Monthly Archives: June 2015
I thought I had seen everything that is lamentable about homeopathy. When I came across this article, I had to change my opinion. It is a more despicable, unethical and dangerous promotion of falsehoods than I could have imagined.
Strong words? Read for yourself:
There are treatments that can heal vaccine damage, but few physicians in the conventional medical care system know about them, since vaccine injuries are usually denied as the cause of any illness. Some parents with autistic children report that homeopathy has completely reversed their children’s autism and healed other serious health conditions caused by vaccines. This article explains how homeopathic remedies can bring about healing for many types of vaccine injuries.
Homeopathy is not the only treatment that has helped children and adults recover from vaccine damage, but it is the one that is the focus of this article. I will describe how homeopathy can bring about a true cure for the harm that vaccines have caused to children and adults…
It is a tragedy when a normal young child suddenly starts losing the ability to speak sentences or even to speak words after receiving vaccines. The ability to have positive social interactions with other children or adults can disappear in a matter of days after vaccines have been given to children. Intellectual development can be lost and even successful potty training skills can disappear. The ability to sit quietly, listen to a story being read, and the ability to learn can suddenly be replaced with hand flapping, body spinning, head banging, food allergies, asthma, agitation, hyperactivity, learning disabilities, chronic colds and fevers, constant stomach pain, constipation, and a general failure to grow and thrive. There are also serious consequences for adults who use vaccines. Formerly productive adults can lose their independence and become paralyzed, infertile, chronically ill, and even die, because of vaccine damage. It happens every day, yet few people make the connection between their illnesses and vaccine use…
By the time parents fully awaken to the harm that has occurred to their children, many have already resigned themselves to a lifetime of caretaking their disabled children. Some parents will even receive counsel from their physicians to give up their children to the care of the state, because they have no treatments to offer and can offer no hope of recovery. Some physicians will try to convince parents that this is a genetic problem that might be cured someday, but not in the near future. The conventional medical care system leaves parents feeling like helpless victims without any good options. The truth is there are good options for restoring health after vaccine damage, and homeopathy is one of them!…
Homeopathy does not wage war on disease and seek to destroy the symptoms of disease through brute force. It does not bring substances into the body as is done with allopathic drugs, for the purpose of doing hand to hand combat against disease. Instead, homeopathy and its remedies are intended to gently stimulate and strengthen the body so that it can overcome illness through its own vital force and strength. Homeopathic remedies restore the natural ability of the body to defend itself against illness and to heal itself. When this happens, a person is truly cured of what ails him…
Allopathic drugs and treatments do not have a positive effect upon the vital force in the body. They do not improve the strength of a person, and they do not provide for physical, emotional, or mental renewal. Rather, they just suppress symptoms, and add side effects…
You may also wish to ask for a referral from your chiropractor, osteopath, or acupuncturist. Such practitioners are often aware of good homeopaths in the area. Sometimes the person who is responsible for managing supplements and remedies sold at health food stores will be aware of experienced homeopaths as well…
I know, apologists will claim that such extreme idiocy is always the work of a few ‘rotten apples’, even most homeopaths would object to such dangerous and amoral lunacy. But the fact is, they don’t! If you disagree, please show me the protests from homeopaths or other alternative practitioners.
When Wakefield was shown to be a fraud endangering public health with his bogus claims about vaccine damage, there were protests in abundance, and he was ousted by the medical and scientific communities. Where are the protests by the alternative medicine fraternity against this article and the many, many others like it?
NOBODY SHOULD BE ALLOWED TO ENDANGER PUBLIC HEALTH IN THIS WAY.
PS
In case you wonder who wrote the above article, it is John P. Thomas. He is a health writer for Health Impact News. He holds a B.A. in Psychology from the University of Michigan, and a Master of Science in Public Health (M.S.P.H.) from the School of Public Health, Department of Health Administration, at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. John specializes in environmental health, but writes on a variety of issues.
In a recent Editorial, I wrote: “Complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) is popular, and many nurses seem to be embracing it in the hope of helping their patients…But despite its popularity, CAM has remained a highly controversial area: the evidence-base is often unconvincing or non-existent. For most forms of CAM, we thus know too little to claim with confidence that they generate more good than harm. In the interest of our patients, it might, therefore, be wise to exercise caution and be aware of some of the fallacies which can easily mislead us.”
Yet, my calls for caution seem to fall on nurses’ deaf ears. This is at least what a new article on this subject implies.
This paper investigated how frequently nurses include CAM in their clinical practice. In so doing, its authors investigated nurses’ knowledge of and attitudes towards CAM as well as their ability to communicate the risks and benefits of these therapies with patients. For this purpose, a review was conducted in five stages: (1) identification of research question(s), (2) locate studies, (3) selection of studies, (4) charting of data, and (5) collating, summarising, and reporting of results.
