\n
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it’s investigating the financials of Elon Musk’s pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, ‘The A Word’, which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.<\/p>\n
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.<\/p>\n
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.<\/p>\n
Your support makes all the difference.<\/strong><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\nRead more<\/span><\/svg><\/span><\/button><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/aside>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\nWhat we consider \u201cfringe\u201d or \u201cmainstream\u201d changes over time. That applies to health and medicine too.<\/p>\n
For instance, massage was once considered a fringe therapy but in the 19th century it morphed into what we know today as physiotherapy.<\/p>\n
Likewise, Swiss doctor Maximilian Bircher-Benner wasn\u2019t taken seriously when he said we should eat oats and fruit for breakfast. But he was onto something: he invented muesli.<\/p>\n
There has also been traffic in the other direction. Legitimate medical therapies have turned up in the weird health borderland of beauty and \u201cwellness\u201d.<\/p>\n
When untrained or barely trained people use these therapies, they can do real harm.<\/p>\n
Here are five examples of wellness trends that borrow from mainstream medicine.<\/p>\n
1. Ozone therapy<\/h2>\n<\/p>\n Ozone (O\u2083) is a form of oxygen. Ordinary oxygen (O\u2082), sometimes with ozone added, can be applied to wounds via a bag or sealed chamber to help them heal. It does this by helping the body fight infection and form collagen.<\/p>\n
But \u201cozone therapy\u201d \u2013 the weird, unlicensed version \u2013 puts ozone, or ozone and oxygen, directly into the person\u2019s body. It can go in via the lungs, or via intravenous injection, or it can be pumped into the rectum or vagina.<\/p>\n
Practitioners claim it can reduce inflammation, or even treat cancer or HIV\/AIDS, despite no evidence for such health benefits.<\/p>\n
It can also cause fatal air embolisms \u2013 bubbles of gas in the bloodstream that can block blood flow to vital organs.<\/p>\n
2. Vitamin drips<\/h2>\n<\/p>\n If you don\u2019t get enough of a certain vitamin or mineral through your diet, you can take a supplement. But if that doesn\u2019t work, in some cases, you might need to go to hospital or a doctor\u2019s surgery to get a medically supervised infusion that\u2019s delivered into the vein (an IV infusion).<\/p>\n
For instance, iron infusions help people with serious iron deficiencies.<\/p>\n
But celebrity endorsements have helped fuel the rise of \u201cvitamin drips\u201d at wellness centres and therapy lounges. These drips promise all sorts of outcomes, from boosting your immune system, to treating pain or depression.<\/p>\n
\n
\n<\/p>\n
open image in gallery<\/span><\/button><\/p>\n<\/div>Celebrity endorsements have helped fuel the rise of \u2018vitamin drips\u2019 at wellness centres and therapy lounges (Getty\/iStock)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\nIV needles in untrained hands can be dangerous. They can cause phlebitis (inflammation of the vein) and infiltration (when the IV fluid or medication leaks into the surrounding areas). They can also lead to infection.<\/p>\n
And unlike therapeutic vitamin IV infusions administered in hospital, these non-traditional treatments are not regulated by Australia\u2019s Therapeutic Goods Administration. So you might also not be getting the magic IV potion you\u2019re paying for.<\/p>\n
3. Botox<\/h2>\n<\/p>\n The bacterium Clostridium botulinum<\/em> produces a neurotoxin \u2013 a poison that affects nerves. For decades, it\u2019s been used therapeutically to treat excess sweating and migraine, among other conditions. Today, we call this neurotoxin Botox.<\/p>\nSince about the 1990s, health professionals have been injecting it into people\u2019s faces to temporarily paralyse the muscles that cause wrinkles.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s legal, it\u2019s a registered product, and in trained hands, it\u2019s safe to use.<\/p>\n\nAbout the author<\/h2>\nPhilippa Martyr is a Lecturer in Pharmacology, Women’s Health in the School of Biomedical Sciences at the University of Western Australia.<\/p>\n
This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.<\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
But as of September 2 this year, it\u2019s been wrapped in an extra layer of regulation.<\/p>\n
People who deliver any non-surgical cosmetic procedures \u2013 including Botox \u2013 will now be required to demonstrate higher skill levels under tougher policies.<\/p>\n
This comes after several cases where nurses allegedly imported injectables from overseas. But these products weren\u2019t registered for use in Australia and may not have been safe to use.<\/p>\n
4. Apheresis<\/h2>\n<\/p>\n Apheresis is the process of separating blood into its component parts by spinning it at high speed in a special machine.<\/p>\n
