(Un)Well

[bilgistic]

 

This docuseries takes a deep dive into the lucrative wellness industry, which touts health and healing. But do the products live up to the promises?

 

[bilgistic]

Please someone else tell me they are watching this so we can talk shit about the snake oil saleswoman that is Sasha Cobra.

And the woman in the first episode who cured her brain tumor with essential oils.

I only just finished episode three.

[Anela]

Cable or streaming service?

[greekmom]

19 hours ago, bilgistic said:

Please someone else tell me they are watching this so we can talk shit about the snake oil saleswoman that is Sasha Cobra.

And the woman in the first episode who cured her brain tumor with essential oils.

I only just finished episode three.

I just finished episode 1 and I am very truly pissed off.  First, "Dr.Z" is another snake oil salesman. I doubt he's actually a real doctor.  The other woman who cured her brain tumor is shoveling a bunch of horse shit. The dude who create the industry should have been jailed.  

While I do use some oils just for fun (lavendar, lemon, orange) and to add some pretty scents to my cleaning or to kill bad smells in my trash can with tea tree oil, I know these are not for medical use.  And I felt so bad for those women who got conned in the MLM schemes!!

1 hour ago, Anela said:

Cable or streaming service?

Netflix.

[bilgistic]

I just finished the fifth episode. Every single episode made me angry.

[greekmom]

10 hours ago, bilgistic said:

I just finished the fifth episode. Every single episode made me angry.

I skipped the one about the shaman drugs but finished the whole series.

Every episode except the last one made me angry.  No wait, even the last one for reasons that maybe this might be contributing to our dwindling bee population?  

I agree with the poster above about Sasha Cobra being a snake oil salesman. WTF?! People paying her enormous amounts of money to have orgasms?  Why don't they seek out an actual sexual therapist.  They exist. 

The breast milk episode was just ick. First, I couldn't pump enough milk myself for my kids so I went with formula.  I can see the benefits of a milk bank (it's tested, it's regulated,etc) but people buying and selling milk on the internet is super dangerous. My next thought was are people still buying during covid?  What if these kids that are fed breast milk end up with diseases from the donor later in life?  Would they blame the parents because of the notion that "breast is best" or the donor? And that idiot who bought milk to "bulk" up? He was super creepy. Even donor milk mommy had a few wtf looks at him.

The fasting one again. Crazy. People starving themselves intentionally to make themselves better? Comeon.  The body is an amazing piece of machinery but let's not go that far. 

If bee sting therapy actually works (that one woman's lyme disease was "cured") then why isn't science putting more effort to test it?  And people intentionally stinging themselves!?!? Ewww.

[bilgistic]

1 hour ago, greekmom said:

I skipped the one about the shaman drugs but finished the whole series.

It was infuriating. A man started a "church" in Orlando to get around the FDA restrictions on ayahuasca. He claims using ayahuasca is part of their spiritual practice, yet charges $600 per person for a weekend "retreat". One person died at the hospital after taking ayahuasca at the retreat (the "church" called the ambulance after he started seizing during a session), and they show another woman having a seizure during another session. They took her to the hospital after several agonizing minutes. She had claimed earlier in the episode that ayahuasca had cured her of all her addiction issues and was quite deflated after the seizure/hospital visit.

The episode goes into how people (basically young white people) have gone to other countries where ayahuasca is indigenous and are making "doing" it a "fun", "transformative" experience, warping its original intention. The indigenous people are angry and have every right to be. There's also some coverage of ayahuasca's experimental use in mental health, which boils down *for me* to how can modern medicine make money off of something that was never intended for such.

It's no coincidence that the guy charging people $600 for a ayahuasca trip in a suburban backyard and the "doctor" selling $77 essential oil training "that people on food stamps can afford" cloak themselves in "religion".

[bilgistic]

I finished the bee venom episode this evening. It wasn't nearly as maddening as the rest of them. I do want to know who was bankrolling the Heal Hive (Hive Heal? Healing Hive?) woman through her Lyme disease battle and paleo diet food business AND THEN the spacious Hive Healing Hivening Heal HQ.

I loved how she and the young "bee lover" woman wanted "natural" healthcare, but they had bleached hair, faces full of makeup and fake nails. Like, do what you want, but if you are saying "unnatural" things are harming your compromised health, maybe don't put unnatural things on your face, hands and head?

And the young woman moaning about how much her parents had spent on traditional medicine as if the alternative stuff wasn't expensive. I take several supplements and shit's not cheap. I couldn't find a price for the bee venom therapy, but I'm sure it's bonkers. So, at the end...is she a beekeeper now? I mean, WTF?

The bee venom skin care woman's "gold" cream is over $500. I just...no.

