Interesting Spam

[Paul]

I got the following in a spam email yesterday (From China, so the wording is poor, but you can get the gist):

"Different from only with dialysis or transplant, our hospital has alternative treatment-Micro-Traditional Chinese Medicine to treat kidney disease, clean out the toxins (creatinine etc), repair the damaged kidney cells to improve kidney functions, so patients' own kidneys can saved, avoid dialysis and transplant in the further, live a normal life."

The claim "so patients' own kidneys can saved, avoid dialysis and transplant" is a bit far fetched, and anyway it is too late for my kidneys. But has anyone tried Chinese medicine, or other alternative medicines, and if so I'd be interested to hear of the results.

[Charlie B53]

I made the mistake of responding to something like that years ago.  A Chinese Nurse started calling me asking about my treatment, then started asking when I could come to China to start treatments there.

Ain't gonna happen.

[Paul]

Oh, I have no intention of responding to the email. Even if I was interested in trying Chinese medicine, I would have gone to a local practitioner. I never trust anyone who sells via spam, and that goes double for medical matters. I'm surprised though that they tried to get you to go to China, I was thinking this was a prelude to trying to flog me Chinese medicine mail order (they also asked me about my condition, presumably so that they could formulate a more tailored sales spiel). This thread was started simply because I am interested to find out if anyone has tried alternative medicine, and if so, did it work? Not currently considering it myself (although I'm guessing that when I get close to doing the dying thing I'll get desperate and cling on any straw I can find, regardless how unlikely success will seem).

[Michael Murphy]

There are two examples of doctors finding cures that the medical community laughed at.
The first is a Brazilian cardiac surgeon who did not have access to the equipment to transplant hearts and had patients with seriously enlarged hearts, so rather then let patients die because he couldn’t provide a transplant he surgically reduced the size of the heart.  Every one thought it was stupid until it was realized a surprisingly large number of his terminally ill patients were not only surviving but returning to normal life style.
The secon is the doctor in the US who decided that a bacterial infection caused most ulcers, at a time over production of stomach acid was thought was the cause of ulcers. It took decades for his theory to be accepted as fact.

[Paul]

The secon is the doctor in the US who decided that a bacterial infection caused most ulcers, at a time over production of stomach acid was thought was the cause of ulcers.

That was one brave doctor because it took him less time than you thought to prove it. He simply infected himself with the bacteria, then after proving he had ulcers, treated himself for bacterial infection rather than stomach ulcers, and cured himself that way.

[LorinnPKD]

Seems like if you google kidney symptoms, a lot of the top web results are for kidney treatment in China, complete with pop-up text chats with someone claiming to be a doctor! 

I was newly diagnosed at 6% GFR and this woman at a spa insisted I could reverse it by drinking and bathing only in alkaline water.

[Paul]

I was newly diagnosed at 6% GFR and this woman at a spa insisted I could reverse it by drinking and bathing only in alkaline water.

The drinking part could help, I am prescribed (by a proper doctor) sodium bicarbonate tablets because they are alkaline. Not sure how bathing in it could help. Perhaps she thought that as urine is acid, and the opposite of alkaline, then maybe telling you this would stop you peeing in the bath!

[Simon Dog]

BEK Transplant in Shanghai used to have an on-line form where you could enter you lab values and get a quote on a prisoner organ.   I remember type O had a surcharge, and there was a discount if you have a kidney and liver done at the same time.

[Paul]

there was a discount if you have a kidney and liver done at the same time.

Was there a discount for a "whole body" transplant, because that is what I need

[Simon Dog]

there was a discount if you have a kidney and liver done at the same time.

Was there a discount for a "whole body" transplant, because that is what I need

https://www.sciencealert.com/world-s-first-head-transplant-volunteer-could-experience-something-worse-than-death