Categories
Antivaccine nonsense Complementary and alternative medicine Homeopathy Humor Medicine Naturopathy Popular culture Quackery Television

America’s quack Dr. Oz asks people to ask him questions on Twitter. Hilariously, the results aren’t quite what he expected.

Ozgrilled

Getting old sucks. I had a relatively long and busy day in the operating room yesterday, the kind of day that not so long ago I’d handle with no problem. This time around, though, it wiped me out, to the point where not long after dinner I crashed. Hard. Then I woke up around midnight long enough to drag my sorry posterior upstairs to my bed. It happens. It’s just that it seems to be happening more often these days.

So it was that I missed one of the most amusing Twitter happenings that I’ve seen in a long time; that is; until I woke up again early this AM. Dr. Oz just got pwned on Twitter.

Companies and celebrities who try to get a Twitter hashtag trending often find that it backfires spectacularly. So it was when America’s quack, Dr. Mehmet Oz, tried something yesterday afternoon:


Given Dr. Oz’s bear hug embrace of quackery since he started his syndicated daytime television show, you can guess the outcome. After all, Dr. Oz has been known for promoting reiki, homeopathy, faith healing, and even the use of psychics as grief counsellors in episodes featuring the ultimate psychic scammers, John Edward and “Long Island Medium” Theresa Caputo. He even appears to be well on the road to becoming antivaccine, if he’s not already antivaccine. His wife, after all, is a reiki master and it’s clear from his past statements that she doesn’t let him vaccinate their children with the flu vaccine, at least. Who knows what other vaccines he detests? In any case, the responses to Dr. Oz’s heartfelt plea for questions for his show did not go well.

In fact, I used to think that the most hilarious thing that happened this year with respect to the good Dr. Oz was when he was given a well-deserved tongue-lashing by Senator Claire McCaskill over his promotion of dubious dietary supplements. His butt hurt was epic, and much earned. I could be wrong, but the Twitter beat down he’s been receiving since last night (and through which I blissfully slept) might just qualify, although it’s nowhere near as well-publicized. Yet. Let’s try to change that, because I think more fun is definitely indicated, and there are lots more ways this can go.

But first, let’s take a look at the most recent Tweets on the hashtag itself as of today:

Some of my favorite Tweets thus far include:

Indeed. Oz seems to like to advocate detoxifying fashionably.

Next up:

Heh. On the one hand, I haven’t seen Dr. Oz peddle any blatant cancer quackery. Oh, wait. Strike that. Although I don’t recall hearing any cancer quacks on his TV show, he did interview Stanislaw Burzynski on his radio show (and did a rather credulous job of it, too). Of course, I might not remember other incidents. I don’t watch Oz’s show every day, after all! I only become aware of the rank quackery through others telling me about it or my finding it online. Sometimes I see a commercial for the upcoming episodes of Oz’s show.

Still, I can’t resist including a few more of my favorites:

Indeed. I’ve wondered that myself on many occasion. Then:

This should be an easy one, given how often Oz talks about “melting your fat away”! Now, here’s one that’s been eating at my mind for a while now:

Indeed. How to choose? Are flavored coffees a good idea or not a good idea? For instance, do hazelnuts have healing properties? If so, then hazelnut coffee enemas ought to be awesome!

One doc in particular, Dr. Robert Lambert, really got into the spirit of the thing:

That last question is particularly appropriate.

However, perhaps the most pertinent question of all that I’ve seen so far is this one:

He won’t, but it would be awesome if he did. There are so many to choose from that you’ll just have to check it out for yourself. It’s quite possible I missed some even funnier ones.

In any case, I don’t think the fun’s over yet. Let’s see if we can get the #OzsInBox hashtag to trend with your own questions for Dr. Oz. Do me a solid, too. Post them in the comments in addition to on Twitter.

By Orac

Orac is the nom de blog of a humble surgeon/scientist who has an ego just big enough to delude himself that someone, somewhere might actually give a rodent's posterior about his copious verbal meanderings, but just barely small enough to admit to himself that few probably will. That surgeon is otherwise known as David Gorski.

That this particular surgeon has chosen his nom de blog based on a rather cranky and arrogant computer shaped like a clear box of blinking lights that he originally encountered when he became a fan of a 35 year old British SF television show whose special effects were renowned for their BBC/Doctor Who-style low budget look, but whose stories nonetheless resulted in some of the best, most innovative science fiction ever televised, should tell you nearly all that you need to know about Orac. (That, and the length of the preceding sentence.)

DISCLAIMER:: The various written meanderings here are the opinions of Orac and Orac alone, written on his own time. They should never be construed as representing the opinions of any other person or entity, especially Orac's cancer center, department of surgery, medical school, or university. Also note that Orac is nonpartisan; he is more than willing to criticize the statements of anyone, regardless of of political leanings, if that anyone advocates pseudoscience or quackery. Finally, medical commentary is not to be construed in any way as medical advice.

To contact Orac: [email protected]

133 replies on “America’s quack Dr. Oz asks people to ask him questions on Twitter. Hilariously, the results aren’t quite what he expected.”

As for the point raised by Orac’s last Tweet example, I have zero doubt Oz has a stable of “approved” Twitter followers who’ll toss beach-ball sized softball questions at him. *SIGH*

PieterB’s revelation of “The Spud” parody site in the last thread seems the perfect prequel to the Oz tweets. Some Spud-ism:

• Fire hydrant breaks, homeopaths rush to collect “free medicine”

• Gluten, vaccines and GMOs to be part of new cocktail for lethal injections

• Man didn’t have brain cancer until after MRI

• Secret documents leaked to The Spudd by a CDC whistleblower indicate fierce debate within the scientific community on exactly how to rename Ebola to make it appear as if the vaccine was effective. Suggestions have ranged from the mundane, such as African Fever, to the highly imaginative, such as Bleed Out of Every Orifice Until You Die Syndrome (BOEOUYDS

It appears people are posting to both #ozsinbox and #ozinbox. Is he monitoring both?

