Quackery Cures, old and new

[AURex 1,995]

 

 So now we have people swallowing disinfectant because some complete moronic idiot politician suggests it.

Now we've got endless people eager to suck down animal de-worming paste because .... who knows ...... some moron idiot suggested it.

No scientific evidence,

When I worked at the Texas Medical Center back in the early 1980s, actor Steve McQueen showed up at world renowned MD Anderson Cancer Center (where my wife worked) seeking a cure for his cancer. Unfortunately, there was no cure.

But in Mexico, there was a "cure" involving avocado crap injected into your spine. Hundreds of Americans flocked to Mexico to get this magical treatment.

Including Steve McQueen. He died in the Juarez clinic.

Quacks have been b around for many hundreds of years, with "cures" that only succeed in taking the money of desperate people who just do not trust science.

Fact is -- if there ain't a cure, there ain't a cure. And anybody who tells you otherwise is just looking to take your money.

 

 

Edited September 23, 2021 by AURex

[AUDub 11,147]

Snake oil has been a thing as long as medicine has. 

[I_M4_AU 7,810]

It’s amazing how people fear death even though it is a fact of life.  The fear of death is exacerbated by media telling us if you get a virus you are likely to die a horrible death.  This is human nature and sometimes it is ugly.

[AUDub 11,147]

10 hours ago, I_M4_AU said:

It’s amazing how people fear death even though it is a fact of life.  The fear of death is exacerbated by media telling us if you get a virus you are likely to die a horrible death.  This is human nature and sometimes it is ugly.

I didn't take the chicken pox vaccine because I realized we're all mortal, y'know? 

[SLAG-91 1,483]

McQueen was throwing the proverbial Hail Mary...and yep, it's a hard thing to shuffle off the mortal coil. 

Got the chicken pox the spring after I graduated from AU...lost 8 pounds in a week, and couldn't shave for 3 weeks. I can still feel a couple of the pock marks almost 30 years later.

How my sister and I both managed to go to public schools for 12 years in the 70s and not get it then, but get it as adults (she was 24), well, that's a headscratcher.

Will probably wait a few more years before getting a shingles shot...some docs say 60, others say 50, some insurance policies don't cover it.

Off to see Elmer Gantry now...😏

[Cardin Drake 1,826]

Do you remember when peptic ulcers were a thing?  They were all caused by stress, you see.   A bland diet and acid suppressors for those with moderate ulcers. Surgery to remove large portions of your stomach if it was bad.  People suffered and were in pain, and some of them died.  Then along came a guy in the 1990's who said ulcers were caused by a bacteria that was easily treated with antibiotics.  Nonsense, said all the doctors and the FDA.  Where are your random controlled trials?  I don't have any he says. But I cure 100% of my patients in a few weeks by giving them antibiotics. So the doctors say  Well, we can't recommend your treatment until we have random controlled trials that prove it works.  But I'm curing 100 percent of my patients. Why would you need to know anything else?  TEN YEARS later antibiotics became the treatment of choice for ulcers.  So if you are an ulcer patient in 1996, what are you gonna do? Sometimes, you just gotta say F. it  and go with what works.

Edited September 24, 2021 by Cardin Drake

[I_M4_AU 7,810]

9 hours ago, AUDub said:

I didn't take the chicken pox vaccine because I realized we're all mortal, y'know? 

Well, I guess that was a personal choice.  Good for you.