One Flu Into the Cuckoo’s Nest
“I don’t seem able to get it straight in my mind….” ― Ken Kesey, One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest Influenza is going gangbusters at the moment. I like going to Google Flu trends as well as the CDC flu site to see what flu is doing. Using Google searches as a surrogate for infections is an interesting technique that public health...
The DC as PCP? The battle continues
Chiropractors are trying to rebrand themselves as primary care physicians, a topic both Harriet Hall and I have addressed (here and here) on SBM. Toward this end, they are seeking the expansion of their scope of practice, via the magic of legislative alchemy, to include the prescription and administration of drugs. Not drugs that any self-respecting M.D. would use, but drugs nonetheless. That...
Pandemrix and Narcolepsy
Pandemrix has been implicated in inducing narcolepsy in a small number of patients in Scandinavian countries. The mechanism by which this could occur very well may have been found.
dōTERRA: Multilevel Marketing of Essential Oils
A stay-at-home mom recently e-mailed me. She is a former CAM user who once treated her infant’s colic with homeopathy but has since seen the light and is now thinking skeptically. She asked that I look into the dōTERRA company, seller of essential oils: concentrated extracts distilled from plants, containing the “essence” or distinctive odor of the plant. She said: …moms, well...
Support Cancer Research and Own a Piece of the SkepDoc’s Handiwork
I donated a knit afghan to the auction by Skeptics for the Protection of Cancer Patients. I made it myself. Proceeds go to cancer research in the name of Stanislaw Burzynski as a birthday present to publicize his many misdeeds against cancer patients. It’s warm and cuddly. Please consider bidding to reward my MANY hours of work and support cancer research. You...
The antivaccine movement and “autism biomed” versus “outgrowing” autism
A commonly misunderstood aspect of autism and autism spectrum disorders (particularly by antivaccinationists and believers in the quackery known as “autism biomed”) is that autism is not a condition of developmental stasis. It is a condition of developmental delay. Autistic children can and do exhibit improvement in their symptoms simply through growth and development. However, parents who subject their children to “autism...
Houstoncancerquack.com Campaign Aims to Shame Burzynski While Raising Money for Legitimate Cancer Research
David Gorski already mentioned this on Monday, but Burzynski’s birthday is rapidly approaching (January 23rd) and I want to encourage our readers to donate to the Burzynski birthday campaign. Burzynski’s misdeeds are highlighted by the stories on the website The OTHER Burzynski Patient Group If you haven’t already visited that site and read some of the stories, please do. 26 patient...
Systematic Review claims acupuncture as effective as antidepressants: Part 1: Checking the past literature
A recent systematic review in PLOS One raised the question whether acupuncture and other alternative therapies are as effective as antidepressants and psychotherapy for depression. The authors concluded differences were not seen with psychotherapy compared to antidepressants, alternative therapies [and notably acupuncture] or active intervention controls or put it differently, antidepressants alone and psychotherapy alone are not significantly different from alternative therapies...
Naturopaths push for licensing in Massachusetts (again)
I have some good news and some bad news about a Massachusetts naturopathy practitioner licensing bill. First the bad news: the bill passed both the Massachusetts House and Senate in December of last year. Now, I am certainly no expert in the arcane workings of the Massachusetts legislature, but after doing a bit of research I’ve come to wonder if the way the...
The Placebo Narrative
Science journalist Sharon Begley wrote a recent piece in The Saturday Evening Post about Placebo Power. The piece, while generally better than the typical popular writing on placebos, still falls into the standard placebo narrative that is ubiquitous in the mainstream media. The article is virtually identical to a dozen other articles I have read on placebo effects in the popular press,...
Don’t Blame the Patient