Fifteen papers met the inclusion criteria for the review, among which 53·7% referenced how frequently nurses include CAM in their practice. The researchers found that 66·4% of nurses had positive attitudes towards CAM; however, 77·4% did not possess a comprehensive understanding of the associated risks and benefits. In addition, nearly half of the respondents (47·3-67·7%) reported feeling uncomfortable discussing CAM therapies with their patients.
The authors concluded that the lack of knowledge about complementary and alternative medicine among nurses is a cause for concern, particularly in light of its widespread application. Findings from this study suggest that health care professionals need to promote evidence informed decision-making in complementary and alternative medicine practice and be knowledgeable enough to discuss complementary and alternative medicine therapies. Without involvement of complementary and alternative medicine communication on the part of our profession, we may put our patients at risk of uninformed and without medical guidance.
I think I understand why many nurses feel attracted by CAM; if nothing else, it offers the opportunity to exercise compassion and empathy in patient care – and these are qualities that are often badly needed in routine practice. But it would be important (not just for nurses but for all health care professionals) to realise that compassion is best when it is paired with evidence-based care and effective treatments rather than with quackery and unproven therapies.
I just came across a website that promised to”cover 5 common misconceptions about alternative medicine that many people have”. As much of this blog is about this very issue, I was fascinated. Here are Dr Cohen’s 5 points in full:
5 Misconceptions about Alternative Medicine Today
1. Alternative Medicine Is Only an Alternative
In fact, many alternative practitioners are also medical doctors, chiropractors, or other trained medical professionals. Others work closely with MDs to coordinate care. Patients should always let all of their health care providers know about treatments that they receive from all the others.
2. Holistic Medicine Isn’t Mainstream
In fact, scientists and doctors do perform studies on all sorts of alternative therapies to determine their effectiveness. These therapies, like acupuncture and an improved diet, pass the test of science and then get integrated into standard medical practices.
3. Natural Doctors Don’t Use Conventional Medicine
No credible natural doctor will ever tell a patient to replace prescribed medication without consulting with his or her original doctor. In many cases, the MD and natural practitioner are the same person. If not, they will coordinate treatment to benefit the health of the patient.
4. Alternative Medicine Doesn’t Work
Actual licensed health providers won’t just suggest natural therapies on a whim. They will consider scientific studies and their own experience to suggest therapies that do work. Countless studies have, for example, confirmed that acupuncture is an effective treatment for many medical conditions. Also, the right dietary changes are known to help improve health and even minimize or cure some diseases. Numerous other alternative therapies have been proven effective using scientific studies.
5. Big Medical Institutions are Against Alternative Medicine
According to a recent survey, about half of big insurers pay for tested alternative therapies like acupuncture. Also, hospitals and doctors do recognize that lifestyle changes, some herbal remedies, and other kinds of alternative medicine may reduce side effects, allow patients to reduce prescription medicine, and even lower medical bills.
This is not to say that every insurer, doctor, or hospital will support a particular treatment. However, patients are beginning to take more control of their health care. If their own providers won’t suggest natural remedies, it might be a good idea to find one who does.
The Best Medicine Combines Conventional and Alternative Medicine
Everyone needs to find the right health care providers to enjoy the safest and most natural care possible. Good natural health providers will have a solid education in their field. Nobody should just abandon their medical treatment to pursue alternative cures. However, seeking alternative therapies may help many people reduce their reliance on harsh medications by following the advice of alternative providers and coordinating their care with all of their health care providers.
END OF COHEN’S TEXT
COMMENT BY MYSELF
Who the Dickens is Dr Cohen and what is his background? I asked myself after reading this. From his website, it seems that he is a chiropractor from North Carolina – not just any old chiro, but one of the best!!! – who also uses several other dubious therapies. He sums up his ‘philosophy’ as follows:
There is an energy or life force that created us (all 70 trillion cells that we are made of) from two cells (sperm and egg cells). This energy or innate intelligence continues to support you throughout life and allows you to grow, develop, heal, and express your every potential. This life force coordinates all cells, tissues, muscles and organs by sending specific, moment by moment communication via the nervous system. If the nervous system is over-stressed or interfered with in any way, then your life force messages will not be properly expressed.
Here he is on the cover of some magazine and here is also his ‘PAIN CLINIC’
Fascinating stuff, I am sure you agree.
As I do not want to risk a libel case, I will abstain from commenting on Dr Cohen and his methods or beliefs. Instead I will try to clear up a few misconceptions that are pertinent to him and the many other practitioners who are promoting pure BS via the Internet.
- Not everyone who uses the title ‘Dr’ is a doctor in the sense of having studied medicine.
- Chiropractors are not ‘trained medical professionals’.
- The concepts of ‘vitalism’, ‘life force’ etc. have been abandoned in real heath care a long time ago, and medicine has improved hugely because of this.
- Hardly any alternative therapy has ‘passed the test of science’.
