Oh the Quackery!

Fake medical skeptics must realize that instructing someone from a position of scientific authority, claim to facts or likelihood, to not undertake a treatment or protocol, constitutes quackery as well.
Americans are successfully employing supplements to improve their well being, and as well are increasingly sharing this success with others. As this industry inflection point unfolds, it is such a joy to witness the trolls of pretend science scoffing angrily from their parents’ basements. A wage well earned.

In a November 2017 Business Insider article journalist Erin Brodwin tendered copious amounts of medical advice concerning the supplement industry, and in particular which supplements one should and should not be taking. For example, I should be taking zinc and magnesium she instructs, but not vitamins C, cobalamine (B12), NADH (B3) nor l-methylfolate (B9). She expertly opines that most all this constitutes “pills and powders which are ineffective and sometimes dangerous”, and follows this modus absens scientific claim with an even more amazing claim, that “[All/unnamed] Public health experts recommend that people stay away from supplements altogether.” Let’s be clear – this constitutes a medical treatment advisement to me based upon a psychic diagnosis on the part of a pretend medical professional appealing to unnamed scientific authority. No more, no less. I lost count of how many times Erin cited the size of the supplement industry ($37 billion) in the article – as if this revenue turnover, which would simply inflate four-fold in price if the pharmaceutical-regulatory industry gained control of it, immediately in and of itself served to condemn such well-being management activity. As it turned out, Erin Brodwin was not simply wrong – but the medical advice she offered up to me in this article, is the same as that which has served to impart significant harm to my life for decades. In this article she was acting in the role of a quack, plain and simple.

I contend that the majority of suffering experienced by especially our US population, stems from a lack of available health knowledge on the part of its average citizen. Shill agency or no, knowledge which is squelched in the media by such fake medical skeptics as Erin Brodwin. Millions suffer, she gets a pharma-guaranteed celebrity boost to her career. Fake medical skeptics must realize, that instructing someone from a self-claimed position of scientific authority, set of ‘facts’ or even probability, that a treatment is ineffective/harmful/quackery – constitutes the making of a medical recommendation as to diagnoses, cures and appropriate treatments. Instructing someone that, not administering a treatment or arguably beneficial approach, constitutes the right medical treatment for them – is pretending to be a medical professional and offering unskilled medical advice – even if offered to a group of individuals. One cannot simultaneously make an accusation of ‘ineffective and/or dangerous’ and then qualify the accusation with the de rigueur ‘there are only anecdotes of its effectiveness’ permissive apologetic. This is dishonesty in inference, and in itself constitutes the most harm-imparting form of quackery.

Information that constitutes medical advice [is] the provision of a professional’s [or poseur’s thereof] opinion about what action an individual should or should not take with regard to their health…

Dana C. McWay, Legal and Ethical Aspects of Health Information Management1

If I could sue the skeptic-quacks who instructed me through highly publicized media releases, purported to be ‘communicating the science’ of medicine, that the following list (see ‘The Quackery’ below) was quackery – I would sue them for millions for the harm they created in my life over decades of suffering – through wrong diagnosis and erroneous treatment. An example of just such a quack-study can be found in this May 2019 ‘publication’, in the Annals of Internal Medicine no less (was simply a press release in reality): Chen F, Du M, Blumberg JB, et al. Association Among Dietary Supplement Use, Nutrient Intake, and Mortality Among U.S. Adults: A Cohort Study. A study wherein a student at Tufts University advises an entire national population as to a medical/health protocol they should not undertake (modus absens). The study was based upon death statistics among large cohorts who recalled ever taking a vitamin pill in their life, and what food they ate over 6, two year intervals. Not to mention recalling how much copper and 30 other nutrients that food had in it. Of course those who are still living are going to recall that this longevity is because they ‘ate healthy’ – this is how self-deception works in humans, and this study sought to exploit that foible. In other words, its analysis bore the agency and student conflict-of-interest (seeking to impress potential future employers) which sought to exploit noise-infused cohort stat-hacking bullshit. No wonder the study and its data are all hidden behind a paywall. An extraordinary claim to an absence (a monumental task of inference), affecting hundreds of millions of people through a medical diagnosis and treatment recommendation – and they don’t want to show the data or study. Right. A notorious trick of those seeking legislative rule (and extractive earnings) over American lives and rights.

