Alternative Medicine (Hint: This is NOT really medicine)
March 11, 2014 at 8:25 pm
(This post was last modified: March 11, 2014 at 8:26 pm by Bad Writer.)
I'm starting this thread to hopefully spark some meaningful discussion about alternative medicine and the problems that it presents. I haven't looked into the full spectrum of practices (I mainly delved into Applied Kinesiology, NAET, JMT, and Acupuncture, as they snuck their way into my life).
Let me just start by saying that "Alternative Medicine" is a misnomer. It's true that there are two types of medicine: medicine that works, and medicine that does not. My history with alternative medicine and its recent resurgence in my life has fueled long hours of research on my part in order to find out if there is any validity to its claims. The overwhelming lack of evidence found in support alternative medicine efficacy very easily parallels the same lack of evidence that plagues any the theist community. (I digress)
My mother was a believer in Homeopathy, and she subjected myself and my siblings to its nonsense when we were young. I thought I had all but forgotten about this bit of pseudoscience when it popped up again in a place very dear to my heart: my wife.
Here's where things get interesting. When I met her, I didn't realize that she was into any kind of woo. She wasn't a theist, she was generally more rational than myself, and she seemed to know a lot of about food. I took a lot of her claims about herself and her "known" allergies at face value because 1) who am I to question what it is she's allergic to upon meeting her and 2) I didn't know all that much about food allergies and how you test for them, and I didn't really much think to check into it. The allergies she claimed to have were gluten, dairy, and soy. As time went by, I learned to find alternative food choices that were free of any of these big three allergens.
It wasn't until I met her "doctor" that I started to smell a very rotten fish. I should've known better even before I got there because she told me that Dr. Heather Andelora had cured her sister of an allergy to animals (yes, cured!). When we got there, she started the session by asking my wife to raise her arm a little. Dr. Heather would ask her general questions about her health, and, as she answered, the good doc would push down on the arm as she tried to push back to see if the muscles gave at all. I watched in astonishment as she went through a series of questions in order to diagnose the general health of my wife: "How do you feel about Safflower Oil?
ush: Hmmm...your muscles weakened. What about yeast? ush: Hmmm...not good either. Tomatoes? ush: Looks like your body is fine with tomatoes right now. Eggs? ush: You should stay away from eggs." It was like I was watching a Fortune Teller practice her craft, reading the spiritual energies present in the room.
I was speechless and kept my opinions to myself for the moment because my wife had seen Dr. Heather for years now, and I didn't want to rock the boat so soon, especially without any evidence (although, in this case, seeing was probably enough).
I came to find out that Dr. Heather practices NAET, which is a very, very unscientific way of treating allergies with acupuncture, and JMT, similar to but sillier than NAET. The process of diagnosing these "allergies" was done via Applied Kinesiology, or Manual Muscle Testing, and is performed more or less the same as I described it above when Dr. Heather was pushing on my wife's arm. It has long since been debunked, and the experts say that "the use of Applied Kinesiology to evaluate nutrient status is no more useful than random guessing" per a double blind study accomplished as far back as 1988 by the ALTA Foundation for Sports Medicine Research in Santa Monica, CA, published in the Journal of the American Dietetic Association.
My studies have produced results. My wife no longer believes she is allergic to gluten, dairy, or soy (even though she still has strong reservations to the three thanks to tampering with her mind and emotions by these quacks). She has agreed to get real testing done to be certain, but she's already started consuming these foods again in small quantities and, guess what? She feels just fine.
tl;dr version
Alternative Medicine is a pseudoscience as many of you are undoubtedly well aware. I've only just scratched the surface of this quackery and the scammy nature of those that practice it (man, don't even get me started on NAET, as that's the one that gets me fired up the most). Does anyone have any other experiences or stories to share? Any other words of wisdom to warn others away from this junk and to partake in actual, scientifically valid medical practices?
Let me just start by saying that "Alternative Medicine" is a misnomer. It's true that there are two types of medicine: medicine that works, and medicine that does not. My history with alternative medicine and its recent resurgence in my life has fueled long hours of research on my part in order to find out if there is any validity to its claims. The overwhelming lack of evidence found in support alternative medicine efficacy very easily parallels the same lack of evidence that plagues any the theist community. (I digress)
My mother was a believer in Homeopathy, and she subjected myself and my siblings to its nonsense when we were young. I thought I had all but forgotten about this bit of pseudoscience when it popped up again in a place very dear to my heart: my wife.
Here's where things get interesting. When I met her, I didn't realize that she was into any kind of woo. She wasn't a theist, she was generally more rational than myself, and she seemed to know a lot of about food. I took a lot of her claims about herself and her "known" allergies at face value because 1) who am I to question what it is she's allergic to upon meeting her and 2) I didn't know all that much about food allergies and how you test for them, and I didn't really much think to check into it. The allergies she claimed to have were gluten, dairy, and soy. As time went by, I learned to find alternative food choices that were free of any of these big three allergens.
It wasn't until I met her "doctor" that I started to smell a very rotten fish. I should've known better even before I got there because she told me that Dr. Heather Andelora had cured her sister of an allergy to animals (yes, cured!). When we got there, she started the session by asking my wife to raise her arm a little. Dr. Heather would ask her general questions about her health, and, as she answered, the good doc would push down on the arm as she tried to push back to see if the muscles gave at all. I watched in astonishment as she went through a series of questions in order to diagnose the general health of my wife: "How do you feel about Safflower Oil?
ush: Hmmm...your muscles weakened. What about yeast? ush: Hmmm...not good either. Tomatoes? ush: Looks like your body is fine with tomatoes right now. Eggs? ush: You should stay away from eggs." It was like I was watching a Fortune Teller practice her craft, reading the spiritual energies present in the room.I was speechless and kept my opinions to myself for the moment because my wife had seen Dr. Heather for years now, and I didn't want to rock the boat so soon, especially without any evidence (although, in this case, seeing was probably enough).
I came to find out that Dr. Heather practices NAET, which is a very, very unscientific way of treating allergies with acupuncture, and JMT, similar to but sillier than NAET. The process of diagnosing these "allergies" was done via Applied Kinesiology, or Manual Muscle Testing, and is performed more or less the same as I described it above when Dr. Heather was pushing on my wife's arm. It has long since been debunked, and the experts say that "the use of Applied Kinesiology to evaluate nutrient status is no more useful than random guessing" per a double blind study accomplished as far back as 1988 by the ALTA Foundation for Sports Medicine Research in Santa Monica, CA, published in the Journal of the American Dietetic Association.
My studies have produced results. My wife no longer believes she is allergic to gluten, dairy, or soy (even though she still has strong reservations to the three thanks to tampering with her mind and emotions by these quacks). She has agreed to get real testing done to be certain, but she's already started consuming these foods again in small quantities and, guess what? She feels just fine.
tl;dr version
Alternative Medicine is a pseudoscience as many of you are undoubtedly well aware. I've only just scratched the surface of this quackery and the scammy nature of those that practice it (man, don't even get me started on NAET, as that's the one that gets me fired up the most). Does anyone have any other experiences or stories to share? Any other words of wisdom to warn others away from this junk and to partake in actual, scientifically valid medical practices?
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