# My wife believes all the woo on her phone **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [May 9, 2026, 3:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-wife-believes-all-the-woo-on-her-phone/1029924 "2026-05-09T03:57:59Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![mixdenny](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mixdenny/32/2962_2.png) [@mixdenny](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mixdenny)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2026, 5:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-wife-believes-all-the-woo-on-her-phone/1029924/45 "2026-05-10T17:02:17Z")
> [@Beckdawrek](#): > > Unless real problems arise, as in dumb use of money or not going to regular doctor, I’d leave it. No problem with money, she spends it all at the casino. ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2026, 5:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-wife-believes-all-the-woo-on-her-phone/1029924/46 "2026-05-10T17:04:59Z")
I feel _soooo_ much better having read that. [j/k] I’m sorry you’re dealing with that whole situation. Sounds painful, expensive, and frustrating. But all of a piece. Falling down the woo-hole is a form of addiction. Addictive personalities gonna addict anything / everything they touch. ---
**Author:** ![needscoffee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/needscoffee/32/1076_2.png) [@needscoffee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/needscoffee)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2026, 5:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-wife-believes-all-the-woo-on-her-phone/1029924/47 "2026-05-10T17:11:38Z")
> [@mixdenny](#): > > she spends it all at the casino. How are you going to ensure she doesn’t discover online gambling? Does she have a credit card with a low limit? Does she have access to the bank accounts? I had a friend who racked up huge gambling debts online, unbeknownst to her husband until it was too late. This was over 15 years ago. It’s _a lot_ easier to do it nowadays. ---
**Author:** ![mixdenny](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mixdenny/32/2962_2.png) [@mixdenny](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mixdenny)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2026, 5:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-wife-believes-all-the-woo-on-her-phone/1029924/48 "2026-05-10T17:11:42Z")
> [@LSLGuy](#): > > She’s simply always been a little credulous about everything. And has now discovered a firehouse of utter BS. She grew up in rural Thailand. Her grandma called an airplane a steelbird and told her one day she would ride it to a far away land. Steelbird is one word, not separate. I like it. But she can calculate the value of a 15.5 gram 18K gold necklace in seconds. Right now she is taking Omega XL (green mussel oil), beet concentrate, cranberry concentrate and turmeric all because she saw ads on TV for them. I’m surprised she hasn’t turned red like Costanza. ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2026, 7:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-wife-believes-all-the-woo-on-her-phone/1029924/49 "2026-05-10T19:16:39Z")
> [@Beckdawrek](#): > > He says she found a recipe for a joint rub. I don’t believe it sounds like it would work but it sounds like it smells nice. How awful can it be to massage your knees with nice smelling oil? > > I think it would brighten my outlook. Not cure, of course. Well, maybe the goo will cure the pain via the placebo effect. But if not, does she go to the doctor, or does she try one of the many other “cures” that FB will serve to her? My wife has two new knees. Here pain from them would not have been cured by goo. And these things often get worse. Not to mention what happens if she uses the same algorithm for something serious. ---
**Author:** ![Beckdawrek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beckdawrek/32/3647_2.png) [@Beckdawrek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beckdawrek)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2026, 8:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-wife-believes-all-the-woo-on-her-phone/1029924/50 "2026-05-10T20:28:57Z")
As we all know…arthritis and joint pain is one of these most common complaints. It can go on for years at a medium level. Better some days, worse others. No rub of any kind can cure the aging process of joints. Not everyone can get new knees. I’m sure you know there are limits. You can’t take aspirin at high doses for long. Tylenol will put holes in your liver. You won’t be getting opiates for long. Yep. Yer screwed. But your right. I see where it can lead down a bad path. Maybe nip it in the bud pretty quickly. Just for safeties sake. Protect your cash and cards. Sorry you’re going through this @mixdenny . My apologies if I came off scoffing at your troubles. ---
**Author:** ![BippityBoppityBoo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bippityboppityboo/32/5745_2.png) [@BippityBoppityBoo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BippityBoppityBoo)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2026, 9:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-wife-believes-all-the-woo-on-her-phone/1029924/51 "2026-05-10T21:04:32Z")
> [@Beckdawrek](#): > > No rub of any kind can cure the aging process of joints. Voltaren cream/gel, which is now over the counter (diclofenac sodium) can help with joint discomfort from arthritic aging changes. ---
**Author:** ![mixdenny](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mixdenny/32/2962_2.png) [@mixdenny](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mixdenny)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2026, 7:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-wife-believes-all-the-woo-on-her-phone/1029924/52 "2026-05-12T19:10:48Z")
And HempVana, yes, another TV purchase. But it does seem to work well. They sell several versions at drug stores, you need the one with lidocaine. ---
**Author:** ![DavidNRockies](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/davidnrockies/32/6279_2.png) [@DavidNRockies](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DavidNRockies)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2026, 1:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-wife-believes-all-the-woo-on-her-phone/1029924/53 "2026-05-23T13:23:15Z")
The Only Reason that I post a link to this story is to remind us all of what we already know: this is a road that can – in the most extreme of cases – lead to disaster. I don’t mean to imply that @mixdenny 's wife is headed that way, or _will ever_ head that way, but that this _is_ the equivalent road. You’re obviously concerned and paying attention. To me, that seems like the right stance to take: [**Woman Found Dead with Husband in Murder-Suicide Had Been Scammed by a Tom Selleck Impersonator, Says Friend – People Magazine**](https://people.com/california-couple-found-dead-home-scam-tom-selleck-impersonator-11982181) It should also be said that there are ‘scams’ and there are _scams._ The distinction may often be subtle, but I think it’s a distinction worth making. ---
**Author:** ![Beckdawrek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beckdawrek/32/3647_2.png) [@Beckdawrek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beckdawrek)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2026, 1:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-wife-believes-all-the-woo-on-her-phone/1029924/54 "2026-05-23T13:44:26Z")
You can get plain old lidocaine cream way cheaper than HempVana. Take out the lidocaine and you got…what? Cream? ---
**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2026, 2:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-wife-believes-all-the-woo-on-her-phone/1029924/55 "2026-05-23T14:08:54Z")
Taking a bunch of unproven supplements and rubbing salad on one’s knee isn’t necessarily a sign of impending collapse of critical thinking capacity (though persistent credulity about AI videos is worrisome). Outright belief in conspiracies that They don’t want you to know about is when it gets serious in my view. It has little to do with educational level. Tracy Beth Hoeg, recently fired as director of the federal Center for Drug Evaluation and Research, reposted something that wound up on my Twitter timeline. It cited an unnamed CEO of some big corporation, claiming that he heard several people bragging about how their cabal (that was the word they used) successfully brought down another Trumpian appointee, Marty Makary, who was head of the FDA until he ran afoul of the administration over opposition to flavored vapes. In spite of the utter ludicrousness of people boasting of their “cabal”'s achievement, Hoeg (an M.D. and PhD) evidently believes it. Lots of other educated people have gone down the rabbit hole too. I’m not sure what the cure is. Someday we may discover how Covid rewired otherwise intelligent people’s brains. Or maybe it was 5G and chemtrails. 🫠 🤪 😱 ---
**Author:** ![Hampshire](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hampshire/32/4887_2.png) [@Hampshire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hampshire)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2026, 2:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-wife-believes-all-the-woo-on-her-phone/1029924/56 "2026-05-23T14:47:51Z")
How does using, for a lack of a better term, reverse psychology work on these folks. Showing them in turn really well made but obviously fake AI videos (animals driving rally cars, dancing, karate fighting, etc) and insisting to them that they are indeed real. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-wife-believes-all-the-woo-on-her-phone/1029924.md?page=2)