- Therefore, it is very doubtful whether alternative practitioners actually will ‘consider scientific studies’.
- True, some trials did suggest that acupuncture is an effective treatment for many medical conditions; but their methodological quality is often far too low to draw firm conclusions and many other, often better studies have shown the contrary.
- Numerous other alternative therapies have been proven ineffective using scientific studies.
- Therefore it might be a good idea to find a health care provider who does not offer unproven treatments simply to make a fast buck.
- Seeking alternative therapies may harm many people.
One could define alternative medicine by the fact that it is used almost exclusively for conditions for which conventional medicine does not have an effective and reasonably safe cure. Once such a treatment has been found, few patients would look for an alternative.
Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is certainly one such condition. Despite intensive research, we are still far from being able to cure it. It is thus not really surprising that AD patients and their carers are bombarded with the promotion of all sorts of alternative treatments. They must feel bewildered by the choice and all too often they fall victim to irresponsible quacks.
Acupuncture is certainly an alternative therapy that is frequently claimed to help AD patients. One of the first websites that I came across, for instance, stated boldly: acupuncture improves memory and prevents degradation of brain tissue.
But is there good evidence to support such claims? To answer this question, we need a systematic review of the trial data. Fortunately, such a paper has just been published.
The objective of this review was to assess the effectiveness and safety of acupuncture for treating AD. Eight electronic databases were searched from their inception to June 2014. Randomized clinical trials (RCTs) with AD treated by acupuncture or by acupuncture combined with drugs were included. Two authors extracted data independently.
Ten RCTs with a total of 585 participants were included in a meta-analysis. The combined results of 6 trials showed that acupuncture was better than drugs at improving scores on the Mini Mental State Examination (MMSE) scale. Evidence from the pooled results of 3 trials showed that acupuncture plus donepezil was more effective than donepezil alone at improving the MMSE scale score. Only 2 trials reported the incidence of adverse reactions related to acupuncture. Seven patients had adverse reactions related to acupuncture during or after treatment; the reactions were described as tolerable and not severe.
The Chinese authors of this review concluded that acupuncture may be more effective than drugs and may enhance the effect of drugs for treating AD in terms of improving cognitive function. Acupuncture may also be more effective than drugs at improving AD patients’ ability to carry out their daily lives. Moreover, acupuncture is safe for treating people with AD.
Anyone reading this and having a friend or family member who is affected by AD will think that acupuncture is the solution and warmly recommend trying this highly promising option. I would, however, caution to remain realistic. Like so very many systematic reviews of acupuncture or other forms of TCM that are currently flooding the medical literature, this assessment of the evidence has to be taken with more than just a pinch of salt:
- As far as I can see, there is no biological plausibility or mechanism for the assumption that acupuncture can do anything for AD patients.
- The abstract fails to mention that the trials were of poor methodological quality and that such studies tend to generate false-positive findings.
- The trials had small sample sizes.
- They were mostly not blinded.
- They were mostly conducted in China, and we know that almost 100% of all acupuncture studies from that country draw positive conclusions.
- Only two trials reported about adverse effects which is, in my view, a sign of violation of research ethics.
As I already mentioned, we are currently being flooded with such dangerously misleading reviews of Chinese primary studies which are of such dubious quality that one could do probably nothing better than to ignore them completely.
Isn’t that a bit harsh? Perhaps, but I am seriously worried that such papers cause real harm:
- They might motivate some to try acupuncture and give up conventional treatments which can be helpful symptomatically.
- They might prompt some families to spend sizable amounts of money for no real benefit.
- They might initiate further research into this area, thus drawing money away from research into much more promising avenues.
IT IS HIGH TIME THAT RESEARCHERS START THINKING CRITICALLY, PEER-REVIEWERS DO THEIR JOB PROPERLY, AND JOURNAL EDITORS STOP PUBLISHING SUCH MISLEADING ARTICLES.
If you talk to advocates of homeopathy, you are bound to hear claims that are false or misleading; in fact, you hear them so regularly that you might begin to doubt the truth. For those who have such doubts or are in need of some correct counter-arguments, I have listed here those 12 bogus claims which, in my experience, are most common together with short, suitable, and factual rebuttals.
1) THERE IS NOTHING MYSTERIOUS ABOUT HOMEOPATHY’S MODE OF ACTION, IT WORKS LIKE VACCINATIONS
This argument is used by enthusiasts in response the fact that most homeopathic remedies are too highly diluted to have pharmacological effects. Vaccines are also highly diluted and they are, of course, very effective; therefore, so the bogus notion, there is nothing odd about homeopathy.
The argument is wrong on several levels; the easiest way to refute, I think, it is to point out that vaccines contain measurable amounts of material and lead to measurable changes in the immune system. By contrast, the typical homeopathic remedy (beyond the C12 potency) contains not a single molecule of an active substance and leads to no measurable changes in any system.
