Friday, April 20, 2018

Aggression treated with rabid dog's saliva


At first I asked if this was from The Onion, because honestly after reading I wasn’t sure.



But no, Dr. Zimmerman is really a naturopath and, well, this is how she summarized the problem…

This is a 4-year-old boy who is suffering from an inability to fall asleep at night, a fear of the dark, of wolves, werewolves, ghosts and zombies and who frequently hides under tables and growls at people. He is overly excitable and has a tendency to defiance. He was normal as a baby, not affected by sleep or temper problems.

It is clearly a great business model to medicalize the fear of monsters, excitability, and defiance in 4-year-olds, either that or developmental pediatrics is not a subject taught in naturopathic schools. Maybe it would detract from Tinctures 101.

Dr. Zimmerman’s diagnosis was a previous bite from a dog recently vaccinated with rabies thus affecting “the boy with the rabies miasm.”

I am totally sure that was first on every pediatrician’s list as well.

I had to look up “miasm” because it sounded like a totally made up word. A miasma is “the ghost of the disease state still rampant in the energy system.” So it’s a word for a totally made up illness. Rabies is a killed virus, so I guess the ghost of rabies walks among those who have been vaccinated just looking to infect victims? That sounds more like a zombie, but perhaps I’m splitting hairs.

Also, that’s not how germ theory works, but whatever.

It actually gets worse as Dr. Zimmerman treated this terribly affected, yet normal 4-year old with a homeopathic remedy called lyssinum, which claims to be made from rabies, because obviously homeopathy treats like with like.

At first I thought, okay, she is some rogue homeopathy but, yeah, nope. HuffPost in Canada e-mailed the homeopathic board that oversees Dr. Zimmerman and as far as they are concerned DILUTE RABIES SALIVA IS A LEGIT HOMEOPATHIC TREATMENT.

The naturopathic board told HuffPost, “Lyssinum is not excluded from the pharmacopoeia for naturopathic doctors in B.C. Homeopathy, which includes the use of substances such as lyssinum, is a traditional modality with a long history in the naturopathic scope of practice; it is still used by some naturopathic doctors today.”

Health Canada also has this product under the names lyssin and hydrophobium (okay, that last one made me laugh a little).

So. Many. Questions.

Naturopaths who use this must believe that somewhere, at some point in time after 1895 some brave naturopath was able to get saliva from a rabid dog without getting rabies and then handle the virus safely to dilute it out of existence. Getting the virus would not have been impossible in those days, obvious Louis Pasteur and Edward Jenner were working with viruses that could have killed them without a level 2 biosafety lab, but then again they didn’t believe that the viruses could kill via ghost action.

Then there is the whole concept that you are claiming to have a pill or a tincture or whatever made from a virus with essentially a 100% mortality (there have been three known survivors). Obviously, the pills/tincture are placebo, but the idea is a bit disconcerting,

And of course the idea that you are treating a ghost illness with a zombie of a virus that has been diluted so much it doesn’t really exist.

This is so ridiculous it is offensive.

While no child is going to be harmed with this placebo therapy there is obviously the possibility there could have been a real medical condition that required therapy (And the waste of money).

The thing that bothers me the most though is naturopaths also push Lyssin/Lyssinium as a way to vaccinate animals against rabies. Put aside the idea that they believe the vaccination of a dog and the treatment of a child’s behavior requires the exact same medicine and just think about the damage that could be done if more people stop vaccinating their dogs and cats against rabies, a disease with essentially a 100% mortality that is also essentially 100% preventable.

This whole idea would be ridiculous if it were not so enraging.

https://drjengunter.wordpress.com/2018/04/15/naturopath-claims-to-treat-aggression-in-children-with-diluted-dog-rabies-saliva-no-really/

Courtesy of:  https://www.medpagetoday.com/washington-watch/washington-watch/72360

2 comments:

  1. From a colleague: I think I told you about my patient whose mother gave him dilute tarantula venom to treat his stereotypies?...

    Tarentula hispanica

    A creature that inspires fear in many people becomes, homeopathically, a powerful remedy, writes Marysia Kratimenos...

    The remedies

    Tarentula hispanica was the first spider venom to be potentised and since then many other venomous spiders have been investigated and used as homeopathic remedies.

