This may be true for the general run of “dietary supplement” users, but I question whether “most people” who regularly see naturopaths, homeopaths etc. are availing themselves of optimum evidence-based care.
Here’s a report quoting multiple surveys, which suggests that while complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) users mostly consult evidence-based physicians too, that still leaves an awful lot of people who are dependent on CAM alone. It is also concerning that a large majority (72% in one survey) do not tell their physicians that they are seeing CAM providers. This could have serious repercussions if the CAM drugs/supplements interact badly with evidence-based medications.
You would not, for instance, want someone on prescription medication for Graves’ diseases to also be taking unproven herbs/supplements that might diminish or augment the effect of the prescription drugs. I suggest that at the least, BPC keep tabs as much as possible on what woo pills are being given to his mom.
Become a woo doctor yourself and demand your mom be your best patient. Prescribe light exercise and meditation and drinking lots of filtered water and reinforce her MD’s advice.
A Wall St. Journal article yesterday on options for dealing with breech birth position described a woman whose woo practitioner got her to burn mugwort near her toes (moxibustion), which was supposed to turn the baby around in the uterus. I can’t think why it didn’t work.*
*The standard evidence-based option (external version) didn’t work either, but at least that doesn’t leave you with a house smelling of burnt mugwort.
I go to an acupuncturist - yeah, I know. But I have a trigger point that causes a lot of pain and takes me out with headaches and a dry needle trigger point injection is $800 every three months and an acupuncturist will hit the trigger point for $30. The TPI works better (its a LOT deeper, its like magic), but not $770 better (not really, because the acupuncturist needs to be seen about every other week, and the MD who does the TPI would need to be seen every three months - but its still really expensive to get the trigger point injections).
But he was going on about moxibustion. And that is the point at which I stop going until it flares up again. I’ll deal with needles in my ankles as long as he hits the spot I need, I’m not going to listen to the healthful advantages of breathing mugwort or why I need to take GMOs out of my diet.
Best thing about working for an acupuncturist was explaining to everyone who walked in the door that it wasn’t pot they were smelling* when someone was getting moxa.
*Well, most of the time it wasn’t pot they were smelling. Unless the boss went downstairs to play with his train set.
Cannabis moxibustion would be a great idea, but that would actually do something useful for the patient*, which might remove it from the purview of woo.
assuming the patient’s complaint was “I don’t want eat chips and watch Family Guy all afternoon, and I should.”
What makes anyone think a grown adult can be stopped from doing exactly this? Plenty of people die from these kinds of stupid decisions every day. People don’t take their diabetes seriously, or their obesity, or their sleep apnea, and it kills them. They keel over from glycemic shock, or have a heart attack, or suffocate in their sleep. And hey, unless a judge steps in and determines it should be otherwise, that’s their right.
OP, just try to make sure your mom takes her meds and keeps seeing her real doctor. And maybe visit her more often. You could learn how to crochet chains and take her with you to a stitch and bitch–something, anything. My point is, if she gets to discuss her problems for free with people who care about her, maybe she won’t feel as compelled to discuss them for outrageous prices with a quack. That’s a win-win. What you can’t do is talk her out of believing whatever she wants to believe, or doing whatever she wants to do.
Other folks have already talked about the ‘your mom is an adult, who is of sound mind and is endangering no one at the moment with her actions (other than spending down your inheritance), so keep your opinions to yourself,’ but I wanted to directly address this quote.
If my child went to PEOPLE I WORK WITH and tried to get them to gang up on me regarding a medical issue, I would be blindingly furious. Not only is my medical history none of my coworkers’ business, but it damn sure isn’t their business to tell me how to treat it. And it sure as hell isn’t my CHILD’S business (or right) to involve them in such a personal matter. Said child and I would have some fairly significant words after such a stunt, and I might be tempted to double down harder on spending that inheritance. Geez, the HR issues alone are enough to make one’s head spin.
I can’t believe this even crossed your mind as a reasonable plan.
No, no, I know how it is. It’s just that while she’s surrounded by woofully misinformed people, she’s usually fairly reasonable… I guess I’ll see what I can do about swapping the naturopath for a therapist or something. Trying not to belabor the point, not doing something dumb like talking to her coworkers…
My endocrinologist, has spent a lot of time with me AND has a counselor that I see every time I visit the doctor AND had a class to explain in detail what the disease entailed and how to manage it AND brought in a family therapist who wanted to talk as well. The doctor is also sending me to other doctors for a lot of possibly related issues. he really seems to listen to what I say and responds to the issues i bring up.
It sounds like your mom needs someone to listen and respond as well. I hope her new Dr fills the bill or she can try a different one.
Semirelated note: Homeopaths are on the warpath to get Wikipedia to stop dissing them (i.e. allowing woo-friendly edits of Wikipedia’s homeopathy page).
Obviously they’re going about this all wrong. Instead of trying to collect lots of signatures for their petition, they should make sure no one signs it, to make it extra-powerful.
I have found no solution to “doctors don’t know shit” except to walk away and keep my mouth shut, silently gloating when it turns out their doctor was correct in the first place.
You’ll need to do it in a way that she’ll think it was her idea, or she may just continue to resist the suggestion simply because it’s coming from you. How exactly you accomplish that, I’m afraid I can’t help you, but you know her best.
