Chronic Lyme Disease Summit - Free On-line

[Old Bones]

I just received an email notification of a free on-line Chronic Lyme Disease Summit from April 4 - 11. The promotional material describes Chronic Lyme as the great imitator, able to mimic "every disease process including Chronic Fatigue Syndrome/Myalgic Encephalomyelitis (CFS/ME), Fibromyalgia, etc. Here's a link to the registration page:

http://chroniclymediseasesummit.com/

 

[sarah darwins]

There are some interesting people involved — Richard Horowitz and Lee Cowden catch the eye.

My heart sinks a little, though, to see this under the sign-up:

Yes, I consent to receive summit related offers and other promotional communications from the Chronic Lyme Disease Summit, the host, their brand(s) and Health Talks Online. I can withdraw consent at any time. Your Privacy Rights.

I know it's an opt-in arrangement, for which they deserve some credit, but it just doesn't feel to me like this kind of marketing mixes well with serious medical inquiry. You have to wonder if some of the presentations are going to be marketing drives dressed up as science.

The intention behind the summit may be good, but that slight whiff of the marketing department undermines the effort.

 

[Effi]

These summits are always pretty marketing driven. The last one I took part in was the Fat Summit. Years ago I used to find these summits interesting, and learned from them, but I'd say it's for people who don't know anything at all about the presented subject. What they do is, they get your attention with little snippets of information, without ever going to the core of things, and then try to lure you into buying their stuff. I hope this Lyme Summit is different, but I'm not holding my breath tbh...

 

[brenda]

I just listened to the Gut healing summit which l missed first time around but had a second chance this weekend, and although quite a bit of it was more for starters, l did learn a lot. You don't have to buy any products or consultations.

 

[Old Bones]

There are some interesting people involved — Richard Horowitz and Lee Cowden catch the eye.

I have "attended" three of these summits during the past year and have generally found the presentations of good quality -- worthwhile enough to overcome my similar reservations regarding the marketing hype, which actually hasn't been as intrusive as I might have expected. Nevertheless, there is a lot of duplication. I learned a lot form the Gut summit -- not so much the later Microbiome Summit.

But, the topic of Lyme is pretty new to me, so it may be worthwhile. In addition to Horowitz and Cowden, are there any other presenters I should be aware of -- either to prioritize, or avoid?

 

[sarah darwins]

But, the topic of Lyme is pretty new to me, so it may be worthwhile. In addition to Horowitz and Cowden, are there any other presenters I should be aware of -- either to prioritize, or avoid?

I'm not familiar with the others. Perhaps @duncan or @Antares in NYC could help there?

 

[duncan]

I don't know most, @sarah darwins . That doesn't mean it won't be worth the watch.

I would prefer, personally, more hard core science types, those on the front lines responding to IDSA hype.

This seems more like hands-on treatment issues, and that potentially has its own value.

 

[valentinelynx]

Wow. I've only heard of 3 of these people (the speakers) out of 31! The 3 I've heard of are Richard Horowitz, MD whom I think is interesting because he has a lot of experience, though not particularly scientific, Lee Cowden, whom I don't know much about, but know a lot of people use his herbal approach - not a scientist, and has co-authored several books with the third person I've heard of... Connie Strasheim, who (in her own words from her website) is "an author, prophetic healing prayer minister, medical writer and most importantly- passionate follower of Jesus Christ." She is very unscientific and promotes Rife and other fringe treatments.

So, my take on this Summit is that is largely "alternative" medicine focused, and of that, much of it on the fringiest edges. Take Sally Schultz, MD. Her talk is on "Mitochondrial Dysfunction". Sounds quite topical with recent research in ME/CFS and potentially scientifically relevant to Lyme. But then I looked at her website. While she sounds like a fun and well-meaning person, her web-page presents something verging on ... well, you decide (those with training in mental health disciplines may have certain labels) -http://www.flourishingfullylymesecrets.com).

So, no, this Summit is not for me. Doesn't mean it's not in someone else' interest.

 

[sarah darwins]

While she sounds like a fun and well-meaning person, her web-page presents something verging on ... well, you decide (those with training in mental health disciplines may have certain labels) -http://www.flourishingfullylymesecrets.com).

Oh, boy. I mean, I try to be open-minded, but ... oh, boy.

 

[Vitalic]

So if what you have been doing has not been working and you are ready to Think Outside The Box and tap into 21st century Quantum Physics and other techniques

I hereby propose a new variant of Godwin's Law but for alternative medicine, something along the lines of: "as you travel further into the world of alternative medicine the probability of a reference or appeal to quantum mechanics approaches 1".

It does aggravate me though, I mean it's just such a bore, is there any other disease that is subject to so much bogus pseudoscience? I mean there is no shortage of it when it comes to ME/CFS but it almost leaves me with a kind of begrudging respect for the BPS advocates because at least they don't appeal to the supernatural or to knowledge that they could not possibly have. They are wrong and probably doing much greater overall harm than the charlatans that try to exploit Lyme patients, but at least they have the decency to operate with a veneer of scientific credibility/plausibiility, rather than "I am trained in Shamanism and understand quantum physics better than Richard Feynman". This is indistinguishable from self-parody.