Those seeking to keep Americans chronically sick – knowing that nutrient is being diluted from our food more and more each decade,2 they insist that all nutrient must come from our food alone, and then are mystified as to why Americans compulsively consume more calories each decade as well.

The incumbent weight battle and health harm were all imparted to me through instruction as purported medical and science aficionados, that the below approaches were quackery. When indeed all the below protocols turned out to be highly beneficial; critical in the recovery and maintenance of my well being. Such pseudoscience gets very personal and as a result, I am not afraid to call people like Brodwin and Chen, Blumberg, et al. incompetent and malicious fakers.

It is one thing to cite that the claimed benefits of a treatment have not been study-confirmed by the FDA. It is another level of harm-imparting potential to then call that same thing ‘ineffective or dangerous’.

Never trust a person who does not understand the ethical difference – and certainly never get your science nor medical advice from them, no matter what letters they may flaunt after their name.

“Supplements are an ineffective and sometimes dangerous waste of money.”

The Most Injurious Statement a Quack Can Make

Such fakers should be held legally accountable for the medical misinformation they spread. Be careful medical skeptics – the world does not suffer a lack of your cudgeling voice as to what constitutes the entire set of falsehood. Claims to absence and falsity require a much higher rigor in inference than do claims to presence,3 yet ironically such claims are doled out like candy by celebrity-seeking medical skeptics and journalists. Those foisting final claims to conclusive confidence, regarding topics about which they in reality know very little. That emotionally impaired propensity, the ‘Bunk! – I am the smartest person in the room and cannot be fooled’4 bravado, adds no value whatsoever to society. Such emotional frailty inevitably serves to impart harm, an affliction upon us all derived from one’s lack of critical knowledge and circumspection. If that is what you are here to add into the fray, then your life is of a net negative value to mankind. Celebrity or no – Doctor or no. You might help one person, and then definitely harm 10,000 in the next breath. Such sad circumstance mandates a long look in the mirror on your part.

You harm people like me – persons who no longer accept your claim to personal representation of medicine, science, science communication nor skepticism. Americans are successfully employing supplements to improve their well being, and as well are increasingly sharing this success with their friends and families. As this industry inflection point unfolds, it is such a joy to witness the trolls of pretend science scoffing angrily from their parents’ basements. A wage well earned.

The Quackery

Now first please note, that I am not a medical professional. The protocols I undertook below, while beneficial for me, do not constitute recommendations nor non-recommendations by me as to diagnoses, cures, treatments or protocols for adoption on the part of any individual. It should also be noted that each of these successes were accompanied by many more protocols I personally tested, which either failed or did nothing for me.

That being said, the following protocol introductions changed my life substantially, in order of critical benefit – each of these were pooh-pooed by skeptic-quacks over the decades (and in particular the article and study cited above), those who caused me much injury by recommending specific not-protocols, which turned out to bear harm:

    l-Methylfolate (L-5-methyltetrahydrofolate)

Transitioning from the feeling like I was dying, weakness, sweating, light-headedness and anxiety – to feeling like it was a warm spring summer day and I was well again. I could run 3 miles on an 8 minute pace in my daily workouts, but could not even walk through the grocery store nor sit through an hour and a half professional conference lecture – without wondering whether I should have them call an ambulance. It ceased within 10 minutes of taking my first l-methylfolate and has never come back. My daily folic acid vitamin I took over the decades was completely useless this entire time.

    Methylcobalamine/Adenosylcobalamine

All the same maladies as cited under l-methylfolate above, as I take this in combination with that supplement. These and more ceased within 10 minutes of taking my first methylcobalamine and have never come back. Doctor confirmed that my red blood cell count, months after starting this, had risen barely back above the anemic level. I was in the bottom 3% of the range – but to me it felt invigorating and wonderful just getting to that point.

