I don’t see how this is legal, but people on Tik Tok peddling miracle “medicine” are becoming more common every day. No FDA approval, no research. Just their marketing hype and false promises. This one, lady is showing some sort of probiotic and claiming it can help people suffering from severe acid reflux and gastrointestinal reflux disease or GERD, replacing medicine that has been tested for decades.

    • quixotic120@lemmy.worldEnglish
      621·
      2 months ago

      The important takeaway from this is that “supplements” have 0 oversight. The CBD, probiotics, vitamin d, etc that you buy could just be capsules of vegetable oil that does nothing at all. Or they could be asbestos and cyanide for all you know (that probably would lead to an investigation though). There’s also no safety regarding packing and handling, so it might literally be a guy with unwashed hands who just picked his butt loading your gelcaps in a dirty bathroom that someone just took a massive shit in. No one checks and verifies any of this and that’s why shills and hucksters jump onto this shit, it’s a completely unregulated market where can cut corners everywhere and say whatever you want as long as you include *not intended to treat any diseases and not evaluated by the fda

      A $1200 thing you buy on instagram that sends “good waves” to your brain? Supplement. The cbd you buy at the gas station? Supplement. Doterra oils? Supplement. No regulation, no oversight, just robbing people based on their desperation to fix chronic pain and mental illness

      • Snot Flickerman@lemmy.blahaj.zoneEnglish
        421·
        2 months ago

        So the CBD thing really bugs me, in particular.

        One of my medications has one of those warnings about how you can’t have grapefruit while taking this medication. That’s because grapefruit is metabolized on a certain enzyme pathway that gets interrupted. That enzyme pathway is CYP3A4.

        You know what else takes that enzyme pathway? Fucking CBD. It also blocks the enzyme pathway, making any drugs administered less effective because they can’t bind to where they need to because the CBD molecule is already there, taking up space.

        So like, for me, these are life saving medications so fucking around with this is really stupid but literally no doctor told me this. I accidentally figured this out while doing research on CBD. It seems like its becoming more publicized now, but the bottom line is this:

        If you have medication that warns you that you should not eat grapefruit with this medication (about 60% of medications, I believe), that medication needs the same warning about CBD.

        https://www.pharmacytimes.com/view/cannabidiol-presents-conundrums

        Upon further evaluation, it was shown that CYP3A4 and CYP2C19 are the 2 major enzymes responsible for the metabolism of CBD; they are also responsible for the metabolism of many different drugs.

        • deranger@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
          9·
          2 months ago

          It only makes prodrugs that first need to be metabolized by CYP3A4 to be active less effective. This is a pretty small minority of drugs. It makes drugs that are inactivated by CYP3A4 more effective, which is the majority of them. It also only competitively inhibits the enzyme while the drug is in your system, it’s not permanently inhibiting the enzyme like a suicide inhibitor.

    • remotelove@lemmy.caEnglish
      15·
      2 months ago

      You can actually find small bottles of water on Amazon marketed as a miracle cure.

        • remotelove@lemmy.caEnglish
          15·
          2 months ago

          Just stay away from nearly anything that uses “healing ions” in its marketing material. If it’s not a straight-up fake product, it’ll likely kill you in due time. (Ozone generators are an exception unless you get a beefy one like mine, and then it can actually kill you.)

          Edit: lol! I have seen that video and made my comment about ions before I clicked it. Good video, btw. 5 stars.

          • JusticeForPorygon@lemmy.worldEnglish
            7·
            2 months ago

            What I don’t get about these products, is the use of radioactive material intentional? Do the people making this shit do it with the intention of giving people rings covered in thorium? If not, then why does it happen? Is the manufacturing process just so sketchy that it somehow gets cross contamination with actual fucking nuclear reactor fuel?

            • SweatyFireBalls@lemmy.worldEnglish
              4·
              2 months ago

              When we were first learning about it, there were some misconceptions about radioactivity and health. There were even business minded individuals who widely sold it as a miracle cure. This public belief was reinforced by the fact that around that time we discovered hot springs have radioactive elements, (and people have always believed hot springs heal your ailments) which lead to a mass conception radioactivity was actually a miracle cure. A large part of that down fall was when the “Radium Girls” started literally dying because they were told it was totally safe to work with radioactive material, began falling apart and then worked for legal pushback.

              I’m not an expert on the matter, so I might be a little off but that is a good overview on why some people have that belief still. As always it’s shitty people looking to make money off of hype. The Radium Girls had a tragic but ultimately fascinating life/story. They would even rub the material on their teeth to glow. Check it out if you’re interested.

    • CulturedLout@lemmy.caEnglish
      5·
      2 months ago

      Wow. You’d think “natural” would be more heavily regulated since a lot of people consider it to be a synonym for “harmless” (I am not one of them)

  • MelodiousFunk@slrpnk.netEnglish
    87·
    2 months ago

    That probiotic is nice and all, but it’ll never beat apple cider vinegar. That stuff cures everything. Especially if you take it with silver.

