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I run a hospital lab, and I see requests for testing for all sorts of bizarre things, largely by naturopaths, deriving from the "philosophy" expressed here. We
by enziobodoni 12y ago
I run a hospital lab, and I see requests for testing for all sorts of bizarre things, largely by naturopaths, deriving from the "philosophy" expressed here. We refer to people who believe this stuff as being on the "Quest for Purity", a quixotic drive to remove all "toxins" from their bodies. Regardless of whether or not there are substantiated examples of low doses of chemicals causing effects, the worry about this problem being widespread is a very common delusion that consumes an enormous amount of attention and money, is preyed upon by charlatan doctors (or naturopaths, who call themselves doctors), and is incredibly confounding. The rub in these potential illnesses is that you can never actually remove any of these exposures completely, and thus you are required to continue to purchase diagnostics, cures, and consultations forever. If there is a true toxicobiologic effect in here, it will be essentially impossible to discern from the obvious and overriding psychiatric issues and financial conflicts at play.
- jpmattia 12y ago> and I see requests for testing for all sorts of bizarre things It would be interesting: Can you list a bunch?
- enziobodoni 12y agoMicronutrients, even in hair. Trace metals, especially after chelation therapy, when the results are definitely misleading. Labs that associate Candida with everything. "Stealth" virus testing. Quack Lyme disease serology labs that always give positive results. Anti-malignin antibodies. Multi variate index assays predicting irritable bowel disease. IgG food allergies. Outrageously large (>50-100 component) IgE allergy tests.
- jpmattia 12y agoA bit of a wild guess, but many of those look like self-diagnosing or "fringe" from folks dealing with autoimmunity issues. Is that right?
- enziobodoni 12y agoComes from all walks, but some from those folks. Mostly folks with real problems, like those in these threads, but who have unwittingly entered into a predatory industry that relies on providing overly specific data to people with nonspecific problems.
- jpmattia 12y agoI'm sorry to hear that it extends to many fields. > but who have unwittingly entered into a predatory industry How exactly is it predatory? Rheumatology, which rarely engages in "cures" and whose "treatments" are often an exchange of one set of problems for another (if at all), and yet never fails to collect on its patients, might well fall under that umbrella.
- claar 12y agoYep, this was pretty much my opinion. But then my wife got sick. Spent 5 years with myriads of specialists, who all did their testings, and threw their hands up in the air. So guess where we eventually land, when traditional medicine gets us no where? Within months of removing these effect-less "toxins" from her diet, I have a wife back. So believe what you want -- I'd do the same if it hadn't radically effected my own life.
- icebraining 12y agoI don't think you actually read enziobodoni's post. (S)he certainly didn't say there were no toxins or they were effect-less.
- mod 12y agoCan you back up your anecdote with more facts? What kind of sick was your wife? What was her recovery like? What were the toxins you removed?
- claar 12y agoSure, I could write a book. She presented with the most useless of symptoms: fatigue, caused by nearly every disease ever according to her specialists. She also had GI symptoms, but she's had those most of her life, though they got worse when the fatigue hit after child #4. GI specialist (and every other specialist) gave her a clean bill of health, not celiac disease or a known autoimmune disease, though she had a positive ANA. Years into this, she went gluten free. That helped a bit. Then she went dairy and egg free. She saw a nutritionalist, and took out several other foods. More improvement, but still so fatigued that 3+ days a week she was out of commission. She saw a naturopathic doctor who ran quantitative tests (stool and blood sample) and advised my wife to do what the tests indicated (food sensitivities and candida, another quack diagnosis according to traditional medicine). My wife continually got better over the next two months. Today, she's active in the family again with only the rare flare-up -- less than one day a week.
- mod 12y agoWhat were the toxins? I see gluten listed, and I know it's commonly believed by some to be a toxin (I don't hold an opinion fwiw), and otherwise it looks like diet changes. Glad to hear she's feeling better, though.
- canvia 12y agoAs a scientist, wouldn't you want to perform extensive formal experimentation before reaching your definitive conclusions? Your dismissive attitude on this topic seems a bit closed minded.
- enziobodoni 12y agoBelieving that everything yet undisproven is somehow valid or worth study does not indicate open-mindedness, necessarily. The question you ask also presupposes that there has been no formal experimentation on his sort of thing before, which is not true. We know much that supports the old saw that, "the dose makes the poison," gleaned from years and years of study of environmental toxicology. One of my favorite musicians, Tim Minchin, once said that if you open your mind too much, your brain will fall out.