    EDTA and Doxycycline (Both are required)

As verified by catheterization by a top cardiologist (“Well TES, I have good news and I have bad news. The bad news is, you are going to die of cancer in your mid to late 90’s most likely…”). Two years of daily therapeutic dose in the morning completely eliminated arterial plaque from both my heart (head cardiologist of a major cardiac center confirmed) and (I conjecture) my brain fine capillaries and other plaque-vulnerable organs. Significant cardiovascular boost and significant boost in cognitive skills. Significant change in endurance and required breathing for heavy activity. I lost my feet and finger callouses, while my veins became supple like cooked spaghetti (according to my regular phlebotomist). The cardiologist suggested I stop, since the job was done. I did – but the benefits have sustained without diminishing, for well over 15 years now. In my 50’s, with training, I beat one third of my high school 5K cross country times. Cardiologist cited that I was a “1 in 10,000 exception in terms of plaque-clear cardiovascular system – and the reason I cite 10,000 is because that is the number of heart-caths I have conducted.”

    Digestive Enzyme Pancreatin/Ox Bile/Betaine HCL

Daily left lower quadrant pain (after all other possibilities were eliminated by doctor first) was eliminated via taking this with each meal and at bedtime. Helped clear up skin.

    Nicotinamide Adenine Dinucleotide (NADH/NAD+)

Significant boost in daily energy, mental clarity and feeling of well being. If one gets dizzy, then back off on the supplementation amount.

    Negative Ionic Fulvic Acid Suspension

Energy all day long, reduction in anxiety, reduction in autoimmune measures (thyroid peroxidase antibodies and thyroid supplement required). If I go without this for more than 48 hours, I can tell physically. The first ingestion of this afterwards is akin to drinking water after being very thirsty. Very refreshing and reinvigorating. Hair thickness boost.

    Quercetin and Bromelain

Significant reduction in face sores and rosacea. Reduction in the sick-bloated feeling after evening meal.

    Vitamin C in Larger Dose (Not ‘Mega-Dose’)

Significant reduction in time to get up off the floor. Significant improvement in flexibility. Significant reduction in joint pain. Lower rate of flu and cold styled illnesses per year. Dropped from sick once per year – to once every other or three years.

    Vitamin D3

Nominal boost in overall well being, skin and hair tone. Lower rate of depressive winter funk.

    Amla (Indian Gooseberry) Powder

Significant reduction in illness, sick feeling, brain fog and rosacea – along with an increase in well being, energy and fresher morning feeling (no bad taste in mouth). Much less joint pain in knees and ankles, and more flexible workouts.

    Eliminating Toxic Agriculture from My Diet

Significant quality of life improvements were achieved by my whole family, through the elimination of the following toxic foods from our diet:

     Soy (All types and forms)
     Soy-fed animal proteins

     GMO Corn

     Wheat/Barley/Rye/Oats/Bran

     Non-Grassfed Butter

     Dairy (All types and forms)

     Peanuts/Legumes/Peas/Lentils

     GMO Oils (Soybean, Canola, Cottonseed)

Night and day difference in overall well-being, lessened anxiety, irritable bowel syndrome, thick and slow sick/toxic feeling, autoimmune reactions – along with a significant reduction in facial redness/rosacea and increase in metal acuity/attention/alertness.

My doctor of course has helped me through one surgery and a broken ankle. I celebrate those successes. However, the endless profit-minded monitoring of my blood pressure, A1C and cholesterol – has served to dissuade the doctor’s work from my real medical needs. Decades of undiagnosed pernicious anemia. Decades of autoimmune maladies and years of painful IBS. These were the important things (which probably eventually cause out-of-range blood pressure, A1C and cholesterol in the first place).

The money-making measures were never out of line – and my doctor falsely regarded that because of this, I was therefore fine. This, to my harm and suffering. I no longer want my blood pressure, A1C and cholesterol checked by my doctor. Neither do I bathe myself in ice-water when I get a nominal 101 degree fever. Instead I look for the cause. Otherwise, to focus on only the symptom …is well, quackery.

An ethical skeptic eschews such fake knowledge which stands in substitution of the critical knowledge, path or need.

The Ethical Skeptic, “Oh the Quackery!”; The Ethical Skeptic, WordPress, 25 Jan 2020; Web, https://theethicalskeptic.com/?p=44156

An Official ‘Thank You’ to Science Based Medicine

Rookem’s Razor:  All things being equal the most expensive explanation tends to be the correct one. Chronic and severe pain is a no bullshit tolerance factor, it serves to make one a skeptic, very fast.
WARNING: The following testimonial constitutes an ‘anecdote’ and cites a resolution based upon actual patient input to doctors. When you have gotten up off the floor after fainting from the horrific pseudoscience of it all, simply click your heels three times and repeat over and over “The plural of anecdote is not data” and it will be all better.

