I keep seeing commercials for Vagisil’s new yeast infection screening kit. It includes two screening wands that you’re meant to stick up your cunt and watch for a colour change, and a colour guide to match the wand to. Depending on what colour the wand turns, the instructions indicate what sort of an infection you might have. The kit costs about $15. Which is retarded. Because I can buy a container of 100 pH test strips for about $1.50. But then, I’d probably have to touch my vagina. Oh. Em. Gee. Or I could pay my $20 copay to go to a doctor in order to get a proper diagnosis, but that might be embarrassing.
Seriously. If there’s something wrong with your cooch and you’re unsure enough about what it might be that you’d buy Vagisil’s crap on a stick, you need a doctor. Go to a frigging doctor.
At least until someone in the states comes out with a useful test, like this Savvycheck: DIY Yeast Diagnosis doohickey that I found while searching for Vagisil’s hunk o’ junk. It’s actually pretty cool… It contains anti-yeast antibodies that react with infection antigens, if they are present, causing the test line to turn blue. There ought to be more home testing kits like this. The cost of going to a doctor and then having lab tests done is ridiculous — and this Savvycheck thing apparently has 90% accuracy.
Unlike a pH testing wand that may or may not indicate that it’s kind of sort of possible that you have some type of infection, maybe, and it might be a yeast infection, but it’s not absolutely certain, so you just wasted your $15, now get yourself to a doctor anyway, like you should have done in the first place.
Hm, I just had to edit this entry, because I had spelled colour two different ways. I don’t want anyone to think that I’m becoming Americanized. Colour is the only word I sometimes leave the superfluous u out of, and it’s only because markup and programming languages don’t understand me if I spell it correctly…
Hm, I just had to edit this entry, because I had spelled colour two different ways. I don’t want anyone to think that I’m becoming Americanized. Colour is the only word I sometimes leave the superfluous u out of, and it’s only because markup and programming languages don’t understand me if I spell it correctly…
… one time this kid yelled at me and tried to insult me by saying that I use Vagisil for my ass.
True story.
… one time this kid yelled at me and tried to insult me by saying that I use Vagisil for my ass.
True story.
I found your website when updating a talk I give on vaginitis. I am a doctor and agree totally with what you have written about the Vagisil product. I would caution about having full faith in the Yeast DIY kit though…up to 20% of women have yeast in their vagina all the time, so the presence of yeast doesn’t necessarily mean there is a problem. Also, often when people have vaginitis there is more than one cause (yeast and BV, yeast and trich), so the DIY test would miss this.
I found your website when updating a talk I give on vaginitis. I am a doctor and agree totally with what you have written about the Vagisil product. I would caution about having full faith in the Yeast DIY kit though…up to 20% of women have yeast in their vagina all the time, so the presence of yeast doesn’t necessarily mean there is a problem. Also, often when people have vaginitis there is more than one cause (yeast and BV, yeast and trich), so the DIY test would miss this.
I would have to agree with you on the going to a doctor part…but some people don’t want to have to spend over 100 dollars to have a doctor tell them that they can use some over the counter medication. Not everyone has insurance.
I think the point in this test is to find out weather you can use over the counter meds or you should skip that part and go to the doctor.
Granted it says you should go to the doctor anyways, but if you PH is below 4.5 then more then likely you only need some over the counter meds and can skip the doctor and lab work. If its higher then 5.0 the you should skip the meds and go to the doctor.
I just don’t think you should be so judgmental. Some people (like me) would avoid going to the doctor at all cost. I hate going to the OBGYN. Every things all cold and uncomfortable…and expensive.
Personally if I had a choice I would use the Ph test first. Depending on what it says I would go to the doctor.
I would have to agree with you on the going to a doctor part…but some people don’t want to have to spend over 100 dollars to have a doctor tell them that they can use some over the counter medication. Not everyone has insurance.
I think the point in this test is to find out weather you can use over the counter meds or you should skip that part and go to the doctor.
