Diagnosis by a “Clairvoyant” Naturopath
I have little insects inside me that are dining on my cartilage, bones and muscles. It seems they invaded my body either from animals or from dirt. These bugs used to eat plants, I’m told, but because they’ve been genetically modified, they now eat us. I also have a type of worm in my blood vessels. These creatures come in couples with the female living in the male body. I also have an overabundance of vitamin C in my kidneys and an inflammation of the sciatic nerve caused by a plasma virus. My prostate gland is infected by a brown mushroom. My red blood cells are a little too big caused by microbacilli that are either released by plants in my office or come from …
Continue Reading >My Debate with a Naturopath
A few years ago I retired from teaching chemisty at our local high school. The philosophy teacher there structures debates for his class. Each pair of students picks a topic and asks a local “expert” to participate. The most recent topic was whether naturopathy is more effective than “mainstream” medicine. The teacher recommended that a student contact me to debate a local naturopathic “doctor” and I agreed. She began by outlining her education; an undergraduate degree in biology and several years of naturopathic schooling. She said, or at least implied, that she had as much medical knowledge as a mainstream doctor. Her presentation revolved around the idea that ordinary medicine had failed her patients who, she said, were “sick of being sick.” She treated each …
Continue Reading >Naturopathy: A Critical Analysis
Naturopathy is the most eclectic of “alternative” practices. It has changed its methods in response to popular fads and beliefs. It practices no pool of consistent diagnostic or therapeutic methods. The most notable things that unite its practitioners are a penchant for magical thinking, a weak grasp of basic science, and a rejection of scientific biomedicine, which they refer to as “allopathy.” Because naturopathy lacks a coherent rationale, patients can encounter anything from commonsense lifestyle advice — eating a healthy diet, rest, exercise, and stress reduction — to an array of scientifically implausible nostrums and gadgets [1]. If a glue binds the diverse and changing patchwork of naturopathic practices together, it is espousal of the teachings of the early nineteenth-century romantic movement known as Naturphilosophie. …
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