# Stupid Alt-Med Friends on Facebook **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [November 7, 2013, 1:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-alt-med-friends-on-facebook/673325 "2013-11-07T13:22:02Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 19\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/qadgop_the_mercotan/32/83_2.png) [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qadgop_the_Mercotan)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2013, 3:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-alt-med-friends-on-facebook/673325/21 "2013-11-08T03:02:28Z")
Heh. A friend of mine was lamenting on FB about the death of her doctor from pneumonia. She couldn’t understand how pneumonia could be fatal for someone otherwise healthy in this age of antibiotics. I explained how there were some very nasty strains of bacterial pneumonia that could hit so hard and fast that they killed before anyone could intervene, and before antibiotics could help. Then I found out her doctor was a homeopath who had treated himself with homeopathic “cures” for his pneumonia. Now _that_ is **karma**. ---
**Author:** ![tellyworth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/977dab/32.png) [@tellyworth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tellyworth)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2013, 3:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-alt-med-friends-on-facebook/673325/22 "2013-11-08T03:19:12Z")
> [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](#): > > Then I found out her doctor was a homeopath Was he a “Doctor” or a doctor? ---
**Author:** ![Hentor\_the\_Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/8edcca/32.png) [@Hentor\_the\_Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hentor_the_Barbarian)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2013, 4:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-alt-med-friends-on-facebook/673325/23 "2013-11-08T04:44:27Z")
> [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](#): > > Heh. A friend of mine was lamenting on FB about the death of her doctor from pneumonia. She couldn’t understand how pneumonia could be fatal for someone otherwise healthy in this age of antibiotics. I explained how there were some very nasty strains of bacterial pneumonia that could hit so hard and fast that they killed before anyone could intervene, and before antibiotics could help. > > Then I found out her doctor was a homeopath who had treated himself with homeopathic “cures” for his pneumonia. > > Now _that_ is **karma**. Obviously his dilution was just off. ---
**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:** [November 8, 2013, 1:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-alt-med-friends-on-facebook/673325/24 "2013-11-08T13:22:11Z")
> [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](#): > > Heh. A friend of mine was lamenting on FB about the death of her doctor from pneumonia. She couldn’t understand how pneumonia could be fatal for someone otherwise healthy in this age of antibiotics. I explained how there were some very nasty strains of bacterial pneumonia that could hit so hard and fast that they killed before anyone could intervene, and before antibiotics could help. > > Then I found out her doctor was a homeopath who had treated himself with homeopathic “cures” for his pneumonia. Good to know that some homeopaths practice what they preach. [Here’s a lovely article](http://www.nationalcenterforhomeopathy.org/files/The%20Facts%20About%20Homeopathy%20and%20Pneumonia.pdf) by a pro-homeopathy doctor (of naturopathy and chiropractic, that is), which argues that homeopathy is the treatment of choice for all types of pneumonia. _“It is in fact hard to imagine a person dying of pneumonia with a physician experienced in genuine homeopathy at the bedside, even in the worst and most hopeless circumstances, whether it is in an infant in the last stage of viral pneumonia in an ICU, a centenarian in a very weakened state when all hopes are given up, a wasted and incapacitated middle-age man with a four-year refractory Aspergillus pneumonia, a patient with advanced lung cancer, or a comatose patient in the last stage of AIDS.”_ I guess the deceased homeopath had better imagination. ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Miskatonic](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mr.miskatonic/32/310_2.png) [@Mr.Miskatonic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Miskatonic)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2013, 1:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-alt-med-friends-on-facebook/673325/25 "2013-11-08T13:29:37Z")
Yaay…water. ---
**Author:** ![Mavis\_Topholese](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7feea3/32.png) [@Mavis\_Topholese](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mavis_Topholese)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2013, 6:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-alt-med-friends-on-facebook/673325/26 "2013-11-08T18:10:14Z")
I had a FB friend who was (and probably still is) addicted to this kind of nonsense, from anti-vac to how Sandy Hook was a government plot to take away our guns and/or freedomsz. My responses were always a polite “Well, that’s actually not true, here’s a link…”, because it’s a real-life friend whom I don’t wish to antagonize unnecessarily. Turns out _I_ was the one who got unfriended. Not showing enough respect to the truth-seekers, I suppose. ---
**Author:** ![Macca26](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/13edae/32.png) [@Macca26](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Macca26)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2013, 8:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-alt-med-friends-on-facebook/673325/27 "2013-11-08T20:33:33Z")
I don’t care how many college degrees a person might have or how eloquent they are, if they spew alt-medicine or conspiracy bullshit they are an idiot regardless. ---
