;
Ross Douthat refers to himself as “reckless” 5x in his book but nonetheless uses his NY Times column to promote dangerous chronic #Lyme/Bartonella pseudoscience.
In addition to rife machines, herbs/supplements, and IV ceftriaxone, he took antibiotics for 6 years!
Book excerpts:
Advocates for pseudoscience often attempt to legitimize their false claims by advocating for "teaching the controversy".
For example, a leader of the dangerous pseudoscience groups LymeDisease,org and ILADS deceptively says there are "two standards of care" for #Lyme disease.
Heather Moday, MD is another functional/integrative medicine quack
Make it stop. Please make it stop.
New Norwegian study of patients with neurological Lyme disease (aka neuroborreliosis) shows once again that outcomes are excellent.
It's tough to study outcomes of infections because of the prevalence of unrelated symptoms in the population.
https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/brb3.2608
Kevin Bass: But just because it makes sense and is plausible to you—or to even a million people—doesn’t mean it’s going to succeed.
In all likelihood, it’s not going to succeed.
Kevin Bass: You can tell stories that are made up and exciting, that cause people to be excited about your idea fairly easily.
That’s called bullshitting, and there are people who are extremely good at that.
Kevin Bass: You can generate endless fads—treatment recommendations, protocols, etc—depending on your own personal, idiosyncratic, creative reading of what the literature says.
Health misinformation dominates on social media
Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y4fxAQuVz7A&ab_channel=KevinBass
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/episode/2Yp7pApnI4V6HCcF104tYM?si=LI0G6IADTVm_G5M9YRP9eQ
Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/health-misinformation-dominates-on-social-media/id1500347558?i=1000562752309
Another long-time crank doctor Russell Blaylock is spreading nonsense about COVID.
Here’s a 2017 article about him:
https://theoutline.com/post/1183/the-quack-behind-the-msg-scare-is-still-stoking-fear-for-profit
Most “Lyme literate” doctors are simply quacks (integrative, functional, alternative, naturopathic) who focus on the pseudoscientific CLD beliefs, of many conspiracy-based beliefs that they hold.
People with chronic illnesses are particularly vulnerable:
Multiple sclerosis patient talks about the bad health advice she has received from friends, family, and functional/integrative medicine charlatan Terry Wahls.
MS has no link to #Lyme disease.
https://www.reddit.com/r/MultipleSclerosis/comments/m7b7sv/so_tired_of_people_making_me_feel_like_im_not/
Like all chronic Lyme cranks, Steven and Alexandra Cohen will tell you that only a “Lyme literate” doctor can solve your problems. They also foment distrust of mainstream medicine.
Experts have exposed the cult leaders who claim to the “Lyme literate”:
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4489928/
The prevalent "microinvaders" beliefs in dangerous chronic #Lyme pseudoscience groups is essentially a variation of the "root causes" trope spread by quacks who market themselves as integrative, functional, naturopathic, chiropractic, and alternative:
Abused trope of alternative medicine:
“Conventional medicine only treats acute (not chronic) conditions and doesn’t address ‘root’ causes.”
Irony:
Alternative practitioners are often unqualified to evaluate etiology/diagnose medical conditions, let alone recommend treatment.
Like Scientology, the chronic Lyme cult is anti-psychiatry.
Victims are falsely told that their psychiatric symptoms are caused by Lyme, mold toxins, Bartonella, babesia, and other microinvaders.
Example manipulative propaganda from crank billionaires Steven & Alexandra Cohen:
Using fear of a fake problem to sell a fake solution:
https://www.theverge.com/23071138/ehs-sensitivity-radiation-snake-oil-cell-phone-protection
New study from UNC Health on tick-borne disease testing in central North Carolina:
Lyme disease test ordering is overrepresented given its low incidence.
Most patients suspected of having TBD did not have tests performed in accordance with guidelines.
https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamanetworkopen/fullarticle/2792365
Crank magnetism: the propensity of cranks to hold multiple irrational, unsupported or ludicrous beliefs that are often unrelated to one another (coined by Mark Hoofnagle in 2007)
@LymeScience @AlanLevinovitz @MDaware @AlastairMcA30 Thanks. A “Lyme-literate” doc told my ex-wife that Lyme was a bio weapon fashioned by the US government. The doc was also a personal friend of David Icke, so I heard a lot about the lizard people and how Sandy Hook was a false flag.