(If you google,’ Dr Oz’s house in Cliffside Park’, you can see his palace on the cliffs)

I’d ask him how he could afford that on a surgeon’s salary.

I’d ask him who does his hair

and if I click my heels together three times and say ‘There’s no place like home”, will he disappear?

I have a couple of minutes waiting for the coffee to be ready.

Doula Dani: Is there an official @DrOz Halloween costume? Or does someone just dress in a suit and start quacking? #OzsInBox

@geekpharm
#OzsInbox Of all the quacks and charlatans you’ve interviewed over the years, which has been the most influential on your own practice?

@ackdoc: #OzsInbox Since installing your “Gluten Gone” filter on our water system, I am able to concentrate better at school! Thanks.

@ackdoc: #OzsInbox Since installing your “Gluten Gone” filter on our water system, I am able to concentrate better at school! Thanks.

@KFCConspiracy: @DrOz Can you confirm that you have found the perfect way to eliminate toxins, through your mouth, by spouting bullshit on TV? #OzsInbox

@zdoggmd #OzsInbox I ate a bowl of gluten for breakfast and noticed I’m red-green colorblind! Can u do a show on devastating gluten retinopathy?

‏@zdoggmd #OzsInbox Regarding clinical trials for some of the therapies you recommend, will the NIH actually fund placebo vs. placebo studies?

@zdoggmd #OzsInbox Re: your rap performance with Doug E. Fresh, was that the result of a STAT Vanilla Ice consult?

‏@zdoggmd Hey, don’t listen to the haters. You’re a pioneer and you’re awesome! Wait, this is #OzsInbox? I got it mixed up with #PaulOffitsInbox.

@zdoggmd A gift for #OzsInbox RT @yayayarndiva: Dr. House of Cards, Ep. 3 by @zdoggmd http://youtu.be/sSSppYchQbc more about Dr. Oz

‏@zdoggmd #OzsInbox When you’re doing an internal mammary artery bypass graft, does…crap, I forgot, you’re not a real doctor anymore, never mind!

‏@zdoggmd #OzsInbox I made a fan video for you: http://youtu.be/tvRzWUQQfIg Will you play it on your show? XXOOXXOO!

@zdoggmd #OzsInbox I used Reiki on my cat, and now she has only 8 lives left. Will green coffee bean extract get her down to 0?

I thought the Facebook lashing of the FoodBabe over her leaky-gut-inducing-laugh-fest article about the dangers of air travel from the day before couldn’t be topped. I was happily wrong. Here are some of my favorite #OzSinBox posts:

“Is it normal for one of my nipples to be larger than the other two?”

“Can you get N’Sync back together?”

“My Reiki practitioner has a prosthetic hand. Am I receiving proper dosage?”

I’m going to have to follow @doc_rob now. The burning! I hope it helps with Oz’s waist line.

I don’t do Twitter, so if anyone wants to tweet these, please do:

• Can you do a segment on how Reiki can induce demon possession?

• Why are you aiding Big Pharma by hiding the supplement cures you use for hairloss and ED?

• Can Reiki reliably produce a female orgasm? I need a miracle!

• Can I use Reiki to pleasure my boyfriend without having to actually touch Mr. Winky?

• You’re in NYC, but Glen Beck had 2 go 2 TX for a miracle cure? Why didn’t u help him? Are u some kind of commie?

• I’m scared of data vaccines. Do u have a supplement 2 cure NSA’s black-op computer virus? (asking for Sheryl Attkisson)

@DrOz How do we detox from DHMO given how bad it is? #OzsInbox dhmo.org
I have a twitter but I feel too lazy to open it. Haven’t checked it in like a year or so. Anyways, it would be hella funny if he felt in the DHMO “scam”. I hope he will sometime

Actually, scratch that.
@DrOz look at all the bad stuff about the main ingredient of homeopathy! dhmo.org how do we detox from that? and why would we trust homeopathy now? #OzsInbox
Now this seems better to me

So wait, ignorance on twitter is the basis to crack quacks? Only morons and skeptics jump on hashtag trending search. so what if Dr. Oz develops a faith practice to help empower people to take action? What are doctors and scientists doing? Other than creating propriertary drugs that kill 250k people a year? Get over it, Health and medicine is changing and its leaving the lab and entering the home. Oz knows this and is leading the charge. I’m tired of these science blogs with MDs claiming everything outside their 20 year medical degree being quack science. I was covered in psoriasis for 10 years swallowing methotrexate like candy that docs were feeding me while my liver turned into a brick. After 2 years of my own “quack practice” I have reversed and cured psoriasis and help thousands of others do it. These blogs are protective, egotistical and useless. #QuackorCrack

@MO’B

The official hashtag is #OzsInbox. I doubt he’ll see any of the #OzInbox tweets unless they include his account name.

Early this morning, it occurred to me that people were appropriately filling his inbox with his transgressions, since the hashtag capitalization could be changed to #OzSinBox. Unintended humor indeed.

I noticed it this morning as well. As it so happens, today is my one day off of the week. So I took to twitter and spit out a few at him as well.

My fave so far:

@derekhenkels #OzsInbox People seem to criticize you for promoting miracle cures. It seems to happen a lot. Why don’t you invent a miracle cure for that?

Also, although OzInBox is the wrong hashtag, it sounds like a great opportunity for a Dr Seuss pastiche.

Holy Mary and Joseph, I just visited the website of Oz. I will now embark on a path to become less wrinkled, less dry, less red, less sun-damaged and less toxic. I will become Benjamin Button.

“Matt” graces us with his cure for psoriasis….