**Author:** ![Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/qadgop_the_mercotan/32/83_2.png) [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qadgop_the_Mercotan)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2013, 10:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-alt-med-friends-on-facebook/673325/28 "2013-11-08T22:01:17Z")
> [@tellyworth](#): > > Was he a “Doctor” or a doctor? Surprisingly he was a genuine Emm Dee Medical Doctor who drank the kool-aid (albeit diluted beyond being flavorful anymore). He practiced almost nothing but homeopathy despite having a genuine medical degree and license. I wonder how many of his patients died from him dispensing placebo rather than effective medications before he bit the big one. ---
**Author:** ![nearwildheaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/90db22/32.png) [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2013, 6:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-alt-med-friends-on-facebook/673325/29 "2013-11-10T18:28:54Z")
> [@MsWhatsit](#): > > There are a few people who, due to long-lasting friendship or the fact that underneath it all they’re just really good people that I like having in my life, I keep around on Facebook even though they’re prone to posting woo. > > Most woo purveyors get dropped like a hot rock, though. I just delete people who keep posting this bullshit. If it’s occasional, then I might post a debunking link and have a conversation about it. But if it’s constant? Nah, they’re just gone. I have a couple of people hidden for this reasons, and have unfriended a few others but they were people I don’t see IRL anyway. It was mostly for anti-Obama posts; I don’t mind them for the most part, but when they compare him to Hitler, or saying things like “don’t re-nig in 2012” during the campaign, bye-bye. I also unfriended a distant relative who constantly posts (posted?) atheist memes for posting one that advocated a Christian holocaust. :eek: This man has gotten into trouble at work for preaching to/insulting co-workers WRT this. ---
**Author:** ![nearwildheaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/90db22/32.png) [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2013, 6:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-alt-med-friends-on-facebook/673325/30 "2013-11-10T18:30:34Z")
> [@Mavis\_Topholese](#): > > Sandy Hook was a government plot to take away our guns and/or freedomsz. I had someone who I see IRL hidden for a while because of this. She’s currently training for a new career, and her political posts have waned in their forcefulness, so I suspect someone told her that she needs to be careful about this if she wants to be able to get a job a few years from now. ---
**Author:** ![nearwildheaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/90db22/32.png) [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2013, 6:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-alt-med-friends-on-facebook/673325/31 "2013-11-10T18:33:16Z")
> [@Budget\_Player\_Cadet](#): > > That is good advice, I’ll give it a try. Of course, when the myth is so-called “good news” like “Did you know? Ten garden vegetables that actually cure cervical cancer when shoved up your hoo-ha”, this doesn’t work so well… Did they have to be whole, or could they be sliced? ---
**Author:** ![tellyworth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/977dab/32.png) [@tellyworth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tellyworth)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2013, 9:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-alt-med-friends-on-facebook/673325/32 "2013-11-10T21:10:40Z")
> [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](#): > > I wonder how many of his patients died from him dispensing placebo rather than effective medications before he bit the big one. If he were still alive, could he have been prosecuted or lost his license? Would he? ---
**Author:** ![detop](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/bcef8e/32.png) [@detop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/detop)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2013, 10:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-alt-med-friends-on-facebook/673325/33 "2013-11-10T22:39:53Z")
> [@nearwildheaven](#): > > Did they have to be whole, or could they be sliced? Actually, pureed works best. It exposes most of the “active” ingredients. ---
**Author:** ![Ethilrist](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ethilrist/32/4604_2.png) [@Ethilrist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ethilrist)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2013, 10:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-alt-med-friends-on-facebook/673325/34 "2013-11-10T22:51:15Z")
> [@detop](#): > > Actually, pureed works best. It exposes most of the “active” ingredients. I would imagine that the cucumber would have the most benefit if left whole… ---
**Author:** ![detop](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/bcef8e/32.png) [@detop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/detop)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2013, 11:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-alt-med-friends-on-facebook/673325/35 "2013-11-10T23:05:36Z")
> [@Ethilrist](#): > > I would imagine that the cucumber would have the most benefit if left whole… You’re right. That and the zucchini can be used whole. ---
**Author:** ![Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/qadgop_the_mercotan/32/83_2.png) [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qadgop_the_Mercotan)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2013, 2:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-alt-med-friends-on-facebook/673325/36 "2013-11-11T02:13:23Z")
> [@tellyworth](#): > > If he were still alive, could he have been prosecuted or lost his license? Would he? Medical Examining board would not like that, and could pull a license for such a thing. I’m not sure of the local laws. If a homeopath who’s not an MD can do it legally probably an actual MD could to. ---