Granted it says you should go to the doctor anyways, but if you PH is below 4.5 then more then likely you only need some over the counter meds and can skip the doctor and lab work. If its higher then 5.0 the you should skip the meds and go to the doctor.
I just don’t think you should be so judgmental. Some people (like me) would avoid going to the doctor at all cost. I hate going to the OBGYN. Every things all cold and uncomfortable…and expensive.
Personally if I had a choice I would use the Ph test first. Depending on what it says I would go to the doctor.
If you’ve never had a yeast infection before, you should go to the doctor regardless for diagnosis. And if you have, it’s pretty easy to recognize the symptoms and to treat it without wasting your money on this test (though, if you’re having recurring yeast infections, you ought to go to the doctor anyway). If you’ve had a yeast infection before, and are having new symptoms, then you absolutely need to go to the doctor. Skipping going to the doctor “at all costs” is what will wind up costing you many times more in the future, and is really something you should get over. It is far easier to catch something early on or to prevent it all together than it is to deal with the repercussions that can result from delaying treatment. There have been times when I (stupidly) haven’t have insurance, either. But there are definitely costs that I can reduce sufficiently enough in order to pay for a trip to the doctor, because my health is more important than my HBO subscription.
But look at it this way. You’re looking at spending $15 on this test (when you could, as I mentioned above, just as easily buy 100 pH test strips for under $2), and at least another $15 (very likely more) on medication that may or may not work. That’s already about 1/3 of the cost of going to the doctor (or of the cost of insurance for a month, if the only reason you don’t have it is that you’re into risk-taking), and there’s a very good chance that it won’t help you.
This product is really just a way to scam $15 out of women, the majority of whom should be seeking professional help.
And nobody likes going to the OB/GYN. It’s just something you deal with, because your health is not something to take lightly.
Either way, this website is all about being judgmental, so I would also like to suggest to you that you review the differences between the homophones weather/whether and then/than, because you’re polluting my website with stupid.
If you’ve never had a yeast infection before, you should go to the doctor regardless for diagnosis. And if you have, it’s pretty easy to recognize the symptoms and to treat it without wasting your money on this test (though, if you’re having recurring yeast infections, you ought to go to the doctor anyway). If you’ve had a yeast infection before, and are having new symptoms, then you absolutely need to go to the doctor. Skipping going to the doctor “at all costs” is what will wind up costing you many times more in the future, and is really something you should get over. It is far easier to catch something early on or to prevent it all together than it is to deal with the repercussions that can result from delaying treatment. There have been times when I (stupidly) haven’t have insurance, either. But there are definitely costs that I can reduce sufficiently enough in order to pay for a trip to the doctor, because my health is more important than my HBO subscription.
But look at it this way. You’re looking at spending $15 on this test (when you could, as I mentioned above, just as easily buy 100 pH test strips for under $2), and at least another $15 (very likely more) on medication that may or may not work. That’s already about 1/3 of the cost of going to the doctor (or of the cost of insurance for a month, if the only reason you don’t have it is that you’re into risk-taking), and there’s a very good chance that it won’t help you.
This product is really just a way to scam $15 out of women, the majority of whom should be seeking professional help.
And nobody likes going to the OB/GYN. It’s just something you deal with, because your health is not something to take lightly.
Either way, this website is all about being judgmental, so I would also like to suggest to you that you review the differences between the homophones weather/whether and then/than, because you’re polluting my website with stupid.
