Thread by @alexhaagaard

This applies for so many medical issues and treatments, too.

I don't advocate for plant medicines out of some "natural is better" belief, and there are massive benefits to using pharmaceuticals when you can.

But...there is so much that could be readily available...

https://twitter.com/stimmyskye/status/1414632006688911360

...but is rendered inaccessible because we are so thoroughly ingrained with the belief that self-medicine is dangerous.

And yes! It is! So is clinical medicine! I've had serious adverse drug reactions laughed out of the ER because "I've never heard of that happening"

I got berated for "disturbing everyone else in this ER with your screaming" after I was left on a gurney with a GI bleed for three hours.

But I'm supposed to desist from taking 1500mg/day of vitamin C to stabilize my mast cells because "we've had other patients take supplements and end up back here with bone marrow failure"

Dangers that originate from practices that challenge the authority of the clinic are validated as real.

And those that originate from practices endorsed by the clinic are dismissed.

Since at least 1322, when Jacoba Felicie was prosecuted in Paris for the unlicensed (but nonetheless effective) practice of medicine, the concept of safety has been weaponized to shut down practices that democratize the field of medicine.