“…..I’m tired of these science blogs with MDs claiming everything outside their 20 year medical degree being quack science. I was covered in psoriasis for 10 years swallowing methotrexate like candy that docs were feeding me while my liver turned into a brick. After 2 years of my own “quack practice” I have reversed and cured psoriasis and help thousands of others do it. These blogs are protective, egotistical and useless…..”

Care to explain to us what your cure for psoriasis is Matt?

Have you conducted clinical trials for that cure?

How about a link to the science journal where you published the results of those clinical trials?

so what if Dr. Oz develops a faith practice to help empower people to take action

Could you expand on this, please? How does it empower people to advocate for (or at least credulously discuss) various treatments that are known to not work?

Catherina+ScienceMom @justthevax · 2m 2 minutes ago
@DrOz Will you do a show correcting all of your false claims and those of the cranks and quacks you have featured? #OzsInbox

@Matt #16:

So wait, ignorance on twitter is the basis to crack quacks?

No, the basis lies in reality. Twitter is just a handy medium for taking the piss.

Catherina+ScienceMom ‏@justthevax 5m5 minutes ago
@ENERGYbits @DrOz Since Oz is so against toxins, why does he recommend algae that contain the dangerous toxin mycrocystin? #OzsInbox

I don’t do twitter, but if I did I ask “You abandoned a promising career as a respected surgeon to promote quackery on TV: what in hell were you thinking?

Get over it, Health and medicine is changing and its leaving the lab and entering the home

Oh, that is so 90’s. 1890’s, that is. Why is going back to “home remedies” considered progress?

You abandoned a promising career as a respected surgeon to promote quackery on TV: what in hell were you thinking?

I’m sure I know the two answers.
1. I (Dr. Oz) think I’m doing a lot of good by getting these discussions out in the open in front of a wide audience where people can hear all about things that might help them and be more able to make informed choices.
2. They waived a great big fat, check at me, and keep sending me bigger, fatter checks when my ratings go up.

@zdoggmd #OzsInbox I ate a bowl of gluten for breakfast and noticed I’m red-green colorblind! Can u do a show on devastating gluten retinopathy?

Liz Ditz’s cat is using Twitter?

@ Mephisophees O’Brien:

Perhaps he was thinking about that house on the cliffs. ( google DrOz’s house in Cliffside Park)

Maybe Oz became haemophobic like Doc Martin, but instead of retasking to primary care, Oz went to the dork side.

In considering the heavy sponsorship of all crap ‘TV’ by big pharma, I’d have to wonder if he’s not just playing the buffoon as another type of ‘pharma shill’ — You know, to make issues more easily lumped together for the otherwise easily misled viewing audience slavering voters.

Especially urgent is the need for effective public education, legislation and policies that limit or prevent prenatal exposure and reduce youth access to marijuana.

http://www.doctoroz.com/article/big-deal-about-marijuana-use?page=1

Hmm. ^^ That doesn’t seem to square so well with this:

“I grew up like most of my generation believing that marijuana was something Satan was throwing at Americans, a communist plot. But I think most of us have come around to the believe that marijuana is hugely beneficial when used correctly for medicinal purposes,” Oz said.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/05/14/dr-oz-medical-marijuana_n_5324393.html

Yet I still don’t see any “ask your doctor if cannabis is right for you” on these same networks. In fact, If one doctor is dropped over an inability to obtain a prescription for an innocuous sleep aid and another picked up and asked for a subscription for something like hydroxyzine then that individual seems opened up to a federal wrap for ‘doctor shopping’, these days.

That should be MEPHISTOPHELES
These Gaelic names always stump me.

I think it’s a kind of mosquito.

Gak. That quote should have included the first part:

Taken together, current research on the health risks associated with marijuana use warrant heightened public awareness, concern and action if we are to reduce the public health impact of current national trends toward further increasing access, availability, and use of marijuana, nationwide.

So much fun at the expense of such a deserving fellow! Twitter hasn’t been this hilarious since #tellvicevergthing (Canadian MP Vic Toews tried to trample on net privacy. The twitterverse erupted in an avalanche of “tell Vic everything”. 🙂

“so what if Dr. Oz develops a faith practice”

Hope you tweeted that exact sentiment in response to Dr. Oz, Matt.

That should be MEPHISTOPHELES
These Gaelic names always stump me.

I think it’s a kind of mosquito.

There’s a stump mosquito?

@Denice Walter

Perhaps he was thinking about that house on the cliffs.

You’ve got to be careful of those cliff dwellings. They can take a lot of maintenance to prevent erosion.

DW and HDB: You guys are too cute today. I hope Kit Marlowe’s reincarnation isn’t around.

There’s a stump mosquito?

Well, there’s the tree bole mosquito, Aedes triseriatus. Is that close enough? 😉 It’s best known as the vector for La Crosse Encephalitis.

What are doctors and scientists doing? Other than creating propriertary drugs that kill 250k people a year?

Yikes, it was only 106k last week. How is this huge increase in iatrogenic deaths resulting in continually increasing active life expectancy? Something doesn’t add up.

Get over it, Health and medicine is changing and its leaving the lab and entering the home.

We demand a DNA sequencer and a pharmaceutical R&D lab in every home, just like Mike Adams has.

“We demand a DNA sequencer and a pharmaceutical R&D lab in every home, just like Mike Adams has.”

Reminds me of a particularly annoying anti-vaccine troll who suggested “laboratory tests” should be done on each child after each vaccine administered.

(Odd) I questioned the troll about which tests should be done after each vaccination, and (s)he never replied.

@ Mephistopheles O’Brien:

Well, Chateau Oz is built on solid basalt which has withstood a bilion years and several market crashes so I imagine it’s in no danger of sliding into the waters.

Probably more Kitteh than Kit.
The ghost of T.S. will get you for that.

