Felix Zimmer Blog :: Snake Oil
It’s a strange old world, and full of surprises. Today’s crazy idea is tomorrow’s conventional wisdom. There was time when a few nut cases were convinced that invisible creatures were running around making people ill. Ridiculous. Weeny monsters we should try to wash off. Today we call those invisible monsters bacteria and viruses. Proven scientific reality.
Who knows what might work? If you have a health problem and current medical science can’t fix it, why not try something else? Terry Pratchitt, the wonderful fantasy novelist, has just done some TV programmes about the early onset Alzheimer’s he’s been diagnosed with. Really worth watching.
Terry is a fabulously clear thinker and big on the scientific method - see his “Science of the Discworld” books. In fact see all his books. Genius, profound, and laugh out loud fun. Now this great mind is in the early grip of Alzheimer’s, and he’s looking at what both conventional medicine and alternative approaches have to offer. Who knows, one of those seemingly flaky alternatives might just work and be tomorrow’s science.
Seeing what Terry’s dealing with, I note that he’s not trying alternatives and ignoring medical science. He’s seeing his doctor and conscientiously taking the prescribed treatment. He’s just also looking at what else is possible. This is so good to see and such a good example. Pardon me whilst I rant as usual, but when an alternative treatment or remedy excludes or replaces the doctor we are almost always dealing with what I call SNAKE OIL.
Snake Oil: That’s as in 19th and early 20th century fairground potions, playing on your desperation or need to sell you hope in a bottle (or pill, or machine, or weird diet…). Alternative cures instead of conventional medicine? Please, friends and fellow ageing folk, watch out. Don’t let them make you suffer even more and pay for the privilege.
You might not want to talk to your doctor about the beaver glands you’re taking (or whatever). Open minded doctor? Talk about it. You both might learn something. Not that kind of doctor? Talk to a pharmacist to be sure your beaver glands and medication in combination don’t give you more grief, pain and/or death than you’re already dealing with.
Whatever else you do, at least check the beaver glands for yourself. Go to http://medlineplus.gov and search for “beaver glands” or whatever alternative remedy you’re using. Medline Plus is totally impartial and hugely dependable. You may be surprised how many alternative remedies it gives good ratings to for specific conditions.
What I’m ranting (or at least cautioning) about here is alternatives. Complementary techniques or therapies are something else. Complementary means complementing medical science, not substituting for it. Alexander Technique, hypnotherapy, Tai Chi, yoga… in qualified hands and for the right conditions, complementary techniques can be hugely effective. Changed my life. Changed my loved one’s health and happiness. Almost certainly one of them could work for you. See the Alliance Complementary Techniques and Therapies site on this site.
Alternative? Don’t get me started. The “bone pill” sold in health food shops and containing enough magnesium to give a Sumo wrestler chronic diarrhoea? “It must be safe it’s natural?” You mean like hemlock?
I end as I began. There’s no knowing what might work, and today’s weirdness is tomorrow’s science. Nevertheless there’s more snake oil out there, seeking to prey on your suffering, than wonders of healing. Find out if people have been harmed by those beaver glands.
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