2005:
The late, great Jef Raskin noticed cultism flourishing in nursing through alternative medicine.
2007:
While in the throes of a NewAge tragedy, I tried my best to convince people - anyone - that alternative medicine is a cult. Everyone laughed at me and called me an asshole.
That same year, Panda Bear M.D. got back from Iraq, went to medical school, started blogging, and called alternative medicine a cult, also.
Not long afterwards, Panda asked if TMR would be his "sister blog," and so we are.
2008:
That boil, lying on skins behind our backs, starts to annoy Orac (which means some of the online science community were noticing) as well.
2010:
The coolest duck since Daffy, The Quackometer, stops talking funny and says it plain.
And, finally, 2013:
Edzard Ernst MD, PhD, FMedSci, FSB, FRCP, FRCPEd - the man who was actually hired to sort this "alternative" stuff out - joined our little group.
Now - that's 7 years - how long will it take for the rest of you?
I consider alternative medicine in much the same way as the pin firing/blistering of horses' legs (look it up and be prepared to be amazed) back in my youth (which I had the great misfortune to witness and care for as a kid (the smell, sight, and sound will never leave me) -- it made an impression).
ReplyDeleteThe actual procedure doesn't do a blasted thing (imhao) and can be harmful (again, imhao). Although in fairness to pin firing, at least it enforced the actual treatment of choice for the horses thanks to the damaging effects of the "treatment". So I guess the ponies have it luckier than most people with regards to alternative treatments.
And fortunately the practice has died out in the ensuing 20 years which I can't say for the treatments for people.
PW
I looked up pin firing/blistering of horses' legs and got nothing I can see/watch.
ReplyDeleteCan you find anything?
You find a lot of nurses into holistic stuff.
ReplyDeleteHow much has to do with doctors doing a CYA because of the threat of malpractice and how much because doctors will order every test known to man because the Feds (us) are paying for it, is up for grabs.
http://www.horseadvice.com/horse/messages/4/5872.html
ReplyDeleteIf you look up images, you can find some; I highly doubt there's a video of it out there (not the sort of stuff people want to see or make known).
And I can't get any images to load (but it looks basically like what those vets describe -- hot irons either applied on the surface, which will leave a line scar, or inserted at varying levels under the skin, like a hypodermic needle that's branding iron hot, which will leave dot shaped scars).
It is a fortunately dying practice (it's been around for hundreds of years at least); although some still swear by it (including some vets).
PW
*I'm no nurse, just a former groom and kennel hand, and I keep an open mind, but some things, just by looking at them, a smart person would figure out to be not worth a damn.