Über Namen:
Here s sean-nós singer Seosamh Ó hÉanaí to help you with how to pronounce Sadhbh Ni Bhruinneallaigh

I don’t tweet so would some kind person please submit these:

What are hazmat procedures for post-Healing Touch negative energy?

and

How to determine if a healing touch practitioner acted with non-healing intent?

and

why are you providing WAAAAY TMI in your stupid vanity rag ‘The Good Life”

@Sisu831: @DrOz If you need cardiac surgery, will you let @thefoodbabe operate on you? #OzsInbox

@Spinney_: When you had Mike Adams on your show you performed a colonoscopy with your face. Did you learn this in ‘actual’ medical school? #ozsinbox [and, yes, I know your turned that masterful phrase, Orac -PB]

@Spinney_: What has killed more people this year, Mercola or Ebola? #OzsInbox

@AndrewDKeen: @DrOz Where can I buy gluten-free snake oil? #ozsinbox

Here s sean-nós singer Seosamh Ó hÉanaí to help you with how to pronounce Sadhbh Ni Bhruinneallaigh

I am reminded that I still have a cassette of some of these (not the Dillon).

They’re surprising to the neophyte and, with small N, devastatingly hilarious to the beshroomed.

So Dr. Oz deserves to be humiliated and have his career tarnished by you idiots because he’s a cardiac surgeon who believes in holistic and natural health care which is the way that the health care system is headed? Try not being ignorant and actually researching the shit you think makes him such a “quack.”

This is overkill – anyone who still believes in Oz deserves him. But you wrote ‘credulous’ when you meant ‘credible’. Unless you were being obscurely ironic.

The best part of this article was when I realized that I wasn’t reading the cherry-picked list of funny tweets but the live feed. The live ones are all so perfectly zinging Oz that I seriously assumed it to be a prepared selection.

Hey Orac,

You’re a fucking asshole.

I have actually healed an inflamed colon that left blood in my stool by Dr. Oz’s “quackery” methods when conventional medicine didn’t have a fucking clue what to do after colonoscopies and experimenting treatments.

While you guys are smugly sitting with one thumb up your ass and sucking on the other, some people have the balls to step outside the box, explore and guide. Many of the greatest inventors and icons who changed history where ridiculed by their peers.

Sorry to see you are such a peer.

Allow me to stoop to your level; go fuck yourself.

K

So Dr. Oz deserves to be humiliated and have his career tarnished

That ship has long since sailed.

Can someone please enlighten me and point me in the direction where proof that any of this “quackery” is wrong/false/untrue?

Feel free to pick anything of your choice.

Yes, that was a bogus study by a bad company with a bogus product and was rightfully pulled. HOWEVER, it is still a fact, although cannot be claimed from that specific company that tried to cash in on a certain product, that coffee beans to work to improve weight loss.

Dr. Oz failed here by letting himself be guided by promotion and endorsements most likely ushered by his team. Regardless, he has to take the fall.

Kristian,

Where are the well designed placebo controlled double blinded studies that prove green coffee bean weight loss pills do anything at all, my ch less help with weight loss? You asked for proof but you provide none yourself, when can we expect a paper on curing blood in the stool/ inflamed colon by non traditional therapies from you?

Damn still no edit comment function! My iPhone autocorrected “much” to “my ch”.

Kristian and Matt have gone all silent on the details of their miracle cures. At least they clutched their pearls and stuck the flounce with gusto and a hearty GFY.

Not the numbers that that bogus company claimed, but nonetheless, the blind study showed progression:

http://www.todaysdietitian.com/newarchives/010614p58.shtml

“The meta-analysis of these three trials revealed a decrease of almost 5 lbs in body weight for individuals who received green coffee bean extract compared with placebo (a moderate effect). The study authors, however, remained cautious regarding the extract’s potential as a weight-loss supplement, noting major methodological limitations in the clinical trials done to date. These trials, they noted, were heterogeneous, consisted of very small sample sizes (the total number of participants was approximately 150 among the three studies), and short in duration, which makes drawing conclusions about the long-term efficacy of the extract imprudent.”

My cure for my colon inflammation was first attempted treated by my doctor with steroids after my colonoscopy showed three inflamed bulges, but the biopsies didn’t show any danger.
My doctor couldn’t figure out the cause, or promise the steroids would help, but he thought he would give it a shot since he just gave it to his previous patient. So he’s pretty much fumbling in the dark.

After a year of that, I went to a naturopath who took a sample of my blood which we sent by special overnight delivery to a lab that showed my food sensitivities. I went on his prescribed diet for 6 weeks and was cured. I now live symptom free but understand that certain food will be a problem to me (eggs, almonds), so when I do eat my ‘problem’ foods, I just have to be aware not to eat it too much the following days, but I don’t have to avoid them.

This was a result from tips and advices I first gained from Dr Oz by random chance watching his show.

After a year of that, I went to a naturopath who took a sample of my blood which we sent by special overnight delivery to a lab that showed my food sensitivities….

This was a result from tips and advices I first gained from Dr Oz by random chance watching his show.

I don’t think that amounts to the persuasive testimonial that you seem to have had in mind.

If that doesn’t, what does?

My situation was clear. And so was the solution. Maybe ask a friend or family member to read it out loud to you.

But Im glad to see you successfully mastered the task of ‘copy and paste’! Good job, keep it up!!

Wait a second….

My cure for my colon inflammation was first attempted treated by my doctor with steroids after my colonoscopy showed three inflamed bulges, but the biopsies didn’t show any danger….

I went on his prescribed diet for 6 weeks and was cured.

You had diverticulitis and were “cured” in six weeks? Have the diverticula gone someplace?

My situation was clear. And so was the solution.

