Facepalm worthy

[mysterionz]

Saw this post that went like this:

Im still in shock....

4 years ago I was about to throw in the towel. I was depleted and entirely defeated

But then I discovered natural methods and it turned everything around for my son and changed our lives forever!

My son's transformation from nonverbal severe autism in diapers to being potty trained and conversational was achieved solely through natural methods.

After implementing natural solutions, my four year old son in just a few months began to develop functional language, and within a year, he was conversational and flourishing!

By the end of two years, he no longerexhibited the symptoms that previously classified him as autistic.

What do we think abt this? Scam, MLM, or bogus cure nonsense? Post had a hashtag that said chronic illness in it, which autism isn’t.

 

[Forest Cat]

What was the "natural methods", was there a product mentioned or something?
It sounds like a pitch to sell something.

 

[Crossbreed]

What natural solutions...? (I am betting that that person's understanding of autism does not include ASD1 which, I believe, is autism in its healthiest form.)

Temple Grandin progressed from an apparent ASD2 to an ASD1, so some do improve in terms of severe co-morbids, but that has been the exception rather than the rule, in my experience.

 

[mysterionz]

What was the "natural methods", was there a product mentioned or something?
It sounds like a pitch to sell something.

Some method called healing with hope strategy.

 

[Boogs]

Yeah, I have to agree that the phrase 'natural methods' is highly suspect!

Even if they do know everything about the subject, what does natural even mean? When I see wording like this, I usually find it's ambiguous because it's hiding the fact it's full of it. Pure BS for whatever reason.

Anyone can claim anything in a post, and some people will believe it without cross referencing etc. Natural methods sounds kinda cool and with-it, even a little anti-establishment, but is replacing proper science with 'feel good' rubbish.

After implementing natural solutions,

Who writes like this but isn't a specialist? This smacks of that sort of thing to me. And somewhere along the line, I bet those 'natural methods' will be making someone some money?


And that's before we even ask ourselves how we know he wouldn't have progressed this way regardless?
Or even how they measured this in a constantly changing growing maturing human being?

I am suspicious @mysterionz! All the red flags are a waving at me!

 

[Neonatal RRT]

Saw this post that went like this:

Im still in shock....

4 years ago I was about to throw in the towel. I was depleted and entirely defeated

But then I discovered natural methods and it turned everything around for my son and changed our lives forever!

My son's transformation from nonverbal severe autism in diapers to being potty trained and conversational was achieved solely through natural methods.

After implementing natural solutions, my four year old son in just a few months began to develop functional language, and within a year, he was conversational and flourishing!

By the end of two years, he no longerexhibited the symptoms that previously classified him as autistic.

What do we think abt this? Scam, MLM, or bogus cure nonsense? Post had a hashtag that said chronic illness in it, which autism isn’t.

You see a fair amount of this. Unfortunately, these are situations presented all too often on parent blogs where desperate parents often fall prey to these "snake oil" treatments, that they can't trust their primary care doctors, its all in the food, the vaccines, whatever. Worst of all are the handful of "doctors" and "researchers" (quacks) that are preying upon them with all sorts of false facts, partial truths, and pseudoscience, giving hope to these parents for "cures", and because they are "doctors" telling them what they want to hear, they listen. Furthermore, the parents become quite argumentative when presented with the fact that they're being duped and played the fool.

Working at one of the largest children's hospitals in the US, unfortunately, we see a fair amount of parents of children with all manner of conditions that have fallen under the influence of these quacks. The worst are the kids who come in dead or nearly dead from malnourishment from these "special diets". They come in with their kids, looking for help, but then fight us every step of the way trying to control how we treat their children. It's like, "No, you need to step away. You had your chance. You failed miserably. We've already contacted Child Protective Services and you're at a high risk for going to jail."

 

[mysterionz]

Yeah, I have to agree that the phrase 'natural methods' is highly suspect!

Even if they do know everything about the subject, what does natural even mean? When I see wording like this, I usually find it's ambiguous because it's hiding the fact it's full of it. Pure BS for whatever reason.

Anyone can claim anything in a post, and some people will believe it without cross referencing etc. Natural methods sounds kinda cool and with-it, even a little anti-establishment, but is replacing proper science with 'feel good' rubbish.


Who writes like this but isn't a specialist? This smacks of that sort of thing to me. And somewhere along the line, I bet those 'natural methods' will be making someone some money?


And that's before we even ask ourselves how we know he wouldn't have progressed this way regardless?
Or even how they measured this in a constantly changing growing maturing human being?

