There are numerous groups, especially in the Alternative Health area, who promote therapies with claims of incredible success but without any controlled research to back them up.  They often times treat human beings with serious illness without an ounce of evidence that their treatments are of any value whatsoever.

Many of these Alternative Health people are sincere, although I am sure that they also enjoy making money.  While a few may be out and out con artists, I am sure that the vast majority are falling for the same phenomenon as Harvard, Duke, and Stanford psychiatrists fell for when they recently claimed that gabapentin (Neurontin) and topiramate (Topamax) help Bipolar Disorder.  They trust their own impressions of improvement in a field where wishful thinking can easily lead people astray.  After all, numerous studies have shown that many patients with depression, bipolar disorder, and even some with schizophrenia improve while on placebos.  This does not mean that placebos help anyone.  But the human body often heals itself and environmental influences can also have many positive effects.  That's why random assignment and ideally double-blind studies are absolutely critical.

Below I will try to mention odd and apparently totally unfounded therapies I have found or my patients have experienced.  By unfounded I mean that there is not a single study of any type apparently ever published any where in the world in a referred scientific journal showing beneficial effects on human beings.

"Pyroluria" Treated with High Doses of Zinc and B6: In the entire medical literature on PubMed, which covers the large majority of all scientific medical journals published anywhere in the world since the 1960s, there have only been two articles mentioning the word "pyroluria." One report in 1976 said that it was a poor marker for schizophrenia (Am J Psychiatry. 1978 Oct;135(10):1239-40).  The other in 1986 was a purely speculative article saying some schizophrenics might have elevated cis-linoleic acid blood levels, elevated fasting insulin levels, elevated EGOT and urinary kryptopyrolle termed "delta-6-pyroluria" caused by a block of a mutant delta-6-desaturase. (Med Hypotheses. 1986 Apr;19(4):333-8).  This article was the only article in the world literature to ever use the words "kryptopyrolle" or "delta-6-pyroluria," terms the authors apparently invented.  Despite this virtual total absence of any mention in the world's scientific literature, patients with autism, bipolar disorder, and schizophrenia are being told that blood tests have found that they have abnormally high levels of pyroluria and have to take huge doses of vitamin B-6 and zinc.  Carl Pfeiffer, Ph.D., says that pyroluria is a disease with marked mood swings, temper outbursts, anxiety, and depression caused by an abnormal hemoglobin synthesis which depletes B-6 and zinc.  He is part of the orthomolecular movement which started in the 1960s claiming that huge doses of vitamins could claim schizophrenia.  The Canadian government actually funded several double-blind studies and was unable to find any benefits from the recommended treatments.  Pfeiffer, whose doctorate is apparently in chemical engineering, appears to be the only advocate in the world for kryptopyrolle and pyroluria.  He recommends high doses of zinc and B-6, e.g. 100 mg and 350 mg/day.

Pyridoxine or vitamin B-6 in excessive doses can cause a peripheral sensory neuropathy (Mol Neurobiol. 1992 Spring;6(1):41-73) and acne (Cutis. 1991 Aug;48(2):119-20).  Adults using 100-150 mg/day have shown minimal or no toxicity in five- to 10-year studies. Women self-medicating for PMS taking 500 to 5000 mg/day have shown peripheral neuropathy within one to three years. A Kaiser Permanente neurologist, based on this information, concludes that pyridoxine appears safe at doses of 100 mg/day or less in adults (Ann N Y Acad Sci. 1990;585:250-60).  However, an English physician with University College in London cautions that even more modest doses (50-100 mg/d) cannot be regarded as being without hazard (Eur J Clin Nutr. 1989 May;43(5):289-309).  Since 2 mg/day is the standard 100% daily value, it is hard to imagine more than 50 mg/day being of value for anybody.  Recent double-blind studies has found no benefit whatsoever to high dose pyridoxine in the treatment of schizophrenia or autism.

"Histadelia" Disease Diagnosed by Computer Via the Internet: The orthomolecular movement also talks of "histadelia," another disease unknown to medical science without a single article in the world literature ever using the word.  It claims that high histamine levels cause histadelia with symptoms of obsessive compulsive disorder, addictions, muscles pains, and more.  The histadelia movement says that 15-20% of schizophrenics have high histamine levels causing their disease and are really "histadelic," claims from a book by Pfeiffer.  They claim that folic acid causes depression in such patients and that anti-folate medicines may have to be used.  All of their treatments are mega vitamin and mineral based along with a vegan diet.  The histadelia people have a $29 test you can take over the internet that will tell you whether you have this dreaded disease, still undiscovered by the field of medicine.  (Please Note: I am a vegan and take vitamins, but this stuff is appears to have no scientific basis whatsoever.)