You seem to be having some trouble with this “causation” thing. Your “solution” wasn’t “clear” at all, which is why you had to resort to *koff* “specialty” “blood tests.” And now, you’re asserting… what? That if it weren’t for Dr. Oz, you never would have found a naturopath who held the cure for diverticulitis, which for G-d only knows what reason, required a song and dance involving some mystery lab? Have you inquired whether there would have been some different diet cure for the same ailment had the “blood tests” come back “different”?

There was no singing and dancing. I was bleeding out of my asshole.

Wow, you are more ignorant than you first appeared.

Here is your “koff” (actually spelled “cough”) “specialty blood test mystery lab”.
http://rmalab.com/medical-laboratory-tests/allergy/igg-food-allergy

Your ignorance to this puts this whole blog to shame and shows me just how uneducated you are. There won’t need to be further response from me as I am obviously chatting with an ape.
The “causation thing” was a trouble for the doctors as well apparently. My general practitioner nor my colonoscopy doctors could name it diverticulitis.

“Have you inquired whether there would have been some different diet cure for the same ailment had the “blood tests” come back “different”?”
– Why would I when it worked the first time?

Maybe I would have found a naturopath without Dr. Oz’ help, but that doesn’t mean we can discredit him and his work based on an episode of poor judgment on a sponsor.

I just find it mind boggling that some of you discredit all of this when you have such little experience and knowledge.

Regardless of what you have to say, here’s your so-called mystery:

I had an ailment that the doctors couldn’t figure out or fix for a year.
But a singing and dancing practitioner did within two months.

Maybe you should take up dancing and music lessons.

Here is your “koff” (actually spelled “cough”) “specialty blood test mystery lab”.

Yup (PDF).

There won’t need to be further response from me as I am obviously chatting with an ape.

How long would you say it was between this attempted kiss-off and #71?

My motto: Better living through modern chemistry. Of course, homeopathic remedies such as opium, marijuana, and others have an historic record for successfully treating a lot of ailments……

kristian,

I had an ailment that the doctors couldn’t figure out or fix for a year.
But a singing and dancing practitioner did within two months.

Here’s how I see it: you had an ailment that resolved after 14 months. You don’t know if it resolved spontaneously or if your change in diet was responsible. Doctors were honest and told you they didn’t know what the cause was. A naturopath ordered a bogus food allergy test that presumably cost several hundred dollars and diagnosed a food allergy that you almost certainly do not have.

You assumed that any changes in your condition were due to the change in diet you were told to follow, the post hoc fallacy in action. Now you are attacking others because they refuse to be fooled by the cognitive biases that you have fallen prey to.

@sadmar As no one has yet shared your wisdom with the Twitterverse, I pitched in. Hope that’s okay.

This is the most fun I’ve had since #askJenny

Your ignorance to this puts this whole blog to shame and shows me just how uneducated you are. There won’t need to be further response from me as I am obviously chatting with an ape.

Yet you’re the one snookered by a completely bogus test and “practitioner”.

I have actually healed an inflamed colon that left blood in my stool by Dr. Oz’s “quackery”

Hemorrhoid and diverticular bleeds can resolve spontaneously, and it can help to change your diet to decrease constipation. You didn’t really need a quack, but I suppose that is difficult to admit since you trusted Oz then paid for one.

Would one drop of homeopathic medicine in the ocean be diluted enough for everyone who goes swimming to get the proper dosage? #OzsInbox

homeopathic remedies such as opium, marijuana, and others have an historic record

Oh for the love of G…

You are confusing herbal remedies with homeopathy.
The former use plant extracts.
The latter pick up something, and then dilute it down until nothing remains, and then sell it to you.

Will you people stop stealing mainstream medicine successes and claim them as your own?

@Kayla

Try not being ignorant and actually researching the shit you think makes him such a “quack.”

Um, we have researched the “shit”. That’s why we think he’s a quack.

@Narad

Did you notice in that PDF that the lab suggests “homeopathic drainage” if post-provocation testing shows elevated levels of “toxins”?

Don ‘t twitter, but if anybody thinks this is worthy, feel free to toss it on the fire:

Dr. Oz, my cat just drowned. Since the theory of homeopathy states that you can effect a cure by administering an diluted version of what is harming you, I need to know how many times I should dilute some water before giving it to my cat. Please hurry, it’s summer here and we’re running out of ice.

Completely irrelevant of course, but k’s lab is conveniently located half a kilometre south of the jail and, as the raven flies (the crows having left for warmer climes), about 1.6 km from the public entrance to the dump. I have to make a run to the dollar store a couple of blocks from there today. Maybe I should pop in and ask for a tour.
I note that all local “professionals” found with their find-a-pro feature are NDs or chiroquacks. It may be that real doctors are not allowed to list with such places.

And in a box over on the right-hand column we always ignore, a Google Ads box depicting what looks like a handful of shiny white maggots and the text “EAT THIS, NEVER DIET AGAIN — See why millions are praising this as the ‘Holy Grail’ of weight loss… [Continue]”

…and those are the ads that support THIS site.

Have you guys considered not selling snake oil HERE?

@Narad

I *think* Washington (state) has a law where an individual may order up his own bloodwork. I *think* it is from any lab the individual chooses.

{gooble is polluted with dui links and those ‘questionable’ labwork sites — Perhaps, you could verify this ‘law’??}

I am not a fan of Dr Oz, nor do I watch his show. However I find it truly fascinating that for majority of these comments, people are so against home remedies and so eager and supportive of pharmaceutical intervention. Do you ever listen to the information they spew at you at the end of the commercials. All the side effects. You seriously trust pharmaceutical companies to do the best thing for you. They want your money. Flu shots are kind of a joke for most. It does not protect from all flu just specific strands, but lets go ahead and inject our body with something we have no idea what is in it. I believe certain things like cancer, smaller things like strep and such requires more than home remedies. But we can not medicate for everything,

@Laszlo Xalieri

Orac doesn’t really have any control over the ads. IIRC, they’re driven by keywords, so it’s not unusual to see, for example, homeopathy ads on an article ripping apart homeopathy.