Wow…for what 25 or so? You are pretty opinionated. Very few people in this country can afford ins. on their own if they are self employed or if they have employers who do not provide it, and unless there happens to be major health issues in your family or the rare emergency you can go your whole life wasting money on insurance. My inlaws have paid for it for 30 years simply because you are supposed to and have not had to use it except on the rare occassion for let’s say a sinus infection. So let’s not judge those of us healthy individuals who have chosen not to have insurance coverage and to set the money aside in case there should be a health related emergency. On to going to the doctor to have yourself checked…they don’t know everything either..heard of malpractice lawsuits? I have an older friend who was diagnosed with Hep C when she was younger, went 13 years thinking she had the disease, went to the hospital for an emergency gall bladder surgery to find out “M’am you don’t have Hep C”. And what about the man who lives in CA who was diagnosed with advanced HIV/AIDS and given less than 5 years to live, took meds, lost everything, just to find out he had been misdiagnosed. OOPS…SORRY….And the list goes on….it’s all just a conspiracy….politicians, drug companies, most doctors…such is life in America…
Wow…for what 25 or so? You are pretty opinionated. Very few people in this country can afford ins. on their own if they are self employed or if they have employers who do not provide it, and unless there happens to be major health issues in your family or the rare emergency you can go your whole life wasting money on insurance. My inlaws have paid for it for 30 years simply because you are supposed to and have not had to use it except on the rare occassion for let’s say a sinus infection. So let’s not judge those of us healthy individuals who have chosen not to have insurance coverage and to set the money aside in case there should be a health related emergency. On to going to the doctor to have yourself checked…they don’t know everything either..heard of malpractice lawsuits? I have an older friend who was diagnosed with Hep C when she was younger, went 13 years thinking she had the disease, went to the hospital for an emergency gall bladder surgery to find out “M’am you don’t have Hep C”. And what about the man who lives in CA who was diagnosed with advanced HIV/AIDS and given less than 5 years to live, took meds, lost everything, just to find out he had been misdiagnosed. OOPS…SORRY….And the list goes on….it’s all just a conspiracy….politicians, drug companies, most doctors…such is life in America…
25-year-olds aren’t supposed to have opinions? Take off, ya hoser.
And what the fuck does the majority of what you wrote have to do with anything posted above? Whatever. I’d look up your IP address to see how it was that you happened to wander in here, but I really don’t care.
Setting money aside rather than spending it on insurance is an alright idea, but (even if you’re young and healthy) you’re still running the risk of having an accident, or contracting a disease and not being able to pay for it — because it can definitely take a looooong time to save up tens of thousands of dollars. Basically what I’m saying is… unless you have an account sitting around with tens of thousands of dollars in it doing nothing but collecting interest that you are committed to leaving alone forever… You’re pretty much an idiot for not having health insurance.
An account set aside with many thousands of dollars in it is also a legal alternative to car insurance, BTW. An account with $500 in it that you add to little by little each month, though… not the same thing, not legal, and probably all but useless if you get into a bad car accident.
And uh… a conspiracy? You’re two steps away from woo or crackpottery. Get the fuck off of my blog before you take those steps. You come off as one of those freaks who keeps their money under their mattress (P.S. to anyone who is actually so stupid, unless that “money” is in the form of food or other necessities, you’ll be fucked anyway — no, gold bars will not help you, they would be nothing more than useless yellow rocks).
Anyway. You, too, are polluting my website with stupid. GTFO.
25-year-olds aren’t supposed to have opinions? Take off, ya hoser.
And what the fuck does the majority of what you wrote have to do with anything posted above? Whatever. I’d look up your IP address to see how it was that you happened to wander in here, but I really don’t care.
Setting money aside rather than spending it on insurance is an alright idea, but (even if you’re young and healthy) you’re still running the risk of having an accident, or contracting a disease and not being able to pay for it — because it can definitely take a looooong time to save up tens of thousands of dollars. Basically what I’m saying is… unless you have an account sitting around with tens of thousands of dollars in it doing nothing but collecting interest that you are committed to leaving alone forever… You’re pretty much an idiot for not having health insurance.
An account set aside with many thousands of dollars in it is also a legal alternative to car insurance, BTW. An account with $500 in it that you add to little by little each month, though… not the same thing, not legal, and probably all but useless if you get into a bad car accident.
And uh… a conspiracy? You’re two steps away from woo or crackpottery. Get the fuck off of my blog before you take those steps. You come off as one of those freaks who keeps their money under their mattress (P.S. to anyone who is actually so stupid, unless that “money” is in the form of food or other necessities, you’ll be fucked anyway — no, gold bars will not help you, they would be nothing more than useless yellow rocks).
