Posts by silverpuma542

I don't even need a ride; I’m perfectly capable of walking there myself. 😬
But honestly, I’ve ended up trekking back three separate times because of the exact same issue.

Back when I was just a teenager, I spent about six hours sitting in a Washington, D.C. hospital in the middle of the night all by myself. Once they actually decided to see me, they spent two whole hours meticulously poking and prodding before finally sending me on my way.
Then there was this smaller town hospital where they rushed me straight in—buried in a crowd of people—handled the "emergency" in fifteen minutes, and kicked me out without a single test result or follow-up instruction.
The next time I went to that same small-town facility, they actually had the nerve to imply everything was just "all in my head." Once I laid out the actual timeline of events, they suddenly realized there *was* an emergency, patched me up in fifteen minutes, and tossed me out again.

It cracked me up when I showed up at a Washington, D.C. ER at 3:00 AM with a different urgent issue, only for them to tell me I should have gone to a completely different ER on the other side of town.
In the end, nothing turned out to be life-threatening, but there was absolutely no way for me to know that the moment I walked through those doors.

I also remember being at the Klaić clinic with my college roommate. They started yelling at her for no reason at all, and she was such a terrified little sheep. After that, they spent three hours studying her, only to eventually realize exactly what was wrong—something I had figured out the second we left, mostly because I'm a huge fan of shows like House. To make matters worse, they wouldn't even tell us what the diagnosis was, claiming that, well, Jesus God, it involved private parts. 😳 Ever since then, I've been a bit skeptical of doctors. 😬 Oh, and one time I mentioned that something had happened exactly 26 and a half hours prior, and the doctor on duty looked absolutely stunned by my math skills; she spent forever trying to calculate the timing herself. That definitely added to my doubts. I mean, surely they can handle basic IV drip ratios, right? 🙂

I’m also just endlessly fascinated by the fact that in so many ERs, they are still hunched over those old-fashioned typewriters. 🙏

Eric Wright29 said:Honestly, there’s a much more straightforward way to handle this. If you’re currently a student, you should technically have a designated campus physician—someone you can just drop in to see for routine checkups whenever you need them. Once you identify which doctor is assigned to your specific university, they can actually issue you a referral for a specialist right there in the city where you're studying. It saves so much hassle.

Exactly! It becomes a whole lot easier when you visit the campus doctor and they explain that they aren't responsible for issuing certain referrals because they don't have your full medical history on file. At that point, they'll usually just advise you to properly transfer your medical records to a provider in the city where you're attending school.
👋

I haven't run into this personally, but I know plenty of people who have dealt with exactly that kind of headache.

Jesse Flores842 said:I feel a little ridiculous saying this, but here we go...
I’m dropping this post here in hopes that someone else has dealt with something similar—or better yet, exactly the same thing—so maybe we can actually trade some advice.
Moderators—if there’s already an existing thread for this, please feel free to merge it.

Over the last month—give or take a week—I’ve been having some serious issues with food. Or, to be more precise, I can’t even wrap my head around the idea of red meat. It’s completely off the table. At first, I genuinely thought maybe I was just feeling weak or that everything smelled off because I was pregnant (spoiler alert: I’m not), or perhaps my sense of taste and smell had just gone haywire from all the sugar (not the case either), or even that I was simply making things up in my own head (I am certainly not). I even considered if it might be a side effect of my diabetes medication—I actually brought the whole thing up with my endocrinologist, who ended up adjusting my prescription to something else entirely—but nope, none of those were the culprit.
I take a bite of meat—doesn't matter if it’s boiled, roasted, or grilled—and the taste is absolutely revolting; I can literally taste blood. 😕 The stench of rot—it’s getting even worse. 😕
Elon Musk—honestly, I haven’t changed a single thing about how I prep my meals, and I certainly don't go around buying "retro" or old-school products—so I truly don't get the confusion! Back home, everyone just eats perfectly normal food without all this fuss. It’s the exact same story no matter where I travel in America.
Exactly—it’s the same story when you're looking at deli ham.
I ended up sticking with the chicken, but even that’s starting to pick up a bit of a... questionable aroma.
Honestly, I don’t know what they’re doing differently over there lately—maybe it’s the soil, maybe it’s the season—but I have to say, the fruits and vegetables I've been getting lately have never tasted this incredible. It’s almost ridiculous how much better everything is.
Am I actually losing my marbles, or am I just being reasonable here? Should I be looking for a psychiatrist, or am I just completely off the deep end?

