Why are sceptics so quick to comment on alternative medicine treatments?

Question

I asked somebody who's written many books on cancer, is a professor of oncology, has many initials after his name, and has worked in cancer research for many years, about what he thought of Royal Rife technology, Ozone therapy, and colloidal silver as alternative cancer treatments. And he replied that he didn't know much about them and so couldn't say.

Isn't that in stark contrast to the sceptics of this site, who because of an MD degree or their readings from a sceptic's website, are so quick to denouce alternative medicine treatments?

Answer 1

Yes it is nice to know that some highly qualified medical people don't just say alternative treatments do not work just because they have no idea what they are! There has to be a place in our societies for both alternative or complementary therapy and conventional medicine. Together they offer the patient the best of both worlds. As has been said therapists are able to give more time to patients than their GP and this alone is very therapeutic. I am a therapist myself in aromatherapy and massage but if I had cancer I would certainly consider surgery or chemotherapy as well as alternative treatments. Surely we are all trying to preserve and improve the quality of people's lives?

Answer 2

Scepticism is natural, think about it...if we believed everything we are told, we would be utterly confused, and possibly go insane with all the contradictory, incoherent and bogus information.

'The good thing about Alternative Medicine is that there are alot of options {therapies}, and the bad news is that there are alot of options {therapies}'

Jerry Brunetti {Survived Non-Hodgkin's Lymphoma, using Alternative Medicine alone}

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Getting to the 'Cause' or Aetiology of this Extremely-Sceptical Sickness

In alternative medicine, we like getting to the cause of the problem, and not masking the symptoms {like doctors do}.

This sickness, or homeostasis imbalance of Extreme scepticism, to the point where reasoning and logic, and even if evidence were to be produced, hey would still deny. Interesting how sceptics and AM supporters alike relate Alt. Medicine and Conventional Medicine as religions, undoubtebly there are many similarities.

In a few sentences, Extreme-Sceptism Sickness is due to the individual: Refusing to Accept an Alternative Reality, its not suprising that many Extreme-Sceptics are also atheists, and also propel this ideology along with their answers, by insulting religion and those who follow it, calling them 'deluded' or researching their previous Questions/Answers to 'dig some dirt on them'.

You will find most people who suffer from Extreme-Sceptism Sickness {ESS} are nasty pieces of work, they are Arrogant, Insultive and have no Respect for others belief systems.

<<<The problem is with the Filter Installed>>>

So how do we differentiate between a efficacious therapy, and one that may be complete quackery {Yes, we have our blacksheep in the Alt Medicine circles, just like in Conventional Medicine, Religion or any group; However Quacks can thrive in AM {as it is unregulated, it hasno 'GMC' or 'AMA'}, and in doing so harm the reputation of Alternative Medicine, which is already crippled by medical/pharmaceutical propaganda}

Most of us have an Inbulit Filter System, of how we filter information, this is influenced, if not created outright, by Religion {or lack of/atheism}, Parents/Guardians, Political views, Knowledge of [true] history {very different from what is in conventional history books, I guess I'm an Alternative Historian as well ;)}, Knowledge of psychological propaganda and our algorithm in our subconcious mind that determines how easily we trust other people, or how gullable we are to believing someone with jas those 'initials after his name', or even a certain President or Prime Minister of a country {lies about WMD's that we believed!, lets not go into that}.

I am sceptical of pharmaceutical companies an the media always eagerly pushing medical propaganda, alogn the lines...We are on the verge of a cure for cancer.

It makes me sick to the stomach.

http://www.consumerhealth.org/articles/d...

I am sceptical of certain Cancer Cures, like the Hoxsey Tincture, Although I do not slander it, or trust what I read on Quackwatch, in the world we live in, no authority can truly be trusted, men have vested interests, prone to bribery [gifts/funding...] and corruption, like Dr.Stephen Barrett MD, of QuackWatch

Although I plan to visit these Mexican Clinics in Tijauana, as well as Naessens underground cancer cure treatment in Canada, where he injects 714-X intra-lymphatically to patients, which strengthens the immune system.

