All of the cost, but probably none of the benefits

Elexoma: CES is almost as trendy as an iPod, even larger, more expensive and potentially useless (with a sliver of questionable evidence)..
You are right.  Your anecdotes are so comprehensively convincing, unique and unlike any other claims made by alternative medicine products, that  I want to buy your device for R4999, now!

Why is it that drugs and therapies which have been shown to work in clinical trials do not rely on anecdotes and testimonials to sell their products?

Why do products which have never been shown to work in a clinical trial and have no or unconvincing evidence, rely on testimonials and anecdotes and shy away from using numbers to convince us?

I think the first group is sure of their claims - because well-designed clinical trials and meta-analyses support them.

The second group is merely afraid of saying that a bottle of sugar pills works just as well.  I can understand that this is not a very good marketing strategy for your banaba leaf extract drug.  Obvious this is an oversimplification and many drugs whose efficacy we currently accept as dogma will fall between these two points on the spectrum.

But what about this:

http://www.elexoma.co.za/

Elexoma is a company which sells a cranial electrotherapy stimulation device (CES).  It is interesting.  They don't seem to fall into either category completely.  Certainly their claims with regards to their product seem suspiciously comprehensive.  But I think we should start digging.

They list tons of literature on their website, but as we have seen with antagolin, this doesn't mean diddly-squat unless it is relevant.  So the question is:

"Is there any evidence that Elexoma works for any of the conditions which the proprietors claim?  If so, which ones and what is the level of evidence?

The Wikipedia article should put us off to a good start.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cranial_electrotherapy_stimulation


Ready?
Set?
Go!