Much appreciated.

Could it just be some kind of upper respiratory infection? 🤷

Jonathan Miller7 said:Since you just claimed there’s nothing scientifically proven, I’d love it if you could provide a Reference.

A Reference proving something doesn't exist? 🙏 🙏
Seriously, go ahead—give me a scientific Reference proving that love potions aren't real.

Kimberly White63 said:Did anyone even ask me? 😁

Fasting alone doesn't actually achieve any kind of detox; if anything, you're just accumulating more toxins unless you're doing enemas (apologies if that sounds a bit much).

Ayurvedic cleansing protocols involve enemas and inducing vomiting as well (sorry, once again).

Hmm, you've really made me wonder if it would be a good idea to catch a little bout of dysentery at the start of every season...

Don't go handing them any cash; instead, just bring over a hot meal for your brothers, pick up some clothes for them, or maybe just cover the cost of their textbooks.

But wait, did nobody else catch what steelsurfer42 was getting at? He actually laid out two distinct ideas here. They could either be merged together, or—and this is what I'm leaning towards—they could be split up into their own dedicated categories, much like how we already have separate sections for things like Sports or IT.

bluemason3 said:. It’s just a relentless effort by certain individuals on the Natural Science boards to steamroll over the PDF crowd and force their own agenda onto us

Science = Ideology 😕

Spirituality and Religion definitely go hand in hand, and honestly, I wouldn't mind seeing an Alternative thrown into the mix too. Just my two cents!

My dentist isn't really my trigger because the waiting room is almost always empty. It’s the OB-GYN appointments that get to me—there's always a crowd of women all dealing with their own heavy issues, and I just start spiraling into these dark, worst-case scenarios until I feel like I'm dying inside. Plus, the sheer incompetence of certain nurses is a massive stressor; they give such vague instructions and seem way more concerned with their little administrative tasks than actually helping. Honestly, the whole system of taking numbers and booking appointments feels completely illogical, especially since they barely even touch a computer.

Oh, and I remember one time back in 2009 when I was in the ER... the surgeon was actually sitting there typing on a manual typewriter 😲! That honestly irritated me more than the entire eight-hour ordeal of sitting there, surrounded by blood, listening to people moaning in pain, waiting for test results, and just dealing with the reason I was there in the first place.

I also had this one experience at an X-ray clinic where the waiting room looked worse than a fallout shelter from the Cold War. We're talking black floors covered in old gum, sickly green walls, harsh neon lighting, a station clock, and a skylight so caked in grime that only two pathetic little rays of light could fight through. I started spiraling into these deep existential crises and pure hopelessness. Just as I was starting to contemplate some pretty dark ways out, they finally called my name, took the images, and thank God, I was able to bolt out of there and get back into the sunlight and fresh air.

Basically, if I'm being honest, it’s rarely the actual illnesses, syndromes, or diagnoses that get to me. It’s the medical staff—their questionable expertise, their total lack of organizational skills, and just the overall depressing atmosphere of these medical facilities.

Ryan Gomez4 said:If alternative medicine is just selling snake oil like you claim, then this whole thread should be shut down immediately. But here's the thing: alternative medicine has plenty of media coverage. I just finished listening to a local radio segment about an alternative healer where everyone was swearing by him—every single story started the same way: "I tried this or that conventional drug, and it didn't work..." If that radio station isn't terrified of getting sued, why should bluemason3 and I be scared?

