I don't think doctors should have to write referrals to acupuncture, because some stuff just doesn't count as health care. It's like having to have a doctor write a prescription for taking a warm bath with smelly stuff in it. Probably no effect beyond placebo, but it's unlikely to actually harm anyone either.

The struggles of a mom struggling with a child with cancer and the silly practices of woo woos.

Not vaxing your kids can cause outbreaks of disease. Guy hated for saying the obvious.

I learn that if only we ate organic and ran 500 miles a day, we'd all be healthy and wouldn't need that pesky 'health care' Wow! I bet we never thought of that before! Hold the phones, smart folk! Don't spend years and years thinking about class, social structure, and even...ACTUAL BIOLOGY?! Heh, the germ theory of disease, the fact that cancer is a multifaceted illness that can't always be warded off by eating organic tomatoes, and the simple fact that shit happens and you might want to use medical science to take care of that fucking sucking chest wound you have there doesn't matter. Man, folks who don't know shit are the experts of our time.

I didn't see any of the ads due to ad block, but good on Isis. These ads reinforce the idea that science is for lonely dudes in the basement who can't get a woman except for extreme economic inequality.

Some other guy says it really doesn't matter.

Thanks to the net, I learned that homebirth will be BANNED!!!!!1111 because Australia doesn't want to spend money on homebirthing. I'm not saying that Australia shouldn't spend money on homebirthing, but that's different from banning it. Saying it will become too expensive to become a midwife would be more accurate and would annoy me less. If they made it so that only people with 20 years of experience could be counselors, that would be a big problem for many people, but going THEY ARE BANNING THERAPY!!!111! is inaccurate and obscures issues.

Actually in the US, counselors carry insurance. Also some discussion on the issue in the comments.

A bunch of important stuff is apparently happening, but since I spend all my time being a nerd, I have no idea what is going on.

But I do understand that I like the book Health Food Junkies. My favorite bits are the parts where he breaks through his woo googles and starts looking at evidence. He realizes that if people's colons were REALLY caked with goo, that would show up on colonoscopies, and that if a treatment only works for three percent of people, but you get a thousands of people to try it, you'll end up with many testimonials, even though the treatment might not be very effective. He also describes his wacky diet days ruining dinner parties with his obsession with avocados, etc, and stories of people who have gone overboard on their quest for a healthy diet.

Due to loophole that allows homeopathic remedies to slip into the marketplace with no oversight, dangerous remedy Zicam causes people to lose their sense of smell. People complain about big pharma, but what about big alta? They've made billions on a nonworking, dangerous remedy.

Muslim woman: let us speak out!


I have no idea why there is so much safe space wank at Pandagon. Personally, I avoid using 'lame'. I use 'so not rad' instead.

The Prime Minister of Italy apparently has hot European women lounging around his villa.

Also, there will be massive wank in this thread. Pleasureseeker, I'm totally disappointed in you. Even if you take vitamins and herbs, you can still be a carrier of the flu virus. The problem nowadays is that people don't know what is a reliable source of knowledge. Internet forwards, people who have gotten famous by having nice boobs, and livejournal posts are almost always not as valuable as knowledge gained by years of study and practice.

I understand the temptation. I certainly wish that one could become a competent therapist by reading manga and stupidfree, but life is harsh.

I found this comment interesting. I do agree that people do overextend the idea of 'alternative medicine'. I'm all for eating healthy and getting some sunshine eventually, but my biggest pet peeve is the idea that doctors are out to kill you. I think sure, there are terrible doctors out there, but can't people just be bad at their jobs without all doctors trying to kill you? I mean, some post office workers are terrible, but I don't posit they go to the postal academy of death where their only goal is to misdirect my mail by not understanding online postage.

Not to mention, alternative healers annoy me on a very basic level. Why would you pay to get the same sort of dubious medical 'advice' that you can get from your mom? I'm confused that years of medical school can be replaced by the internet, but some guy who took an hour course in 'Make money by peddling woo' can't be replaced by the net? Wut?

I blinded you using science! I think my favorite exchange here is the bit where the lady totally denies that any woman can have really really bad periods. I guess there must be a natural herb for all that self righteousness?

Is acupuncture like noodles? Whether acupuncture works is in some doubt and the truth is that we need to make allopathic medicine more accessible in my opinion. I don't want us to get frozen out of new effective treatments, frozen out of doing research, frozen out of knowing whether you have indigestion or uterine cancer... We need to be on the front lines of science influencing it for the good, not sitting back trying to make needle sticks work for non self limiting illnesses.

Yay for allopathic medicine. Thanks to it we get face transplants. It took millions of hours of hard work and dedication to get anti rejection drugs and gain surgical skills to create this medical marvel.

I like how when it's not real women being messed around with, yay porners are like wtf to 12 year olds seeing the pornz.

Baby quite ill with measles. Really folks, vaccine your children. This guy's baby was too young to be vaccinated.

Guerella Medicine talks about the heartrending pain of those who can't afford a child or an abortion.

I would be careful about that herbal stuff. Pennyroyal, for example, despite being herbal, can be quite dangerous. Blue cohosh isn't exactly super fun either.

Also, bitch phd says something stupid.

Anti Vax based on faked science. Could we please stop spreading disease now?

Not to mention, crazy mess also based on money, causes guilt to parents.

Deep thoughts on obesity.

The American Cargo Cult, found in Making Light.

My favorite is this one:

Your opinion matters as much as anyone else's

When a person has studied a topic, he has no more real knowledge than you do, just a hidden agenda.

That reminds me of the widespread belief that doctors are part of a widespread conspriacy to kill us all, because they get money from evil companies. The sad bit is that people don't understand that vitamin supplements, people who give out 'herbal' treatments, and general hucksters aren't doing this for free. They get book sales, publicity, and cash payments, you know.

Also, organic peanut butter is also made in factories. You know that,right?

Anti vax stupid. Whooping cough! yummy!

t Amanda is against anti-vax crazies, and on this I agree with her.

This is why I hate stupid hippies. This lady is all torn up and blames herself for her child's autism because of a bunch of idiots. I'm still holding her responsible for murdering her child, but really, I wish people would stop believing false things and making the parents of disabled children feel bad because they haven't read anything heavier than The Secret for...well..OK, they watched the DVD because they couldn't read well enough.

I am unusually mean lately. Maybe I am too tired to control myself as well as I usually do. [the sad part is that I'm a dick. Female dicks should be more accepted in this society] Lulz, indigo children. The Forer effect is why they think this.

Robert Jordan died. I read up to #7 in the wheel of time..

Must..post...links to books I liked as a kid..