Nitwits & Why Physicians Lose Credibility

[zazen]

55. please don't dis citizen/patient advocates

As one example, Lyme Disease wasn't taken seriously until a bunch of pissed off mothers figured out what was happening and demanded physicians pay more attention. Treatment is still held back by an ignorant cabal of physicians in IDSA against whom at least one state attorney general is bringing a lawsuit and against whom an international group of physicians, researchers and patients are advocating, year after year after year.

Patients and their advocates can become highly informed and gather enough anecdotal data to warrant more systematic study, and by the way, physicians and researchers can be really blind to anything outside of the dominant paradigm. It's much more complex than you're making out.

This woman sounds like she's onto something. Perhaps what she's onto is the "prophylactic" use of these supplements for a greater range of conditions. Perhaps you are largely agreed--that in the absence of any medical condition, supplements are not useful, but for a greater range of conditions than currently documented, any number of supplements or their combinations (the identification of which is in its infancy and requires a lot more study) are helpful.

Magnesium is catching hold among a few doctors as useful in a range of conditions, but there's a lot less clinical research to back it up than we'd like. Should we not take it because NIH or big Pharma haven't decided to do a widespread study yet? I can tell you it's worked for me. I'm not waiting seven years (or never, given the awful federal funding levels) for a study to tell me that.

There's a big gray area here and you're insulting hardworking citizen advocates who are busting their asses to read peer-reviewed research and contribute to widespread good. This is clearly not a "woo" person. Do y'all need to be reminded of all of the "woo" drugs and treatments that doctors have insisted patients endure (while dismissing patients' concerns as non-compliance) that turned out to be grossly harmful?

Let's agree on this: if we had single payer, limited profits of big pharma and invested more heavily in clinical trials for supplements and other inexpensive interventions that won't make a lot of money for someone (other than saving billions in medical expenditures), we'd have a lot more useful information and could help a lot more people.