2) SIGNIFICANTLY MORE CONTROLLED CLINICAL TRIALS OF HOMEOPATHY ARE POSITIVE THAN NEGATIVE
Several websites of homeopathic organisations make this claim and even provide simple statistics to back it up. Consequently, many homeopathy fans have adopted it.
The statistics they present show that x % of studies are positive, y % are negative and z % are neutral; the whole point is that x is larger than y. The percentage figures may even be correct but they rely on the spurious definitions used: positive = superior to placebo, negative = placebo superior to homeopathy, neutral = no difference between homeopathy and placebo. The latter category was created so that homeopathy comes out trumps.
For all intents and purposes, a study where the experimental treatment is no better than placebo is not a study neutral but a negative result. Thus the negative category in such statistics must be y + z which is, of course, larger than x. In other words, the majority of trials is, in truth, negative.
3) HOMEOPATHY IS SUPPORTED BY NOBEL PRIZE WINNERS
I don’t know of a single Nobel Prize winner who has stated or implied that homeopathy works better than a placebo. Some have tried to find a mechanism of action for homeopathy by doing some basic research and have published theories about it. None of those has been accepted by science.
And if there ever should be a Nobel Prize winner or similarly brilliant person who supports homeopathy, this would merely show that even bright individuals can make mistakes!
4) HOMEOPATHY IS SAFE
Tell that to the child that has just been reported to have died because her parents used homeopathy for an ear infection which (could have been easily treated with antibiotics but) degenerated into a brain abscess with homeopathic therapy. There are many more such tragic cases than I care to remember.
The risks of homeopathy are, of course, minor compared to many conventional treatments, but the risk/benefit balance of homeopathy can never be positive because, unlike those high risk conventional treatments, it has no benefit.
5) HOMEOPATHY DOES NOT LEND ITSELF TO BEING TESTED IN CLINICAL TRIALS
The best way to disprove this argument is to point out that ~ 250 controlled clinical trials are currently available. Every homeopath on the planet boasts about clinical trials – provided they are positive.
6) HOMEOPATHY WORKS VIA QUANTUM ENTANGLEMENT
I do not understand quantum mechanics and, I suspect, neither do the homeopaths who use this argument. But physicists who do understand this subject well are keen to stress that homeopathy cannot be explained in this way.
7) THERE IS NO PROOF THAT HOMEOPATHY DOES NOT WORK
The absence of evidence is not the same as evidence of absence, homeopaths like to exclaim. And they are, of course, correct! However, they forget that, science cannot prove a negative and that, in routine health care, we do not even look for a proof of ineffectiveness. We use those treatments that have a positive proof of effectiveness – everything else is irresponsible.
8) EVEN IF HOMEOPATHY WERE JUST A PLACEBO, IT STILL HELPS PATIENTS AND IS THEREFORE A USEFUL TREATMENT
It is true, of course, that placebo effects can help patients. But it is not true that, for generating a placebo response, we need a placebo. If a clinician administers an effective treatment with compassion, the patient will benefit from a placebo response plus from the specific effects of the treatment. Only giving placebos is therefore tantamount to cheating the patient.
9) THERE IS A WORLDWIDE CONSPIRACY AGAINST HOMEOPATHY
In a way, this argument merely suggests that homeopathic remedies are ineffective in treating paranoia. I have not ever seen a jot of evidence for it – and neither can anyone who uses this claim produce any.
10) YOU NEED TO BE A HOMEOPATH TO BE ABLE TO UNDERSTAND AND ADEQUATELY JUDGE THE VALUE OF HOMEOPATHY
With this notion, homeopaths want to claim that the critics of homeopathy are incompetent. It is like saying that only people who believe in god are allowed to criticise religion. By definition, homeopaths are believers, and therefore they are unlikely to be free of bias when judging the value of homeopathy. Homeopathy is a health technology that must be evaluated like all other health technologies: by independent scientists who know their job.
11) HOMEOPATHY HAS BEEN PROVEN TO WORK FOR LITTLE CHILDREN AND ANIMALS
The argument here is that animals and children cannot possibly respond to placebo. Therefore homeopathy must be more than a placebo.
This notion is twice wrong. Firstly, both animals and children can respond to placebo, if only ‘by proxy’, i.e. via their carers. Secondly, if we consider the totality of the reliable data, we find that neither for children nor for animals is the evidence convincingly positive.
12) HOMEOPATHY HAS BEEN USED VERY SUCCESSFULLY IN MAJOR EPIDEMICS, AND THAT FACT IS PROOF ENOUGH FOR ITS EFFICACY
Yes, there are some rather fascinating historical accounts which homeopaths interpret in this fashion. But if we look a little closer, we invariably find explanations which are much more plausible than the assumption of homeopathy’s effectiveness. Epidemiological observations of this nature can almost never establish cause and effect, and the clinical outcome could have been due to a myriad of confounders unrelated to homeopathy.