Missouri HB 2149 is poised to become law after overwhelmingly passing the House and Senate https://house.mo.gov/Bill.aspx?bill=HB2149&year=2022&code=R
This horrible Missouri bill protects ivermectin & hydroxychloroquine quacks from discipline.
It also prohibits pharmacists from contacting the prescribing physician or the patient to dispute the efficacy of ivermectin & hydroxychloroquine.
https://www.kansascity.com/news/politics-government/article261400142.html
Cristina Cuomo also credits fake doctor (naturopath) Linda Lancaster with curing her chronic #Lyme disease (a diagnosis not recognized by medical science) 🙄
Linda Lancaster is the same fake doctor (naturopath) promoted by CNN anchor Chris Cuomo and his wife Cristina Cuomo’s Goop clone Purist. Lancaster told the Cuomos to use bleach baths, IV vitamin C, and many other bizarre treatments for COVID.
https://www.newsweek.com/cristina-cuomo-website-coronavirus-misinformation-1506104
Gwyneth Paltrow’s snake oil web site Goop follows a familiar scammy formula: intermix facts and fiction to scare people about a microinvader. Then refer to a fake doctor (naturopath) who will happily sell fake tests, fake diagnoses, and fake treatments.
You probably have a parasite—here’s what to do about it: https://goop.be/2i4Y6RZ
A classic from The Science Post 😂
http://thesciencepost.com/hospital-to-replace-doctors-with-parents-who-have-done-their-research/
These are quintessential examples of tooth fairy science, as defined by Dr. Harriet Hall: trying to explain things before establishing they exist. Graphics by James Coyne.
Just like how charlatans who market themselves as integrative, functional, and “Lyme literate” try to explain their fake diagnoses with assorted claims of biofilms, persisters, cyst forms, & exotic strains.
These claims are used to sell fake treatments (e.g. “biofilm busters”)
Junk science is often subtle and insidious, poisoning academic literature with dubious findings. Other times, it wears a clown costume and honks an airhorn....
"Toxic mold" beliefs can be more harmful than other fake diagnoses because victims often believe that the environment is harming them. They may destroy their homes or become homeless.
Some move to the desert and live in stripped-down vans.
More:
https://www.thedailybeast.com/why-is-the-internet-so-obsessed-with-toxic-mold
"Toxic mold illness" (aka chronic inflammatory response syndrome, CIRS, or biotoxin illness) is a fake diagnosis often peddled by quacks who claim to be integrative, functional, and "Lyme literate".
Here's a paywall-free link to a great debunker:
https://rdcu.be/cM5Kq
An internet commenter promoted this garbage article, claiming it is a “peer reviewed, scientific study”
Being listed in Pubmed and being peer reviewed does not mean a paper is legitimate.
And “integrative medicine” is a pseudoscience.
@PubPeer page: https://www.pubpeer.com/publications/3D8677F2FAC249638E386A390442FC
A pseudoscience conference is not better when scientists from mainstream institutions participate.
It makes it worse because it reinforces the harmful beliefs/identity of the anti-science movement, grants the anti-science movement legitimacy, and may help to deceive others.
Medical Child Abuse is prevalent in chronic #Lyme “support” groups.
We often see physical abuse from needless long term treatments and psychological abuse from belief in infestation with harmful microbes.
The Quiet Epidemic exploits Julia Bruzzese.
https://lymescience.org/media-responsibility/
We knew crank billionaires Steven and Alexandra Cohen contributed $250,000 to produce The Quiet Epidemic, a conspiracy theorist propaganda documentary that exploits an abused young girl.
Dangerous pseudoscience group Bay Area Lyme Foundation has boasted contributing as well.
Sadly, once someone becomes convinced that they have a pseudoscientific #Lyme diagnosis, they are very vulnerable to be sold all manner of bizarre treatments.
Herbs and supplements are highly profitable snake oil:
https://lymescience.org/herbs-supplements-chronic-lyme/
Predatory publisher MDPI published a nonsensical paper that is promoting a supplement for Lyme disease.