And one more thing: who gave you the authority to decide how this thread is moderated when you aren't even a moderator? If you're that desperate to moderate the place, go talk to the person in charge and ask them to appoint you. Neither I nor bluemason3 asked to be moderators.

Nobody is making decisions for you, but everyone is entitled to share their opinion. If you honestly believe that I am the one calling the shots regarding Alternative Medicine right now, then you must also believe you're the one deciding the entire purpose and meaning of the PZK.

Ryan Gomez4 said:I have zero issues with Lastan. The guy is just sharing his opinion, which he's entitled to do as long as he doesn't break any forum rules. As for steelsurfer42, he just repeats the same watered-down point until the thread becomes unreadable, and Chronic Vlado is constantly off-topic.

And since when do I have to answer to you?

Exactly. So why are his posts disappearing on the Alternative board when he's just sharing his perspective? If they won't allow him to speak over there, he can certainly say it here.

Medicine is an incredibly complex field. When people are seriously ill, they often reach a point of pure desperation, grabbing onto any straw someone offers them—even if that person is acting completely unethically. Think about it: if someone spends a year and a half refusing breast cancer treatment and then starts advising others to skip their treatments too, what's stopping me from sliding into those desperate people's DMs? I could offer them a "therapy" that I charge a fortune for, while making absolutely zero guarantees that it actually works. And honestly? I know a dead person can't sue me. But hey, if a miracle does happen, I'll have the perfect marketing story to lure in the next victim.


If "alternative medicine" actually worked, we would simply call it "medicine."
That's why using that specific phrase is so problematic; we should be talking about alternatives to medicine, not "alternative medicine" as a standalone category. It's the same deal with "alternative treatment"—it's really just various alternatives to standard treatment. The very term "alternative medicine," which people toss around so casually, gives folks a false sense of security by implying, "Well, it's still medicine, right?" It isn't.

bluemason3 said:What documents are we talking about? 😁 Did something confuse you? 😁

My argument isn't an ad hominem because my opinion on alternative medicine and moderation rules stays the same regardless of who enforces them. But looking at the replies from Ryan Gomez4 and shadowpilot8, I see you both are quite fond of logical fallacies. Using the prefix "quasi-" doesn't belong in any actual argument, and if it suggests anything, it suggests it pretty directly.

You said in the post being quoted here:

Bravo, you managed to turn medicine and law into a quasi-philosophical-pseudo-ethical debate.

You're addressing me personally, the prefix "quasi" clearly carries derogatory implications, and since you admitted it isn't much of an argument, then by definition, it's an ad hominem. 😁

Hmm, so a doctor is allowed to barge into an alternative "clinic" to perform CPR on a dying patient, but an alternative practitioner isn't allowed to rush into an ICU to shove MMS down someone's throat, pour homeopathic water on them, or light ritual fires. Oh, how unfair! 😢

Well, if we're going to talk about logical fallacies... 🤔
A doctor can do that, but so can anyone who knows resuscitation and basic first aid, even if they're five times more into alternative medicine than anyone else. Meanwhile, none of those MMS products claim to be intended for such emergencies ( 😂 I think 😂 ). On the flip side, a doctor isn't allowed to crash an alternative practitioners' meeting or conference to start "harassing" them; if they did, security or the police would have every right to kick them out. That would be a more sensible comparison.

Making fun of typos? Honestly, that’s just peak forum culture right there. 🙏

It’s honestly just like that petty, childish teasing you see back in elementary school during recess.

bluemason3 said:What documents are we talking about? 😁 Did something confuse you? 😁

My argument isn't an ad hominem because my opinion on alternative medicine and moderation rules stays the same regardless of who enforces them. But looking at the replies from Ryan Gomez4 and shadowpilot8, I see you both are quite fond of logical fallacies. Using the prefix "quasi-" doesn't belong in any actual argument, and if it suggests anything, it suggests it pretty directly.

