Blog: A totally useless therapy for benign and malign conditions – where is the difference? - Edzard Ernst

full blog here
https://edzardernst.com/2020/05/a-t...nd-malign-conditions-where-is-the-difference/

(LP amongst others springs to mind)

 

Now imagine a different scenario; imagine instead he had claimed that PoToNaPo is a talking therapy that by its very nature positively biases self reports of effectiveness.
Let’s furthermore imagine that our charlatan is very successful with these claims.
No, this is not far fetched! Think of … well … think of any BPS treatment really.
Imagine the charlatan makes millions with PoToNaPo.
What would happen? Well it would get incorporated into the NICE guidelines of course.

 

Without reading the blog, my first thought is that there would not be much opposition.

 

I've been told by some doctors that my self-treatment of various problems with vitamins and minerals is "alternative medicine" and therefore what I'm doing is nonsense designed to drain the contents of my wallet. This encompasses things like :

1) Wanting to keep my B12 level high because I found out it cures my almost life-long "teenage" spots.

2) Wanting to keep my B12 level high because it keeps my life-long eczema at bay.

3) Keeping my iron levels higher than "just inside the range" because it reduces my problem with tachycardia. It also allows me to walk upstairs rather than having to crawl one step at a time.

"Alternative" medicine is in the eye of the beholder.

No, I did too.

 

Tip-toeing through the garden of silly treatments so as to not disturb the snakes that live there.

This is 'thought experiment lite'.

Considering the real damage done to society by health charlatans one might hope for something more.

EE certainly knows how to avoid making waves. Continued smooth sailing for abusive con-artists.

 

He may have been thinking the same, published today...
https://edzardernst.com/2020/06/the-lightning-process-implausible-unproven-hyped-and-expensive/