Varun C. MD, DM Profile picture
Aug 15, 2020 11 tweets 7 min read Read on X
Tactics used by quacks to sell their pseudoscientific concepts and 🐍 oil:
1. Modern medicine has no cure for your condition.
- Ignores the fact that some disease is incurable/beyond cure. They advertise cure but though it's been around for centuries the claims are mostly bogus. Image
2. No side effects! Natural is better!
- Commonly used. My prof used to say: no side effect means no effect! If it does have any effect then there must be some side effect! Biggest myth that can easily be busted, numerous examples in threads by @drabbyphilips Image
3. But your allopathy is full of toxic chemicals!
- Everything is a chemical, even water! Many drugs we use are actually originally from natural sources! Fact is you are much more likely to find toxic lead, arsenic and heavy metals in homeo and Ayurvedic preparations. Image
4. Your symptoms getting worse means the treatment is working!
- Most used by homeo quacks "We're just bringing out the disease!" to signify some kind of exorcism? Most people can see through the charade at this point but some still fall for it. Don't be that fall-guy! Image
5. Big pharma wants to keep u sick so u keep taking their drugs for life!
- One good thing about modern pharma: Drugs are always tested in trials for even the remotest chance of major side effects, cancer risk, organ injury risk. Many drugs abandoned for this very reason. Image
6. Modern medicine has made so many mistakes costing people's lives!
- The only reason u get to read about these medical reversals is the scientific method being followed to constantly test what works and what doesn't. Ayurveda has hardly evolved in a thousand years! Image
7. There are secret ways to boost immunity and cure cancer and lifestyle diseases that they don't want u to know about!
- This is usually a segue to selling u their mumbo jumbo "natural cure" based on diet and vitamins.. only to 🏃 away when asked for evidence to back it up.. Image
8. Congrats, now u are "cured"!
- This is a sly tactic, they try to fool the patient by ordering a fake, inappropriate or non-sensitive test to give false reassurance. E.g. LFT in cirrhosis, echo in CAD, even CTs! When correct investigation done, lie is revealed. Image
9. Modern medicine fleeces patients!
- Alternative treatments can actually work out more expensive over time, though per treatment cost may look reasonable. But the bigger cost is lives lost due to delay in correct treatment, especially in cancer
academic.oup.com/jnci/article/1… Image

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More from @drcheruvarun

Apr 17, 2023
Q for #medtwitter #cardiotwitter :

How many have noticed ECG being taken by nurses/students with this chest lead placement?

I see it so often but still gets on my nerves everytime!

Just curious if this is a common phenomenon? Image
I am linking to am interesting article that shows that this lack of knowledge of accurate ECG lead placement extends even to cardiologists!
onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.111…

DM if u want pdf.. ImageImage
Read 6 tweets
Apr 12, 2023
Unfortunately the most inaccurate reading taken in a hospital is often the blood pressure. Nearly always guaranteed to be off.

Shown here are a few common errors made during BP measurement:

Can you spot them all?

There are at least 6 errors shown here.. answers in 2 hours. Image
Answers:
1. Back unsupported
2. Feet not planted on the floor
3. Cuff over shirt
4. Cuff too small for arm
5. Patient talking on phone
6. Patient's legs are crossed
7. Arm should be supported with cuff at heart level
Few more points to be remembered are all beautifully explained in this infographic 👇
Read 9 tweets
Mar 21, 2023
Short thread on what evidence means to us in medical field and why real doctors don't promote unproven and pseudoscientific Rx

Below is a classic example of a pseudoscience apologist who uses circular reasoning and appeals to ignorance to justify his stand against evidence 👇1/n
Let's break down his reasoning one-by-one and show why modern medicine gives so much importance to trials.

1) He states: "Absence of evidence is not evidence of absence" > This might be true except if after 1000s of years of tall claims, there is still absence of evidence 2/n
then that is telling. Trying to shift the burden of proof to absolve AYUSH proponents of responsibility is ludicrous to say the least.

e.g. If some folks believe that Elvis is still alive, then it's their prerogative to provide evidence for the same, not ours. 3/n
Read 8 tweets
May 30, 2021
So Dr. Reddy's has revealed the actual primary end point of their Phase 3 #2DG trial. They claim this was pre-specified and I guess we'll have to take their word 4 it.

But, wait a minute.. what was the +ve outcome they presented to DCGI? Was it time to 2 point improvement? 1/n
Umm, this sounds very different - they presented only proportion of patients with 1 point improvement at Day 3. Which if u recheck the last tweet, wasn't even one of their secondary end points! 2/n
What happened to all the other endpoints? Time to 2-pt imp, Time to reach pt 4, Time to pt 0, Time to negative PCR? What happened to these patients on Day 5, Day 7, Day 14??
Where is the test for statistical significance? Note that there is ZERO relevance of stating the RRR.. 3/n
Read 12 tweets
May 9, 2021
So, I suspect most don't really get what the big deal is in not reporting the primary outcome of a trial before commencing the trial, so here's a short #tweetorial..
So, let's say you're a competitor in a shooting contest, how do you measure your success? That's right - a target Image
Similarly, in clinical trials one starts with a target - aka primary endpoint. Generally this is the outcome of the trial you want to measure. These outcomes differ based on the kind of trial being planned. E.g. if we were planning a heart failure trial, some outcomes we might..
Read 14 tweets
May 7, 2021
Just leaving this here:
AYUSH 64 is an old formulation that was first tried in malaria and failed to show benefit compared to standard treatment. It was commercialised in 2014 by selling rights to Dabur and is being heavily promoted without any scientific evidence..
Abstract for the phase 2 trial in patients with Vivax malaria. No subsequent larger trials done.. Image
Reason why it's being repurposed for covid-19?
Simple: Helpless ministers don't have any idea what to do. They failed to arrange hospital beds or oxygen or ventilators or health capacity, so what else is left? You got it: promote pseudoscience BS.
Read 4 tweets

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