As well as Berlin, Germany, where Rife researchers and Ergonom Optics are re-developing Rife's suppressed technology, that deserves to be used in every Hospital, Clinic and by every suffering patient.

Extreme Sceptics even when shown evidence will fail to look over it will an unbiased eye, or worse, fail to even read, see, or hear the evidence. Deaf, Dumb, Blind and they will never return to the right path...

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It's An Addiction....Extreme Scepicism Sickness

Some ESS individuals get a 'kick' out of being so sceptical, insulting others, and proding around intimidating others.

When sensible adults try to reason with them, why we cannot produce Random Control Trials, due to the narrow window that medicine considers 'evidence', and the unaffordable hundreds of millions of pounds/dollars, £100,000,000's, they simply ignore this, or I'm guessing cannot read it? they keep reverting to their same old arguments, 'produce your evidence'...This can be frustatng for some, although we must understand that they are addicted to MENTAL MASTERBATION.

Its an un-ceasing never ending cycle of their inferior base-less arguments, repetitively spamming the anwsers, and they are closed to reasoning, this is why we call them 'Closed-minded' and 'Arm-Chair Sceptics' meaing they have not tried the therapy, spoken to patients or even given a just unbiased look at the therapy, with a pair of fresh non-jaundiced eyes, they consider Sceptical websites like Quackwatch as authorities, and consider it equal to a revelation. This is biased to the third-party unbiased observer, who can see the medical propaganda and bias of the sceptics.

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Do they Deserve to be Called 'Sceptics'?

They do not deserve the term 'Sceptic' as by impication it suggest a scientific thinker, a logical person, 'a just/fair/unbiased individual' when they are furthest from such a definition, we should call them 'Pseudo-Sceptics', this is more accurate.

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The Cure for Extreme Pseudo-Scepticism Sickness?

EPSS sickness is very difficult to cure, the only way is to persevere, persistantly repeat the same arguments against their inferior one's, and hope that they will someday go through an experience and come to the realisation, that they were wrong, and then grow in [true] wisdom.

In Psychology we are told, man is irrational, illogical and unreasonaly by his very nature, which Sceptics always exclaim or display quotes of men of 'wisdom' saying such things 'The World full fo Fools glady, and I am not', blah blah, or something along those lines, mostly implicating indirectly the public/practionioners who use Alternative Medicine as being 'fools'.

However they fail to realise, they are Human, even if they have a PhD, MBBS/MD, BSc, graduated from Cambridge/Oxford/Harvard/Imperial or whatever, Sceptics are also prone to being illogical, unreasonably and irrational, this is not simply over-rided by reading book(s) on 'Critical Thinking' and learning the skills of it, or Michael Sherma or going to medical school, or because 'QuackWatch' says So and so....

Unfortunely, they [ESS patients] refuse to let go of this inferior filter system, and replace it with a new pure and clean one.

It is men like this who influence medical education {that you recieve}, and the system at large, unfortunetly they hold tightly onto medicine, and prevent with all their might from advancing.

Greedy Powerful, Arrogant, Traditional {closed minded} men rule the medical system, their only interests are their own interest, money, money and more money, and they will never be satisfied, due to their materialistic Greek Philosophy, and/or Atheism.

Its a simple Formula...Wealthy men want more wealth, Powerful men, want more power. Its no secret or conspiracy that the World is ruled by a few Wealthy Powerful men, these are our leaders, and influence everything, the media, medicine, society ect.

'For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil. Some people, in their eagerness to get rich, have wandered away from the faith and caused themselves a lot of pain.'

Holy Bible: Timothy 6:10

Notice how the Bible, claims the 'Love' of money is evil, and not money itself.