I wasted three years of suffering and then $16,300 pursuing the approach Science Based Medicine might prefer for a malady which my Integrative Medicine Practitioner resolved in one appointment, $200 and by means of a supplement. Which now is quackery indeed? I am now in doubt. Patient success experience or revenue goal oriented scripted shotgun testing? Well let’s hold on that conclusion. This was not the last time unfortunately I was to have been harmed by bad medical advice coming from a Science Based Medicine representative ‘skeptic’.

One thing that I do know is that, were I to practice the Big Healthcare method on the left (chart at bottom) in my labs, I would be committing lab fraud in order to bilk my clients out of artificially prolonged revenue through fake science (see The Lyin’tific Method). In Science Based Medicine however, fraud only applies to outsiders, and is misdefined as anything that does not revenue-serve their cronies, any competing business or anything else they decide that they do not like.

Rest assured, Science Based Medicine is not promoting their view of medical care as a smart option for your consideration. Their heading is one of supporting the elimination of your choices and control over your own health, independent of the secure profit pathways for big pharma, big healthcare and their oligarchy cronies extracting from both.

The empirical results are proving to be abysmal, both in terms of the cost of healthcare and the overall health and well being of Americans.

This enormous harm and suffering caused by fake skeptics is just one key reason why skeptics are losing the battle for the American mind.

The Odyssey

rookems razorIt is a scam, and a crime of fraud, that I could not have been instructed about this supplement two decades ago. Why? Because hinting that a supplement might help my flank pain might ‘constitute claims of cures or treatments.’ This is how a mafia works. As a result of our sounds-good-on-paper ‘science’ millions of Americans suffer needlessly, and moreover are being held hostage and bilked out of tax and critical household budget dollars to the tune of $23,000 a year and dramatically upwards, to fund a scam in socialist medicine. Let’s examine how this fraud, activist-supported by Social Skepticism, works.

Yes, indeed I wanted to send out a heartfelt ‘thank you’ to the Science Based Medicine crowd today.  Before I do that however, let me relate the Odyssey the science gods tasked me with in my search to resolve increasingly severe lower left quadrant pain. You see over the last two years I have been experiencing recurrent lower left quadrant pain, commensurate with a whole host of other partially debilitating symptoms; none the least of which included facial sores, dizziness, ear ringing, anxiety, hair color dimming, weakness in my workouts, cold sweats, mental fog. I speak often as part of my living in support of my businesses and those subjects inside which I carry a passion. Anything which negatively affects my pneumogastric nerve and central nervous system is an unwelcome life contributor. Of course this greatly distressed me so I went, in 2013, to my General Practitioner with my complaint. He immediately scheduled me for a battery of expensive tests, starting with a colonoscopy which cost my medical plan $6,500, and then proceeded to progressively more and more likely candidates of diagnosis. You will find in social skepticism that the precautionary principle, only applies to the opportunity to make medical profits – aside from that it is always pseudoscience. We followed the Big Healthcare, Big Pharma, Big Skepticism script, much of which agrees with the SBM doctrine. You are stupid, integrative medical professionals are evil, doctors have your best interests as first priority (note: ‘best interests’ correlate to profits with an Pearson r = .99).1

Well sadly, 26 weeks and more later, we found nothing, and nothing worked. Quietly I was told by my Gastroenterologist, “I used to get 3 patients a week with unresolved flank pain back years ago. Now I get 8 patients or more per day. It is my number one patient challenge.” This is called Intelligence, inside The Real Scientific Method – but it is the kind of thing which fake skeptics dismiss with a wave of the ‘it’s nothing but a change in awareness’ hand. And they repeatedly enforce this claim upon science, media and public before any evidence has arrived for the most part – see The Art of the Professional Lie: Einfach Mechanism. Fake skeptics know well that an idea is hard to unseat once it has been uttered as truth, by Lindy Effect alone. You win, absent of much data or study at all. Just scream the conclusion as early as is possible, or after you see any hint of inductive support for your a priori notion. Never mind that everyone else in the world can spot your bias and predict exactly what your conclusion will be, never mind your eroding credibility, just do it. This is just one of the ways in which these fakers outsmart themselves, unjustifiably influence society and cause us all harm and suffering.