Anyway. You, too, are polluting my website with stupid. GTFO.
Oh, and…
Anyone who gets medical tests back that indicate a diagnosis of something as extreme as mentioned above, and doesn’t get a second (and maybe a third) test and/or opinion… Also an idiot. No doctor is perfect. No test is perfect. There will always be false positives, as well as false negatives.
So yes. Mistakes are made. Um. That said, I’m not sure what your point was. We shouldn’t go to the doctor because they might be wrong? Now THAT is pure genius. It’s a MUCH better idea to diagnose your yeast infection yourself. It’ll be so much more accurate that way.
People need to get a clue.
Oh, and…
Anyone who gets medical tests back that indicate a diagnosis of something as extreme as mentioned above, and doesn’t get a second (and maybe a third) test and/or opinion… Also an idiot. No doctor is perfect. No test is perfect. There will always be false positives, as well as false negatives.
So yes. Mistakes are made. Um. That said, I’m not sure what your point was. We shouldn’t go to the doctor because they might be wrong? Now THAT is pure genius. It’s a MUCH better idea to diagnose your yeast infection yourself. It’ll be so much more accurate that way.
People need to get a clue.
candice, your fucking awesome! tell em how it is!!! yeah, thats all i had to say.
candice, your fucking awesome! tell em how it is!!! yeah, thats all i had to say.
Funny how people are bound to claim all doctors are untrustworthy malpracticing assholes whenever something health related is posted anywhere.
Oh yeah, and “big evil pharma” is trying to poison everyone.
I wonder if those very same people ever dare getting on an airplane. After all, those just keep falling from the sky all over the place at about the same rate people are being killed by lousy doctors.
*sigh*
Funny how people are bound to claim all doctors are untrustworthy malpracticing assholes whenever something health related is posted anywhere.
Oh yeah, and “big evil pharma” is trying to poison everyone.
I wonder if those very same people ever dare getting on an airplane. After all, those just keep falling from the sky all over the place at about the same rate people are being killed by lousy doctors.
*sigh*
Everyone’s entitled to their own opinions. But I think you’re still neglecting a big, well, a big part of her argument. What she’d said was that not everyone can afford and/or has access to insurance and that’s why they are “avoiding the doctors at all costs” since that would likely to incur lots of bills they obviously can’t afford.
Your opinionativeness is a good thing, that’s part of what keep life interesting. But since you have addressed all OTHER points of her argument in several posts, does that mean you are sidestepping this particular one?
Plus, on a sidenote, just so your future insults would be more effective, it’s “polluting my website with stupidity” not “stupid”, grammatically, that doesn’t make sense. Unless your comprehension of English takes on a REALY distinct level. ^^
Everyone’s entitled to their own opinions. But I think you’re still neglecting a big, well, a big part of her argument. What she’d said was that not everyone can afford and/or has access to insurance and that’s why they are “avoiding the doctors at all costs” since that would likely to incur lots of bills they obviously can’t afford.
Your opinionativeness is a good thing, that’s part of what keep life interesting. But since you have addressed all OTHER points of her argument in several posts, does that mean you are sidestepping this particular one?
Plus, on a sidenote, just so your future insults would be more effective, it’s “polluting my website with stupidity” not “stupid”, grammatically, that doesn’t make sense. Unless your comprehension of English takes on a REALY distinct level. ^^
I don’t appreciate your condescension. I have excellent grammar skills, but rules, they be for breaking.
And I didn’t avoid that part of the argument. I addressed it repeatedly. But here I go again: in the long run, it’s probably cheaper to go to the doctor than it is to treat something yourself (over and over again, in some cases). A large number of women who treat their “yeast infections” at home have something else. In the meantime, their home remedies could be making things worse, and the real problem isn’t being addressed. Get. To. A. Doctor. Ladies. Because very (very) few people have an excuse not to seek proper treatment. Scale back to basic cable for a month or two, if you have to.