I’ve asked a handful, so here goes.

#OzsInbox, if I happen to get raped by @BillCosby, is there some obscure potion you can suggest I take in lieu of the Morning After Pill?— The Vampire Relics (@Vampire_Relics) November 13, 2014

#OzsInbox how’s that magic anti-Ebola tonic working out? We all know you’re waiting for the right moment for the Big Reveal! #quack— The Vampire Relics (@Vampire_Relics) November 13, 2014

@DrOz , were you inspired to become a famous charlatan by the video for ‘Say Say Say’? http://t.co/FmZU68xAAH #OzsInbox #medicineshow #fake— The Vampire Relics (@Vampire_Relics) November 13, 2014

@AndySchaul @DrOz @katelovesart11 Here’s my contribution. #ebola #conman #quack #OzinBox #Ozsinbox #fake #liar pic.twitter.com/QCrRh9gVJg— The Vampire Relics (@Vampire_Relics) November 13, 2014

The last two aren’t questions so much as sarcastic statements.

Visit #OzsInbox , 'cos it will cure you of all your ills & woes.Promise! Link, just in case: https://t.co/jaLSF6wzoZ pic.twitter.com/STnnqWhL3n— The Vampire Relics (@Vampire_Relics) November 13, 2014

The US needs a mental enema 4 making grifters @Theresacaputo & @DrOz rich while ppl starve on the streets. #OzsInbox #psychicmedium #fake— The Vampire Relics (@Vampire_Relics) November 13, 2014

Sorry about the mess above. I didn’t realise you couldn’t imbed posts here.

Personally, I think it’s actually good to have the ads appearing next to these articles. It’s probably the only time someone will see those ads and actually get decent information about what they’re selling. Also, it amuses me to know they’re paying for ads being delivered to *precisely* the wrong readers. 😉

Have you guys considered not selling snake oil HERE?

The site’s operators don’t have much control over which advertisement are going to be displayed by GoogleAds or the like.
These ads are actually driven by a mix of keywords from the posts and inference from past web surfing (and on top of this, easily tracking you from home computer to work computer, which could be embarrassing at time – I swear, I don’t play WoW in my lab).

Since most regulars here aren’t part of the customer’s base for snake oil, I guess these ads are wasted on us.
In other words, by advertising here, snake oil peddlers are wasting money on us. I’m fine with this.

Dr. Oz: Is it correct homeopathic procedure to dilute 100 microgrammes of LSD in one gramme of water and succuss the vial on a copy of _The Tibetan Book of the Dead_, or should I use a copy of Ram Dass’ _Be Here Now_?

Re. Matt @ 16: “Health and medicine is changing and its leaving the lab and entering the home.” Right, then can you tell me how to set up the mirrors correctly to perform brain surgery on myself? Also, can you recommend a brand of whiskey to use as an anaesthetic for the procedure?

—-

Seriously though: How about this: “Dr. Oz, we love you but we detest the quackadoodle humbug you’ve been peddling of late. If you stick to science-based medicine, we’ll actually start watching again, and we’ll tell all our friends.”

With enough of those, he might take the hint. Plus or minus losing his wife along the way, unless he can persuade her to give up magical hand-waving in favor of, oh I don’t know, maybe epidemiology or something?

Or you fucking morons could just stop watching and tweeting to him, so he falls out of the spotlight. It’s not enough for someone to be wrong in this country, we all have to nag and talk shit on top of it. I bet most of the tweets were from people who watched his show then got burned when they realized he was wrong about things. So you people are idiots for believing him, and even bigger idiots now for calling him an idiot.

Telly:
“However I find it truly fascinating that for majority of these comments, people are so against home remedies and so eager and supportive of pharmaceutical intervention”

Imagine that, people who accept the truths science reveals are opposed to things which don’t work and support things which do. Who’d of thunk, eh?

“Do you ever listen to the information they spew at you at the end of the commercials. All the side effects.”

Yes, effective drugs have side effects. Water, which is all homeopathic products are (except the ones which are just sugar/chalk) does not have side effects, this is true. It also is entirely ineffective. Just like all the other snake oil “home remedies” Oz and the rest of the CAM crowd promote.

” You seriously trust pharmaceutical companies to do the best thing for you.”

Nope, that is why we have an FDA and why I don’t go to Pfizer to get my prescription, I go to a doctor, who has at least some sense of which drugs will most help resolve my issues.

” They want your money. ”

You think Oz, et al. don’t? You think everyone selling peppermint oil at $100 a gram claiming it cures ebola is doing it for any reason other than to take your money? You think people selling water as if it was a medicine are doing it for any reason other than to take your money?

“Flu shots are kind of a joke for most. It does not protect from all flu just specific strands”

You miss the bit where you specify that those specific strands are the strands you are most likely to encounter. Also, no one got any of my money when I got a flu shot, I paid $0 for it.

“but lets go ahead and inject our body with something we have no idea what is in it.”

Umm, any pharmaceutical we know precisely what is in it, because these things are strictly regulated. Whereas your “home remedies” are not so regulated and can contain anything they want to contain, including all kinds of potentially harmful contaminating products.

” I believe certain things like cancer, smaller things like strep and such requires more than home remedies. ”

Well that puts you ahead of the curve of people who make claims like you did above.

“But we can not medicate for everything,”

We should medicate for everything we have a medication for where the benefits outweigh the costs. That is a fairly straightforward position, one which even a monkey could follow.

@DrOz #OzsInbox So, no psychics forewarned you of the impending disaster that is #OzsInbox ? That’s got to hurt. Take a pill or 12.