‘The plural of anecdote is not data.’

Take it from a successful intelligence professional and research lab head, never trust a person who utters this phrase. They have never accomplished even the first step of real science. They are a diagnostician at best.

At the conclusion of 30 weeks of expensive investigation I was told that I “must have Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS).” This is the pandemic set of symptoms from which an alarmingly increasing number of people suffer; one in which we have no idea what even causes it. Some pretty smart citizens have some well backed ideas, but of course they are slapped down as evil by SBM ‘skeptics’. I am told that the common occurrence of my pain simply stems from ‘an increase in awareness’ as well, for we have to remember that when Science Based Medicine puts out a claim, it does not have to be justified – simply promulgated to the masses unquestioned (see Appeal to Skepticism Fallacy). Now, forget the 54 million suffering people; …fuck them, our science super hero skeptic skills are needed for another much more pressing issue, Homeopathy Awareness! …ehh, that and some bigfoot scrutiny every now and again. Issues of focus that hallmark an ethical and humanity serving life.2 3

…please hold on a moment while I contain my laughing.

I had run into this ilk of malicious and oppressive incompetence before with the stupid idiot at Science Based Medicine who assured me that he represented science, and that folic acid and methylfolate were the same thing, and finally that I was an idiot for thinking any different. This professional medical advice (quackery) served to harm me greatly – as it turned out that I was suffering from decades of macrocytic anemia from having taken folic acid, instead of folate. Fortunately, another thing which was corrected by patients working with patients – and not by appeal to authority as science based medicine.

Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS) of course is the diagnosis of last resort after all the money avenues have been exhausted. Now I must learn to live with my IBS, because there is no cure. There is obviously ONE contributing element since the skyrocketing started as a discrete event shortly after 1994 – but I can assure you there is no one cure.  Or, it could simply be the ‘luck of the draw’ genetically. You won the lottery again – funny how that keeps happening with medical stuff and never seems to happen at the MiniMart Lotto counter. Nothing in the environment causes it, certainly not glyphosate, and sadly nothing you can do about curing it. Your pain, slight fever, dizziness, and mental fog are all from panic attacks! Yes that is it, our go-to conclusive pseudo-hypothesis is one which cannot be tested for falsification! Such brilliance! Plenty of inductive study to confirm it. Proliferating as so many psychology studies do – standing as imperative proof that you are just weird – we are done! Yay for Science!

I was told to start to meditate and maintain an ‘awareness’ of your ‘triggers’ and ‘stress related episodes’ – as a good portion of this is psychological. Really your fault anyway, for worrying too much. But I do have an expensive set of prescriptions which can alleviate symptoms in the mean time. A funny thought drifted through my head, I had heard this line before – dermatologists attempting to treat my rosacea with $400 a month topical creams, each one of which never seemed to work; and upon being unsuccessful, fell back on this same failed message:

‘Triggers’, the watchword of the lazy and incompetent
‘Stress’, the ad hoc fallacy theory of the century
‘Awareness’, the buzzword of the incompetent and malicious.

Yes, I had heard this line of ‘go away, it’s all your fault’ sales bullshit before. 2018 note.4

Cut down on sugar, coffee, fast food and soft drinks, and exercise more. Yep, heard that too. Oh? You run 4 miles a day now and don’t do any of these things?  Well, meditate more and take these two new prescriptions.  An antispasmodic for your pain, and a relaxer to stop your ‘panic attacks’ and over-worrying. These two are a mere $92 a month more on top of your other medical costs.  A drop in the bucket really.

I Had the Ruby Slippers All Along – Finally Success!

This year, when my IBS started flaring up again, I went to my Integrative Medicine Practitioner this time. She said: “This sounds an awful lot like stomach HCL insufficiency and dysbiosis. I get a lot of this lately, let me tell you. In addition, you had h. pylori after one of your Far East projects, and it can wreak havoc in your stomach’s acid production. Your digestive system is possibly not putting out enough hydrochloric acid and enzyme base. As a result your undigested food is putrefying5 in your small intestine and causing a whole host of dysbiosis symptoms, (my spell checker does not even recognize the words ‘dysbiosis’ or ‘SIBO’ despite its presence as a pandemic in the US population – see chart below) auto-immune, food-sensitivity reactions and pain from that point on in your gastrointestinal tract. Let’s try this first and see how it works: Get an HCL/Betaine/Enzyme supplement and make sure you take 1000 – 2000 mg with each meal.”

