another that is going to cure my son's Type 1 diabetes so he doesn't need his insulin anymore. Ya, I'm going to stop giving him insulin.

[morte, LPN, LVN]

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).

apricots....not peaches. and you do

realize that almonds have some also, yes?