I am suspicious @mysterionz! All the red flags are a waving at me!

 

[mysterionz]

You see a fair amount of this. Unfortunately, these are situations presented all too often on parent blogs where desperate parents often fall prey to these "snake oil" treatments, that they can't trust their primary care doctors, its all in the food, the vaccines, whatever. Worst of all are the handful of "doctors" and "researchers" (quacks) that are preying upon them with all sorts of false facts, partial truths, and pseudoscience, giving hope to these parents for "cures", and because they are "doctors" telling them what they want to hear, they listen. Furthermore, the parents become quite argumentative when presented with the fact that they're being duped and played the fool.

Working at one of the largest children's hospitals in the US, unfortunately, we see a fair amount of parents of children with all manner of conditions that have fallen under the influence of these quacks. The worst are the kids who come in dead or nearly dead from malnourishment from these "special diets". They come in with their kids, looking for help, but then fight us every step of the way trying to control how we treat their children. It's like, "No, you need to step away. You had your chance. You failed miserably. We've already contacted Child Protective Services and you're at a high risk for going to jail."

I’m on the search for more posts abt this method.

 

[mysterionz]

I’m on the search for more posts abt this method.

Our journey started in 2020 when my son was diagnosed with autism at 3½ years old. The diagnosis came with a list of challenges: significant developmental delays, nonverbal communication struggles, difficulties with comprehension, and toilet training. He also suffered from tics, severe eczema, a constantly runny nose, and was frequently sick. He struggled with fecal smearing as well, which added another layer of difficulty to an already overwhelming situation. Nights were especially tough-he would wake up 15 to 20 times an hour, crying out in distress, often experiencing night terrors. His behavior was another hurdle; he would elope, have intense outbursts, and was inconsolable, with tantrums that seemed impossible to soothe. Even simple instructions like "bring me your teddy bear" would leave him staring blankly, as if he couldn't understand.

When we received the diagnosis, we were heartbroken. We were told that the best we could hope for was to improve his quality of life with therapies like ABA, occupational therapy, and speech therapy. It felt like the future we had envisioned for him was slipping away, and the fear of what lay ahead for our family was overwhelming. But I knew I had to do something. That fear sparked a determination in me, and I dove headfirst into researching how l could help my son.


During this time, I stumbled upon resources on autism recovery and healing. What started as fear began to transform into hope. I immediately began to apply these new methods, although it took time to find what really worked for our son. But once we did, the change was undeniable. Slowly but surely, he began to transform before our eyes. Every day, every week, every month brought new progress. He became brighter, happier, and more clear-minded. He was thriving! He began to speak, use the bathroom, follow complex instructions, and so much more. It truly felt like a miracle. Now, four years later, our son is 8 years old, fully conversational, and free from the debilitating symptoms that once held him back. He's living life to the fullest!!!

 

[mysterionz]

wait, there’s more!

But it wasn't just him-our whole family's health has improved. I no longer suffer from debilitating migraines, anxiety, or irritability.


My husband's gut issues and bloating that plagued him for years have improved. My youngest no longer suffers from painful eczema, and my oldest has seen significant improvement with the strabismus she's had since she was a baby. My other son's airway constriction and sleep apnea have significantly improved as well. We've all seen better gut health and fewer behavioral issues.


I've grown to love holistic health and believe that this journey has changed us forever.


The road has been long, and I've spent countless hours learning and researching, all for my son. Our faith has been tested many times, but we've worked hard to trust God through it all and see His hand in our lives.

 

[Neonatal RRT]

Our journey started in 2020 when my son was diagnosed with autism at 3½ years old. The diagnosis came with a list of challenges: significant developmental delays, nonverbal communication struggles, difficulties with comprehension, and toilet training. He also suffered from tics, severe eczema, a constantly runny nose, and was frequently sick. He struggled with fecal smearing as well, which added another layer of difficulty to an already overwhelming situation. Nights were especially tough-he would wake up 15 to 20 times an hour, crying out in distress, often experiencing night terrors. His behavior was another hurdle; he would elope, have intense outbursts, and was inconsolable, with tantrums that seemed impossible to soothe. Even simple instructions like "bring me your teddy bear" would leave him staring blankly, as if he couldn't understand.

When we received the diagnosis, we were heartbroken. We were told that the best we could hope for was to improve his quality of life with therapies like ABA, occupational therapy, and speech therapy. It felt like the future we had envisioned for him was slipping away, and the fear of what lay ahead for our family was overwhelming. But I knew I had to do something. That fear sparked a determination in me, and I dove headfirst into researching how l could help my son.