'And he is violent in his love of wealth'

Holy Quran 100:8

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Remove the Blind-Folds from the Sceptics

So to answer question, the reason why Extreme-sceptics run blind-folded when answering any Alt. Medicine question is because they are: ARROGANT.

They think they know it all, everything is a placebo effect, and free-thinking adults cannot think logically enough to see through the quackery..but they, being gifted or Enlightened through their spiritual journey at medical school seem to know it all. And that's all that matters, isn't it? Let us bow down to them and agree completely with them...

Sarcasm aside, I hope this helps.

Answer 3

I comment skeptically because I don't think people should run to any alternative without proper facts about the alternative.  Many people I've know choose alternatives knowing less about the potential dangers of the alternative than the "traditional" that they are avoiding.

The fact is that the science just isn't there yet for alternatives, and no responsible doctor would recommend an alternative that has not been properly studied.  I use some alternatives myself, and in principal favor them, but, especially with herbals, people are blinded to the potential dangers of alternatives.  Nature is not always a friendly place, and people forget that.  The most toxic substance known to man (botulinum toxin) and the most carcinogenic (fumonisin) are 100% natural.

Answer 4

in the US nutritional supplements (all the things you mentioned) are not regulated by the FDA, nor are they approved as treatments. There is research on many of them but no claims can be made as to diagnosing, treating, preventing or curing any disease.  Doctors simply don't learn about them in medical school unless they take an interest in them. Drug companies provide nice kickbacks to doctors who prescribe their drugs, where supplement companies, even if they get a MD's attention regarding the efficacy of their product, generally cannot afford these kinds of kickbacks.  I would not say that doctors denounce alternative medicine as much as they do not understand it.  The medical profession is very tricky nowadays and people are so ready to sue doctors if they feel they did not handle their case properly.  Doctors don't want to risk someone's life on a natural treatment that COULD work but has little or not enough clinical evidence of doing so, when there are clinically proven, FDA approved methods available.

Answer 5

Read this and you will understand.

http://www.sciencebasedmedicine.org/?p=1...

Answer 6

Yes, it is different and it is the approach of a 'careful scholar' - someone who only comments on what he or she known.

As for the critics.  It is important to look at the research studies - especially those published in 'peer reviewed' journals. Those studies have been reviewed by other scientists to make sure that the science reported in the article is accurate.

You can find many peer reviewed articles - or at least abstracts [summaries] of them at a NIH websites called PubMed....just type pubmed into a search engine and it will come up.

Type Ozone therapy or any other sort of treatment into their search box and you will get a list of all the studies published in peer reviewed journals.

I am into alternative medicine and I use pubmed a lot - in part because there are lots of scams out there and if I am spending money or putting my health on the line...I do not want to be following a scam.

Hope this is of some use.

Answer 7

Why are quacks so slow to provide sensible evidence?

hi hippie:

If a patient has a 2% risk of dying and this is subsequently reduced to 1% then, yes, the risk has halved (or has reduced by 50%). If any quack remedy was shown to do this, it too would reduce the risk by 50%.

I think you could perhaps use some arithmetic lessons (nothing too tough, I recommend elementary/primary school level). I'm sure after a few months you would ace it! Good luck!

Who knows, in a few lifetimes, you may even begin to understand Odds Ratios - yet another thing you and every other quack in here have never even heard of.

Answer 8

Good Question.  MDs rely on Pharmaceutical companies to do the years of clinical trials, peer reviews and double blind studies for all drugs on the market.   Drug companies invest millions of dollars into researching a  drug before it hits the market.  Money talks, and that is why many so called "research studies" are faked or the results are spun to show positive outcomes, when the opposite is true.   (Example: Recently it became public knowledge that drug companies supressed their own research data that showed that antidepressants  work no better that placebos).

Answer 9

We just don't trust treatment methods that haven't been shown to work in in rigorous tests.  You know - multiple studies, double-blind tests, peer review, the whole nine yards.