Well, they say that science is probative based upon incremental risk. My integrative medical practitioner had made an incremental conjecture of risk – and I was about to test it.  And chronic pain is a NO BULLSHIT tolerance factor – it makes you a skeptic fast. She had put her conjecture on the line of risk. As a skeptic, I at least admired that.

Oh my GAWD, my Holistic/Integrative Practitioner recommended a supplement! Oh the quackery!! Let the FDA Letters fly! People are dying! Big Pharma Skeptics rescue us! Let’s take just a second to examine what is going on regarding this grand odyssey of which I only suffered in microcosm. Unresolved flank pain (IBS) is skyrocketing right now in the United States. Any self respecting skeptic should be highly energized to look into such a stark signal. In contrast, aside from accidental overdoses, extreme body builders and reckless weight loss practices, no one is getting hurt by supplements.

The reality is we needed real skeptics back in 1991-1994 when our food base was planned to be changed dramatically based upon paltry science – unfortunately all we got was this cadre of goofball science pretenders who betrayed our consumer health base. They were all caught up in Bigfoot, UFO’s and the Loch Ness Monster back then too. Unfortunately they missed this important issue demanding skepticism, in the mean time. That is why I am speaking up.

When Social Skepticism ignores skyrocketing public health and human rights concerns such as SIBO, and the proliferating list of auto-immune generated maladies stemming from our food, in favor of chasing supplements on behalf of Big Pharma regulation – this activity is not simply pseudo-science or social epistemology, it is called more specifically a legal term: malice and oppression.

Wow, after three full years of misery and health degradation, problem solved. All symptoms are abated and even my hair color is growing robust again.  But I am so much more educated you know?  And I have Science Based Medicine to thank for that education. I made a decision in accordance with their philosophy which obtained for me a $16,300 education (that because of skyrocketing MooP/deductible costs, on top of the $23,000 we all pay each year already for the health scam). This misadventure alone tallied to 1/5th of the cost of my graduate degree! So I had to learn something, right?! Otherwise I would have never experienced the educational menagerie of things you can do, when you have lots of tools, billable pathways and rote formulas at hand, but don’t have a clue what you are doing.

2019 Update:  My healthy family plan medical cost per month is now $2,767. If I held a regular job, like I did in 1998 – I would be losing my home right now from the disease of being healthy and working in America.

This is criminal. Science Based Medicine this reality of citizen suffering is in part, YOUR fault – because healthcare plans have to pay for your promoted ‘science based’ practices and the large scale fraud/exploitation of hard working families you defend.

Were I to practice the method on the left of the 2013 to 2014 comparative chart (above right) in my labs, I would be committing lab fraud in order to bilk my clients out of artificially prolonged revenue through fake science. Yes, I own and have owned several science research and application development labs through the years.  In those operations, I could never ethically perform the list on the left under REAL science.

Oh, and one small note:  If you have an entry in your records, even one instance that you were referred to one of the specialists on the left in the chart above, and you DID NOT follow the doc’s referral, then you will be declined for health insurance coverage regarding that issue when you apply later in life – say 20 years later – even if you are fine now.  I know this from experience having managed several company health insurance plans for my employees.  The Health and Pharma industry just cannot seem to get your history of records readily available to the doctors for your health needs, like my doctor could not look up the fact that I had h. pylori in my history, that might have saved me lots of money in this case.  But the industry can sure make a DETAILED history of your health decisions readily available for the insurance companies – off of which to identify a non-compliant action on your part, in order to extort money from you.

Such is the generous, self promoting gift of Science Based Medicine. One that keeps on giving in terms of destroying households financially, and in terms of personal health. An elegant accomplishment, harming citizens in two ways at once. Fighting for the rights of oligopolies and cartels everywhere. Well done. So sciencey.

epoché vanguards gnosis

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How to MLA cite this blog post =>

The Ethical Skeptic, “An Official ‘Thank You’ to Science Based Medicine” The Ethical Skeptic, WordPress, 9 Nov 2014; Web, https://wp.me/p17q0e-3gy