During this time, I stumbled upon resources on autism recovery and healing. What started as fear began to transform into hope. I immediately began to apply these new methods, although it took time to find what really worked for our son. But once we did, the change was undeniable. Slowly but surely, he began to transform before our eyes. Every day, every week, every month brought new progress. He became brighter, happier, and more clear-minded. He was thriving! He began to speak, use the bathroom, follow complex instructions, and so much more. It truly felt like a miracle. Now, four years later, our son is 8 years old, fully conversational, and free from the debilitating symptoms that once held him back. He's living life to the fullest!!!

It's these anecdotal reports that make me question if it was autism or more likely "something else". Autism, by all accounts in science, has a characteristic brain anatomy, physiology, and genetics. You just don't remodel the brain and reverse all of that. Sure, there is neuroplasticity, and is why we don't act like we did when we were children, and there are therapies and diets that help with symptomatology, but the autism remains, perhaps presenting differently, but it remains.

This gets down to one of my biggest concerns regarding autism diagnosis, in general, is that it is diagnosed by symptomatology. Very, very few psychologists and psychiatrists actually look at the brain, the genetics, or do metabolic studies to weed through a complete differential diagnosis. A lot of things can present a certain way, worse, medications administered wrongly, and therapies employed that will not work because people are misdiagnosed.

Did this child have "something else", like perhaps a genetic enzyme deficiency (not uncommon) that presented a certain way. These children often do respond positively to a specific diet and therapy regimen.

 

[Judge]

My immediate impression:

"Snake oil is a term used to describe deceptive marketing, health care fraud, or a scam. Similarly, snake oil salesman is a common label used to describe someone who sells, promotes, or is a general proponent of some valueless or fraudulent cure, remedy, or solution. The term comes from the "snake oil" that used to be sold as a cure-all elixir for many kinds of physiological problems. "

 

[Boogs]

wait, there’s more!

But it wasn't just him-our whole family's health has improved. I no longer suffer from debilitating migraines, anxiety, or irritability.


My husband's gut issues and bloating that plagued him for years have improved. My youngest no longer suffers from painful eczema, and my oldest has seen significant improvement with the strabismus she's had since she was a baby. My other son's airway constriction and sleep apnea have significantly improved as well. We've all seen better gut health and fewer behavioral issues.


I've grown to love holistic health and believe that this journey has changed us forever.


The road has been long, and I've spent countless hours learning and researching, all for my son. Our faith has been tested many times, but we've worked hard to trust God through it all and see His hand in our lives.

Honestly, I'd trust this about as far as I could throw it!

A lot of contentious stuff here, not least of which it does everything it can to avoid describing what this amazing treatment is. This is typical of a snake oil product, because at some point, you'll be asked to hand over your hard earned money! Anything else would be telling you the nature of the treatment.

And that's just for starters. The other sign of snake oil is when it'll solve every problem from the question of whether there are aliens to whether your uncle Joe really does have banana flavoured haemorrhoids!

There's much more to pull apart here too, but really, this is not to be trusted (at best!).

 

[WhitewaterWoman]

If you could see the families I worked with with autistic children. It broke my heart to see them try one crazy cure after another. Spending gobs of money that could have been better spent on something else the child needs. It was also hard on the children to be subjected to all these various treatments.

I could offer information, but invariably it was dismissed. These parents (mostly mothers, most often the father left the home) were willing to try anything.

 

[FilterFreq]

he no longerexhibited the symptoms that previously classified him as autistic.

The issue with wishful thinking is that it doesn't always reflect the reality. While there's a possibility that he was 'on the cusp' and somehow overcame some hurdles that straddled the lines, it's more likely that it'll rear its head in another few years, or possibly even months. Or as I like to say, denial is not just a river in Egypt

There are some adults who don't identify with ASD who were diagnosed as a kid, and that's fine. But again, living in denial has a lot of consequences as well, so it's worth that reconsideration or a 'wait and see' approach.

 

[Boogs]

Further to that there's no detailed diagnosis to work from, at all. I don't believe
"nonverbal severe autism in diapers"
constitutes much in reality. I've never heard a (worthwhile) professional diagnosis like that!
This is all emotive rubbish frankly!
Designed to trigger parents having trouble with autistic kids (or worried they have undiagnosed autistic kids) and despicable for it.

I'm willing to guarantee that at some point, before the magic of 'natural methods' is revealed in all it's glory, a request for payment will become due! But not until you engage which is the sign you're halfway to being conned in the worst way.