If you want a better answer to your question, go back and ask the professor of oncology which treatment methodology HE would choose if he or a family member had cancer.  Care to bet a nickel on which way he responds?

Answer 10

Its all about the money. If the alternative medicines worked as well as I believe they do, and more people took them, There would be alot of dr. out of jobs because people would be sick less. How many drugs are out there that they are having recalls on or have ads on the tv saying that "if you or any one you know has taken this drug  and suffered these side effects or has died you may be entitled to this law suite"?  Herbal remedies don't have the neg. side  effects that the western medicine has but yet because on money they push the western meds because it treats the symptoms and get faster results instead of using herb meds that treat the source of the  problem even though it might take a little longer.

Answer 11

I agree completley. My mother has lung cancer small cell carcinoma, she followed the traditional medical protocol and did chemo and radiation. I being a very big naturalist got her on a strict plan of (low sugar, multi vitamin, essiac tea, shark liver oil, coQ10, calcium magnesium, mitake mushroom, ester c, melatonin, quercetin, etc...) she was taking them the whole time she was in chemo and radiation and everyone couldn't believe how well she was doing. Then she got lazy about 3months after her treatments and quit taking them. She started to fall apart she was bed ridden, couldn't eat and looks like she is 80years old (shes 50) I have been getting on her about her regimen and she yells at me and gets mad, saying she can't eat so she can't swallow them, yet her dr tells her she has to take steroid pills and she swallows them. I am so irritated. Well now she has a blood clot in her leg and had to be hospitalized, they are giving her cumadin and the dr came in and told her ABSOLUTLEY NOTHING HERBAL AND NO SUPPLEMENTS! I think the dr's just want her to die, it disgusts me. My dad has just been diagnosed with a brain tumor and my mom is trying to pressure him into surgery chemo and radiation, because she talked to the dr and he said its my dads best chance. I asked what he thought of natural methods and he said he couldn't say because they aren't trained in natural treatments! If people where healed by chemo radiation and coventional therapies, people would fear cancer as much as coming down with pnumonia. I also think it interesting they did a special report and asked 7 oncologists if they found out they had cancer would they take chemo and radiation, all 7 said no they wouldn't. That says something to me.

Answer 12

It's because people have grown up to commercials and doctors (viewed as responsible people we should trust) shoved down our throat.  All the skeptics say that there are more evidence in drug therapies than alternative treatments.

That's really not true.  Alternative treatments have been used for hundreds of years by so many people.

Just because they aren't regulated by the FDA, means they can't legally say it helps cure a disease/condition.  Can anyone say BIG PHARMA?!  If the FDA did regulate natural health products, they would slap a prescription on them and triple the price.  Then the FDA would agree to create a statement saying it cured.  Canada is going through a battle of this right now, as the government ( Health Canada) is trying to do this.

David G: You say there is evidence of drug therapies?  Have you ever read a study on the effectiveness of medicines?  They tell you in their catching commercial that a drug helps reduce the risk of heart disease by 36%.  What they don't tell you is how they arrive at that number.  It actually means that at the end of the study 3% of people taking the placebo had a heart attack, while 2% of people taking the drug had a heart attack.  They use relative risk to calculate the 'great' number of 36%.  If they used the absolute risk (the proper method, so they don't SCAM you), it turns out the absolute risk of the study is 1%.  Wow...you have a 1% chance of not getting a heart attack if you use that drug...sounds great...

Not only do they scam you into believing that their studies gave great results, but they never tell you all the harm you're doing your body.  Including nutrient deficiencies the drug produces, and every other risk they include (haven't you ever heard 'death' as one of the risks in those drug commercials?)

All you skeptics out there, I suggest you read "Drugs That Don't Work and Natural Therapies That DO!"  It's written by Dr. David Brownstein, M.D.  OH LOOK!  A Medical Doctor wrote this book!

I hope you caught all the sarcasm in this post :)