Teitelbaum's post on Psychology Today (and my response)

Hey danny - sheesh indeed!

The disappointing part to me is that shameless self-promotion like this, with a dash of fear-mongering thrown in, and continually mixing up chronic fatigue with ME/CFS and presenting a basically fake study, while dismissing real science with unbacked claims as to how ME/CFS really works discounts whatever contributions he has made to the field and people's lives.

I thought you'd like that I started off with a Dr Philism "Psychology Today, what were you thinking?"

if

I really feel for the guy. He seems like a nice fellow. I really think that he believes he is on our side.

I have never been able to understand the phrase "From Fatigued to Fantastic", though. It sounds so much like a cheesy diet book and not a book about a disabling illness. It leaves me pretty much speachless and that ain't easy to do.

If Dr T would simply reign in his ego, be a little more agile, and move with the times, he could remain relevant.

I really regret using the word "shame" in a letter to someone who has, in his own odd way, tried to help us. Perhaps it was too harsh. It doesn't sit well.

Dr. T., if you should read this, please just keep quiet until we know the true significance of this finding and then, if it is the breakthrough it appers to be, get on board and make yourself relevant to our recoveries. You can do that. It's not impossible. Just be quiet for now, please!

sigh

If you're pissed off write kaja@psychologytoday.com. She's editor in chief. Their policy on bloggers is total laissez faire and their goal is lots of page views and comments. Perhaps they feel magazine subscriptions will result.

ah Koan - great points all. But you're right, I now have 3 fingers pointing back at myself!

Great to have the link to the editor-in-chief jenbooks. Thanks

Think I'll just politely let her know that I will no longer be reading her magazine

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I'm also not happy with Dr. Teitelbaum and his downplaying of CFS/M.E. Did anyone notice that he responded to complaints about his poor appearance on the Dr. Oz show ? But note that he blamed the show and didn't take responsibility for confusing the viewers.


http://www.endfatigue.com/health_articles_c/Cfs_fm-about_the_dr_oz_show_segment.html

STUPID STUPID DR T. I was trying not to read this thread, but now it's too late, and I'm going to get sarcastic.

How about SHINE ON, SHINE ON, TIDAL BOMB? Isn't that the truth!!!

Shameless Profiteer

Teitelbaum is nothing other than a shameless profiteer. Entitling a book From Fatigued to Fantastic should be a big enough hit about that.

As if even a good number of people with ME are "fantastic" after treatment.

I read that piece and now I feel dirty, like I need to go take a shower.

It is so ironic that he does not understand that if we take the very good advice in this open letter as to how to approach the producers of either Oz or Oprah, the first civil recommendation we would make is that they not use Dr. T in any way.

I am completely at a loss regarding his unwillingness to grow.

Aftermath, you forgot the best part of the title - the exclamation point. From Fatigued to Fantastic! There you go. Now doesn't that make you feel even better? You're not just fantastic, you're fantastic! Like an infomercial - ShamWow! The title definitely is a turnoff even though the contents of the book may be helpful.

There's a song by Ludo with a verse this all reminds me of:

I agree with Koan in that he seems to be sincere and to truly believe what he's saying, but at this time he just really needs to be quiet. The reason he needs to be quiet is that he is mostly wrong, and he is hurting the people he thinks he is helping.

Oh, jeez. Did you catch the bit about it having been 'a good entertaining segment for those with day-to-day fatigue'?

Physicians who grasp what this disease is have ALWAYS recognized that the term 'fatigue' is hopelessly inaccurate and dangerously misleading. Dr. Teitelbaum, by contrast, is a 'fatigue' tycoon whose business fuels the misperceptions about this illness. When I first saw that book, From Fatigued to Fantastic!, on a health food store bookshelf, I felt as if I'd been slapped in the face. At the time, I had spiking fevers, severe vertigo, nausea, crippling exhaustion, swollen glands, etc. I was unable to be upright for more than a couple of hours a day. The fact that people who somehow made it through medical school could ever call this 'fatigue', and persist in using the term as if it were anything other than a lie and a kind of medical obfuscation, will stagger me to my dying day. How are we to avoid the conclusion that they are either stupid or venal?

Dr. T and the Dark Side of the Force

I must say, I relate to Koan and others who perhaps hold out a little hope for Dr T is "on our side." At least I think I understand how they are feeling...maybe.

But with this last shameless promotion of his empire, it is abundantly clear that Dr T. is now on the Dark Side.

