The Flat Tire Diagnosis
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My dad sent this to me in an email. Our family has had a rough history with dealing with all the BS of our medical system (my mother has MS, and so we've seen plenty of junk medical science in our day). Of course this example is a little exaggerated, but honestly it isn't by much. Just wanted to start up a conversation about it.
The Flat Tire Diagnosis
Here is an excerpt of an article by Mike Adams, the Health Ranger
Editor of NaturalNews.com
Learn more: http://www.naturalnews.com/022359_junk_science_medical_research.html#ixzz1BPp0Ta79
Let me give you an example of how conventional medicine might report on certain car problems. Let's say you're driving down the interstate at 75 miles per hour and all of a sudden your car suffers a tire blowout. Certain symptoms start to appear:
Your car pulls to the right
There is a strange flapping sound coming from underneath the car
Your car suffers a reduction in fuel efficiency
Your ride suddenly becomes bumpier
Now, if this situation were examined by the same medical researchers looking at this correlation between osteoporosis and depression (instead of seeing that they are both symptoms of vitamin D3 deficiency), they would first have names for these symptoms:
Your car being pulled to the right would be called, "Right's Disease"
The strange sound coming from underneath your car would be called, "Flapping Disease"
The reduction in fuel efficiency would be called, "Hypofuelenemia"
The ride becoming bumpier would be called, "Comfort Deficiency Syndrome" or CDS
Now then, these medical researchers would document that Right's Disease is always present at the same time that you have Comfort Deficit Syndrome. Therefore, they would conclude that Right's Disease is CAUSED by Comfort Deficit Syndrome!
Instead, of fixing the flat tire, they would proceed to prescribe numerous fixes to treat all the various symptoms. Right's Disease, for example, might be "treated" with a giant piece of duct tape that pulls the steering wheel to the left.
Flapping Disease could be eliminated by using radiation therapy to destroy your ear drums (so you no longer hear the flapping noises). Once you are deaf and can no longer hear the flapping sound, you would be considered to be in "remission."
Hypofuelenemia could be "treated" by injecting high-grade fuel additive into your car to make up for the loss of fuel efficiency. (The high-grade fuel additive, of couse, would be manufactured by Big Pharma.)
Comfort Deficiency Syndrome could be treated with powerful narcotics that take your mind off the bumpy ride. (Never mind the fact that it would also make you a terrible driver. One-third of auto accidents today are already caused by people on medication...)
In all this, the true underlying cause of these problems -- the flat tire -- would be utterly ignored. Why fix the flat tire when they can make so much money managing the "symptoms" of those diseases over many years?
The Flat Tire Diagnosis
Here is an excerpt of an article by Mike Adams, the Health Ranger
Editor of NaturalNews.com
Learn more: http://www.naturalnews.com/022359_junk_science_medical_research.html#ixzz1BPp0Ta79
Let me give you an example of how conventional medicine might report on certain car problems. Let's say you're driving down the interstate at 75 miles per hour and all of a sudden your car suffers a tire blowout. Certain symptoms start to appear:
Your car pulls to the right
There is a strange flapping sound coming from underneath the car
Your car suffers a reduction in fuel efficiency
Your ride suddenly becomes bumpier
Now, if this situation were examined by the same medical researchers looking at this correlation between osteoporosis and depression (instead of seeing that they are both symptoms of vitamin D3 deficiency), they would first have names for these symptoms:
Your car being pulled to the right would be called, "Right's Disease"
The strange sound coming from underneath your car would be called, "Flapping Disease"
The reduction in fuel efficiency would be called, "Hypofuelenemia"
The ride becoming bumpier would be called, "Comfort Deficiency Syndrome" or CDS
Now then, these medical researchers would document that Right's Disease is always present at the same time that you have Comfort Deficit Syndrome. Therefore, they would conclude that Right's Disease is CAUSED by Comfort Deficit Syndrome!
Instead, of fixing the flat tire, they would proceed to prescribe numerous fixes to treat all the various symptoms. Right's Disease, for example, might be "treated" with a giant piece of duct tape that pulls the steering wheel to the left.
Flapping Disease could be eliminated by using radiation therapy to destroy your ear drums (so you no longer hear the flapping noises). Once you are deaf and can no longer hear the flapping sound, you would be considered to be in "remission."
Hypofuelenemia could be "treated" by injecting high-grade fuel additive into your car to make up for the loss of fuel efficiency. (The high-grade fuel additive, of couse, would be manufactured by Big Pharma.)
Comfort Deficiency Syndrome could be treated with powerful narcotics that take your mind off the bumpy ride. (Never mind the fact that it would also make you a terrible driver. One-third of auto accidents today are already caused by people on medication...)
In all this, the true underlying cause of these problems -- the flat tire -- would be utterly ignored. Why fix the flat tire when they can make so much money managing the "symptoms" of those diseases over many years?
