I am all for parents questioning and learning about the medical treatments/recommendations for their children,
I'm all for the learning about the treatments available to a child, but I somewhat balk at the "questioning" aspect. Asking questions is certainly fine, but when many people "question" treatments, what they really do is reject a medical opinion that they don't like. A large part of the problem is that we don't educate people about how to critically consider the information they need to make a health care decision, so there is a tendency to simply disbelieve a doctor and look for an "alternative" treatment scheme. This is the environment that allows fake medicine to flourish.
So, yes, if you are capable of critical thought, you should ask questions of your doctors, but you need to trust their answers and their judgement. We need to equip everyone with the tools to be able to ask questions and actually consider information instead of just looking for a contrary answer. Only then can we really defeat fake medicine. Public health education reform needs to happen.
Option 2 is, as Rym suggested, a good Buzz Aldrining.
I think questioning medical treatment is A.O.K., particularly when you have several doctors giving disparate advice or you are leery of the claims any given doctor makes. Second diagnoses and real research (not just Internet searches of non-peer reviewed material) into major medical questions However, questioning validity should end when valid data is presented.
I'm all for the learning about the treatments available to a child, but I somewhat balk at the "questioning" aspect. Asking questions is certainly fine, but when many people "question" treatments, what they really do is reject a medical opinion that they don't like.
Well, questioning is fine. The thing with asking a question, is that you also have to listen to the answer.
I'm all for the learning about the treatments available to a child, but I somewhat balk at the "questioning" aspect. Asking questions is certainly fine, but when many people "question" treatments, what they really do is reject a medical opinion that they don't like.
Well, questioning is fine. The thing with asking a question, is that you also have to listen to the answer.
I never knew this but apparently Bill Maher is a big health care quack that recently on a show stated that there has been no progress in the fight against cancer.
I used to like this guy...
Apparently hes been this quacky for a while. Here's one where he implies that increased Autism rates are due to poor physical health and a lack of preventative treatment.
It's people like Bill that confuse the public into believing "alternative" medicine is the way to go. Hes a gateway drug. Reasonable on enough topics to give himself creditability, but wacky enough on others to be dangerous. He's someone that could get an otherwise reasonable, but non critical thinking, person believing alternative BS. I consider people like him much more dangerous then the far gone quacks that tell you that a spinal adjustment will fix your spirit energy and cure you of aids. Those guys are preaching to a crowd that's already off the deep end. People like Bill are the ones that can get otherwise normal people going down a very dangerous path.
It's people like Bill that confuse the public into believing "alternative" medicine is the way to go. Hes a gateway drug. Reasonable on enough topics to give himself creditability, but wacky enough on others to be dangerous. He's someone that could get an otherwise reasonable, but non critical thinking, person believing alternative BS. I consider people like him much more dangerous then the far gone quacks that tell you that a spinal adjustment will fix your spirit energy and cure you of aids. Those guys are preaching to a crowd that's already off the deep end. People like Bill are the ones that can get otherwise normal people going down a very dangerous path.
I've seen this first hand with my grandparents and other relatives. It's very dangerous when they are in a position of dealing with people on a daily basis. An example of this is the hair salon my grandmother goes to gave her some tips. She ended up getting convinced to put food products onto my grandpa's head for psoriasis treatment. Rather harmless because he still took the medicine that the doctor gave him but she is convinced that the homeopathic treatment worked.
My mother believes in homeopathy because of how much she saw my aunt suffer through chemotherapy, I don't really know what to do about it if she actually does get sick. I'm not too worried because I know everyone in my family besides me would also be reasonable and tell her so, but it's still troubling.
OK, but is tea tree oil quackery? How about other "natural remedies" I am not talking about them curring cancer or anything serious. But what about herbs and such that native people have used for such ailments as fungus infections or against head lice or bacteria/virus infections and the like?
OK, but is tea tree oil quackery? How about other "natural remedies" I am not talking about them curring cancer or anything serious. But what about herbs and such that native people have used for such ailments as fungus infections or against head lice or bacteria/virus infections and the like?