Regular readers of this blog will have noticed: I recently published a ‘memoir‘.
Of all the books I have written, this one was by far the hardest. It covers ground that I felt quite uncomfortable with. At the same time, I felt compelled to write it. For over 5 years I kept at it, revised it, re-revised it, re-conceived the outline, abandoned the project altogether only to pick it up again.
When it eventually was finished, we had to find a suitable title. This was far from easy; my book is not a book about alternative medicine, it is a book about all sorts of things that have happened to me, including alternative medicine. Eventually we settled for A SCIENTIST IN WONDERLAND. A MEMOIR OF SEARCHING FOR TRUTH AND FINDING TROUBLE. This seemed to describe its contents quite well, I thought (the German edition is entitled NAZIS, NADELN UND INTRIGEN. ERINNERUNGEN EINES SKEPTIKERS which indicates why it was so difficult to put the diverse contents into a short title).
Then a further complication presented itself: at the very last minute, my publisher insisted that the text had to be checked by libel lawyers. This was not only painful and expensive, following their advice and thus changing or omitting passages also took some of the ‘edge’ off it.
Earlier this year, my ‘memoir’ was finally published; to say that I was nervous about how it might be received must be the understatement of the year. As it turned out, it received so many reviews that today I feel deeply humbled (and very proud), particularly as they were all full of praise and appreciation. In case you are interested, I provide some quotes and the links to the full text reviews below.
[Ah, yes! Some people will surely claim that I did all this for the money. To those of my critics, I respond by saying that, had I done paper rounds or worked as a gardener or a window-cleaner during all the time I spent on this book, I would today be considerably better off. As it stands, the costs for the libel read are not yet covered by the income generated through the sales of this book.]AND HERE ARE THE PROMISED QUOTES
Times Higher Education Book of the Week
Times Higher Education – Helen Bynum, Jan 29, 2015
“[F]or all its trenchant arguments about evidence-based science, the second half of A Scientist in Wonderland remains a very human memoir, and Ernst’s account of the increasingly personal nature of the attacks he faced when speaking to CAM practitioners and advocacy groups is disturbing… Ben Goldacre’s 2012 book Bad Pharma created a storm via its exposure of the pharmaceutical industry’s unhealthy links with mainstream medicine. Ernst’s book deserves to do the same for the quackery trading under the name of complementary and alternative medicine.”
Spectator article
The Spectator – Nick Cohen, Jan 31, 2015
“If you want a true measure of the man, buy Edzard Ernst’s memoir A Scientist in Wonderland, which the Imprint Academic press have just released. It would be worth reading [even] if the professor had never been the victim of a royal vendetta.”
The Bookbag review
The Bookbag – Sue Magee, Jan 28, 2015
“Ernst isn’t just an academic – he’s also an accomplished writer and skilled communicator. He puts over some quite complex ideas without resorting to jargon and I felt informed without ever struggling to understand, despite being a non-scientist. I was pulled into the story of his life and read most of the book in one sitting… I was impressed by what Ernst had to say and the way in which he said it.”
Science-Based Medicine review
Science-Based Medicine – Harriet Hall, Feb 3, 2015
“Edzard Ernst is one of those rare people who dare to question their own beliefs, look at the evidence without bias, and change their minds… In addition to being a memoir, Dr. Ernst’s book is a paean to science… He shows how misguided ideas, poor reasoning, and inaccurate publicity have contributed to the spread of alternative medicine… This is a well-written, entertaining book that anyone would enjoy reading and that advocates of alternative medicine should read: they might learn a thing or two about science, critical thinking, honesty, and the importance of truth.”
Nature review
Nature – Barbara Kiser, Feb 5, 2015
“[T]his ferociously frank autobiography… [is] a clarion call for medical ethics.”
Times review
The Times – Robbie Millen, Feb 9, 2015
“A Scientist in Wonderland is a rather droll, quick read… [and] it’s an effective antidote to New Age nonsense, pseudo-science and old-fashioned quackery.”
AntiCancer review
AntiCancer.org.uk – Pan Pantziarka, Feb 19, 2015
“It should be required reading for everyone interested in medicine – without exception.”
Mail Online review
Mail Online – Katherine Keogh, Feb 28, 2015
“In his new book, A Scientist In Wonderland: A Memoir Of Searching For Truth And Finding Trouble, no one from the world of alternative medicine is safe from Professor Edzard Ernst’s firing line.”
James Randi Educational Foundation review
James Randi Educational Foundation – William M. London, Mar 9, 2015
“The writing in A Scientist in Wonderland is clear and engaging. It combines good storytelling with important insights about medicine, science, and analytic thinking. Despite all the troubles Ernst encountered, I found his story to be inspirational. I enthusiastically recommend the book to scientists, health professionals, and laypersons who like to see nonsense and mendacity exposed to the light of reason.”
