Not a good time

Ouch

From a recent exchange with a patient.

"Yes doc, a few months ago I saw my doctor for a bad attack of vomiting, and he treated it with a Dom Perignon suppository."

                                "Sorry doctor, you're going to put this where?

Perspective

If you read the medical media you could be forgiven for thinking that doctors in the UK are getting a pretty raw deal. Our pay has been frozen, pensions attacked, and so many GPs claim stress that many are contemplating early retirement.

Read this article, and reflect on how badly off we really are.

Blowing with the wind

Up until last week Nick Clegg  & the lib dems were fully supportive of the government’s NHS reforms and it seemed inevitable that these would go ahead. What a difference a week makes. 

Cleggy is now saying that he is going to oppose the reforms. There is no doubt that his change of stance is due to the panning he got last week in the elections. His lost voters were telling him that when they voted lib dem in the past they were not voting for conservative puppets.

He could be criticised for being vacillating, opportunist and lacking in integrity I suppose, but on the other hand he is responding to the electorate, so you could say this is democracy in action.

Whatever his reasons the consequences of his change of stance are significant. Without lib dem support the reforms can not go through, and, more than that, the conservatives face defeat in the commons. We could be in for yet another general election sooner than we think.

There are two big ifs. Firstly, is his new found opposition to the reforms a genuine point of principal, or is he cynically using the issue as a convenient expression of independence? If he delivers the goods that does not really matter. But that is the other big if. Will he maintain his opposition or will he simply switch back again if and when it is expedient?

Quacks again

In my post yesterday about quacks I mentioned that they can now be reported to the Advertising Standards Authority for making misleading or untrue claims, and the role of the Nightingale Collaboration in using this legislation.

For those who believe as I do that the CAM brigade really do need to be brought into line over the claims they make there is now an easy way to get involved.

Go get em.

Quacks

There are lots of thing about quacks that piss me off. Possibly what gets my goat the most is the sheer irresponsibility they practice. If they were to limit themselves to foisting their nonsensical delusions on the worried well with more money than sense then I might find them tolerable, barely.

But they are yet another group of people who want to play at being doctors, and, in the pursuit of this end they will venture into areas where they can do nothing but harm.

One of my readers has drawn my attention to this article, which is a prime example. Our old friend the homeopaths up to their usual two pronged trick of promoting their worthless crap while disparaging proper treatment by us nasty allopaths. I am not going to go on at length about this particular article, Andy Lewis has already done that. I just highlight it as an example. 

It is bad enough that homeopaths should act with such irresponsibility towards those already suffering from a devastating disease, but possibly even worse is when they influence the well in such a way as to put them at serious risk. 

Many homeopaths still assert that you can avoid malaria by taking their sugar pills, and so do not need to take anti malarials when travelling to malaria endemic areas. This article highlights a recent increase in the incidence of malaria worldwide. I don’t know if any of these patients were eschewing conventional anti malarials in favour of homeopathy, but if there was just one then it was one too many.

The ability of homeopaths to make insupportable claims has recently been severely curtailed by the fact that health therapies have been brought within the remit of the Advertising Standards Agency, and organisations such as the Nightingale Collaboration have set about ensuring compliance.

The more switched on homeopaths have realised that the jig is up and are already backtracking, as this page illustrates. I recently approached a number of homeopathy sites asking about anti malaria prophylaxis, and found them extremely cagey. However some of their commenters were not so restrained, claiming proven efficacy for homeopathy, not only in malaria, but also diphtheria, polio and smallpox. They seem not to have noticed that modern medicine eradicated smallpox 22 years ago.

I am at a loss to understand what motivates people to go to homeopaths in the first place, and afford them such credibility. In an attempt to try and understand the mentality of these suckers I had a little browse of some of the questions put by those who frequent homeopathy sites, and here is a little selection. 

I’d like to know if Homeopathy offers any treatment for Phimosis 

I am taking Homoeopathic medicines for my corns in my feet for the past 3 years now. I have faith in Homoeopathy but it is really testing my patience. 

how can we increase size of our pennis

I notice that occasionally (typically once or twice a day) my urine is yellowish in color. Is there any significance to this ? I am not taking any other allopathic medicines. 

which medicine should your suggest to take to enlarge my breast

Hello Doctor B. I am curious to know what the possibility is for sperm to travel through underwear, blue jeans, light pants, and panties and still be able to penetrate a woman causing her to become pregnant? Thanks.

So I think I can now answer the question as to what sort of person turns to homeopathy.

oops

This is doing the rounds and I can't resist reposting