**Author:** ![Princhester](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/3e96dc/32.png) [@Princhester](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Princhester)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2013, 2:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-alt-med-friends-on-facebook/673325/37 "2013-11-11T02:25:14Z")
> [@Mavis\_Topholese](#): > > I had a FB friend who was (and probably still is) addicted to this kind of nonsense, from anti-vac to how Sandy Hook was a government plot to take away our guns and/or freedomsz. My responses were always a polite “Well, that’s actually not true, here’s a link…”, because it’s a real-life friend whom I don’t wish to antagonize unnecessarily. Turns out _I_ was the one who got unfriended. Not showing enough respect to the truth-seekers, I suppose. WIN! ---
**Author:** ![Budget\_Player\_Cadet](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/budget_player_cadet/32/205_2.png) [@Budget\_Player\_Cadet](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Budget_Player_Cadet)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2013, 7:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-alt-med-friends-on-facebook/673325/38 "2013-11-12T19:23:07Z")
Aw hell. She posts on a status update about how you should get your vaccines… > [@](#): > > \, the medical establishment allows and encourages vaccines that are made with mercury and other toxic substances, and these innoculations are NOT very effective, and have been linked to autism How the hell do you respond to this? ---
**Author:** ![Budget\_Player\_Cadet](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/budget_player_cadet/32/205_2.png) [@Budget\_Player\_Cadet](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Budget_Player_Cadet)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2013, 8:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-alt-med-friends-on-facebook/673325/39 "2013-11-12T20:03:57Z")
Well, seeing as it was my status, I pulled out the low orbit ion cannons: > [@](#): > > There are numerous large-scale studies examining the toxicity of thimerosal (the mercury ingredient in some vaccines) and specifically the link between thimerosal and autism. The vast majority of them came to the same conclusion: there is none. No link. It doesn’t exist. Thimerosal is completely safe in the concentrations vaccines provide. > [Autism and thimerosal-containing vaccines: lack of consistent evidence for an association - PubMed](http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/12880876) > [Safety of thimerosal-containing vaccines: a two-phased study of computerized health maintenance organization databases - PubMed](http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/14595043) > [Thimerosal exposure in infants and developmental disorders: a retrospective cohort study in the United kingdom does not support a causal association - PubMed](http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/15342825) > [Thimerosal and the occurrence of autism: negative ecological evidence from Danish population-based data - PubMed](http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/12949291) \<- Really imporant one > [A population-based study of measles, mumps, and rubella vaccination and autism - PubMed](http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/12421889) \<- Other really important one > [http://www.cdc.gov/vaccinesafety/vsd/thimerosal\_outcomes/](http://www.cdc.gov/vaccinesafety/vsd/thimerosal_outcomes/) > What’s more, thimerosal has been removed from essentially all vaccines in the western world due to baseless complaints about it - there is no more mercury in most scheduled vaccines, and if you look you can find almost any vaccine you need _without_ thimerosal. Vaccines do indeed contain many substances which, at high doses, are toxic. However, without knowing the dosage or the threshholds for the substances, that doesn’t tell you anything - it’s simply fearmongering. Here’s a great example: [http://www.harpocratesspeaks.com/2012/04/demystifying-vaccine-ingredients.html](http://www.harpocratesspeaks.com/2012/04/demystifying-vaccine-ingredients.html) > > Also, side note: [Mercury concentrations and metabolism in infants receiving vaccines containing thiomersal: a descriptive study - PubMed](http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/12480426) (Yes, the body straight-up metabolizes the thimerosal at that dosage!) > > As for the claim that vaccines are not effective, um… No. Big fat no. > > - MMR has, 64% protection against Mumps, 90% protection against measles, and 95% protection against rubellum. With follow-up booster shots, that rises to upwards of 99% for all three. With herd immunity, the vaccine has essentially eradicated those three diseases in the western world. [http://www.bupa.co.uk/individuals/health-information/directory/m/mmr-vaccine#textBlock204342](http://www.bupa.co.uk/individuals/health-information/directory/m/mmr-vaccine#textBlock204342) > - DTaP has upwards of 95% effectiveness against all four diseases involved [http://www.immunizationinfo.org/vaccines/diphtheria#effectiveness-of-the-vaccine](http://www.immunizationinfo.org/vaccines/diphtheria#effectiveness-of-the-vaccine) > - Do I even have to bring up polio? > All of these diseases have, by and large, been eradicated from the western world. They’re making a comeback, though, and the outbreaks of pertussis, measles, and others have been centralized among areas where vaccine uptake has gone down - exactly what one would expect if the vaccine was holding the disease in check. The claim that vaccines are ineffective is so on-its-face ludicrous that I don’t even know where to start. Maybe the flu vaccine, which has something like a 60% seasonal success rate. But even 60% is really good. > > The link to Autism has been done to death. I feel entirely confident in saying that whatever source told you that there was a link between vaccines and autism is lying to you. The research done in the field simply does not back it up. I’m willing to look at your sources for any of these claims, if you would care to offer any. But the facts are all there. You really need to reexamine where you’re getting your medical information from, because these people are lying to you. And this keeps on happening. You keep on sharing articles around which are simply dead wrong. And I keep on pointing out how wrong they are, and you keep citing the same sites. 😕 [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-alt-med-friends-on-facebook/673325.md?page=1)