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Medical Professionals Debunk 19 Health Myths People Still Believe To Be True
Article created by: Kotryna Br
A lot of people turn to the internet when they get unwell. For example, in the United States, up to 81.5% of adults go online to address concerns about their health.
Experts say that children and teens are increasingly using social media for self-diagnosing mental disorders too.
The problem is that the quality of such resources varies dramatically and they can be full of inaccuracies, which can perpetuate already harmful myths.
So in an attempt to remind everyone to stay vigilant, we invite you to take a look at an online thread where doctors, nurses, and other industry professionals are sharing some of the biggest health misconceptions.
This post may include affiliate links.
#1
Taking an ambulance to the ER does NOT get you seen faster. For those of you intelligent enough to downvote, this is 100% true. ER's triage patients based on acuity. Just because you took a $1400 ride in, doesn't mean you won't get sent to triage.
Binky Melnik 2 months ago (edited)
Last ambulance ride i took, I’d severed a tendon in my hand and was bleeding copiously. I continued to bleed copiously for the next nine hours while the hospital staff took care of a guy mangled in a car vs motorcycle accident, a pregnant girl with some kinda problem, what looked and sounded like heart attacks and strokes, and a yeast infection. Pretty much EVERYTHING was more important than my problem. If you wanna be soon quickly, then have a heart attack. That’ll do the trick!
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#2
When prescribed a course of antibiotics, it is NOT okay to stop them when you feel better. At this point, you probably feel better because most of the bacteria has been killed, except for a few which are naturally stronger. If you don't finish your full course, these will then multiply and you will have an even worse infection which is much harder to get rid of.
#3
Mental Illness is a disease. Don't be afraid to seek help when you need it. So many people suffer from depression/anxiety and go through years of suffering because they are too proud to seek help.
#4
Vaccines do not cause autism. It was simply a convenient scape-goat since every kid gets vaccines. Also, poorly done studies.
Binky Melnik 2 months ago
How do anti-vaxxers explain the uptick in autism cases in places where there are no vaccines? Does anyone know? I don’t talk to ‘em so I have no way to ask. Is the answer the same as “Where are the edges of the world?” for flat-earthers?
#5
Quite a few people i've nursed have been surprised when they were discharged quite soon after surgery, and were concerned that it was too soon. I think some people presume that a hospital setting is somehow sterile and they'll recover faster there. Wrong. You're much more likely to get an infection if you stay in hospital. I'd much rather go home and be surrounded by my own microbes, thank you very much.
#6
“If you are an organ donor, emergency crews are less likely to save you if you are badly injured so they can get your organs” No. Stop it.
Binky Melnik 2 months ago
What does an EMT care about you being a donor? He’s not gonna profit from your organs! Do people never stop to think?
#7
I am not a doctor or nurse, but one of the biggest health misconceptions that I encounter is the difference between Lactose Intolerance and a Milk Allergy. Personally, being allergic to milk, it is always frustrating when people say that a milk allergy and lactose intolerance are the same thing, and I will only get a "stomach ache", so I should try the food they are eating. Well, unfortunately I wish that were the case. Lactose Intolerance is the inability to digest lactose. While a milk allergy is the body's immune system reacting to milk protein, and in severe cases (including mine) can cause anaphylactic shock, which is deadly. So no, I do not want to try your meal...
Binky Melnik 2 months ago
I suggest you say to idiots who says that you’ll “only” get a stomachache that you’ll be happy to eat it if they’ll let you punch them in the stomach as many times as it takes so that they’re in the same pain as you. After all, it’s “only” a stomachache, right?
#9
Migraines and headaches are not the same thing. It really annoys me whenever someone says "oh man, this is giving me a migraine" because they don't know the pain of an actual migraine. The blind spots, the numbness, the nausea, the excruciating pain. Your headaches may be bad, but they're not migraines.
Santrikea 2 months ago
I feel this way about OCD. I HATE when people say they have OCD because they're organized or like to have a clean house. OCD is a daily struggle that consumes everything we do. It's soooo much more than simple cleanliness or being particular about where things go. I once had someone say that saying they have OCD is okay because everyone says it as a saying. Ugh. No. It's not okay. To me, it's like saying you have MS because you tripped on something. Or down syndrome because you're bad at math. It's absurd.