(Not to mention that the person who originally said they avoid doctors “at all cost” gave a general dislike of the experience as her main reason — that is an absolutely terrible excuse to neglect your health!)
Not that that particular argument has anything to do with my original point, which was that this product is garbage. Overpriced garbage, at that. The markup on these kits has to be huge!
I don’t appreciate your condescension. I have excellent grammar skills, but rules, they be for breaking.
And I didn’t avoid that part of the argument. I addressed it repeatedly. But here I go again: in the long run, it’s probably cheaper to go to the doctor than it is to treat something yourself (over and over again, in some cases). A large number of women who treat their “yeast infections” at home have something else. In the meantime, their home remedies could be making things worse, and the real problem isn’t being addressed. Get. To. A. Doctor. Ladies. Because very (very) few people have an excuse not to seek proper treatment. Scale back to basic cable for a month or two, if you have to.
(Not to mention that the person who originally said they avoid doctors “at all cost” gave a general dislike of the experience as her main reason — that is an absolutely terrible excuse to neglect your health!)
Not that that particular argument has anything to do with my original point, which was that this product is garbage. Overpriced garbage, at that. The markup on these kits has to be huge!
BTW, anyone in Chicago… you have no excuse to be so stupid as to avoid getting a proper examination. $25 pap smears, get’em while they’re hot. That’s cheaper than my insurance co-pay. There are probably doctors providing similar services elsewhere in the country, but I certainly can’t be arsed to track them down.
The whole “going to the doctor is expensive” thing is being blown way out of proportion, though. Meh. I guess, to many people, their health just isn’t worth very much to them? New shoes… doctor bill… new shoes… doctor bill…
BTW, anyone in Chicago… you have no excuse to be so stupid as to avoid getting a proper examination. $25 pap smears, get’em while they’re hot. That’s cheaper than my insurance co-pay. There are probably doctors providing similar services elsewhere in the country, but I certainly can’t be arsed to track them down.
The whole “going to the doctor is expensive” thing is being blown way out of proportion, though. Meh. I guess, to many people, their health just isn’t worth very much to them? New shoes… doctor bill… new shoes… doctor bill…
And here I thought only guys avoided the doctor unless limbs were obviously broken or wounds that won’t stop bleeding might start staining the carpet.
Then again, I’ve heard that women’s shoes are prohibitively expensive, as are handbags, or pretty much most of female wardrobe. Maybe some women are too afraid of doing some serious budget shifting in order to pay for a simple visit to the doctor, lest they would need to go to work naked.
Oh wait, no they wouldn’t, as on average they already have 17 pairs of shoes and a closet full of clothes.
And here I thought only guys avoided the doctor unless limbs were obviously broken or wounds that won’t stop bleeding might start staining the carpet.
Then again, I’ve heard that women’s shoes are prohibitively expensive, as are handbags, or pretty much most of female wardrobe. Maybe some women are too afraid of doing some serious budget shifting in order to pay for a simple visit to the doctor, lest they would need to go to work naked.
Oh wait, no they wouldn’t, as on average they already have 17 pairs of shoes and a closet full of clothes.
You should think of all the young girls who have never had experience with birth control, yeast infections, etc. Sometimes they cannot get to the Dr asap and a little $15 test may make them not only feel better, but help them realize when they should in fact go to the Dr. Also, for the younger girls who are embarrassed or shy and do not want to go to the Dr because they’re ‘not sure’, it could give them the confidence and the push that they need to go to the Dr. Not everyone is bold like you are, some people are very private and need a little push. Open your mind, realize everyone is different.
You should think of all the young girls who have never had experience with birth control, yeast infections, etc. Sometimes they cannot get to the Dr asap and a little $15 test may make them not only feel better, but help them realize when they should in fact go to the Dr. Also, for the younger girls who are embarrassed or shy and do not want to go to the Dr because they’re ‘not sure’, it could give them the confidence and the push that they need to go to the Dr. Not everyone is bold like you are, some people are very private and need a little push. Open your mind, realize everyone is different.
