Honestly, my suspicion is that you can easily get the stuff. I’ve gotten it for my dog once or twice (it’s a lot cheaper than dog dewormer, despite basically being the same thing), and all you have to do is go into a Tractor supply or the like and it’s right on the shelf, no restrictions or anything. This is in contrast to actual medicine, where I have to go to a CVS or the like to pay an overpriced amount for something that is more regulated, and might even be a bit of a placebo effect in the first place (look at flu meds for an example of that).
All of this mostly seems to speak more to the degrading of the American healthcare system due to costs ballooning beyond what some of the poorer in society can afford, so they are more willing to try folk remedies that may or may not work. And in the case of your grandmother, is she gonna risk paying a lot of her life savings to cure her tumors if they aren’t benign (without a guarantee that it will work), or is she just gonna hope that the $10 treatment might make her feel better? If they’re benign, then the $10 treatment “worked”, and if they’re not, then she’ll get expensive treatment anyway, just probably be in a worse position to get it.
True, which surprisingly in a first world country actually can be an issue. A lot of the people that I see recommending stuff like ivermectin for human use mostly kinda remind me of my great grandmother, who grew up during the depression, when you just had to make due with stuff that probably wasn’t the best, but so long as it somewhat worked, they’d use it (even if it absolutely boiled down to placebo effect). The common thread in my mind is basically just that in both cases, they and their families were broke and healthcare wasn’t necessarily an option (unless the problem was immediate and completely necessary, like a broken arm or profuse bleeding that was going to require a ton of stitches).
Honestly, my suspicion is that you can easily get the stuff. I’ve gotten it for my dog once or twice (it’s a lot cheaper than dog dewormer, despite basically being the same thing), and all you have to do is go into a Tractor supply or the like and it’s right on the shelf, no restrictions or anything. This is in contrast to actual medicine, where I have to go to a CVS or the like to pay an overpriced amount for something that is more regulated, and might even be a bit of a placebo effect in the first place (look at flu meds for an example of that).
All of this mostly seems to speak more to the degrading of the American healthcare system due to costs ballooning beyond what some of the poorer in society can afford, so they are more willing to try folk remedies that may or may not work. And in the case of your grandmother, is she gonna risk paying a lot of her life savings to cure her tumors if they aren’t benign (without a guarantee that it will work), or is she just gonna hope that the $10 treatment might make her feel better? If they’re benign, then the $10 treatment “worked”, and if they’re not, then she’ll get expensive treatment anyway, just probably be in a worse position to get it.
Also people take it and feel better, not realizing they might’ve also just had worms.
I deworm my dog every few years. Yet I’ve never dewormed my self. To the pharmacy!
True, which surprisingly in a first world country actually can be an issue. A lot of the people that I see recommending stuff like ivermectin for human use mostly kinda remind me of my great grandmother, who grew up during the depression, when you just had to make due with stuff that probably wasn’t the best, but so long as it somewhat worked, they’d use it (even if it absolutely boiled down to placebo effect). The common thread in my mind is basically just that in both cases, they and their families were broke and healthcare wasn’t necessarily an option (unless the problem was immediate and completely necessary, like a broken arm or profuse bleeding that was going to require a ton of stitches).