    Seriously though, this is just the latest venue for this kind of bullshit.

      • intensely_human@lemm.eeEnglish
        1·
        2 months ago

        Marketing is ensuring your product offering matches what people want.

        I don’t see how an influencer pushing a particular probiotic product fits this

  • Lad@reddthat.comEnglish
    63·
    2 months ago

    We’re getting dangerously close to social media apps where you scroll through ads and only ads. Maybe we’re already there…

    • irotsoma@lemmy.worldEnglish
      16·
      2 months ago

      My Facebook and Instagram are now >3/4 stuff that I didn’t follow. Not all are explicitly advertisements, but they aren’t things I wanted to see. That’s why I’m moving to federated services. Just wish I could convince more of my friends and family to move over. I use Lemmy as a replacement for Reddit so it’s more widely social, but the other stuff I only really used for friends, family, or special interest groups.

      • Thebeardedsinglemalt@lemmy.worldEnglish
        6·
        2 months ago

        Man am I glad I killed my FB back In 2012 when it was mostly pictures of peoples babies and people acting like hating Obama was a personality trait

    • cheers_queers@lemm.eeEnglish
      4·
      2 months ago

      i stopped using Instagram not long after realizing every 3rd post was an ad, and most of the actual content were not from people i followed. i don’t miss it.

  • Snot Flickerman@lemmy.blahaj.zoneEnglish
    261·
    2 months ago

    For some folks, like myself, it was admitting to myself that I needed to change my diet and eating habits, and I haven’t had issues with acid reflux for years.

    On the other hand, lots of folks have issues with this stuff no matter their eating habits and it is horrific to live with. As OP pointed out, things like GERD affect a lot of people.

    That these people would take advantage of people in that situation is so infuriating.

    • idiomaddict@lemmy.worldEnglish
      12·
      2 months ago

      My ex was not noticeably sad about it, but I felt awful for him because of his GERD. He had to stop eating for the day at around 17:00, he couldn’t have caffeine, alcohol, carbonation, anything acidic, capsaicin, or much fat. His mother was from southern Italy and he hadn’t eaten a tomato in more than a decade, and the only fruit he ate was bananas. He was not big on medication, though, so he considered all that to be a good trade off for not taking meds. I can’t imagine making the same choice if a medicine could allow me to have oranges and tomatoes and coffee, but different strokes I guess

    • remotelove@lemmy.caEnglish
      7·
      2 months ago

      I was hoping that my heartburn would go away after I quit drinking a couple of years ago, but instead, it got worse. Honestly, that it’s probably because I started to form an actual diet and my stomach didn’t know what the fuck to do.

      Sigh. I am hoping this current mega-cycle of proton-pump inhibitors helps. It’s been a fairly high dose for about quadruple the normal length of time, so it might actually stick this time.

      • Snot Flickerman@lemmy.blahaj.zoneEnglish
        6·
        2 months ago

        Here’s hoping they stick this time. I’m so sorry to hear, long ago one of my now ex-girlfriends was dealing with it. She would have to go to the hospital and get GI cocktails and I would stay awake with her and try to help her not panic because the GI cocktail numbed everything in your throat and she wouldn’t be able to feel herself breathing. As someone who has lots of panic about breathing issues, I totally understood why it would be panic inducing to not be able to feel yourself breathe, and this seemed like the only thing anyone was able to do for her when it got really bad. Just a shitty choice, take the GI cocktail and get relief but also panic, or don’t take it and feel like you’re choking on your own vomit. So , fuck it just sucks so much. I really hope for the best for you.

        • remotelove@lemmy.caEnglish
          3·
          2 months ago

          Thanks. Thankfully, mine isn’t that bad yet but it’s been getting worse over the years. Hopefully, the meds help push the curve of stomach decline past my time on this planet. It’s morbid to think about that way, but I am kind of a realist about that kind of thing.

          (I can handle not being a drunk anymore, but I am not giving up my morning coffee. It’s worth any additional suffering.)

      • alcoholicorn@lemmy.mlEnglish
        5·
        2 months ago

        The irritation caused by heartburn increases heartburn. So during your proton-pump inhibitor cycle, you still get heartburn, treat it with baking soda dissolved in warm for instant relief

        • remotelove@lemmy.caEnglish
          7·
          2 months ago

          For anyone else reading, baking soda can save you hundreds of dollars on regular antacids. One you get past the taste and train your body it brings relief, it’ll be tasting like champagne soon enough.

          LPT: Baking soda and water can burn your mouth and lips after a time as well, so keep it fairly dilute. More is sometimes needed, but not always better.

          Second LPT: Get a second small box of baking soda for heartburn use and keep it sealed in a Ziploc or something. It will absorb all kinds of stuff out of the air and end up tasting really bad. (Name-brand baking sodas tend to taste a little less fishy as well, but not by much.)

