Photodynamic Therapy

More Quackery?

Dichloroacetate

boingboing reports more rumour-mongering about Dichloroacetate - the supposed wonder drug for curing all types of cancer. We reported on this as far back as 2007.

Totally quack stupid!

Quackery

... or "Mr Morais' Patent Dermatologicgal Lotion". This product claims to clear up a whole range of skin problems - heat and sweat rashes, acne, spots and a whole lot more as well as promising, like my favourite soap products Giv, Lux and Santex, general cleansing properties that will leave your skin ... well, just SO.

Now this blog, since its beginning, has been a vehement opponent of quack medicine. Since, on Day 1 of Kezia's treatment, her consultant warned us of the dangers of of the quackery regarding leukaemia treatment out here on the Internet, I have become aware of the amount of quackery bullshit out there regarding any complaint you can think of.

However, "Mr Morais' Patent Dermatologicgal Lotion" is different and I have personal faith in it (especially since I saw the immdediate effect of Daly's Skin Shimmer last week). Mr Morais, the lotion's inventor, is a personal friend of mine and is someone in whom I have total confidence and I believe vice versa. Last week he confided in me the lotion's secret ingredient ...

Duck Dung!

Quack Quack ... contact me if you're interested!

Baldness

Is that really me?

I've been off work from Monday to Thursday last week with malaria so haven't been blogging. I woke up on Monday feeling like shit. Not fit to drive to see the work doctor, not fit for the work driver to come and get me. Our doctor wouldn't send me Coartem (artemisin) without doing a blood test so I ended up testing at the local health post and as the local pharmacy didn't have Coartem ended up taking the Taiwanese anti-malaria campaigns recommended treatment of amodiquine/artesunate combination which everybody in the country says makes them feel even shittier. Still feeling it two days after completing treatment.

But that's not the subject of this post - I'm going bald! Quackery not a solution.

In the days of my father there were two hair styles for bald men. My father who went bald in his twenties chose a monk's tonsure. My English literature teach chose to grow a long wisp of hair from the side and brush it over his bald-pate (didn't fool anyone).

Since birth I have had a genetic trait (from my mother's side) of a double crown which led to taunts of early baldness. Didn't happen.

But now it's happening. Sympathy for Kezia and Rosie who lost their hair through chemotherapy.

What's the answer?

Certainly the skinhead crewcut of the '70s and '80s which typified fascist, racist thugs of the period. And certainly not the tonsure/wisp styles of my forebears.

Some (my brother and our doctor) have reverted to the crewcut (no longer so associated with fascism). So am I.

Good to be blogging again!

Death by Alternative Medicine

We have posted on Cancer Quackery before. Dr Crippen points me to this sad sad story.

Maintenance Cycle 5

Starts today with a Vincristine injection and then the dreaded D for the rest of the week. One more maintenance cycle and six months to go.

I called on my Anglo-Peruvian friend Talia down in the city on Sunday to find her being visited by a silly French woman who runs a local business. When the subject turned to Kezia, she started twittering about alternative treatment, and my hackles began to rise. She insisted. Even after all her years here she hardly speaks our local language, doesn't speak English and, although I have some French, I couldn't get angry enough in French to tell her what bullshit she was spouting and ended up asking Talia to translate – which, given my increasing annoyance, she did diplomatically.

I couldn' t take any more and abruptly left.

Link, Link, Link, Link

Boots again !

More quackery from our favourite High Street pharmacy is reported by Dr Crippen and the Guardian.

Hair Retention Quackery

Break the Family Tradition

I'm beginning to get a little bit thin on top.

Nanda has been attempting to encourage me to buy some kind of hair product to stem or even reverse the loss. I have been dismissive.

But when buying some calamine lotion the other day, I noticed Boots Pharmacy promoting a Hair Retention Programme - "9 out of 10 men keep their hair with our Hair Retention Programme". Curious, I picked up a leaflet. Let us quote ...

"Although the medicine available on the programme will start working straight away, stopping hair loss and encouraging hair growth is a slow process. Despite this you could start to see results in as little as three months.

If you stop taking the medicine, the hair loss process begins again and any results achieved will gradually be lossed over 12 months.

If you keep taking the medicine, new hair growth may be achieved. In clinical studies, 2 out of 3 men showed increased hair growth after 2 years."

Do I need to analyse this for you? Shurely not ... could, may, uncited clinical studies ...

So how much will this cost me? 90 pounds for 12 weeks. But if I don't continue for two years it will be money wasted so I'll end up spending 720 pounds and I might still be one of the 33% who do not respond to the treatment.

Methinks I'll take the sensible approach of keeping my hair cut short.

But the government now wants me to trust Boots Pharmacy to conduct clinical diagnosis instead of going to my General Practitioner.

Cancer Quackery revisited

We posted back in May about Complementary and Alternative approaches to cancer and leukaemia treatment and linked to Respectful Insolence's post Magical Thinking versus Lymphoma about parents opting out of chemotherapy and therefore sentencing their children to certain death.

He now reports another case in which the child died when his parents took him off chemotherapy after just three months!

Again I will urge parents who foolishly consider this to read Commonweal's guide to complementary and alternative medicine.

Complementary and Alternative Medicine

An online paper "The use of complementary and alternative medicine by cancer patients" from th International Seminars in Surgical Oncology has just gone up here.

It starts with definitions - alternative is difficult as it can be defined both as "not mainstream" or as a substitute for proven medical practice.

As a whole medical practitioners accept, even welcome, complementary medicine when it alleviates the psychological stress of cancer and cancer treatment. There is an obvious concern that some common CAM products may adversely interact with commonly prescribed medicines so it would be wise to consult a medical professional before taking this or that.

We were advised by our consultant at the beginning of treatment "to be cautious of web sites claimimg alternative cures for cancer".

Indeed the horror stories presented at Respectful Insolence's post Magical Thinking versus Lymphoma (and follow-up here) where parents withdrew their children from standard treatments and put them on unproven quackery are beyond belief! And in this context I would recommend Quackwatch if you really are so gullible.

Kezia's exposure to complementary approaches has been minimal - if you count the hospital clown and music sessions and play as complementary, although I think everyone would agree that Laughter is Medicine.