C-peptide, the drug that cures everything, including ME/CFS

So I wanted to include this because we don't seem to have a lot of ME/CFS specific quackery going on in Hungary but we do have c-peptide, which seems to be a very local wonder drug, the number of people who swear by it is astonishing. It is not specifically for ME/CFS but they claim it cures all kinds of neurological and brain-related disorders, and thus it can work on ME/CFS too. I have to "fight" proponents in my group quite often (the other such thing is CBT, coming from Hungarian patients living in the UK).

From what I understand, c-peptide can be used for testing diabetes as a diagnostic tool but doesn't really cure anything. I guess it is one of the more harmless types of quackeries but still, it is expensive (of course) and patients often spend a lot of money on this useless drug.

First it was promoted as a cure for almost every incurable disease. It was never officially approved by the authorities for anything, and later promoting it as treatment was banned. Now they advertise it as a "cosmetic spray" but people are still convinced that it works for autism, Lyme, all kinds of neurological diseases and now, it even protects against covid, so don't take the vaccine, take c-peptide instead, because the vaccine will harm you anyway, everyone knows that. :sigh:

So even though it cannot be promoted as treatment, people still buy it and use it as treatment, so apparently the damage is already done. The guy who came up with it, doesn't have any kind of medical or related scientific qualifications. His scientific papers are papers uploaded to his own website and that's it.

I had to kick one proponent out of my group, not because of promoting it (I prefer discussion, so people can see why something is NOT a cure), but because when I asked her to give some credible sources, she responded with personal attacks after a while, saying stuff like "you should be happy that you don't have this disease" etc and that has no place in the group. But yes, the fact that she was very confidently giving this kind of medical advice to others as a "holistic hormone balance coach" didn't really help.

There is another one now in my group who claims she has been working together with world-leading brain researchers on this and presents herself as some kind of scientific authority. I looked her up. She is a health visitor and has published some case studies about c-peptide and autism with some speech therapists, some of them academics. Again, published means published on a website.

My dilemma in these cases that these people say they have ME/CFS themselves, so I don't want to be too harsh with them. So I try to draw the line as: if you talk about some quackery as part of your personal story, as something you tried (and maybe you feel it worked), that is acceptable as your personal n=1 story and is not against the rules. Confidently promoting dubious treatments for others as a cure or effective treatment for ME/CFS is a no-no.

I've created a fixed post on top of the group wall that includes every drug for ME/CFS that specialists tend to use in practice for treating symptoms (for pain, sleep, etc.) or potential treatments (like ampligen) so people can see if some magic drug is not there and it is easier to call out quacks.

Anyway, this is our local version, so if c-peptide ever pops up abroad, this is where it probably came from.

 

News: the 2nd Annual Flat Earth Award by the Skeptic Society goes to Gábor Varga, the guy who pushes c-peptide as a cure-all drug (now advertised as a "cosmetic spray" for legal reasons after constant battles with the advertising authority). Well done, basically he is the No. 1 quack in the country. (And he also had other similar products.)

The people who received the first Flat Earth Award were a group called "Doctors for Clarity", consisting of a few doctors and a pharmacist who are all anti-vaxxers and covid-deniers and who spread the craziest conspiracy theories. Apparently also friends with Judy Mikovits, she even gave a lecture at their conference last year.

(This Flat Earth award is always in the news here.)