#10
A defibrillator **isn't** used to restart a heart that has stopped beating. It is used to stop the fibrillation of the heart and will "reset" it to its normal rhythm. Thanks to TV shows and movies a *lot* of people have this misconception about what the device will do and what it's meant for.
Also, when the shock is administered the patient won't spasm violently. The muscles in the chest area will contract, but it's nowhere near as violent as often portrayed.
Binky Melnik 2 months ago
I hadn’t known this, likely because I’ve had it ingrained from TV and movies that it’ll start a stopped heart. Huh. It’d be nice if TV and movies educated us insteada dumbing us. 😕
#11
That all herbal medications are safe and effective. They aren't regulated by the FDA (and therefore don't require the studies for safety and efficacy) and some can have very serious side effects. Always ask a pharmacist or doctor before picking some up at the store.
#12
I can't tell you how many times I see parents with kids who have fever and say, "I gave him tylenol but 4 hours later his fever came back". Tylenol, Motrin, fever reducers, treat the symptom of fever, they don't cure the disease causing it!
#13
You are NOT sitting in the ER waiting room because you do not have insurance. You are sitting out in the waiting room because there is a whole group of people that are going to die first. So wait your turn and please don't yell at us registration people... Really it's not our fault!
#14
“Rubbing dirt in a wound will stop it from bleeding” While true, please never do this. Its the easiest way to get a nasty infection that will be MUCH more painful, inconvenient, and potentially dangerous than 5 minutes of bleeding ever will. Direct pressure and elevation of the wound above the heart will work just fine, I promise.
Binky Melnik 2 months ago (edited)
People rub dirt in their wounds? Really?! Dirt is where tetanus comes from! Geez; don’t do that! (And look tetanus up so you’ll be properly frightened by it.)
#15
"I am just big boned".....i have seen a lot of x-rays and CT scans and have yet to find a person that this holds true for.
#16
If someone can't swallow due to a progressive disease (ie: Parkinson's, Alzheimer's, MS, etc), putting in a feeding tube will NOT keep them from aspirating. There is a huge amount of neuromuscular coordination that goes into swallowing and the eventuality of these diseases is that this will falter. We use different food and liquid textures and feeding techniques, but eventually the person just can't be safely fed anymore. Putting in a feeding tube won't change that. The patient can (and will) keep aspirating their saliva/mucous, and probably also the tube feeding we're putting down the tube. The kindest thing you can do for your loved one is to let them go.
Santrikea 2 months ago
They can be fed through IV. I've cared for numerous people on ventilators that are IV fed for the rest of their lives (many years in some cases). Nothing but a suction tube goes in their lungs to remove naturally built up phlegm. If their cognitive and want to live that way, it's certainly possible to maintain a healthy life (as healthy as they can be minus the initial disease). They just need a proper care plan and a good health team.
#17
Using hydrogen peroxide on cuts isn't an effective way to clean wounds. The best thing to do is just wash the cut with water and possibly put some topical antibacterial (e.g. Neosporin) for a few days to prevent infection. Also, applying some Aquaphor or some ointment to keep the wound moist helps it to heal faster.
Binky Melnik 2 months ago
An awful lotta people are allergic to neomycin, one of the ingredients in Neosporin (raises hand). Better to stick with Bacitracin so you don’t make yourself double miserable with an allergic reaction.
#18
Not a nurse or doctor, but my mother is a RN at a major city hospital here and often shares wisdom/funny stories. After a workmate of ours suffered a non-fatal heart attack we got to talking. She sees more people admitted to the hospital in the cardiac ward for smoking related illnesses than she does patients for smoking related cancer illnesses. It is not often raised enough, that smoking causes almost irreversible damage to your heart and arteries, and smokers don't realise this because they are too busy being invincible to cancer.
Binky Melnik 2 months ago (edited)
“they are too busy being invincible to cancer”: If there’re smokers who feel they’ré invincible to it, they must live somewhere I’ve never been because most smokers hate their own guts for having started in the first place. I say “most” because I try not to speak in absolutes, but I can’t remember meeting anyone who liked it that they smoke. I’m in the middle of quitting for the second time in my life, and if anything happens to cause me to start again, I’ll simply OD and be done with it. I nothing but bad things on whoever invented ‘em. They’re the one thing in this world I’m grateful are taxed such that many smokers can’t afford to buy ‘em anymore!
#19
You cannot cure a cold. It is a virus.
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