Koan, I think that people can choose not to grow. It happens all the time, because the lures of ego and materialism are very very strong. I certainly think that people can change on a dime, however, and start "growing" again. But being rich and famous make it so hard. Just like Jesus saying it is easier to pass all those camels through the eye of a needle .... well you probably know the rest. And certainly Siddharta did not stay in his palace.

Not to say that rich equals self-interest and materialism! Look at the Whittemores and many other philanthropists! But for now, I think Dr. T. has made it clear where he stands.

I hope we can save more desperate sick people from spending their dwindling money trying to "SHINE." Maybe people will read this thread and get some help from us.

http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xb21ik_is-xmrv-the-true-cause-of-chronic-f_school

A sleep doctor who subscribes to Teitelbaum's theories speaks about XMRV and illustrated the old axiom: To a carpenter, everything is a nail.

ugh - just watched it - rotten way to wake up.

I HATE it when people throw opinion around as if it were fact. Here he reiterates Teitelbaum's claim to a 91% recovery rate (that is based on a "study" he did in the early 90s - never published or peer-reviewed or replicated I believe; 64 patients, 46 of them had other diseases........... Argh. This is the "science" he uses to back his claim of 91% recovery. Nothing else from the 16 years of franchising SHINE. Hmmmmmmmmm I wonder if I could sue him for false advertising?

islandfinn

Sometimes I fear they don't know SHINE from Shinola.



The Wiki entry on Shinola is very funny esp. for a Wiki entry.

Lol, I love it when I have to research a joke

Very funny Koan The wiki article was phrased in perfect wiki-style

Thanks Koan (for the axiom); that's the one I was trying to get at in my testimony and I couldn't "nail" it down and had to settle for some variation (the story of my life...). Thanks for the link too!

Yeah, "Dr. Sleep" obviously suffers from a common sleep specialist affliction: Everything's apnea! I am still smarting over having seen one sleep specialist who knew to look beyond apnea (but wouldn't order a study) and another who ordered the study but dismissed all of the info on my report because, basically, he only treats apnea. That seems to be a real trend these days with the sleep docs: make a big deal about the condition you can treat and ignore all of the more complex stuff (I second the "......Argh").

He sounded like a fool yacking about recovery and the protocol when any person worth their salt knows that, as you said islandfinn, that is outdated info with no known criteria and no peer review. It's like citing something you read in Newsweek in 1995!

Oh lazy doctors--get inspired about doing good work and not making videos and tv appearances!! I cracked up when I went to his site to look for the comments that he asks people to make at the end of his video and couldn't find them, but did find a link to becoming his facebook friend!

He's an ENT specialist who only knows how to treat sleep apnea. He also has a book to push. My sleep specialist at Mass General is a brilliant guy who is very interested in XMVR. But he's a neurologist at a hospital with one of the best neurology depts in the country. Did I miss a segment on CFS on Dr. Oz? I did hear him talk about fatigue briefly and he said that if you're getting six hrs of sleep and still tired you have a problem. His website has a contact page and I plan to write him re why he chose Dr T to be on his site at all. I haven't been impressed with his new show; he seems to grab "experts" in a lazy way. I suggest we flood him with responses after show: positive and negative.

Hi andreamarie, I might not be the best person to answer this post, but there is a lot of discussion about Dr. T's segment and what turned into a discussion of exhaustion (actually that entire segment which was billed as "Chronic Fatigue Syndrome").

There's this thread: http://forums.aboutmecfs.org/showthread.php?t=741

Since so many people made it clear to Dr. Oz's team (including WPI representatives) that their segment was so misinformed and patently absurd, he is now going to do another CFS segment (which he's again calling "Chronic Fatigue" on his website (he just can't seem to get that third word in...!) which will feature Dr. Moore from the GMA Health segments and, I believe, Dr. Mikovits has been interviewed as well. Check under the XMRV section and I'm sure you'll see things regarding "An open letter to Dr. Moore," etc.

It sounds like you've got a great neurologist/sleep specialist!

oops past my bed time!

Six hours of sleep. I wish! I sleep 12 hours straight a night! Wake up refreshed and stay that way for about 15 to 20 minutes. HA Then I spend my other 12 hours by doing something for 30 min. resting 30 min., doing something for 30 min. resting 30 min., doing something for 30 min. resting 30 min.

After 12 hours of that I'm dead to the world for the next 12 hours.

'Course it's better than the original 16 hours of sleep that I was doing the first year of the illness!

Got to be thankful for the little things.