Open my mind? WTF. My mind is plenty open. Just not so open that my brain is falling out.
Young girls are the ones who most need to go to the doctor in this situation! They almost certainly have far less of an idea about what is going on with their body than someone older, and with more experience.
If someone is really that shy, I doubt that they’d be buying the test for any reason other than to hopefully convince themselves that they don’t need to go to the doctor. Which is just awful. It’s also awful that there are girls out there who are too embarrassed to talk about things like this with their parents, who have passed on their own shameful body issues to their children, but whatever. If you’re a kid, and you’re reading this, go talk to your school nurse. It won’t be anything new to them or to your doctor, so you don’t have to be shy. It’s for your own good. (Besides, would you rather have it checked out now, or after it gets 20x worse, 20x more embarrassing, and you really have no choice?)
I realize that most of you are probably getting to this site searching for glowing reviews of this piece of shit product, to convince yourselves of the same thing — that you’ve found the solution to your problem, and that you’re not going to have to pay a visit to the gynecologist after all… But you haven’t, so SUCK IT UP.
This product does not test for yeast. It tests pH, and is a fairly poor diagnosis tool, especially in the hands of someone who has no medical background.
Again: if you’re unsure enough about what’s wrong with you that you’d consider buying this kit: Go. To. A. Doctor.
Open my mind? WTF. My mind is plenty open. Just not so open that my brain is falling out.
Young girls are the ones who most need to go to the doctor in this situation! They almost certainly have far less of an idea about what is going on with their body than someone older, and with more experience.
If someone is really that shy, I doubt that they’d be buying the test for any reason other than to hopefully convince themselves that they don’t need to go to the doctor. Which is just awful. It’s also awful that there are girls out there who are too embarrassed to talk about things like this with their parents, who have passed on their own shameful body issues to their children, but whatever. If you’re a kid, and you’re reading this, go talk to your school nurse. It won’t be anything new to them or to your doctor, so you don’t have to be shy. It’s for your own good. (Besides, would you rather have it checked out now, or after it gets 20x worse, 20x more embarrassing, and you really have no choice?)
I realize that most of you are probably getting to this site searching for glowing reviews of this piece of shit product, to convince yourselves of the same thing — that you’ve found the solution to your problem, and that you’re not going to have to pay a visit to the gynecologist after all… But you haven’t, so SUCK IT UP.
This product does not test for yeast. It tests pH, and is a fairly poor diagnosis tool, especially in the hands of someone who has no medical background.
Again: if you’re unsure enough about what’s wrong with you that you’d consider buying this kit: Go. To. A. Doctor.
Perhaps a little tangential, but fitting none the less.
About a year ago, I read a very nice reply from a surgeon on someone’s blog. Essentially, what he said was:
I can teach anyone how to perform an apendectomy is 15 minutes. But you don’t go to medical school for almost a decade to learn how to do apendectomies. You go to school that long to learn how to respond when things suddenly don’t go quite like they’re supposed to.
In other words, you could pretty much solve most medical issues with the help of a good medical reference book. But the reason you need to go to the doctor is to make sure there are no complications that will scar you for life or put you in a wheelchair or any of a number of nasty consequences that might result from being too cheap to pay a real doctor.
And that includes paying a quack instead to have “cheaper” homeopathy prescribed, or to get accupuncture that doesn’t do squat.
Perhaps a little tangential, but fitting none the less.
About a year ago, I read a very nice reply from a surgeon on someone’s blog. Essentially, what he said was:
I can teach anyone how to perform an apendectomy is 15 minutes. But you don’t go to medical school for almost a decade to learn how to do apendectomies. You go to school that long to learn how to respond when things suddenly don’t go quite like they’re supposed to.
In other words, you could pretty much solve most medical issues with the help of a good medical reference book. But the reason you need to go to the doctor is to make sure there are no complications that will scar you for life or put you in a wheelchair or any of a number of nasty consequences that might result from being too cheap to pay a real doctor.