[MizLottie]

On 8/12/2020 at 7:28 PM, bilgistic said:

Please someone else tell me they are watching this so we can talk shit about the snake oil saleswoman that is Sasha Cobra.

And the woman in the first episode who cured her brain tumor with essential oils.

I only just finished episode three.

 

On 8/12/2020 at 7:28 PM, bilgistic said:

Please someone else tell me they are watching this so we can talk shit about the snake oil saleswoman that is Sasha Cobra.

And the woman in the first episode who cured her brain tumor with essential oils.

I only just finished episode three.

Cured Brain Tumor woman reminds me of a friend who also goes on about Big Pharma, told me at the start of lockdown to take colloidal silver, oils for my dog, oils for an itch, yadda yadda.  I worry for her elderly mother, my friend claims she's cured her of cholesterol and HBP issues with oils.  Re the show, my heart goes out to the mom of the autistic girl, I would probably try anything too.

[greekmom]

11 hours ago, bilgistic said:

I finished the bee venom episode this evening. It wasn't nearly as maddening as the rest of them. I do want to know who was bankrolling the Heal Hive (Hive Heal? Healing Hive?) woman through her Lyme disease battle and paleo diet food business AND THEN the spacious Hive Healing Hivening Heal HQ.

Any good will I had toward the bee thing went out the window. I was curious to see what her costs were and checked it out. She's running a pyramid scheme of sorts: " To purchase all the information contained in our Bee Venom Therapy Preparation course a la cart —plus the live education and ongoing medical support —would cost you a whopping … $13,322!"  https://thehealhive.com/digital-academy#:~:text=%24900%2FMonth* (Value for,year on the low side.

 

I guess everyone sucks

[bilgistic]

2 hours ago, greekmom said:

Any good will I had toward the bee thing went out the window. I was curious to see what her costs were and checked it out. She's running a pyramid scheme of sorts: " To purchase all the information contained in our Bee Venom Therapy Preparation course a la cart —plus the live education and ongoing medical support —would cost you a whopping … $13,322!"  https://thehealhive.com/digital-academy#:~:text=%24900%2FMonth* (Value for,year on the low side.

 

I guess everyone sucks

That's insanity. So much for "helping people".

Edited August 15, 2020 by bilgistic

[fountain]

I have been watching this. On the third episode but skipped some of #2 as it was boring to me.

The first episode was interesting, some oils serve a purpose like calming you or are antibacterial topically but the curing cancer stuff was OTT. It was interesting it went into the mlm issue, as sure some tea tree oil can really work in lice but you can buy it at the drugstore cheap, not spend $60.

The breast milk is interesting. Not sure there is much/any benefit for adults but there is for babies. To those moms who can mass pump there should be a better way they could be financially supported for all the milk they donate. Even if they didn’t make money, some way to pay for the supplies and extra food you need to be able to pump long-term. As I have nursed my own kid, I recognized that over the term I did it the milk changed. It was interesting to see the milk bank talk about that, as I wondered how BM from a mom with a 2 year old would have enough fat content for a premie baby but I see that they considered that and tested for nutritional content.

[Pepper Mostly]

On 8/12/2020 at 10:28 PM, bilgistic said:

Please someone else tell me they are watching this so we can talk shit about the snake oil saleswoman that is Sasha Cobra.

Sasha Cobra! Oh my god. She suggestively strokes her pillow or the arm of her sofa as her eyes bore holes into you. She actively gave me the creeps. 

On 8/14/2020 at 10:44 PM, bilgistic said:

 

The bee venom skin care woman's "gold" cream is over $500. I just...no.

Her skin was not so great, either. Those cheeky camera operators made sure they got good and close! 

The breast milk one squicked me out so much I was curled up in a ball, whimpering by the end. The athlete who made smoothies with breast milk? GAH. I'm sorry that is creepy in the extreme. There is no way that's not weird. He was so excited to meet his "supplier" and act all shady, like it was a drug deal. Guy was skeevy as fuck. I have no issue whatsoever with women donating breast milk to breast milk banks. I think its noble and selfless. But a five year old putting "mommy milk" on her cereal? And the husband putting it in the pancakes? I was one giant shudder. 

The essential oils MLMs are just horrible. And the irony of one of the proponents being named Dr. Woo was not lost on me. 

I was glad that the snake oil salesman at that fasting "clinic" (outside of the US, of course) was outed--I hope he has to close his doors and that the locals are outside with pitchforks and torches. My god, the sleaze just oozed off that guy. "People are weak, they fall down, what can you do?" he shrugs. All of his "patients" looked like famine victims, too weak to even lift their heads. What sentient being thinks this is healthy? Plus it is not good to ingest large amounts of water, either. Sure, drink water, plenty of water, its good for you. But over hydration is a thing. 

Do not even get me started on the ayahuasca people. 