          Sorry, I know more about baking soda now than I care to admit. It’s really a super interesting chemical, even in its simplicity.

          • Snot Flickerman@lemmy.blahaj.zoneEnglish
            3·
            2 months ago

            It’s also heavily used in treating and keeping proper pH balance the water in swimming pools, hot tubs and various other types of aquatic entertainment. I used to have to lug 50 lb bags of it to the chemical shed.

        • DaGeek247@fedia.io
          4·
          2 months ago

          I had to take prescription antibiotics+dieuretics for two months after an evening got too exciting. Taking them without food had some pretty nasty effects on my stomach, but I had to take the pills more often than I usually eat.

          Also, those stomach problems didn’t really stop afterwards either. Luckily, my symptoms were relatively mild compared to everyone else in this thread.

          For the mild stuff, yogurt also works really well. It can’t be the shitty yoplait, it has to be actual yogurt. I buy the little cup versions and have one most every breakfast, and the symptoms usually don’t follow me even when I skip them now either.

          I’ve found that I can drink one coffee, consequence free, so long as I have a yogurt to go with it.

  • sp3tr4l@lemmy.zipEnglish
    24·
    2 months ago

    I used to know sooo many people that would justify this, a cryptoscam, shilling literally any outright fraud or vastly overpriced bs on their social media.

    ‘They’re just getting their bag, you’re hating cuz you broke!’

    This is the cyberpunk dystopia.

    • remotelove@lemmy.caEnglish
      13·
      2 months ago

      Kale has a naturally high pH, so it’s basically just an antacid. If it works consistently for you, keep it up. No point in taking industrial strength meds for something simple, after all.

      The class of drugs for my kind of heartburn are proton-pump inhibitors and help limit acid production across the board. It’s good these are over the counter now as I am on a 2x dose, but have been as high as 4x before.

      I switched from standard antacids to just water and baking soda my stomach was so bad. Kale wouldn’t have put a dent in my stomach acid, TBH. I drink a ton of water these days, and even if the pH of the water was off by a hair, it would be a bad time.

      I probably might be able to cut my dosage back or even stop soon hopefully. It’s one of the few drugs that are actually supposed to provide a long term solution.

      • partial_accumen@lemmy.worldEnglish
        5·
        2 months ago

        Kale has a naturally high pH, so it’s basically just an antacid.

        I have mild reflux, but know what triggers it after what time of day and can make easy diet adjustments to avoid those triggers too late before bed. For whatever reason, I never considered looking at the alkaline level of the foods I eat. In just doing so now, I see a whole bunch of my regular diet. Have I been unconscious choosing these to mitigate my reflux? I mean, I seek out these foods (that I now know are alkaline) because I like them, but do I like them more than just for their taste?

        • remotelove@lemmy.caEnglish
          2·
          2 months ago

          That is probably some good theory crafting, but I have no idea as that is a level of psychology that is beyond me. (That sentence looks a little smart-ass, but it absolutely isn’t, btw. 100% curious.)

          Personally, I can say is that I tend avoid foods that cause pain and may even subconsciously steer away from them too. I don’t actively seek out things like tomato sauce, but wouldn’t likely turn down a free spaghetti meal either.

          I do also tend to prefer cereal and milk, generally heavy fiber types. Antacids are great, but sometimes, just giving my stomach something harder to break down works fine too.

    • seathru@lemmy.sdf.orgEnglish
      4·
      2 months ago

      I just slam a shot glass of baking soda and water when it gets bad.

      Disclaimer: Not sound medical advice. Probably not good advice at all. But nothing works faster.

    • intensely_human@lemm.eeEnglish
      1·
      2 months ago

      But has steamed kale been approved by the FDA for acid reflux?

      Perhaps what you’re doing should be made illegal, for safety reasons.

  • sunzu2@thebrainbin.org
    51·
    2 months ago

    Probiotics hype in pill form but why is nobody shilling various yogurt type products?

    I guess it easier and more PROFITABLE to sell avg tiktok consoomer some capsules then it is to educate them to eat “spoiled” milk product… Eww

    An interesting system we go though. Solid incentives and well educated citizens.

  • itsathursday@lemmy.worldEnglish
    3·
    2 months ago

    Obviously and issue but on par with actual product advertising on TV that has 0 approval and more often that not lists death as a side effect.

  • Draupnir@lemmy.worldEnglish
    3·
    2 months ago

    This and random plugs for that fucking bovine colostrum shit. 3 slides of well known advice then slide 4 BAM “I don’t know how I ever lived with [insert condition here] until I tried this colostrum!!!”

  • WhyFlip@lemmy.worldEnglish
    2·
    1 month ago

    Not new. There will always be idiots, therefore, there will always be people selling snake oil.