Yes, but other posters already beat me to the Quackwatch link.
I have also been suffering allergies for nearly 40 years now and have been around the block on these issues, so I have way too much personal experience (both good and bad) to add to the pot. Not that the plural of anecdote is data, of course, but experience can be important, too.
I’m in the position of being one of the few whose allergies don’t follow the “prime offenders” - I can eat wheat, dairy, fish, tree nuts, etc. with no problem. It’s tomatoes, corn, and a few others, not so commonly allergens, that set me off. So when I run into one of these yahoos and they “diagnose” me as having the standard allergies but completely miss what I’m actually allergic to it sets off my quack-radar.
Tragically, CAM (complementary and alternative medicine) lobbyists – many of them also quack practitioners like Dr. [NAME REMOVED FOR LEGAL REASONS], a key figure in Alaska’s “Medical Freedom” law travesty – have made serious inroads into the US political system at the state and local levels.
Decisions are being made on a political level regarding medical issues.
I mentioned (and linked) above the NCAHF position paper on the findings of the White House Commission on Complementary and Alternative Medicine, which takes a very uninformed and gullible position relative to CAM (I mean the WHC on CAM does, not HCAHF of course).
Another part of it is just having the means to combat the tide of quackery. Look at Bob Holloway and his Penta Water (my latest crusade). Here’s a guy says he’s changed the molecular structure of water with soundwaves, so that it gets into your cells faster because it doesn’t form such large clumps like regular water. He’s got the fastest selling water on the health-food market! And any high-schooler should be able to see through this lie.
But unless someone shows some real damage and therefore standing to sue, or there’s enough pressure against a regulatory agency to target PentaWater, there’s people out there doing real harm who need taken care of first.
PS: Right now my favorite scam is by a company claiming to make underwear “impregnated with a unique blend of rare earth semiconductors” that will cure your back pain, increase your vertical leap, etc. The shorts will cost you $125, and are nonreturnable “because of the legal ramifications concerning underwear”. (I think they’re site has been modified, so I can’t be sure the exact language I’m quoting here will appear on the link.)
As far as I can tell, this scam is being run by at least one member of a consulting business in Reno that serves the gaming industry.
At first, I assumed this was utter crap. But after a quick double blind study, I found that “Hawkins is right.” pushes down easily. But, “Hawkins is a bigotted moron.” is extremely difficult to push down. Now, I don’t know what to think.
It’s possible the final shot is that does it. If such was the case, why didn’t I ever get that instead of the years of tests and weekly arm pricks I used to get as a kid? I really wish I could remember what the shot is.
I should clarify what I wrote before. I still have a big problem with this “test” (I have a hard time holding back a smirk when it’s dome to me). I’m still a little skeptical of the acupuncture portion of it. What I believe in is that the treatment, or some aspect of it at least, worked for me. All I know now is that I went in a complete non-believer of the whole thing and left able to breathe much more easily than before. I’m certain it’s not a psychosomatic thing on my part.
I noted a vague recollection of filling out a survey there on my first visit. I think there’s a good possibility I did that. If I end up going back this year I may ask to look at my file.
I’d love to see some kind of study for this “test”. If there was a study that found the test to be BS, I wouldn’t be surprised. I seem to recall legit studies that found acupuncture could be beneficial for certain things. (I know someone will ask for a cite. I don’t have one right now.)
My diet, lifestyle, general cleanliness, etc. are much the same as they were before. I still live in the same general area. Most everything is the same. I think the only time I went two years in a row was the first two years, FWIW.
Why not? The placebo effect is real, you know - you really do feel better. Convincing the mind can have a measurable and real effect on the body - your blood pressure might go down, your lipid profile might improve, or maybe it’s just that your sinuses clear.
The mechanism behind the effect might not be well understood, but nonetheless it exists.
Then by the same token, my believing that the antihistamines I used to constantly take would help would produce the same result. It didn’t.
Reread the portions where I stated that I went in thinking the whole thing was BS and a waste of time and money. Firmly believing that such a procedure will not work pretty much precludes any improvement based on the placebo effect.
While the placebo effect can be real, it isn’t what happened for me.
spiralscratch, I just had a horrifying thought. I don’t know if thisa would produce the effect you experienced, but–what if he jabbed you in the butt with an EpiPen? Doctors?
Not a doctor, but I have a deep love/hate relationship with my Epi-Pen.
The shot of epinephrine would help stop swelling etc and make it easier to breathe - that’s why I have one near me at all times. But the epi does not stay in the system long. You inject, after about a minute you feel really charged, like you’ve been snacking on coffee beans for several hours. But you can breathe! The shot will start to wear off after an hour or two.
What I think the shot was… I think it was a steroid, like prednisone or cortisone. Long lasting, reduces swelling and helps the body generally feel better. These shots are an absolute miracle. BUT long term use wears down the body, has massive side effects, and is frowned on. (With chronic care, if anything other drug works you’ll be slowly switched to it.)
Again, not a doctor - just have taken 6 big, honking anti-histamines a day for 5 years with chronic hives.
I used to have bad hay fever every summer when I was a kid. Then, one summer, it dwindled away to almost nothing. Know what I did that worked? Absolutely nothing. Allergies quite often go away by themselves. And if you’re trying many things to cure them, then one of those attempted cures is going to just happen to fall close to the time when they went away. So if your luck had been a little different, maybe you’d be telling us today about how the acupuncture and the shot in the butt did nothing for you, but the chiropractic you had the next year worked wonders. Or how the homeopathy you tried the year before was what cleared it up. Or whatever treatment you were attempting at the time your allergies up and decided to go away.