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Comment by easyThrowaway | Hacker News Reader

Never felt too much at ease with the DIY medicine arguments. I mean, I agree on principle with the idea of not being at the whims of the pharmaceutical industry, but they always give me the feeling of being just one step away from going fully "Cancer/HIV is caused by mobile phones and you can cure them with vitamin C" and "Covid is a big pharma conspiracy" kinda people.

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I am not sure how you got to this slippery slope that doesn’t have a good reason to exist.

This movement is not about filling capsules with powdered ginger to treat something that it’s unable to. The goal is to synthesize molecules that have been studied and that we know work as a replacement for having to pay a doctor to get permission to buy them.

If the problem is "having to pay a doctor to get permission to buy them", we should fix that through policy. I agree with you that this is a problem. Some things shouldn't require a doctor's involvement like an ultrasound, even medication. If I kill myself with taking a certain med (which many people are intentionally doing with drugs already), that would be my own fault.

Some people could manage their health much better than the current system. Other people would totally try to cure their cancer with vitamin c.

A parallel that comes to mind is "accredited investors". These are people that have chosen to opt out of the guardrails and been allowed to by fulfilling certain criteria. Maybe something like that would make sense for medicine.

It's starting to be the case. Patients with terminal cancer can opt into experimental treatments.

Lots of existing medicine is a crap shoot -- look at the possible side effects many of them have (including death).

I don't believe in the conspiracies you listed, but I absolutely believe there are plenty of conspiracies in plain sight (AMA restricting the number of doctors and fighting against single payer, the FDA being in bed with big pharma, etc).

We all should have the right to control our own bodies (which extends to recreational chemicals). For those compounds that are not yet vetted, we should have the right to make informed choices.

I think it's very sad and a big problem that people like you don't have the capacity/willingness to appreciate nuance

A lot of people with rare conditions are pretty much forced to become experts on it to where they're reading the literature and going to conferences. The medical community isn't set up to help you if you have an uncommon issue and aren't a relentless self advocate.

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