Lyme disease exists, of course; it is a bacterial infection attained via the bite of a tick. By contrastchronic lyme disease is pure fantasy. It is often used to explain persistent pain, fatigue, and neurocognitive symptoms in patients without any evidence of previous acute lyme disease.

Once this diagnosis is given, prolonged treatment with multiple antimicrobial agents as well as a multitude of SCAMs are advocated.The range includes intravenous infusions of hydrogen peroxide, electromagnetic frequency treatments, garlic supplements, even stem cell transplants.

Unsurprisingly, none of them has been shown to work for chronic lyme disease.

Electromagnetic hypersensitivity 

Electromagnetic hypersensitivity (EHS) is a condition where individuals report symptoms attributed to exposure to electromagnetic fields. It is not a recognized medical diagnosis.

Symptoms of EHS include headache, fatigue, stress, sleep disturbances, skin prickling, burning sensations and rashes, pain, psychological distress and many other health problems. The true case seems psychosomatic and unrelated to electromagnetic fields.

Practitioners nevertheless recommend all sorts of SCAMs including chelation, detox, diets, tocopherols , carotenoids, vitamin C, curcumin, resveratrol, flavonoids, sauna, blue light therapy none of which have been shown to be effective.

Homosexuality

Yes, it’s true: some SCAM practitioners offer treatments for homosexuality which must mean that they consider it to be a disease.

As reported in a previous blog post, the German ‘Association of Catholic Doctors’, Bund Katholischer Ärzte, claims that homeopathic remedies can cure homosexuality. On theirwebsite, they advise that ‘…the working group HOMEOPATHY of the Association notes homeopathic therapy options for homosexual tendencies…repertories contain special rubrics pointing to characteristic signs of homosexual behaviour, including sexual peculiarities such as anal intercourse.

Say no more!

6 Responses to The fake diagnoses of so-called alternative medicine – PART 2

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  DavidB onSaturday 20 April 2024 at 11:25

  This has reminded me of the 1970s/1980s case of Shiela Rossall, former singer with the group New Pickettywitch. She supposedly had “Total Allergy Syndrome” and was sometimes featured in the press as “the girl who’s allergic to the 20th Century”. But apparently she didn’t have antibodies for things she was supposedly ‘allergic’ to. It seems that the unfortunate lady died in 2006 aged 57. It seems impossible to find that any definite conclusion was reached about what medical condition she might have had.

  As for SCAM approaches to altering the direction of the sex drive, US writer and polemicist Wayne Besen has pointed out that the setting in which such attempts are framed depends on economics. Comfortably-off people buy “therapy” from persons with varying degrees – or none – of medical qualification, while the poor opt for the religious route, which Besen calles “Pray the gay away”. It is impossible to find any credible evidence that any person anywhere at any time has ever experienced a change in the direction of the sex drive by any kind of intervention, whether ‘clinical’ or ‘spiritual’.

  Reply
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  JimR onSunday 21 April 2024 at 09:10

  If there’s SCAM for sexual orientation, then there must be SCAM for religious orientation. Wonder if it removes the orientation or causes conversion to another.

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  • 

    Richard Rasker onSunday 21 April 2024 at 10:55

    @JimR
    Please note that sexual orientation is almost certainly innate, whereas a religious orientation is always acquired through indoctrination. Which I think is rather an important difference in almost every respect.

    Reply
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  Aviv onMonday 03 February 2025 at 13:27

  Can you please give your opinion on this paper and their claims regarding EHS?
  https://www.mdpi.com/1422-0067/22/14/7321

  Reply
  • 

    Edzard onMonday 03 February 2025 at 15:50

    sorry, this is a bit outside my area of expertise; it would require more time than I presently can spare.

    Reply
  • 

    Pete Attkins onTuesday 04 February 2025 at 08:01

    You selected Belpomme D, 2021. I had a quick look through the results of this PubMed seach

    (Electrohypersensitivity[Title]) AND (Belpomme D[Author])

    which has papers with the following publication years:
    2023
    2022
    2021 — your link
    2020
    2018
    2016
    2015

    They strongly remind me of the idiom “won’t take no for an answer”, and a little ofspecial pleading; bearing in mind the 2004 and 2006 considerations by the World Health Organization documented here:
    https://iris.who.int/bitstream/handle/10665/43435/9241594128_eng.pdf

    There are phrases within the papers that suggest deployment ofpseudoscience and its methods. An example from the paper to which you linked:

    Moreover, there is no proof that EHS symptoms or EHS itself are caused by psychosomatic or nocebo effects. This international consensus report pleads for the acknowledgement of EHS as a distinct neuropathological disorder and for its inclusion in the WHO International Classification of Diseases.

    Good grief!
    https://rationalwiki.org/wiki/Burden_of_proof#Shifting_the_burden

    See also
    https://rationalwiki.org/wiki/Electromagnetic_hypersensitivity

    Reply

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