I follow Ben Goldacre on Twitter - after having read "Bad Science" years ago - as I think he does important work with a tireless zeal.

That said, ironically, very many of the recommended (or maybe I should say: suggested) items in this forum are not drugs - as Mrs. D already stated - and are generally considered a) safe and b) widely used in many countries. Also: it is stated often that you have to find what works for you, for your particular PN, for your body, for your age...

Vitamins like B1 and B12 (for example) are absolutely safe. The worst* thing that can happen is that you pee them out if you take too much. A lack of B12 however is a serious condition, and a very real, widespread one; I'm not sure if trials will reveal all that.

Now you can argue wether, for example, it's better to take B12 injections, or use the oral methylcobalamin route. That's why I tried both, and found the cheaper and less intrusive oral version just as effective by having my own blood measured. (and discussing these findings with my GP) For me, that's also part of science: measuring what works for you. (either objectively or subjectively - does it make you feel better/less pain?)

B1 on the other hand has been used widely (still used?) in Japan for treating alcoholics. Benfotiamine is just a more effective version of B1.

I'm just giving these as examples, there are many other "supplements" discussed here, and you will find after a while that most of the recommendations make a lot of sense. (although, again, not all of them will work for everyone)

And yes, there is something like "Big Supplement" as well. Where there's money to be made, it is to be expected. And many of these supplements are pretty "iffy", no doubt about it. Yet again, although some of them are mentioned here now and again, I mostly see a healthy discussion about them, and it is certainly not standard "recommendation".

I love science, but at the same time it is recognized by many health professionals that medicine is not always an exact science (yet?) at this point in time - especially for people with a condition like PN. While I'm certainly not advocating "woo", I do think that the harsh "there's nothing we can really do" covers it all, nor is it particularly fair to the patients. There's still a lot we don't know about the human body. For example: who knew that you can react like a diabetic to certain foods (sugar, carbs) without showing a trace of diabetes in your blood work? I now do for myself, and I think Dr. Smith is another example. (there might be more on here)

Anyway, good discussion, I have been trying to gather my thoughts on this subject for a long time now (and have clearly not succeeded yet )

* OK, you could be allergic, or you could be in trouble when your kidneys don't work, but then you would probably know that you should be very careful