@Calli Arcale – I guess you could say the ads are themselves homeopathic-little doses of bullshit to counteract its toxic effects. In that case, quite appropos here!

…and those are the ads that support THIS site.

There are still people who don’t block ads?

However I find it truly fascinating that for majority of these comments, people are so against home remedies and so eager and supportive of pharmaceutical intervention.

Hardly surprising , given that the developers of pharmaceuticals must demonstrate their products are both appropriately safe and effective before orffering the product for sale while the purveyors/promoters of home remedies not only do not have to do the same but demonstrably promote/provide home remedies that are unsafe and/or ineffective (MMS or Black Salve, anyone?)

Do you ever listen to the information they spew at you at the end of the commercials. All the side effects.

Yes—and how do we know that those side effects are associated with the drug? Because their developers are required by law to identify and disclose side effects before before receiving marketing approval. Promoters of home remedies need do neither.

You seriously trust pharmaceutical companies to do the best thing for you.

But I don’t ned to simply trust them: public health agencies like the FDA in the US and the EMEA in Europe require drug developers to perform extensive pre-clinical and clinical testing and provide the results to these agencies for review, before receiving approval for sales. Needless to say, those offering home remedies need not do the same—they’re the ones demanding one simply trust that their claims are valid.

They want your money.

And people like Mercola do not?

Flu shots are kind of a` joke for most. It does not protect from all flu just specific strands,

So your criticism is that flu shots only protect against the infectious diseases they are intended to protect against? Do you also believe that smoke detectors are kind of a joke because they don’t provide warning of earthquakes, floods, avalanches and civil unrest?

but lets go ahead and inject our body with something we have no idea what is in it.

That information is readily available in the package inserts the FDA etc. require be included with every pharmaceutical.

I believe certain things like cancer, smaller things like strep and such requires more than home remedies.

Which things do you believe require nothing more than home remedies—we’re not talking about a list including only self-limiting illnesses and injuries, I trust?

But we can not medicate for everything,

And we don’t: we only medicate when there’s evidence demonstrating doing so will be both safe and effective.

So Dr. Oz deserves to be humiliated and have his career tarnished

Well, you’re right. He deserves more than that, but we can’t give him cancer and then prevent him from getting real treatment, the way his advice is preventing his followers from getting real treatment.

I mean, first off, we can’t give him the cancer. And second, he’s probably actually smart enough to know that radiation and chemo do a better job on cancer than almond seed extract.

I have your back Dr. Oz because modern medicine is quackery. The foundation of modern medicine is founded on war crimes Hitler and Japan used on our troops during WW 2. If these nuts had done any research they would know that seeing a doctor is the third leading cause of death in the U.S. Billions of people are stating that modern medicine will be responsible for the genocide of all human life on earth. Worldly wisdom is better than listening to one nut at a time.

Horribly unprofessional article. “Who knows what other vaccines he detests?” and “butt hurt” ? Seriously? This is the website of reason? I think he’s a charleton, but to convince others, you must be a bit more professional. If that is your goal. Perhaps it is not.

Really, Steve, according to the WHO it’s not even in the top ten. Plus I doubt that billions of people are stating anything, much less that line of BS.

I wonder if the crazies posting here are the quackery equivalent to the 50 Cent Party. Somehow I think they’re actually crazy and posting for free.

Horribly unprofessional article. “Who knows what other vaccines he detests?” and “butt hurt” ? Seriously? This is the website of reason? I think he’s a charleton, but to convince others, you must be a bit more professional. If that is your goal. Perhaps it is not.

What is it with all the concern trolls coming out of the woodwork today? First AH shows up clutching his pearls because I criticized the Catholic bishops in Kenya for spreading dangerous antivaccine misinformation. Now Frank shows up on this thread, which was clearly meant to be facetious. It’s gotten seriously tedious.

Frank, if you’re still here, I suggest you click some of the links I provided to back up my claims about Oz. Some of those posts might be less offensive for you. If you still feel the urge to clutch your pearls after reading, then this is just not the blog for you.

By Post Author

Ha! Frank misspelled “charleston”.

Maybe Oz is one of those singing dancing naturopaths that cured kristian’s colitis (on another thread).

Dr. OZ. Can you recommend something to help me enhance my G spot? Ive been trying the coffee enemas but I can only get up to a C. On a good day I might reach a D. Would caffenated coffee help as I’m trying to cut down.

This twitter feed is just the gift that keeps on giving. I read out some of these tweets to my friend yesterday and had a big chuckle. I just wish that 90% of my family didn’t love Dr. Oz so much.

I have your back Dr. Oz
Dr Oz’s relief and gratitude must know no bounds.

To Kristan above – painless bright red rectal bleeding is usually internal hemorrhoids. I know from experience. Mine bleed spontaneously off and on, but if I get constipated or if I have diarrhea then they act up badly. I also have diverticulosis, and had two fecal impactions in one year. All of this before age 35 so age wasn’t so much a factor. You don’t need a quacky food intolerance test to help you out. The GI doc I saw was quite straightforward in saying that many of the foods they used to recommend avoiding (nuts, seeds, popcorn) had no basis so to eat what I like. She did recommend a stool softener for constipation (OTC) lots of water, and follow ups for pain or excessive bleeding. No problems with them beyond routine even with my first pregnancy. Hopefully my luck will continue to hold with the second.

She did recommend a stool softener for constipation (OTC) lots of water, and follow ups for pain or excessive bleeding.

Hmmm…maybe we’ve finally found something homepathy is good for.

