Elle MacPherson's lies about her cancer treatment will harm others. People who reject evidence-based care have worse prognoses and die at much higher rates.
well-presented thank you. It is also perhaps worthy to the note the extreme amount of privilege involved here in taking all these alternatives - there are not cheap in addition to not being effective. That will potentially cause someone who has less means to feel shamed for being able to take care of themselves or a loved one well. Alternatively, they might be persuaded to use limited resources to add these "drugs"/supplements to the more proven treatment and thus losing money that would be better spent on healthy food and other means of support.
Absolutely! It’s why I noted most people were white affluent women - but it is a feature I’ll be discussing more in the future. The elitism masquerading as health - but is actually antithetical to real health!
i will be looking forward to the ongoing discussion.
I was curious as to if you had done much work with chronic pain. (apologizes if i have missed posting) I would think that group of individuals would be vulnerable to the topics you discuss. The desire/need for relief is just so great and so many of the traditional treatment don't provide much easy relieve it is easy to understand how people will grasp at anything. I have chronic pain and i know i have gotten caught up in the wellness/supplement stuff - more so in the past but i can still get caught so would welcome some discussion in that area
Thank you for speaking to a critically important issue: our society’s belief that being a celebrity somehow makes you knowledgeable about anything and everything. We believe what we wish to believe, but that doesn’t make it a fact. I’m tired of the endless anecdotal stories of people with cancer who did something wild (e.g., eating only green vegetables for months) and were miraculously cured. I’m grateful to my PCP who sticks to evidence-based science. The first thing he did when I became his patient was recommend I stop taking all my supplements (except Viactiv for osteopenia), pointing out that they aren’t regulated, there’s insufficient data to support taking them, and many can be hard on the GI system. I have a bundle of degrees, but none of them are in medicine or science, so I will humbly follow the advice of people who ARE experts in this area.
Thank you, you captured it perfectly. Since many individuals who undergo scientifically sound treatments also use “natural” or “alternative” remedies that are often presumed harmless, it would be helpful to address this by identifying which of these may actually be harmful.
Yes! That’s on the list for a follow up (plus some other tidbits on the appeal to nature) - I’m trying so hard to keep things detailed but not overwhelmingly long 😂
Dr Love I hope you have read the book Wellness? I thought of your blog A LOT because so much of this clever hilarious novel lampoons the wellness industry, the power of placebo, and the human need to find an orthodoxy to embrace in the face of the uncertainty of age and decay. You must read!
well-presented thank you. It is also perhaps worthy to the note the extreme amount of privilege involved here in taking all these alternatives - there are not cheap in addition to not being effective. That will potentially cause someone who has less means to feel shamed for being able to take care of themselves or a loved one well. Alternatively, they might be persuaded to use limited resources to add these "drugs"/supplements to the more proven treatment and thus losing money that would be better spent on healthy food and other means of support.
Absolutely! It’s why I noted most people were white affluent women - but it is a feature I’ll be discussing more in the future. The elitism masquerading as health - but is actually antithetical to real health!
i will be looking forward to the ongoing discussion.
I was curious as to if you had done much work with chronic pain. (apologizes if i have missed posting) I would think that group of individuals would be vulnerable to the topics you discuss. The desire/need for relief is just so great and so many of the traditional treatment don't provide much easy relieve it is easy to understand how people will grasp at anything. I have chronic pain and i know i have gotten caught up in the wellness/supplement stuff - more so in the past but i can still get caught so would welcome some discussion in that area
Thank you for speaking to a critically important issue: our society’s belief that being a celebrity somehow makes you knowledgeable about anything and everything. We believe what we wish to believe, but that doesn’t make it a fact. I’m tired of the endless anecdotal stories of people with cancer who did something wild (e.g., eating only green vegetables for months) and were miraculously cured. I’m grateful to my PCP who sticks to evidence-based science. The first thing he did when I became his patient was recommend I stop taking all my supplements (except Viactiv for osteopenia), pointing out that they aren’t regulated, there’s insufficient data to support taking them, and many can be hard on the GI system. I have a bundle of degrees, but none of them are in medicine or science, so I will humbly follow the advice of people who ARE experts in this area.
Thank you, you captured it perfectly. Since many individuals who undergo scientifically sound treatments also use “natural” or “alternative” remedies that are often presumed harmless, it would be helpful to address this by identifying which of these may actually be harmful.
Yes! That’s on the list for a follow up (plus some other tidbits on the appeal to nature) - I’m trying so hard to keep things detailed but not overwhelmingly long 😂
Excellent! Elle also seems to have no idea of the reason there needs to be a control.
Dr Love I hope you have read the book Wellness? I thought of your blog A LOT because so much of this clever hilarious novel lampoons the wellness industry, the power of placebo, and the human need to find an orthodoxy to embrace in the face of the uncertainty of age and decay. You must read!