The overwhelming majority of them are bogus. Even when they are not bogus, they are still usually a bad idea and you should get real medicine instead.
For example, certain mold does contain penicillin that can help with a bacterial infection. If you are lost in the woods and have penumonia, eating the right mold might save you. But you aren't lost in the woods. You're in civilization, and there is a drug store down the street. The drug store wouldn't give you mold. Some drug company gives you pure penicillin without any of the other parts of the mold included. They also dole out the medicine in very specific and precise doses. That way you can take exactly the right amount of the drug without any extra crap in there.
Even if there is an herbal remedy or something that works, it is because it contains a chemical or combination of chemicals that do something beneficial. In those cases you don't want to take the herb. You won't be getting a precise dosage, and you have no idea what else it can be contaminated with. If it is a worthwhile drug, there will be a drug company that extracts the active ingredients and sells a proper medicine containing those chemicals in precise and uncontaminated doses.
I don't know anything specifically about tea tree oil specifically, but it still falls under this same principle. If there are medicinally active ingredients in tea tree oil, then someone will make a proper medicine out of those ingredients, and that is what you should be taking.
OK, but is tea tree oil quackery? How about other "natural remedies" I am not talking about them curring cancer or anything serious. But what about herbs and such that native people have used for such ailments as fungus infections or against head lice or bacteria/virus infections and the like?
Most of these things aren't exactly quackery as such, but they're closely related and can be just as worrisome.
Think about it like this: we used to use willow bark to cure headaches. Then we figured out that it was the acetylsalicylic acid in the bark that was doing the curing. So we extracted that stuff and made aspirin. Now we synthesize acetylsalicylic acid in the lab, control everything that goes into it, and control the dosage for maximum effect.
So yeah, "herbal remedies" sometimes do have effects, but the vast majority of modern medicine has already made use of many of those compounds, and in many cases have made strides to improve the efficiency of treatment.
My beef with herbal supplements is that they tend to make people more ready to believe in full-fledged bullshit.
I don't know anything specifically about tea tree oil specifically, but it still falls under this same principle. If there are medicinally active ingredients in tea tree oil, then someone will make a proper medicine out of those ingredients, and that is what you should be taking.
I don't recall a huge amount about it - at least, that isn't somewhat dubious and I might be mixing up with the woo-woo practice of "Must rub herbs and oils on all the things" - but I do definitely recall that it's surprisingly effective against Golden Staph, including MRSA.
I don't know anything specifically about tea tree oil specifically
It does do stuff. It contains terpines, which have antimicrobic effects, at least on par with bacitracin. It also has some of the properties of phenols, which is probably why it makes your scalp burn when you use it Ampersand.
I don't know anything specifically about tea tree oil specifically
It does do stuff. It contains terpines, which have antimicrobic effects, at least on par with bacitracin. It also has some of the properties of phenols, which is probably why it makes your scalp burn when you use it Ampersand.
Yep. It can act as an antifungal, and when you are allergic to certain over-the-counter treatments for certain types of infections, it is nice to have an alternative. I have successfully killed fungal infections with tea tree oil. Burns like a motherfucker, though.
Also, it can be used to extract the dyes from henna. (Known as "terping" among henna artists.)
It does do stuff. It contains terpines, which have antimicrobic effects, at least on par with bacitracin. It also has some of the properties of phenols, which is probably why it makes your scalp burn when you use it Ampersand.
Does anyone sell a product that is the terpines without the phenols?
Does anyone sell a product that is the terpines without the phenols?
Terpines don't contain phenols. They're different compounds. However, they both act in a similar fashion. So, no, you can't get terpines without the burning.
And I'm wrong on the spelling. It's "terpenes."
Apparently, turpentine consists entirely of terpenes. So there ya go. Tea tree oil = turpentine.
It does do stuff. It contains terpines, which have antimicrobic effects, at least on par with bacitracin. It also has some of the properties of phenols, which is probably why it makes your scalp burn when you use it Ampersand.