Of course the paper was paid for by a pharmaceutical company that peddles that supplement!
Grifters love using MDPI as a marketing tool.
The conference abstract above appears to include a subset of the population analyzed here:
https://www.mdpi.com/2076-2607/10/3/607/htm
What’s astonishing is that dangerous chronic Lyme pseudoscience groups can spend $100+ million and fail to help a single patient who believes they have CLD, but an innovative multidisciplinary program in France can help patients for a median cost of €50!
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.respe.2022.01.078
Nick Delgado was featured on the April 30 and March 13 episodes of the @OhNoPodcast https://ohnopodcast.com/investigations/2022/4/30/ross-and-carrie-load-up-on-pills-blood-analysis-edition
The phenomenal @OhNoPodcast recently investigated long-time grifter Nick Delgado, a peddler of supplements and Live Blood Cell Analysis.
Delgado has no medical degree. He says he has a PhD in health science.
Want to see images from Ross’s visit to Dr. Nick Delgado? Visit our FB album at https://tinyurl.com/DrNickPics
Live Blood Cell Analysis is a pseudoscientific technique where a grifter uses purported blood irregularities seen in dark field microscopy to fraudulently diagnose illnesses.
Here's a video of a healthy journalist being falsely diagnosed with #Lyme:
https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=10155087225407507
This is amazing 👇
Watch how at first Openshaw confidently states she has a doctorate degree. Then she states she never "applied for that."
"So you're saying you did all the work, you just didn't get the degree?"
"Uh, that could be debated."
Anti-vaxxer “Green smoothie girl” Robyn Openshaw admits to not having PhD
https://www.fox13now.com/news/fox-13-investigates/robyn-openshaw-admits-to-not-having-ph-d-after-fox-13-investigation
Rachel Bloom also did this one about the importance of finding the correct diagnosis:
https://youtu.be/uic_3vlI5BE
Emmy-winning song: Anti-Depressants Are So Not A Big Deal 👇
Anti-Depressants Are So Not a Big Deal. Stream the latest: http://go.cwtv.com/CXG413tw #CrazyExGirlfriend
More on the false herxing belief that spreads in chronic #Lyme pseudoscience groups; https://sciencebasedmedicine.org/jarisch-herxheimer-and-lyme-disease/
We see this in the chronic Lyme cult as well.
Victims are falsely told that feeling worse is a good thing and that feeling worse confirms the fake diagnosis.
It's not unusual to find CAM practitioners such as chiropractors, osteopaths, etc telling their patients that feeling worse is a sign that the treatment is working or that "you have to get worse before you get better". That's complete nonsense. These are SIDE EFFECTS
See also:
The Closer
Notes on this anecdote:
1. The clinical history doesn't resemble #Lyme.
2. Experts recommend ignoring IgM Lyme testing > 30 days after symptoms begin because of the high false positive rate.
3. Infectious Disease doctors are awesome.😎
https://www.amjmed.com/article/S0002-9343(21)00792-0/fulltext
Trying to facilitate some discussion of the recent analysis of 14 years of patients visiting a Johns Hopkins infectious disease clinic who had no active Lyme disease but were concerned about it.
https://www.reddit.com/r/science/comments/udlhmw/mistaken_identity_many_diagnoses_are_frequently/
Steven Hotze, MD is also a long time predatory quack.
A Houston-based physician and conservative activist is facing serious criminal charges following a 2020 incident tied to a botched voter fraud probe.
By @Jen_Henderson1
https://bit.ly/3kcWyl4
Senator Orrin Hatch was instrumental in supersizing the quackery industry https://www.latimes.com/business/hiltzik/la-fi-hiltzik-hatch-20180105-story.html
Well @debunkdenialism, you were quite prescient 😳
https://debunkingdenialism.com/2017/01/13/how-anti-science-activists-abuse-dictionaries/
https://www.justice.gov/usao-ma/pr/california-man-arrested-and-charged-making-threats-against-lgbtq-community
Dr. Rohin Francis on Silicon Valley pseudoscience: Full body screening scans do not improve mortality.
They just increase health anxiety. They increase the costs to the individual and often to the health system as well.
https://www.medpagetoday.com/popmedicine/popmedicine/98336