[bilgistic]

I went down the rabbit hole last night and landed on bee woman's Instagram account. She's trying to get pregnant via IVF. So much for "modern medicine failed me" and "all natural".

Which, do what you want, but pregnancy wrecks havoc on a normally healthy woman's body. I can't imagine what it does to a supposedly severely immunocompromised woman's system.

I just think she's full of shit like everyone else on the show, is what I'm saying.

[bilgistic]

52 minutes ago, Pepper Mostly said:

Her skin was not so great, either. Those cheeky camera operators made sure they got good and close!

YES. Her skin looked like she was pretty much her age, which I would guess was late 50s or early 60s.

WAIT...I just looked it up. In an article from March 2019, she was 52! So she's 53-54 now. WHAT! My 54-year-old boyfriend—who washes his face with soap and never wears sunscreen—has better-looking skin.

I know I'm going to hell, y'all.

[fountain]

Okay I admit I wasn’t as grossed out by some of the breast milk episode as others were. I nursed my own kid and tasted my milk and it is sweeter. I don’t think it is wrong to use mommy’s milk for cereal, etc. but probably not worth the effort. All the pumping and not having a small baby having a hormonal reaction with the mom changes the milk. Even cows we milk are impregnated to keep up the supply/quality of the milk as they are being pumped. IDK, the family was probably just getting a sweeter milk but not any added benefits other than that and the pumping was messing with their lives. 

The guy drinking it - He had kids and/or a girlfriend/wife with kids and worked a lot and spent the rest of his time focused on breast milk and working out? It seemed like the biggest issue was his obsession with this was all consuming. I don’t see how milk from someone with an older kid gives him anything. Maybe if he got milk from a mom with a month old. Which leads me to that mom who has colostrum (sp? or even the right word?) gold milk in bags but she seemed to have older kids? How old is that then? It is such early milk. Or maybe I am mixing the moms up.  Anyway, it is good the doctor talked about what is the milk nutritionally.

Okay in fasting. I IF in the 16/8or 18/6 style and have for years before it was a fad. It works for me for appetite and I find working out fasted I have much better performance but I haven’t done multiple day fasts, not really interested in that. I don’t think it will cure cancer but outside of those long fasts over a week I don’t see an issue. Intuitive eating is a loaded expression for me as many people who practice it are overweight. Many people cannot figure out real hunger cues from things like boredom and just enjoying the food but not being hungry. I personally don’t think it works unless people naturally can do it and those that naturally can will already be in a healthy weight because they naturally only eat until full and when hungry.

Edited August 16, 2020 by fountain

[Guest]

All of the people involved in the MLM essential oil scheme are wretched greedy, charlatans. The holy roller and his Instagram-ready wife really took the cake. Does she wear her sash and crown to the mega-church every week? And unless I see some receipts from her doctor, the only "brain cancer" I'll believe that other woman had was the kind she made up to make excuses for her lop-sided face to ensure her million-dollar-a-year salary.

I had second-hand embarrassment for everyone who attended a Sasha Cobra sex session. But, if anyone knows where she acquired those hoop earrings, I'd be happy to hear about it! I was obsessed with them! WANT! 

There's been some research into hallucinogens helping people work out their traumas so the ayahuasca stuff isn't that far out there. What IS out there is letting people trip on their own without guidance from a mental health professional. Florida Man was in it for the cash grab -- just like everyone else shilling their snake (essential) oils.

 

 

 

[Oldernowiser]

So I watched the first half of the first episode and gave up, because it was like an infomercial for Icky Super Christians and honestly, if I had just had back surgery and that Faux Sincere Aromatherapy woman toodled that cart into my room, I would have thrown her oil-peddling behind out the door.

 I did feel for that mom of the autistic teen. That’s really rough and I can’t blame her for trying anything and everything.

Does it get any better? I get they’re trying to present a balanced viewpoint but everything I saw was all happy happy and sniffing this cures brain cancer. I was getting a headache from eye rolling.

[GaT]

I was wondering if I should watch this, but reading the comments pretty much convinces me not to.

[Oldernowiser]

That Bible waver podcaster pinged my gaydar big time. He wouldn’t be the first closet case to have a beauty queen wife and a ton of kids.

[rlc]

Dr Z and his for-profit 7 figure church? Please, please, please tell me he pays taxes.

[Oldernowiser]

On 9/1/2020 at 7:34 PM, rlc said:

Dr Z and his for-profit 7 figure church? Please, please, please tell me he pays taxes.

It’s a “church.” Of course he doesn’t. Isn’t that special?

[Court]

Sasha Cobra makes me furious. I still don't understand wtf she is doing or was claiming to do. 

[Court]

Did this asshole just say people on food stamps can afford his $80 master class if they didn't go to Starbux every day?

He's living in a strange reality.