You said in the post being quoted here:

Bravo, you managed to turn medicine and law into a quasi-philosophical-pseudo-ethical debate.

You're addressing me personally, the prefix "quasi" clearly carries derogatory implications, and since you admitted it isn't much of an argument, then by definition, it's an ad hominem. 😁

Hmm, so a doctor is allowed to barge into an alternative "clinic" to perform CPR on a dying patient, but an alternative practitioner isn't allowed to rush into an ICU to shove MMS down someone's throat, pour homeopathic water on them, or light ritual fires. Oh, how unfair! 😢

Well, if we're going to talk about logical fallacies... 🤔
A doctor can do that, but so can anyone who knows resuscitation and basic first aid, even if they're five times more into alternative medicine than anyone else. Meanwhile, none of those MMS products claim to be intended for such emergencies ( 😂 I think 😂 ). On the flip side, a doctor isn't allowed to crash an alternative practitioners' meeting or conference to start "harassing" them; if they did, security or the police would have every right to kick them out. That would be a more sensible comparison.

🤦 Talking to you is like trying to play a serious game of chess, only instead of strategy, you’re just shouting "Checkmate! Yes! The rook's going home! I win!" at the top of your lungs.

bluemason3 said:The whole issue regarding freedom of speech and expression—even when people are being stupid, or going against the grain, or hitting those dangerous boundaries we're discussing here—is fundamentally philosophical, ethical, and legal. Using "quasi" feels like a clumsy attempt at an ad hominem attack to indirectly cast doubt on the validity of the actual arguments. ☕

You didn't present an argument; you just threw out some nonsense. My stance isn't an ad hominem because my opinion on alternative medicine and moderation rules remains the same regardless of who happens to be enforcing them. But looking at the responses from both Ryan Gomez4 and shadowpilot8, I see that you both have a real knack for logical fallacies. Using the prefix "quasi" doesn't belong in any actual attempt at argumentation, and if it suggests anything at all, it does so quite bluntly.

Furthermore, it’s clear you don't quite grasp what philosophy and ethics actually entail. I won't bore you with a lecture, but they certainly aren't about tossing everyone's random opinions into a bag and shaking it around. If you're still confused, go ask our colleague Caveman.

But it's not just that it's normal for skeptics to troll every topic involving alternative medicine (honestly, I don't even consider it trolling and I actually enjoy these debates, but if we're comparing), it's that along with that, they demand we treat their topics like sacred cows that can't be touched. Look... why don't you people stick to your weird alternative stuff? You aren't getting anything out of this anyway, but where is the nerve to come in here and comment on our mainstream medicine, huh?

Hmm, funny how a medical doctor is allowed to rush into an "alternative clinic" and perform CPR on a dying patient, yet an alternative practitioner isn't allowed to rush into an ICU to force-feed someone MMS, pour homeopathic water down their throat, or light ritualistic fires. Oh, how utterly unfair! 😢

Ryan Gomez4 said:I have no issues with Lastan; the man expresses his views as he sees fit, provided he doesn't break any forum rules. steelsurfer42, on the other hand, dilutes the topic into total unreadability by repetitively hammering the same point, and Chronic Vlado is chronically off-topic.

And since when do I have to answer to you?

Every single thread on alternative medicine is filled with tedious, exhausting repetition. Honestly, I bet your average high school coder could spend one afternoon programming a post generator specifically for these alternative medicine threads, especially those "LIGHT9" types. And that has absolutely nothing to do with whether the content is true or moral.
Chronic Vlado is only "off-topic" because his opinions are critical.

Ryan Gomez4 said:Most people turn to alternatives because mainstream medicine gave up on them for one reason or another, and it's not just about cancer. I don't have cancer, but my doctor told me there was no point in treating me because my chances of recovery were zero. First off, that's just wrong, and second, it's incredibly rude, but it's not illegal. So why should it be illegal to try to save yourself some other way?

