The movie Lorenzo's oil is on tv right now and I just wondering about it, it's based on a true story, but I heard the movie promotes an unscientific attitude... I just read that the real Lorenzo is now 28 though he can't walk. By the time of his diagnosis in 1983 he was given maximum of 2 years of a suffering survival.

Sounds as if the moovie is a bit of a tear jerker.

Some background info on Lorenzo's oil and its relevance (or lack of) for treating adrenoleukodystrophy and adrenomyeloneuropathy.

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By asking questions we sometimes get the wrong answers, from wrong answers we learn to ask the right questions.

The medical pages say the oil does not cure boys with developed symptoms, only that it might prevent the onset of the disease.

So what was the cause of the boy's survival and partial recovery? What has been happening to the kids that tried it?

Aother link I found was a BBC Health News page.

I'm not in the least medically qualified to comment on the treatment or effectiveness so maybe someone with apropriate experience can give you more information

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By asking questions we sometimes get the wrong answers, from wrong answers we learn to ask the right questions.

My info, and a quick look at several sites on the net (look at http://www.stopald.org/) suggests that the movie hyped a human tragedy, created a faked "people vs. the medical establishment conflict," and greatly oversold the oil treatment.

A considerabe body of research supports the finding that the oil doesn't do much, especially in cases where symtoms are already present. The title character, Lorenzo, is still alive, but bed-ridden, blind, very limited in communication ability, and requires constant medical care. He has lived for quite a while since diagnosis, but so have many other victims who do not recieve the oil treatment.

This post sums up the situation (http://rarediseases.about.com/cs/ald/a/041301.htm):

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Standing on the shoulders of giants...

So the kid might have been marginally helped by the oil, because several other kids survive the illness... but doctors said Lorenzo couldnt possibly survive 2 years... what was the actual achievement of Lorenzo's father? I think a minor help is something...

Obviously, docs, like other human beings, make mistakes. There doesn't seem to be any evidence that the child's survival had anything to do with the oil.

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Standing on the shoulders of giants...

So the movie is basically LYING.... no surprise.