Everyone, it seems, has heard personal testimony about the amazing effectiveness of this or that "alternative" or "nontraditional" medication/supplement/healing technique.Unfortunately, that's all we get--anecdotes. Tests are rarely performed to discover if these substances or methods really do work.
Well, you may already know that anecdotal evidence is not the same as a double-blind test with control groups. Or you may have learned this to your sorrow when you used a form of alternative medicine that resulted in no improvement to your health, the worsening of your condition, or even the development of a new health problem. Remember the Chinese herbs that gave people liver damage? Or Laetrile, to mention just one of many fraudulent cancer cures? Or maybe you tried some homeopathic medication and simply discovered that it did nothing for you. You had nowhere to make a fuss, and the "medicine" didn't cost too terribly much, so you just threw it away quietly, without complaint.
We at Rocky Mountain Skeptics want to provide you, the person who had a bad experience with alternative/complementary medicine, with a forum where you can speak out against the product or service that wasted your time, money, and health. We are building up a body of anecdotal testimony--the primary kind of evidence beloved by proponents of alternative/complementary medicine, and therefore more believable to them than those dreaded scientific tests--to counter the outrageous claims made by herbalists, chiropractors, naturopaths, and other such "medical" personnel. We want you to tell the world about the problems you had from taking a particular herbal supplement, or from having mercury fillings unnecessarily removed, or from NOT having crucial surgery done.
We are especially interested in instances of health fraud; we want to hear about everything from AIDS treatments that didn't work to experiences in Mexican cancer clinics or other "health" organizations that raised your hopes, took your money, and left you no better off (or worse) than before.
PLEASE NOTE: We are not interested in testimonies, debates, or lectures about the efficacy of alternative/complementary medicine. Ours is a forum exclusively for the other side.
All data will be posted at this web site in the future. However, your testimony can be completely anonymous if you so choose. Remember, a word from you might prevent someone else from making a serious mistake!
Last updated: 9/15/00
Webmaster: Aviva Rothschild
Copyright Rocky Mountain Skeptics (RMS), 1998-2000.