Even if you have a point there, I still don't see any reason to go after people like steelsurfer42, Chronic Vlado, Lastan, and -kl-. What exactly is in their posts that warrants being deleted? Are they bothering people by simply revealing the basic principles of elementary biology, chemistry, and physics?

bluemason3 said:Aren't you actually just trying to protect free speech for specific people? 🤔

There’s such a thing as dangerous nonsense and harmless nonsense. I’m firmly against the former.
Or, to put it more politely, personal freedom ends where someone else's begins. And freedom of thought is a slippery slope. People will fall for anything if it's just repeating a mantra (a lie repeated enough times becomes truth). That’s plenty of reason to strictly remove dangerous ideas. But others here have already said that better than I ever could.

What counts as "dangerous" is entirely a matter of opinion. Moral categories are subjective, too. Obviously, we have to follow the law (even if that's just a social contract without much universal value) and the forum rules. If the law states something clearly, there's no debate. If it's about defining internal forum rules, that's a matter of agreement. My stance here is clear, though I don't deny anyone the right to set the site rules differently—I just reserve my right not to participate in things (like sanctioning an opinion that fits the topic) that I don't find ethically acceptable. Besides, Beg is moderating the medical stuff, so that part doesn't really worry me 😁

Exactly. Personal freedom stops where someone else's starts—though in practice, it's messier and prone to lobbying, much like what's happening here, where the loudest voice often wins. Since an adult with a functioning brain is considered responsible for their own actions, if they take someone's advice voluntarily—and that person isn't under any kind of authority (like a doctor) but just some random user... 🤷 you can't exactly sanction a cult leader who convinced someone to sign over their assets, work for free, or whatever else. These are moving targets, and there’s no perfect solution, just like there's no perfect political system. What this kind of setup demands is shifting responsibility onto the individual. That's why I'm all for information and criticism; the internet is incredibly useful for that. For instance, an alternative medicine practitioner once recommended a few things to me; I jumped online and realized within 15 minutes he was selling useless junk. It used to be much harder to figure that out. Nowadays, anyone can find info easily if they want to. There’s no way to stop someone from making a stupid choice without infringing on their personal liberties. So, with those kinds of decisions, you have to be very careful, even if I agree they're sometimes necessary. I'm just not sure that's the case here. 🤷

The idea of strictly removing dangerous ideas is itself a very dangerous idea that should probably be strictly removed. 🤣

Las, if you say something enough times, it becomes truth. Sure. And that applies to everything. Every single human experience and opinion is subjective. We’re all irrational, prone to manipulation, and easily swayed by our surroundings—just look at those classic social behavior experiments by Milgram or Zimbardo. Most of us are conformists rather than individuals, more subjective than objective, and far more irrational than rational. You can't escape it. You can either allow for some "chaotic" free development, use repressive tools to force your own manipulations on others, or try to find a middle ground where repression is used only as much as necessary to keep society running. That seems to be what these modern liberal types argue about... blah blah blah, how we've all gone 🤣

I don't make a habit of tracking what everyone else is posting, and as you accurately pointed out, I wasn't really aiming at anyone in particular.

Look, the people hanging out here aren't exactly the "alternative medicine" crowd. You didn't have many targets to hit if you're accusing anyone who disagrees with you of being an "alternative seller." 😁

It's more about the general shift from anti-skepticism toward the idea that people shouldn't be banned from having opinions—no matter how disastrous they might be—under the guise of protecting freedom.

Yeah, and that is 🙂
only "anti-skepticism" if you consider yourselves the actual skeptics, which you aren't. Skepticism is defined by the inclination to question everything, not by taking definitive stances. I'd call myself a skeptic because I have no preference in this whole debate other than being against banning thoughts and expression. You, on the other hand, don't just take sides with heavy emotional involvement; you try to force them on others through threats of sanctions and bans on any views deemed "unusual."

