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Thursday, May 13, 2010

Beware the person selling Snake-Oil Cures


Beware the person that claims that he or she has the cure for what ails you.

Often the term snake-oil, should be used to describe these kinds of people.

Where did I get the idea of writing this today? After a few people contacted me a few days ago, when they saw an advertisement in one of our local newspapers that invited people to his (in this case a D.O.) website to view a video on his way to cure MS, ALS.

His ad implies that he can cure :
Multiple Sclerosis - MS (or ALS)
Fatigue, numbness, tremors, sexual dysfunction, weakness,visual disorders, impaired mobility, slurred speech, spasticity,chronic aching, pain, depression, mild cognitive and memory difficulties

He provided a url to watch a video (which I do not want to put to print as I do not want this guy coming after me).

He can cure MS because it's tied to the endocrine system, not neurological and by working with your hormones, blah, blah, blah,,, -- He claims that the medicine you are using is not doing anything. He doesn't tell you to stop. Instead he tells you to continue and eventually after using his services, you will be cured....

I wrote to a few reliable sources and gave them the link to watch the video.

As one person responded to my remark that this guy is a freaking "clown"..
He is not clown, because there is nothing to laugh about.
He is a crook and a charlatan and should be arrested. - "B"

And here is a message from another:
I listened to most of the first video, and it sounds to me like they're preying on people by way of helping them. I mean, he talks about food sensitivity, leaky gut syndrome, celiac disease -- stuff that anyone with or without MS could have, and finding those things would make you feel somewhat better. So they look and look and look until they find something wrong with you other than MS, that makes you feel better, then they claim they helped your MS. That's what it sounds like to me. It's CRAZY. - "Kasey"

Simply said, I ask you to be careful when you are told or read that a "Professional" has a cure for you. Was he/she on any major newswire service?

Do research before shelling out dollars to those who prey upon the disabled, ill or needy.
If you are able to read this message, then you are on the internet and if on the internet you have access to just about anything in print or media. USE the internet wisely to read-up on new things you hear about.

This person, here in Florida will eventually hear from me as I do not like it when people come to me in fear. In fear that they are currently doing something wrong by being on an approved ms therapy instead of using his remedy......

Have you ever experienced anything like this?

Have a good day...

Stuart

3 comments:

Shauna said...

Oh, Stewart, don't get me started on "snake oil sales"....wait, you already have...

Sadly, snake oil continues to be sold every year to those who are desperate for a cure. And just because someone's made it to a newswire doesn't mean that they're not snake oil salesmen.

You can come across all sorts of "news" items in papers and magazines that are really advertisements in disguise. The publishers know this, yet gladly take the money from the advertiser despite the fact that the format is meant to deliberately fool the consumer. Somewhere in small print you will find the statement that the article is a paid advertisement.

And as for newswire or broadcast news, well, remember this: the medical journals were fooled a few years ago by the gentleman who claimed a link between autism and the MMR vaccine. The media jumped on that bit of information, resulting in the huge autism/vaccine brouhaha. We all are now aware that the person who made these claims was later shown to have deceived us. There was a conflict of interest in his employment and research and some of his research had been falsified.

There are some researchers whose intentions are good, but their methodologies suck. They are as much snake oil salesmen as the person recommending noni noni juice as a cure or treatment for MS.

There are no magic cures or treatments for MS. There are available treatments that are effective for many people. And where they are not effective, researchers are trying to find out why (I am currently in a study to determine if a certain biomarker is present in my blood that make me one of the lucky ones for whom treatment is effective).

Whew....thanks for letting me rant.

Shauna

Stuart said...

Keep on ranting Shauna, You use a term I did not want to use, had it in my notes but still chose other words..

DESPERATE for a cure - are those words.
And yes, those that are desperate will empty their bank accounts to the "PRICK"
who feeds from those that he can take advantage-of ...

So keep ranting but when you do, know that I prefer "Stuart"
ciao

Shauna said...

My apologies for misspelling your name, Stuart. I will write it out 100 times as punishment...heh.

S.