Clinicians use this process to separate out and remove specific molecules or antibodies in some diseases \u2013 what\u2019s called \u201cselective apheresis\u201d.<\/p>\n
For example, if a person has very high cholesterol that doesn\u2019t respond to normal treatments, they can undergo lipid apheresis to \u201cwash out\u201d harmful lipoproteins from their blood.<\/p>\n
\n
\n<\/p>\n
open image in gallery<\/span><\/button><\/p>\n<\/div>An apheresis machine, which separates plasma from blood (PA)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\nIt\u2019s easy to see how the idea of \u201cwashing\u201d your blood could be misunderstood and misapplied.<\/p>\n
English actor Orlando Bloom announced earlier this year that he\u2019d undergone apheresis to remove microplastics from his blood.<\/p>\n
Microplastics in the body are a cause for concern \u2013 but there\u2019s no evidence to suggest apheresis can cleanse human blood of them.<\/p>\n
5. Hyperbaric therapy<\/h2>\n<\/p>\n When a diver gets \u201cthe bends\u201d from too much nitrogen forming in their body, they can be treated in a hyperbaric oxygen chamber, where they receive 100% oxygen in a pressurised chamber.<\/p>\n
But hyperbaric therapy is also touted as a treatment for autism, Alzheimer\u2019s disease, cancer, strokes, and post-traumatic stress disorder.<\/p>\n
There isn\u2019t enough good science to back up any of these claims. There also isn\u2019t enough science to suggest it makes your skin look younger.<\/p>\n
The key message?<\/h2>\n<\/p>\n The history of medicine is full of stories about when mainstream forms of medicine have harmed instead of healed.<\/p>\n
Humans have also always wanted to manage their own health. This has been going on for centuries, with both risks and benefits.<\/p>\n
But just because a therapy has been used in a hospital for one reason doesn\u2019t necessarily mean it works in a wellness clinic for another.<\/p>\n
People can be easily convinced by aggressively marketed wellness therapies, which can be magnified by social media and celebrity endorsements.<\/p>\n
However, these therapies can come with a lack of evidence to support their wider uses, and they may harm.<\/p>\n
Caveat emptor<\/em> \u2013 let the buyer beware.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Your support helps us to tell the story From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it’s investigating the financials of Elon Musk’s pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, ‘The A Word’, which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging. At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story. The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it. Your support makes all the difference. Read more What we consider \u201cfringe\u201d or \u201cmainstream\u201d changes over time. That applies to health and medicine too. For instance, massage was once considered a fringe therapy but in the 19th century it morphed into what we know today as physiotherapy. Likewise, Swiss doctor Maximilian Bircher-Benner wasn\u2019t taken seriously when he said we should eat oats and fruit for breakfast. But he was onto something: he invented muesli. There has also been traffic in the other direction. Legitimate medical therapies have turned up in the weird health borderland of beauty and \u201cwellness\u201d. When untrained or barely trained people use these therapies, they can do real harm. Here are five examples of wellness trends that borrow from mainstream medicine. 1. Ozone therapy Ozone (O\u2083) is a form of oxygen. Ordinary oxygen (O\u2082), sometimes with ozone added, can be applied to wounds via a bag or sealed chamber to help them heal. It does this by helping the body fight infection and form collagen. But \u201cozone therapy\u201d \u2013 the weird, unlicensed version \u2013 puts ozo…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":8495,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[2],"tags":[],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.seekyourlove.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8494"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.seekyourlove.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.seekyourlove.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.seekyourlove.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.seekyourlove.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=8494"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.seekyourlove.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8494\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.seekyourlove.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/8495"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.seekyourlove.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=8494"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.seekyourlove.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=8494"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.seekyourlove.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=8494"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}