The Pharmaceutical Journal review
The Pharmaceutical Journal – Andrews Haynes, Mar 26, 2015
“This engaging book is a memoir by a medical researcher whose passion for discovering the truth about untested therapies eventually forced him out of his job… [This] highly readable book concentrates on fact rather than emotion. It should be required reading for anyone interested in medical research.”
Skepticat review
Skepticat – Maria MacLachlan, Apr 18, 2015
“A Scientist in Wonderland is more than an autobiography and I’m not sure I can do justice to the riches to be found in its pages. Sometimes it’s reminiscent of a black comedy, other times it’s almost too painful to read.”
Spiked! review
Spiked! – Robin Walsh ,May 15, 2015
“Ernst’s book is a reminder of the need to have the courage to tell the truth as you understand it, and fight your corner against those in authority, while never losing a compassion for patients and a commitment to winning the debate. ”
Australasian Science review
Australasian Science – Loretta Marron, Jun 10, 2015
“Edzard Ernst is a living legend… The book is easy to read and hard to put down. I would particularly recommend it to anyone, with an open mind, who is interested in the truth or otherwise of CAM.”
Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine Review
JRSM – Michael Baum, June 2015
“This is a deeply moving and deeply disturbing book yet written with a light touch, humour and self-deprecation.”
THE BUFFALO NEWS
These enlightening books await summer readers. 21 June 2015
“Medical researcher Edzard Ernst spent most of his career stepping on toes. He first exposed the complicity of the German medical profession in the Nazi genocide. Then he accepted appointment as the world’s first chairman of alternative medicine at England’s University of Exeter. There he studied systematically the claims of the proponents of complementary medicine, a field dominated by evangelic and enthusiastic promoters, including Prince Charles. Needless to say, they did not take kindly to his exposures of many of their widely accepted therapies. His book, “A Scientist in Wonderland: A Memoir of Searching for Truth and Finding Trouble,” is a charming account of a committed life.”
Skeptical Inquirer
http://www.csicop.org/si/show/truth_trouble_and_research_exposing_alt_med?utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter
Chris French
“The book is first and foremost a memoir. Even those of us who have long followed Ernst’s research may well find a few surprises here…[Ernst] did not quite behave as many people expected him to after taking up his post in Exeter. He was committed to carrying out high-quality research into the efficacy and safety of CAM, not simply promoting its use in an uncritical manner. This admirable attitude won him much respect in the eyes of fellow scientists and the wider skeptical community.
Today, I came across this intriguing bit of information:
This week is homeopathy awareness week and once again the controversial practice is in the news.
The Royal Pharmaceutical Society does not endorse homeopathy as a form of treatment. In its reference guide on homeopathic and herbal products, the RPS makes it clear that there is no evidence of the clinical efficacy of homeopathic products, beyond a placebo effect, and no scientific basis for the practice.
The RPS Chief Scientist Professor Jayne Lawrence has blogged on the history of homeopathy and why even in the face of the lack of evidence that it works, people are still actively seeking homeopathic treatment today. Jayne lays down a challenge to the profession; are we ready to remove homeopathy from the shelves of pharmacies?
And here are the relevant passages from Jayne Lawrence’s post:
…it is easy to see why homeopathy, with its use of ultralow doses of the treatment material, became so popular so quickly, despite the fact that a clinical trial performed as early as 1835 showed that homeopathy as a method of treatment was wholly ineffective.
…for homeopathy to work as claimed, we would have to completely revise our understanding of science. Any scientific evidence claiming to support homeopathy has either been shown to be flawed or not repeatable under controlled conditions. Furthermore, systematic reviews of modern clinical trials have supported the first early clinical trial showing that homeopathy has no more clinical effect than a placebo.
Is homeopathy’s popularity due to a distrust of modern medicines as has been recently suggested by the Chief Medical Officer for England who has just called for an independent review of the safety and efficacy of medicines? Or it is that patients are worried about the side effects associated with medicines, preferring what they perceive to be a safer approach; after all homeopathic preparations have not unsurprisingly no known toxic effects in over 200 years of use? Whatever the reason, as an evidence-based profession, why do we continue to sell homeopathic preparations in our pharmacies when the evidence shows that they do not work?
The public have a right to expect pharmacists and other health professionals to be open and honest about the effectiveness and limitations of treatments. Surely it is now the time for pharmacists to cast homeopathy from the shelves and focus on scientifically based treatments backed by clear clinical evidence.
Read the Royal Pharmaceutical Society Homeopathic and herbal products quick reference guide.
And here are the ‘key points’ of this ‘reference guide’:
• There is no evidence to support the clinical efficacy of homeopathic products beyond a placebo effect, and no scientific basis for homeopathy.
• Pharmacists selling homeopathic products must be competent to do so and be able to discuss with patients the lack of evidence for the efficacy of homeopathic products and their formulation.