And that includes paying a quack instead to have “cheaper” homeopathy prescribed, or to get accupuncture that doesn’t do squat.
The other reason you need to go to a doctor in this case is that the general public doesn’t have access to lab testing. Not that the doctor will always find it necessary in the case of a yeast infection, because they usually have a pretty characteristic appearance and odor, which is why most women won’t need to see their doctor the second time. Personally, I still prefer to go and get the hardcore prescription stuff, because the OTC solutions don’t necessarily do a complete job, and THEN you’re stuck with a resistant case of nasty. Boo, hiss.
Haha, homeopathy. I’ve had to be careful lately. They’re putting that crap right next to legitimate products on the shelves, so if you don’t check the labels, you could be buying astronomically overpriced H20. I liked it better when they kept that stuff in its own section, easy for me to shun.
The other reason you need to go to a doctor in this case is that the general public doesn’t have access to lab testing. Not that the doctor will always find it necessary in the case of a yeast infection, because they usually have a pretty characteristic appearance and odor, which is why most women won’t need to see their doctor the second time. Personally, I still prefer to go and get the hardcore prescription stuff, because the OTC solutions don’t necessarily do a complete job, and THEN you’re stuck with a resistant case of nasty. Boo, hiss.
Haha, homeopathy. I’ve had to be careful lately. They’re putting that crap right next to legitimate products on the shelves, so if you don’t check the labels, you could be buying astronomically overpriced H20. I liked it better when they kept that stuff in its own section, easy for me to shun.
If you’re gonna go into specifics on the yeast infection, this conversation will quickly fly over my head.
Now homeopathy OTOH I know a bit about.
Are they allowed to put “cures” on the labels? Because apart from being false advertising, that would also violate FDA regulations I think. So it should be easy to spot the not in this case, as they’re the products that don’t go into specifics about what exactly they’re supposed to cure.
Of course, if you’re in a supermarket buying OTC stuff, the shelf fillers are pretty much the people who ultimately decide what goes where. So if they should decide to put the snake oil and homeopathy and sh*t inbetween all the other medical paraphernalia, and they hide the genuine medication behind the toilet paper and the cat food, who’s ever going to know?
If you’re gonna go into specifics on the yeast infection, this conversation will quickly fly over my head.
Now homeopathy OTOH I know a bit about.
Are they allowed to put “cures” on the labels? Because apart from being false advertising, that would also violate FDA regulations I think. So it should be easy to spot the not in this case, as they’re the products that don’t go into specifics about what exactly they’re supposed to cure.
Of course, if you’re in a supermarket buying OTC stuff, the shelf fillers are pretty much the people who ultimately decide what goes where. So if they should decide to put the snake oil and homeopathy and sh*t inbetween all the other medical paraphernalia, and they hide the genuine medication behind the toilet paper and the cat food, who’s ever going to know?
The claims are vague, and the ingredients all have Xs after them, that’s how you can tell. The X indicates which ingredients aren’t actually in the product (a good thing, because I wouldn’t recommend using eyedrops that actually had belladonna in them… while washing your eyes out with pure water could potentially be helpful).
It’s kind of sad that these products are mixed in with everything else these days, because I think it symbolizes the fact that they’re seeming more and more legitimate to regular people, not just a small group of people looking for specialty products (or that more and more people are loony new-agers).
Thank Jebus that my teachers actually made a point to teach critical thinking skills…
The claims are vague, and the ingredients all have Xs after them, that’s how you can tell. The X indicates which ingredients aren’t actually in the product (a good thing, because I wouldn’t recommend using eyedrops that actually had belladonna in them… while washing your eyes out with pure water could potentially be helpful).
It’s kind of sad that these products are mixed in with everything else these days, because I think it symbolizes the fact that they’re seeming more and more legitimate to regular people, not just a small group of people looking for specialty products (or that more and more people are loony new-agers).
Thank Jebus that my teachers actually made a point to teach critical thinking skills…
That’s the big issue I have with homeo-crap, the ol’ “Well, it can’t hurt, so what’s the problem“. (not that this is what you’re saying, but it’s how it often sounds).
