Topical Index – Alternatives to Medicine – The Skeptic’s …

(For an alternative version of theses entries, see the Short and Irreverent E-dition, part 1, sCAM [so-called Complementary & Alternative Medicine])

A acupuncture alkaline diet allopathy alphabiotics "alternative" health practice angel therapy animal quacker anthroposophic medicine applied kinesiology aromatherapy astrotherapy aura therapy Ayurvedic medicine B Bach's flower therapy Jon Barron bio-ching bioharmonics Blaylock, Russell Body Code of Bradley Nelson Rashid Buttar, D.O. C chelation therapy chi chiropractic Hulda Clark complementary medicine complex homeopathy coning (ear candling) Consegrity craniosacral therapy cupping

D Day, Phillip dental amalgam detoxification therapies DHEA dolphin-assisted therapy Dr. Dragon Dabic E Emotional Freedom Technique Emotion Code of Bradley Nelson Dr. Fritz - "energy healing" Eye Movement Desensitization Reprocessing (EMDR) F facilitated communication faith healing frontier medicine functional medicine G Gerson therapy Jay Gordon gua sha H healing touch holistic medicine homeopathy Leonard Horowitz hypnosis I immune system quackery integrative medicine integrative oncology intuitive (intuitionist) intuitive healer iridology isopathy Issels Immuno-Oncology treatment J joy touch K Rauni Kilde kinergetics Kirlian photography L Lightning ProcessTM M macrobiotics magical thinking magnet therapy massage therapy Joseph Mercola microacupuncture moxibustion N natural cancer cures naturopathy Bradley Nelson neuro-linguistic programming New Age psychotherapies noni fruit and juice nosode O osteopathy P prayer psychic surgery Q quackery R Reams, Carey reflexology Rader, William C., M.D. reiki Rolfing S shark cartilage as a cancer cure T therapeutic touch thought field therapy traditional Chinese medicine trepanation U urine therapy V vibrational medicine vitamin and mineral supplements W Andrew Wakefield Joel D. Wallach, "The Mineral Doctor" Y Robert O. Young Z zenreiki

Last updated 03-Jan-2016

Myth 2. Prescription drugs are one of the leading causes of death.

Myth 3. Most medical treatments have never been clinically tested.

Myth 19. Medical doctors typically know nothing about nutrition.

Myth 21. Faith healing works.*

Myth 22. Dr. Randolph Byrd scientifically proved that prayer can heal.

Myth 23. Even if Dr. Byrd failed, others have succeeded in proving scientifically that prayer heals.

Myth 25. Transplant organs carry personality traits which are transferred from donors to receivers.

Myth 31. Crimes, mental illness, suicides, and emergency room visits increase when there is a full moon.

Myth 43. Suicide increases over the holidays.

Myth 46. Switching to a low-tar cigarette will reduce one's chances of being exposed to the carcinogens in cigarette smoke.

Myth 47. Vaccination*of children with the (MMR) vaccine to prevent measles, mumps and rubella causes autism.*

Myth 53. Sugar causes hyperactivity in children.

Myth 54. Alcohol, especially red wine, is good for your health.*(read this one carefully and to the end) and *

Myth 55. A migraine is a bad headache.

Myth 58. The moon can trigger ovulation and bring on fertility depending on what phase the moon was at when you were born.

Myth 59. The mercury in dental amalgam is poisoning people.*

Myth 60. You should drink eight glasses of water a day for good health.* One study, however, does seem to have good evidence that drinking five glasses a day is better than drinking two or fewer with respect to fatal coronary heart disease.

Myth 71. A diet low in animal fat will prevent high cholesterol which will prevent atherosclerosis which will make you immune to having a heart attack.

Myth 72. Pasteur renounced all his works on his death bed.

Myth 73. Laetrile is an effective cancer treatment whose humanitarian discoverer has been persecuted, depriving millions of people of the benefits of this wonder drug.

Myth 74. Peptic ulcers are caused by stress and eating spicy food.*

Myth 83. A study was published in the Western Journal of Medicine that showed changing the letters EPHO (each letter representing a drug being used to treat small-cell lung cancer) to HOPE led to a spectacular increase in positive response to the treatment.

Myths 86-89, thanks to the British Medical Journal:

Myth 86. There are several effective cures for a hangover.

Myth 87. People who eat late at night gain more weight than those who eat the same amount of food earlier in the day.

Myth 88. More heat escapes from the head than any other part of the body.

Myth 89. Poinsettias are poisonous.

Myth 92. Fruit must be eaten on an empty stomach in order for the body to absorb it properly.

Myth 93. Drinking cold water after meals causes cancer.

Barrett, Stephen and William T. Jarvis. eds. The Health Robbers: A Close Look at Quackery in America (Amherst, N.Y.: Prometheus Books, 1993).

Barrett, Stephen and Kurt Butler (eds.) A Consumers Guide to Alternative Medicine : A Close Look at Homeopathy, Acupuncture, Faith-Healing, and Other Unconventional Treatments; edited by (Buffalo, N.Y. : Prometheus Books, 1992).

Bausell, R. Barker. (2007). Snake Oil Science: The Truth about Complementary and Alternative Medicine Oxford. (review)

Ernst, Edzard MD PhD, Max H. Pittler MD PHD , Barbara Wider MA. 2006. The Desktop Guide to Complementary and Alternative Medicine: An Evidence-Based Approach. 2nd ed. Mosby.

Randi, James. The Faith Healers (Amherst, N.Y.: Prometheus Books, 1989).

Raso, Jack. "Alternative" Healthcare: A Comprehensive Guide (Amherst, NY: Prometheus Books, 1994).

Sampson, Wallace and Lewis Vaughn, editors. Science Meets Alternative Medicine: What the Evidence Says About Unconventional Treatments (Prometheus Books, 2000).

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Topical Index - Alternatives to Medicine - The Skeptic's ...