There was this one famous researcher (a college professor, actually) who once told a friend (also a scientist)—who was a very public-facing skeptic—that he does the exact same things he accuses "paranormal" researchers of doing. He noted that people accuse paranormal investigators of rigging statistics—accepting results when they're good and changing the methodology when they're bad. Yet, they do the same thing: when paranormal folks get a good result, they aren't satisfied and hunt for new methods, but when they get a bad one, they just accept it. They agreed on that point. The takeaway is that even "skeptics," in the colloquial sense, are quite subjective and not nearly as skeptical in the literal sense.

Ask everyone else the same question. I'd venture to say there's a pretty obvious consensus on what is dangerous and therefore worth deleting.

Whose consensus? Aside from us who have to deal with this as part of our official duties as mods, there aren't any "alternative" types here. So, you've got the moderators and you lot pushing a specific agenda. Maybe this topic should be moved to the main board?

Bravo! You’ve managed to spin medicine and law into this strange, quasi-philosophical, pseudo-ethical debate. 🙏

bluemason3 said:Honestly, until someone actually takes that right away from them, it's their business. Parents do all sorts of stupid things, yet we still don't require a license or formal training just to raise a child. I wouldn't want to live in a country that tries to micromanage every corner of private life—including parenting—no matter what nonsense people might potentially get up to.

As for this "spillover" you mentioned, that sounds like a you problem. I'm not sure how that's supposed to "spill over," or how one thing relates to the other? If someone gets hooked on alternative medicine and starts posting about it on RiD, I highly doubt that has anything to do with the existence of the Alternative PDF or the site's moderation policy.

On the Alternative side, everything is always conveniently blamed on the placebo effect, but the moment you mention the nocebo effect—suddenly it's off-limits, right? :rollehyes:

Yeah, it's the same way medical professionals lose their cool when you start bringing up the same concepts within mainstream medicine, even when I cite actual studies. In reality, your average doctor probably struggles more with negative suggestions than your average alternative medicine enthusiast.

Even if alternative medicine is nonsense, being foolish isn't illegal.
🙂

Look, I’m not taking a shot at you personally; I’m simply pointing out what I see as a systemic issue with how this forum is being moderated.

hollowtrucker77 said:Look, they aren't practicing here in the States, and they certainly aren't operating on this forum.
Out in the real world, there are certain beauties to life: you have freedom of speech, sure, but you also have accountability for what you say.
Around here, that second part tends to get a little blurry sometimes.
🙂

silverpuma542, I didn't quite catch your drift there.
Could you elaborate a bit?

So, if I'm following you correctly, you're saying the only hard line is that we shouldn't discourage people from seeking official medical care.

Well, that kind of content is all over the Alternative forums, and it used to pop up on RiD too. I actually remember this one thread about being against vaccinations—the moderator ended up shutting the whole thing down simply because the posts from the common-sense and alternative medicine side were blowing up so fast she just couldn't control the circus anymore.

hollowtrucker77 said:Look, I'll be blunt, but people have every right to decide what works for them, even if they end up making a mess of things personally.
The only thing you shouldn't be doing is trying to steer someone away from legitimate medical science.

And yet, if you look at certain obscure corners of this forum, that kind of behavior is practically encouraged everywhere.

Jose White18 said:Everyone is the architect of their own destiny, so you have every right to decide whose advice you listen to and how you choose to treat your body.
It’s the tumor that kills you, not someone else's suggestion.

Some people act as the true architects of fortune for their children and those else they look after. It’s a heavy responsibility, really. That's why I think it would be incredibly helpful if someone could remind us all that the principles of alternative treatment in refuls actually carry over directly to RiD.

Jose White18 said:Everyone is the architect of their own destiny, so you have every right to decide whose advice you listen to and how you choose to treat your body.
It’s the tumor that kills you, not someone else's suggestion.

On those Alternative forums, people are always so quick to jump on anything they can write off as a placebo effect—it’s like their absolute last resort for an explanation. But the second you bring up the nocebo effect? Suddenly, everyone loses interest and shuts down. It's funny how that works, isn't it? 🙄