Posted by Cranpain (64.12.102.38) on March 18, 2001 at 14:37:06:
I watched a TV show on the Discovery channel recently touring a medical museum that featured old and useless medical inventions.Many were very interesting, including a prostate warmer, which was a metal rod inserted you-know-where, with an internal heating element. The idea was to energize the gland, etc. Yet another device had a series of buttons labeled with various ailments; headache, stomachache, kidney problems, etc.,. You pushed the button that coincided with your particular ailment, then placed your hand over a lighted panel. Supposedly, the machine then sent "healing rays" of the particular kind needed for your problem into your body, healing the affected area. The list went on and on. Some were very strange, yet some looked familiar.
The host said something that struck a chord at the end of the show. He said that many of these old ideas are being recycled today, for the sake of making money. I thought about the occasions I've seen on this board those who would offer "cures" for a price. How many of you have been pitched to buy magnets, elixers, pyramids, "natural remedies", "miracle cures", etc., since being diagnosed with CH? I've even had people offer to give me some of them for free. I guess I'm hard-headed, but I have had enough of quackery. I now require some sort of convincing before trying anything. My neuro even has to explain a new drug to me before I take it.
To those who would use this board to sell quackery, the common theme here is Cluster Headaches. The difference is, we suffer from them. You would profit from them. And never the twain shall meet. For me, anyway. To those of you being pitched, be careful. There are some experienced, intelligent people here. Talk to them before spending money on some slick-sounding cure. The wolves are out there.