Replies
but seriously, have you taken a look at that page where that article came from? They simply do not provide any scientific proof to what they say
wtf?
Also what xoliul said.
Yes, there are very serious problems with the health care system in the US, chief among them that it can (and does) completely bankrupt people and that drug companies wield so much power. However, there is no reason whatsoever to take medical advice or arguments from people who believe that things like homeopathy are any more effective than placebos, especially if those people are suggesting that a simple vitamin deficiency is the cause of any number of maladies that currently have no reliable, medically tested, peer reviewed, scientifically proven cures.
The bottom line is, coincidentally, the health care establishment's bottom line. If they can't make a profit on it, they won't use it. Real, proven, effective treatments are profitable because people know they work and will pay out the ass for them.
And, as usual, there's an Xkcd about this very thing:
My mother is a nurse, and I dated a girl who was a nurse (her mom, and sisters were both nurses too, and her brother-in-law a doctor), and have a friend who is a doctor... all of these people didn't go into medicine to "screw you over" and just treat symptoms.
They're good people who want to help others, and they go through SOOOO much shit that I find it hard they can even handle going into work anymore. But, because they genuinely care about others they do it.
So it sounds to me like you may just need some new doctors... go find a deaf one, they're the best (literaly, they're the best at diagnosing actual problems and curing patients because they know how to read body language and listen to people... they have to look at you while you talk to read lips).
goddammit
It's also become increasingly common (moreso in the states) for drugs to be advertised directly to people to deal with symptoms leading to alot of 'self diagnosis', as well as doctors over diagnosing patients with drugs they may not need.
Man, I never thought my A Level in Psychology would come in useful :v
Truth is, most diseases are lifestyle and nutrition based, but chances are if you try to tell your big fat patient with a plethora of diseases that they need to fix a plethora of things in their lives to be healthy, they'll say "moo" and go back to doing what they did before. So... stuff them with pills. It works (more or less), it's easier than getting through to people and it's lucrative as hell.
Also sorry to hear about your mother Makkon. I'd suggest getting treatment at a university hospital if possible, as in my experience the doctors there have to know a lot in order to teach and are generally quite competent.
Generally.
My father was diagnosed with 3 different things before they decided on MS. On top of it all they changed their minds and said no its not MS only to change their minda again a year later and tell him it was.. He was treated with the wrong meds for years and a lot of people made mistakes but I dont for one second thing that anyone did it on purpose.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16736333
Less rare, but still seemingly uncommon is treating gallstones with bile salts:
http://www.nejm.org/doi/pdf/10.1056/NEJM197508212930804
My wife's a microbiology researcher and has worked with people who had to cancel projects on drugs that worked because those drugs were not going to make the company enough money to be worthwhile.
Doctor's routinely prescribe drugs for "off label" uses-- this is not scientific or peer reviewed in any way.
Prozac doesn't actually work.
http://www.wired.com/medtech/drugs/magazine/17-09/ff_placebo_effect?currentPage=all
Even recent history is filled with doctors doing things that we know now to be complete quackery. A recent example is removing your lymphatic system when you have cancer. No science was ever done to show this treatment worked, the same way lobotomies never really worked, or hysterectomies. To think we have suddenly arrived in the first era without medical quackery is about as naive as you can get.
Here is the reason why quackery is going to remain a huge problem in medicine for the foreseeable future. Imagine your brother is shot, and you take him to the hospital and he dies. Did he get the best treatment possible, or was he going to survive until some hack started cutting him up? You will never know. This is why free markets don't work for medicine-- because you have no way of knowing the quality of the treatment you received.
Actually that's done because it's usually infiltrated by metastases. In breast cancer I know it is sometimes done with the axillary lymph nodes as a prophylactic measure because, well local edema is better than cancer if someone missed something on the biopsy examinations.
Similarly, I really wish I knew someone who was a good doctor. Not because health problems are kicking my ass right now, but give it time, I figure.
I'd probably be saving a lot of money if I knew both.
Ninjas: Good reads, I'll pass those on to my dad. Thanks!
But hey what can you do? Hope for the best really, it's all you've got.
think about the continuos repair of tha cables on the motorblock, that get loose because of the increase of vibration
and the tear down of the dampers
I'm pretty fortunate to be in the UK, our nhs kicks ass compared to everywhere else.
Also having relatives on the inside is good for translating doc-speak and advice as you know they really care.
I find its easier to get angry when its someone else thats clearly being messed about, someone you care about. But Anger doesn't help either side, or yourself, I know.
JL's right too, it totally sucks to work in the medical system, admin is still crap, outdated systems, people doing several roles at once. I'm amazed how some nurses make it through the day.
I hope things work out makkon, and for everyone else too. Health tops everything.