• Pharmacists should ensure, wherever possible, that patients do not stop taking their prescribed conventional medication when they take a homeopathic product.
• Pharmacists should be aware that patients requesting homeopathic products may have serious underlying undiagnosed medical conditions that would require referral to another healthcare professional.
• Pharmacists should not knowingly sell homeopathic products for serious medical conditions. However, it is recognised people will self select homeopathic products from open display often without consulting a pharmacist.
• Royal Pharmaceutical Society does not endorse homeopathy as a form of treatment.
And finally, here is my very brief and somewhat impatient comment on all this.
I have pointed out these facts ad nauseam for many years. At one stage, pharmacists used to invite me to their conferences for me to tell them so. When this became too unpopular, I published articles and blog posts about this issue. Some pharmacists agreed with me, but their majority seemed just not interested. Some argued that, in the large chain pharmacies, they have little choice but to comply with their employer’s demands. Some found even more lame excuses. I usually replied that there is no choice: pharmacists have ethical codes that clearly prohibit the sale of bogus remedies. Selling homeopathic remedies in pharmacies means violating important ethical principles. Pharmacists have to decide whether they want to be shop keepers or health care professionals.
IT IS HIGH TIME THAT WORDS ARE FOLLOWED BY ACTIONS FROM PHARMACISTS AND THEIR PROFESSIONAL ORGANISATIONS.
Necessity, they say, is the mother of invention. The meaning of this proverb is fairly clear:
- In the Oxford Dictionary the proverb has been defined as– when the need for something becomes imperative, you are forced to find ways of getting or achieving it.
- According to the Cambridge Dictionary, this is “an expression that means that if you really need to do something, you will think of a way of doing it.”
- Finally, the Longman dictionary has defined the proverb as– “if someone really needs to do something, they will find a way of doing it.”
In the world of chiropractic the proverb acquires a special meaning: chiropractic relies almost entirely on inventions. A few examples have to suffice:
- first, instead of pathophysiology, they invented subluxations,
- this required the invention of adjustments which were needed for their imagined subluxation,
- then they invented the ‘inate’,
- then they invented the idea that all sorts of conditions are caused by subluxations and therefore require adjustments,
- finally, they invented the notion that regular adjustments are needed for a healthy person to stay healthy.
I was reminded of the unique inventive capacity of chiropractic when I came across the website of the Foundation for Chiropractic Progress (F4CP). The F4CP is, according to their own statements, a not-for-profit organization dedicated to raising awareness about the value of chiropractic care (which is, of course, another invention).
Experts at the F4CP point out that a growing number of professional athletic teams utilize chiropractic care to maximize overall health and maintain peak performance. “Repetitive motion injuries, including shoulder tendinitis, elbow, lower back pain and muscle spasms, are common conditions and injuries among professional baseball players that can be successfully prevented, managed and treated with chiropractic care,” says Hirad N. Bagy, DC. “Chiropractic adjustments, in conjunction with soft tissue mobilization, provide athletes with proper structure, function and balance to reduce the risk of injury, accelerate recovery time and improve overall performance,” he continues – and he must know, because he has received specialized training and certifications specific to sports medicine, which include the Graston Technique®, Active Release Technique®, Myofascial Release Technique, Impact Concussion Testing and Functional Dry Needling. Dr. Bagy continues: “A number of athletes that I treat regularly understand the importance of chiropractic maintenance care, and also seek treatment when an injury arises. Through the restoration of proper bio-mechanics, doctors of chiropractic are now positioned as key health care providers throughout all of the sports teams that I work with.”
BRAVO! We are impressed! So much so, that we almost forgot to ask: “Is there any evidence for all of these therapeutic claims?”
Just as well! Because had we asked and perhaps even did a bit of research, we would have found that almost none of these far-reaching claims are evidence-based.
But who would be so petty? Instead of criticising the incessant flow of bogus claims made by chiropractors worldwide, we should really admire their remarkable skill of invention:
- When the need for profit becomes imperative, CHIROPRACTORS are forced to find ways of getting or achieving it.
- If CHIROPRACTORS really need to do something, they will think of a way of doing it.
- If a CHIROPRACTOR really needs money, he will advocate ‘maintenance care’.
AND THAT’S WHAT IS CALLED ‘CHIROPRACTIC PROGRESS’!
Would you believe it? This is the 500th post on this blog!
When I started this blog less than three years ago, I would have never thought that I would have fun doing this; and I would not have expected to get hooked on it. In fact, it needed even a bit of arm twisting to try it, and I have to thank Alan for doing it and everything else. Without him, this blog would surely not exist.