Indeed, washing your eyes out with plain water might be helpfull, but why pay a fortune for 50 ml of water, when even Dassani isn’t that expensive and just as helpful?
The harm comes from those situations where doing nothing is actually not helping but making things worse.
Homeo-quacks are careful to stick to problems that are known to cure themselves or go away after a while. Or illnesses that are chronic and cyclical (so they can claim they’ve cured it, and then have the patient come back for more “treatment” when the illness is flaring up again during its natural cycle).
But some of them are crazy enough to try curing serious afflictions, including cancer. People have died as a direct consequence of that, but you can’t sue the homeo-quacks for malpractice because they’re not really doctors to begin with.
Likewise, you probably wouldn’t be able to sue the manufacturers of that vagisil screening kit if it missed a serious infection, because apart from carrying the necessary disclaimers to avoid just such a lawsuit from happening, officially they probably make a slightly but sufficiently different claim about their product compared to their advertising campagne. I.e. they are not responsible for your misinterpretation of their advertising claims.
That’s the big issue I have with homeo-crap, the ol’ “Well, it can’t hurt, so what’s the problem“. (not that this is what you’re saying, but it’s how it often sounds).
Indeed, washing your eyes out with plain water might be helpfull, but why pay a fortune for 50 ml of water, when even Dassani isn’t that expensive and just as helpful?
The harm comes from those situations where doing nothing is actually not helping but making things worse.
Homeo-quacks are careful to stick to problems that are known to cure themselves or go away after a while. Or illnesses that are chronic and cyclical (so they can claim they’ve cured it, and then have the patient come back for more “treatment” when the illness is flaring up again during its natural cycle).
But some of them are crazy enough to try curing serious afflictions, including cancer. People have died as a direct consequence of that, but you can’t sue the homeo-quacks for malpractice because they’re not really doctors to begin with.
Likewise, you probably wouldn’t be able to sue the manufacturers of that vagisil screening kit if it missed a serious infection, because apart from carrying the necessary disclaimers to avoid just such a lawsuit from happening, officially they probably make a slightly but sufficiently different claim about their product compared to their advertising campagne. I.e. they are not responsible for your misinterpretation of their advertising claims.
Also, I apologise for hogging your blog for my anti-homeo rant. Back to your regularly scheduled cunt-staring.
Also, I apologise for hogging your blog for my anti-homeo rant. Back to your regularly scheduled cunt-staring.
Oh, don’t worry. I’m just about as anti-homeopathy as it’s possible to be. Your rant is perfectly welcome. The frustrating part about trying to explain any of what you just said to people who believe in homeopathic remedies is that most of them don’t even know what homeopathy is in the first place, except that they have some vague idea that it’s “natural” and therefore better for you than any alternative. Bah. If people want to be idiots, and throw their money away, or potentially cause themselves harm, fine. It makes me flip out when I hear about people inflicting the consequences of their idiocy on their children, though.
Oh, don’t worry. I’m just about as anti-homeopathy as it’s possible to be. Your rant is perfectly welcome. The frustrating part about trying to explain any of what you just said to people who believe in homeopathic remedies is that most of them don’t even know what homeopathy is in the first place, except that they have some vague idea that it’s “natural” and therefore better for you than any alternative. Bah. If people want to be idiots, and throw their money away, or potentially cause themselves harm, fine. It makes me flip out when I hear about people inflicting the consequences of their idiocy on their children, though.
Consequences of idiocy include the perpetuation of credulousness through the generations, BTW. Not quite as bad as death, but still troublesome.
Consequences of idiocy include the perpetuation of credulousness through the generations, BTW. Not quite as bad as death, but still troublesome.
Death is bound to be lurking around the corner as one of the consequences. It doesn’t happen often, but it does happen. Sadly enough.
Death is bound to be lurking around the corner as one of the consequences. It doesn’t happen often, but it does happen. Sadly enough.