article: Health Scams target CFS, FM, & MCS

[_Kim_]

November 30, 2009

Preying on the Desperate, Miracle Cures Hold False Promise by Lourdes Salvador in the American Chronicle

CFS has had its share of miracle cures. The recent discovery XMRV Retrovirus has led to the potential that this virus is the cause of CFS. Many CFS patients have been delighted with this news because it gives their illness long-awaited legitimacy. Still others are not so happy, believing that the drug companies may be behind this discovery with nothing more than intent to market a profitable new drug. Irregardless, in the face of emerging viral evidence, XMRV is now a newly emerged threat for purported cures.

Ten Warning Signs of a Scam

1. The Promise Of A Quick And Easy Cure

2. Presents Unproven Patient Testimonials & Emotional Appeals Instead Of Science

3. Claims To Cure Many Ailments Which Have No Cure In Medical Science

4. Its Not Sold In Stores

5. It Has Undisclosed Ingredients Or Content

6. You Have To Keep At It To Get Results

7. It Doesnt Work Because You Did It Wrong

8. Science Hasnt Even Bothered To Discredit It (No Threat To Pharmaceutical Sales)

9. The Seller Lacks A Medical Degree Or Similar Qualification

10.Its Too Good To Be True

 

[cold_taste_of_tears]

Good article, maybe they found The Lighting Process Website.
(Also known as 'LP').

It claims most people with ME CFS are cured in as little as 3 days by altering their thought processes.

''However, we have found that the vast majority of people with M.E report that after the 3 day training program they feel they have either: -

a) already made a fundamental shift in their issues and that they have the tools to recover fully over time
or
b) they feel they have made a complete recovery.''

Source: Link

Very cleverly, the 'practioners' who 'teach ME CFS patients the 'skills' how to get better - are the people who have recovered with the 'knowledge' they are selling. (Pyramind selling technique). Never the same single person dishes it out, this reduces reporting rates of unscientific unvalidated medical claims, and it also means the person dishing out the false cure - is not medically qualified. Clever huh? Even if they are reported to medical authorities - they process is not medically validated - and thus how can anyone claim anything back? If someone sells me the ability to levitate for $10, and I fail -can I sue them? Levitation is unrealistic. Curing yourself of an incurable disease that the word's best scientists cannot do, in 3 days by altering your mindset - is unrealistic. The only way to get these cowboys is on false advertising grounds.

I wonder how much money they've made. They even claim to help MS (nerve damage to the spinal cord) also. Yes you read that correctly.

''"We have had 17 clients with MS with a wide variety of symptoms. They are all recovering remarkably well so far, so we have now started gathering evidence tto see if full recovery may be possible and sustainable.''

Source: Link

Luckily it's not advertised on this website or discussed, what a SCAM.
The person who founded it is not medically qualified. His qualifications are not from an establised/validated academic grade University course either.

Cost? Around $3,000 depending on how well 'tuned in' you make your mind.
There are many others too knocking around. Reverse Therapy, Mickel Therapy. NB: Note the word, 'therapy'. Mental Health Therapy as a cure.

 

[Mithriel]

I just loved

7. It Doesnt Work Because You Did It Wrong

Every patient survey done in Europe and the UK has found that about 35% find graded exercise and cognitive behavioural therapy are either useless or make the illness worse.

GET and CBT are the only treatments available to patients in the UK and are endorsed by the so called experts and government.

Their answer to the surveys - the treatment wasn't carried out in the right way.

Mithriel

Now I read them again I think they all apply to the treament of CFS/ME (as they call it) in the UK clinics.

 

[cold_taste_of_tears]

Every patient survey done in Europe and the UK has found that about 35% find graded exercise and cognitive behavioural therapy are either useless or make the illness worse

Well said, infact in severe patients, a UK Charity report found 90% of ME patients reported it made them worse.

Source: Download Word Documents of the findings from patients.

Here

Here

More here

And here

Yet we are told it makes us better and this is the only 'evidence based' therapy for our disease!

 

[Aftermath]

Nothing New

Anyone who has had this illness for a substantial period of time knows that this is nothing new.

A vast majority of even the most highly regarded "treatments" for this illness are nothing more than overblown scams lacking scientific support.

 

[heapsreal]

hi

I walked out of my docs office yesterday with a fist full of scripts and said to him that all we can do is treat the symptoms, he agreed and said thats all we got at the moment.

He's so right, hard to keep optomistic

 

[cold_taste_of_tears]

What is critical here, is the UK National ME Centre (A team of self appointed 'CFS/ME' experts working in a neuro ward) say they can can get 80% of SEVERE ME patients in hospital better - through these psychological coping methods. On closer inspection they call ME - Fatigue Syndrome.

Fatigue syndrome is a love child of Simon Wessely and friends, who tried to (and failed) to alter CFS to Fatigue Syndrome without informing the W.H.O (World Health Organisation).

That's a government run hospital/SYSTEM I'm talking about here, using tax payers money.

And the UK is not alone in Europe of offering such hocus pocus that seems innocent enough until you're bed ridden in one of their wards, as I have been.

Then it turns from being able to ignore it here as we do, to real terror - as these lunatics are in charge of your medical care and ignore your suffering which can include heart arrythmias and breathing difficulties.

So these people are dangerous as well as ethically/morally myopic.

 

[jendeesapo]

These strategies are disappointing. People especially from the medical and health organizations should take a look on these very carefully.

 

[Frank]

youtube is getting quite full of these scams, they undermine our credibility

 

[dean]

"When a disease has a hundred cures, you know that sadly none of them work" An old pearl from an old medical professor.

 

[coxy]

I just wish there was some way of stopping people going on youtube saying how wonderful LP is after a couple of weeks of doing it!!
I to as you know had very good results early on after the process and could well of claimed it was some miracle cure. I had read enough and heard enough from others not to be quite so rash. I was running on pure adrenaline for a good couple of months after doing the process, then i have gradually gone down and down over the last month. I wonder how many of those youtube clip people have since relapsed and are to embarrassed to admit.
I remember reading that Dr charles shepherd said he'd seen children who'd be able to run on adrenaline for several months to get through exams only to collapse after them.
I'm sure that's all ther LP is, a huge adrenaline surge to desperate people who want to believe anything could help.

 

[gracenote]

Thanks, coxy, for sharing your whole story. We all want so badly to be well, and we get such tantalizing glimmers of health sometimes, who wouldn't want to believe them to be real?

I've had similar "good" experiences but they didn't last long enough for me to pass on my "cure." The collapse afterwards are so very disheartening; who wants to believe those to be real?

The reality of this illness is just so very hard.

 

[jeffrez]

Most religions seem to fit those criteria. In fact, I have had "religious" people tell me that I am sick because 1) I didn't pray enough, and 2) I did it wrong. :-o

 

[serenity]

thanks for this article, i will save it & send it to people when they offer me the latest miracle cure that worked for a friend of a friend.

 

[Daniella]

youtube is getting quite full of these scams, they undermine our credibility

I know, and frankly speaking, these scams on YouTube seem to be one of the most convincing videos, it makes me want to believe in their marketing strategies.

 

[robertblake]

Too bad that there are people who fake people. I feel sad also for those people who don't have money yet when they get the opportunity to see e medical health representative, they don't know that they are wasting their money.