Gerry Lennox @NGLennox · 2m 2 minutes ago
What homeopathic remedy do you recommend for utter public ridicule of a one-time professional? #OzsInbox

For whomever it was way up there spouting about his rectal bleeding, diarrhoea, pain, etc, and that he was ‘cured’ by natural doctors and that blood test for allergies. I developed ulcerative proctitis during my second pregnancy. At the maternity clinic where I live, the doctors wrote off my complaints as hemorrhoids. Using the wipes and creams did nadda, it obviously was not that. Suffering many embarrassing moments due to the condition, a lot of frustration, did I turn to ‘natural medicine’? Nope. After my son was born, I got a referral to a gastroenterologist, got a colonoscopy and a diagnosis. Went on meds and was monitored. In the 4 years since have had only 2 minor relapses. You have a choice to seek out other medical doctors to get second opinions. Note I said medical doctors.
As for that blood test for allergies. Funny enough, I was looking into that versus patch testing for my dog. Looking at the blood test one, the research I pulled up showed that it cannot tell you at all what a person or animal can be allergic to specifically (ex: eggs, dairy and so on) and that it actually has problems with showing proof of allergies at all. When they did testing of blood samples of animals with no allergies against animals with allergies, both were testing positive. The conclusions drawn across the board is that these blood tests for allergies are a waste of money and cannot tell you about anything specific, or even positively tell you if a person or animal has allergies at all.
And this is a test naturopaths are touting??? No wonder they get skewered regularly by SBM and actual doctors. Tell me, did that naturopath try to sell you on a hair sample test as well to assess your health and body deficiencies as well???

It’s perhaps worth noting that there are legitimate blood tests for allergies. Tests that look at specific IgE antibodies, for example, can identify IgE mediated allergies, of the sort that cause anaphylaxis and hay fever. It’s the IgG tests, and even wackier tests (see below), that are bogus. There may be allergies, or intolerances that are mediated other than through IgE, but it’s far from clear, except in the case of disorders like celiac and lactose intolerance (which isn’t really a disorder, since most humans have it).

Some years ago a friend of mine and his wife were given a session at a quack allergy clinic as a gift. Afterwards they told me they were wired up to a machine that went beep, and the electrical resistance of their acupuncture points was monitored while a person in a white coat waved various allergens about (or something like that). On the basis of this they were given a list of foods to avoid, which they were quite excited about, expecting a huge boost in their health (of course I tried to tell them). After a few months of serious inconvenience and expense they had noticed no changes at all in their health, of course, and sheepishly forgot all about it.

The existence of machines like this that simply don’t work fascinates me, for some reason. Here’s a fantastic business opportunity to buy a machine that goes beep but is otherwise utterly useless, for a mere £3,550 (about $5,000). “Earning potential is dependent on the number of days worked, but average earnings are between £180 – £240 per day”. Shameless.

@Krebiozen, ah, I remember those ‘diagnostic’ machines that go beep. They could also, amazingly, cure whatever the beep ‘found’. I cannot remember what this particular one was called, but someone I knew was sucked into buying one and taking the course for using it. It had a wire that went around the wrist and could detect any and all ailments, and cure them. For about $7000 for the machine, more for the course. The promos for it touted pro soccer teams used it. Never mentioned which ones though.
It never ceases to amaze me what the world of quackery comes up with. I once had an email arguement with a guy selling himalayan salt lamps. His website touted that scientific studies showed that blah blah blah, yet never linked to any. He then stated that physicists, chemists and biologists raved about and used them. But never named any. Then he tried to get into a very poor understanding of physics in how the ‘heat and convection’ that those lamps created would purify an entire room, and have a significant effect on the ions. Then denied scientific hypothesis and theory as real. I just….it was an interesting exchange. I demanded proof of the claims on his website, he gave me anecdotes, told me to google german sites…I did…I found one maybe, horrid quack claim. Then he accused big pharma for repression of research because no patentability and well…little ol’ alternative medicine just doesn’t have the funds. I gave up then, the depth of complete ignorance on the purveyor/actual holistic practioner was just too much. I was going to pop a vein from aggravation.

Flu vaccines for children? what are you thinking of? You will be taking a vaccine for split ends next.

Can you be so kind as to tell me how to help a person that suffers with severe vertigo all the time? Please tell me what you might know, or where I can find help? Thank you so much, Dorthy Heller

Flu vaccines for children? what are you thinking of? You will be taking a vaccine for split ends next.

Show us any year, any year EVER, when the pediatric death toll from flu has been zero, like the death toll of split ends, and you will have the bare beginnings of the glimmering of a point.

Until then, you’re a loathesome toad whose unconcern for the deaths of children is grotesque. Split ends – ha ha, indeed. Perhaps you should share your wit with the parents of an infant in the ICU with a VPD, with the proviso of course that if the parent doesn’t find your wit as funny as you do, they get to nutkick you.

@Dorthy Heller – I am not an expert, so my advice would be to consult with an expert. Start with a doctor in general practice such as an internist and, if necessary, move on to an otolaryngologist or neurologist as seems appropriate. My wife suffered from vertigo for a while and was successfully treated with a combination of medicine and physical therapy. Good luck.

[…] America’s quack Dr. Oz asks people to ask him questions … – 12/11/2014 · Given Dr. Oz’s bear hug embrace of quackery since he started his syndicated daytime television show, you can guess the outcome. After all, Dr. Oz …… […]

[…] America’s quack Dr. Oz asks people to ask him questions … – 12/11/2014 · Given Dr. Oz’s bear hug embrace of quackery since he started his syndicated daytime television show, you can guess the outcome. After all, Dr. Oz has …… […]

[…] America’s quack Dr. Oz asks people to ask him questions … – 12/11/2014 · Given Dr. Oz’s bear hug embrace of quackery since he started his syndicated daytime television show, you can guess the outcome. After all, Dr. Oz …… […]

Comments are closed.

Discover more from RESPECTFUL INSOLENCE

Subscribe now to keep reading and get access to the full archive.

Continue reading