    In the 19th century the search for new remedies was on and homeopaths travelled far and wide to collect new specimens. On a trip to Cuba, a specimen of the local venomous spider was collected and placed in a pot of formalin to be shipped back to England for further study. Unfortunately, due to a bad storm, the container shattered leaving the spider badly decomposed. In the adventurous spirit of the age, the homeopaths were not deterred and produced a wonderful remedy, Tarentula cubensis, which is fabulous for septic conditions!

    Tarentula hispanica remains the most commonly known of the spider remedies, but thanks to the work of such brilliant homeopaths as Massimo Mangialavori the remedy pictures of the lesser known spiders are now coming to light.

    Black widow, which has a heart shaped red mark on its front, is very useful in certain types of heart disease; Aranea diadema can be used in arthritis and Mygale for conditions where there is a lot of scarring and damage to nervous tissue. As the venoms of these spiders share common chemical constituents there are similarities in the drug pictures. There are also unique qualities to each remedy and these may be very subtle. I believe that it is important to regard Tarentula hispanica as the prototype of the spider remedies, just as Lachesis mutans is the mother of all snakes. Before prescribing Tarentula, I always mentally check the other smaller spider remedies. (continued)

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  2. (continued) Tarentula hispanica is the most dramatic of the spider remedies. All the spiders show restlessness and can be used for certain anxiety states and hyperactivity. In some cases there may be twitching of the muscles or even epilepsy. Keeping busy calms the person, hence the high-energy lifestyles. Often there are great fears, especially of death. Fear may underlie some of the aggression, which may be almost maniacal. There is a destructive quality to the anger. The women that slash their ex’s clothes may well need spider remedies.

    Case study

    Tim’s story demonstrates the Tarentula picture perfectly. His main complaint was hay fever, which had come on a couple of years previously. Each summer he would have a perpetually dripping nose and streaming eyes. The anti-histamines would dry up the secretions but left him drowsy. He worked as a drummer in an up and coming rock band and had a day job as a computer designer. He desperately wanted to find something else that would help him, as the anti­histamines meant an alcohol ban, which hardly fitted with his lifestyle. He was a hard drinker and smoked a lot in the evenings. Sometimes he’d stop for a while, when he got worried about his health.

    Tim was tall and very lean, dressed all in black, his preferred colour for clothes. He was very restless, his legs constantly moving. He had a real presence, something characteristic of the animal remedies in general. His health was good apart from the hay fever and occasional coughs. In the past he had suffered with acne, with large painful boils which had cleared with a course of antibiotics.

    His father suffered with mild asthma, but apart from that the rest of the family was healthy. His parents had divorced when he was in his early teens and he was very resentful of his father for leaving the family. When talking of this he showed his temper, which by his own admission was volcanic. He could and would explode with anger with little provocation and would fantasise about getting his own back when he was “provoked”.

    He was a very energetic person, almost “manic” as he called it. He detested being bored, “a fate worse than death”. He loved the rhythm of hard rock and music with a strong beat. He thrived on the hard work of combining a day job with his music career and found the music energised him. The physical activity of drumming made him very thirsty, and he didn’t have much of an appetite anyway. He drank huge quantities of water on stage to combat the dehydration. He loved fruit especially those with a sharp taste. He disliked meat.

    He had a partner, but didn’t live with her, as he needed his own space. He had a high sex drive. He didn’t need much sleep, enjoying the tranquillity of early morning as much as the late nights. He often dreamed of flying which he loved.

    He was sensitive to the weather, disliking cold, damp conditions. He preferred hot weather. He also was sensitive to atmospheres between people and the politics of the band, which he played to his advantage. He admitted he could be moody at times and found doing something energetic could lift his mood. He had a very quick mind able to juggle many tasks at once.

    Although hay fever is not a classical symptom of Tarentula hispanica, the overall picture of the remedy was so clear that I prescribed it on a constitutional level, 30c, 30c and 200c on the next three days. The effect was dramatic. His hay fever cleared within days and his craving for tobacco reduced. He felt calmer in himself and reduced his dependency on high-energy drinks, alcohol and coffee. His appetite increased and he began to eat more, still avoiding meat as it stuck in his throat. He also felt an abhorrence of eating dead animals. His energy remained high, but he lost the almost self-destructive urge to live hard (and die young!). He needed a repeat dose of the remedy a year or so later and has remained well since.

    https://www.britishhomeopathic.org/charity/how-we-can-help/articles/homeopathic-medicines/t/tarentula-hispanica/

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