With my very first post, I promised that my blog is not going to provide just another critique of alternative medicine; it is going to be different, I hope. The reasons for this are fairly obvious: I have researched alternative medicine for two decades. My team and I have conducted about 40 clinical trials and published more than 100 systematic reviews of alternative medicine. We were by far the most productive research unit in this area. For 14 years, we hosted an annual international conference for researchers in this field. I know many of the leading investigators personally, and I understand their way of thinking. I have rehearsed every possible argument for or against alternative medicine dozens of times.
In a nutshell, I am not someone who judges alternative medicine from the outside; I come from within the field. Arguably, I am the only researcher in this area who is willing [or capable?] to state publicly what is wrong with alternative medicine. This is perhaps one of the advantages of being an emeritus professor!
I am not sure whether I lived up to this promise – but I did try. And one thing is for sure, it was an eventful exercise. The blog now has ~ 20 000 readers every week; we had something like 15 000 comments; and some posts were re-tweeted several hundred times.
This seems to indicate that there is a need for a forum of this nature. Alternative medicine continues to be popular but critical thinking is not something that this field is blessed with. On the contrary, the misinformation on this subject is simply monstrous and seems to be growing every day. Factual and reliable information is very hard to come by, and therefore I feel that I am doing an important educational job here.
It’s a job which I certainly could not do alone. I therefore like to take this occasion to thank everyone who made my blog what it is today. Alan has already been mentioned but the many commentators deserve a big THANKS too – regardless of whether I agree or disagree with you, your comments make it all worth my while.
If you ask a chiropractor, you will probably be told that chiropractic spinal manipulation is a safe treatment. Unfortunately this is not quite true, as regular readers of this blog will appreciate. About half of all patients suffer mild to moderate adverse effects after chiropractic treatments and, in addition, many instances of much more serious complications have been documented, including rare cases of Horner syndrome. It results from an interruption of the sympathetic nerve supply to the eye and is characterized by the classic triad of miosis (ie, constricted pupil), partial ptosis, and loss of hemifacial sweating (ie, anhidrosis).
Danish neurologists recently reported the case of a 60-year-old man with no relevant medical history who was admitted to the Department of Neurology with drooping of his right upper eyelid and an ipsilateral contracted pupil, combined with pain, weakness, and numbness in his upper right limb.
The patient had experienced thoracic back pain of moderate intensity with radiating right-sided belt-like chest pain for 7 days. When the discomfort suddenly intensified, he sought chiropractic treatment. Following manipulations of the thoracic and cervical spine, the pain intensity initially lessened. Approximately one hour after chiropractic treatment, the patient experienced the eye and upper limb symptoms described above, for which he sought medical assistance three days later.
A detailed neurologic examination revealed moderate right-sided ptosis and miosis, no facial anhidrosis, decreased strength of the intrinsic and opponens muscles of the right hand, and reduced cutaneous sensation corresponding to the T1 dermatome, with inability to discriminate pain and light touch. The remaining clinical examination, routine blood tests, and vital parameters were unremarkable.
Brain CT scan and CT angiography including the aortic arch and neck vessels were performed and ruled out cerebral stroke and carotid artery dissection, respectively. As clinical signs of Horner syndrome and a concomitant radiating pain to the medial arm were considered suggestive of either a lower brachial plexopathy, i.e., due to a Pancoast tumor, or a radiculopathy, chest X-ray and electroneurography (ENG) were performed. No apical pulmonary pathology was detected. ENG of the right medial cutaneous antebrachial nerve demonstrated a normal sensory action potential (SAP), consistent with the lesion being located proximally to the dorsal spinal root ganglion, thus suggestive of a spinal nerve root lesion. A subsequent MRI of the thoracic spine showed a para-median herniation of the T1-T2 intervertebral disc compressing the right T1 spinal nerve root.
The patient received no surgery, and follow-up examination 6 months later revealed near-complete recovery, with only mild paraesthesia in the T1 segment of his right arm and a subtle ptosis remaining.
Horner syndrome due to a herniated thoracic disc has only been reported 6 times in the English language literature, though never preceded by chiropractic manipulation.
One of the most frequent causes of Horner syndrome is carotid artery dissection, which may occur spontaneously or due to local trauma to the neck region. Chiropractic manipulation as an independent risk factor for neck artery dissection and a consequent stroke is a controversial topic, though multiple cases of Horner syndrome due to ICA dissections subsequent to chiropractic manipulation have been reported. In the patient described here, an ICA dissection was considered unlikely due to the concomitant prominent radiating medial brachialgia and was furthermore ruled out by a CT angiogram of the neck vessels.
This patient experienced the onset of a Horner syndrome and ipsilateral upper limb symptoms shortly after chiropractic treatment, suggesting the cervico-thoracic manipulation as the cause of or at least worsening factor in the T1-T2 disc herniation. Several cases of disc herniations following chiropractic treatment have been reported.
While the definite pathophysiologic mechanism to explain this patient’s Horner syndrome remains unclear, it seems, according to the authors of this case-report, evident that manipulations as a minimum altered the configuration of an already existing disc protrusion.
