“Gibson is not the first “wellness blogger” to be caught out by her own ignorance, and she certainly won’t be the last. Wellness bloggers are increasingly numerous, astonishingly popular and embarrassingly feted by the media which never can resist attractive young women (who make up the most prominent members of this demographic) talking about food and being photographed nibbling on a strawberry. They write blogs about healthy living, which invariably means randomly cutting out various food groups and gluten (although how many of them actually know what gluten is remains to be ascertained), even though most of them have no nutritional training beyond feeding themselves. They run stylised Instagram accounts showcasing their food and how attractive they look eating it, and they write in a chummy “just sayin’ it like it is, guys” style so suited to the internet. They usually have a story about how they fell ill and cured themselves through their diet. They often claim that the modern food industry is killing us all and they always suggest that if you follow their instructions to the letter you, too, will be as gorgeous as they are, and maybe even able to nibble a strawberry as sexily to boot.”
In a similar vein, my mother-in-law, who has wacky ideas about nutrition, is revolted by the idea of breast-feeding and has used the adjective “unnatural” to describe said concept.
Had a busy Feb-March, so didn’t post much (which unfortunately coincided with an attempt to re-start the Bible Review threads in Cafe Society, which I guess petered out maybe in part due to my non-participation), but I’ve been back to posting here in the last few weeks.
This is it right here. I stumbled upon the Food Babe one time while searching for a recipe. I saw her site in the Google results and thought “Food Babe? Why not?”. I only stuck around long enough to verify that she does sort of fit the “Babe” part but left when I saw some questionable titles.
This blogger is on a journey. And this is part of the journey that she is on. We all have to work through our own personal journeys and those journeys may not always be smooth. Yanno?
Well, Dr. Oz’ answer to his critics was basically digging up dirt about the doctors who want him fired from Columbia. Nothing about him having whack-jobs on his show promoting woo or the 36% of what he says being pure unsubstantiated horseshit. The tactic sounds familiar.
I put off getting my hepatitis C treated for year after year, because the treatment that worked was so dreadful and ugly with horrific effects, essentially chemotherapy like you described. I tried acupuncture, medicinal herbs, aromatherapy, qigong, detox diet, and whatnot. I was realistic going in: I knew none of these would cure my hep, but I was banking on them helping my liver along, or minimizing the damage, until a better and less injurious hep C therapy could be found.
About 10 years ago I finally gave in and decided that the danger to putting off conventional treatment any longer could not be balanced out by any of the woo I was trying. I started on interferon and ribavirin chemotherapy. Damn near killed me. Hospitalized twice with life-threatening anemia. I could not deal with it. That period still remains one of the darkest of my life because of the harsh drugs. Worse than the physiological suffering was the mental twisting, which turned life into a waking nightmare. The doctor was a homophobic transphobic asshole who didn’t give a shit if I lived or died. It was supposed to run 6 months, but I quit after 4, hoping that the zero viral count I got at 4 months would stick. It didn’t. Before long it was back up in the millions.
So 5 years ago I went back to repeat the 6-month course of those nasty-ass drugs. Again: nearly killed me. Except this time I got it through Whitman-Walker clinic, which had a caseworker appointed to counsel me through it, provide moral support, and keep up close monitoring of my condition, none of which I’d had the first time. This time I persevered and made it all the way through. Success! The hep C virus has been zeroed out ever since then. I’m cured at last.
Since those two bouts with chemo, I haven’t had much strength or vigor, and the aftereffects of depression actually got worse after it ended for about a year and a half. It is still a long slow climb back to full recovery; actually, I doubt I’ll ever fully recover from the ordeal. But at least I know I won’t die of liver failure. So: on balance, a qualified win for conventional medicine where the alternatives were never going to accomplish much.
Your story does demonstrate why people with serious diseases go for alternative “medicine” – the side effects and pain of conventional treatment can be horrific and terrifying to contemplate. I can’t even manage to get a dental filling without a couple of Ativan and some nitrous oxide, so I understand why someone facing chemo, radiation, surgery, and on top of it all, hair loss and nausea, might want to go with juicing, massage, reiki, and crystals instead. So I reserve my ire for the charlatans who peddle this stuff to the frightened and hopeless as effective treatments. Those charlatans of woo should be held to criminal charges when one of their “patients” die due to lack of proper treatment.
This started annoying me so much when my mom was diagnosed with a very rare form of cancer. She finally succumbed after 5 rounds of chemo in 5 years. I don’t think I have to tell you all how inundated she was with nonsensical advice from everyone and their dog. It infuriated me.
A friend of mine went through similar treatment for hepatitis, and from his accounts it was horrific. He’d been a heroin addict (clean for many years before the treatment) and suffers from severe depression as well, which combined with the effects of the treatment to make it a year-plus of living hell. He’s out the other side of it now and still dealing with the depression and the lingering lifelong aftereffects of opiate addiction, but at least his liver isn’t going to explode.
He didn’t turn to woo, though; his main form of “alternative medicine” was beer, and lots of it. Which made the treatment harder, actually, since he had to give that up too for the duration.