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Can Bee Venom Cure Lyme Disease? Does Celery Juice Hold Therapeutic Powers Over Eczema Flare-ups And Sluggish Thyroids? The Mind Says: No. But The Heart: Yes. Please. Welcome To The Corners Of The Internet Where The Sick Will Do Just About Anything To Get Well.

- Cotton Codinha

In a perfect world, wellness would be holistic and balanced. But in the world we live in, where people fall ill and standard treatments fail and fail again, the outer orbits of the health sphere can seem like the only place to be heard and to feel better.

Of course, quacks, fads, and snake oils have plagued humanity since, well, the Plague. Still, this is an era of post-truth politics, an age when health cures are defined by “having a moment” headlines more than peer-reviewed research, a time that has turned Goop, which pursues unconventional wellness methods, into a $250 million business.

That societal shift has unearthed a more radical, hands-on approach to what ails us—one where women with mysterious illnesses keep honeybees in their houses and sting away their disease. And where a man espouses that a host of woes would be eradicated if only we drank 16 ounces of celery juice on an empty stomach each morning. When people are driven to use highly specific ingredients as medicine—as their saviors, really—what does it say about our deep desire to be “well” in 2019? More than you can imagine.