Does anyone sell a product that is the terpines without the phenols?
Yeah. It's called Turpentine. There are lots of different ones, though... some are significantly more dangerous to humans than others. There are many synthetic ones as well as those extracted from plants.
ETA: re: Pete's point above, yes, that is why Tea Tree Oil scars plastics and certain wood finishes. It's a solvent. However, it is not the same compound that is commonly found in commercial turpentine.
Does anyone sell a product that is the terpines without the phenols?
Wood turpentine? I suppose it's been widely replaced by mineral turpentine(which despite sharing the name, comes from petroleum, rather than plants), but I'm sure you can get it around somewhere.
Edit - Ninja'd. But to add at least something, make sure you get Wood Turpentine or something similar, and not mineral Turpentine. I'm pretty sure mineral turpentine is different sorta stuff.
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So, yes, if you are capable of critical thought, you should ask questions of your doctors, but you need to trust their answers and their judgement. We need to equip everyone with the tools to be able to ask questions and actually consider information instead of just looking for a contrary answer. Only then can we really defeat fake medicine. Public health education reform needs to happen.
Option 2 is, as Rym suggested, a good Buzz Aldrining.
I used to like this guy...
Apparently hes been this quacky for a while. Here's one where he implies that increased Autism rates are due to poor physical health and a lack of preventative treatment.
It's people like Bill that confuse the public into believing "alternative" medicine is the way to go. Hes a gateway drug. Reasonable on enough topics to give himself creditability, but wacky enough on others to be dangerous. He's someone that could get an otherwise reasonable, but non critical thinking, person believing alternative BS. I consider people like him much more dangerous then the far gone quacks that tell you that a spinal adjustment will fix your spirit energy and cure you of aids. Those guys are preaching to a crowd that's already off the deep end. People like Bill are the ones that can get otherwise normal people going down a very dangerous path.
For example, certain mold does contain penicillin that can help with a bacterial infection. If you are lost in the woods and have penumonia, eating the right mold might save you. But you aren't lost in the woods. You're in civilization, and there is a drug store down the street. The drug store wouldn't give you mold. Some drug company gives you pure penicillin without any of the other parts of the mold included. They also dole out the medicine in very specific and precise doses. That way you can take exactly the right amount of the drug without any extra crap in there.
Even if there is an herbal remedy or something that works, it is because it contains a chemical or combination of chemicals that do something beneficial. In those cases you don't want to take the herb. You won't be getting a precise dosage, and you have no idea what else it can be contaminated with. If it is a worthwhile drug, there will be a drug company that extracts the active ingredients and sells a proper medicine containing those chemicals in precise and uncontaminated doses.
I don't know anything specifically about tea tree oil specifically, but it still falls under this same principle. If there are medicinally active ingredients in tea tree oil, then someone will make a proper medicine out of those ingredients, and that is what you should be taking.
Think about it like this: we used to use willow bark to cure headaches. Then we figured out that it was the acetylsalicylic acid in the bark that was doing the curing. So we extracted that stuff and made aspirin. Now we synthesize acetylsalicylic acid in the lab, control everything that goes into it, and control the dosage for maximum effect.
So yeah, "herbal remedies" sometimes do have effects, but the vast majority of modern medicine has already made use of many of those compounds, and in many cases have made strides to improve the efficiency of treatment.
My beef with herbal supplements is that they tend to make people more ready to believe in full-fledged bullshit.
Also, it can be used to extract the dyes from henna. (Known as "terping" among henna artists.)
And I'm wrong on the spelling. It's "terpenes."
Apparently, turpentine consists entirely of terpenes. So there ya go. Tea tree oil = turpentine.
ETA: re: Pete's point above, yes, that is why Tea Tree Oil scars plastics and certain wood finishes. It's a solvent. However, it is not the same compound that is commonly found in commercial turpentine.
Edit - Ninja'd. But to add at least something, make sure you get Wood Turpentine or something similar, and not mineral Turpentine. I'm pretty sure mineral turpentine is different sorta stuff.