The past year and counting was marked by the biggest public health crisis in modern history, and it’s fair to say that healthiness and wellbeing have been at the top of our minds. But in times of anti-vaxxers, covid deniers, and fake news sweeping across the web like a parallel viral storm, we must get our health facts straight.
So when someone asked doctors and medical practitioners “What one medical fact do you wish everybody knew?” on r/AskReddit, the thread blew up and it now serves as a perfect source for things we should all know without exceptions.
From trusting our immune system to following antibiotic treatment, and exercising like it was the most prescribed pill in the world, these are some of the most eye-opening responses from people devoting their lives to treating others.
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I may be alone in this, but I want my patients to know that there is no possible way I can keep up with all the medical advances and new studies that are out there. And I also want them to know that there are thousands of conditions that I learned about in medical school that I've forgotten because I've never seen or recognized them in practice.
This is important, because my patients frequently apologize for looking up things on the internet. No, don't apologize. I want you to research your condition. I want you to look things up. I want you to know about new treatments, new research, and alternative medications. Because often I don't. I may not agree with the things you've read, and that's fine too. Ask me about thinks you've read and the picture you found that looks like your rash. I can't tell you how many times a patient has come to me with a suggestion about a possible explanation for symptoms because they read about it on the internet that turned out to be a correct or at least reasonable guess. Please educate yourselves about yourselves.
Some good websites are the CDC website and AAFP.org (the American Academy of Family Practice). And if your doctor is offended that you're trying to be educated, get a different doctor.
Source: I'm a doctor
Finally! I love this doctor! Most GPs don't have training enough about many diseases and often ignore them or give even damaging advice. But they often are too arrogant to admit that they dont know. I was 10y with textbook endometriosis symptoms without a diagnosis because nobody bothered to listen to me or do any effort. A quick 5m research would have suggested that disease. But why bother trying to heal your patients?
Mental illness can be as serious as a physical one. Get treated. You wouldn't let a broken leg go.
If your kid has a fever, and you give them Tylenol or Ibuprofen to bring it down, they are STILL. SICK. You're only treating symptoms temporarily, not curing anything.
For the love of everything holy, do not give them Tylenol and send them to school/daycare/sports/birthday parties/etc. to become patient zero and infect everyone else.
Parents who send their kids to school knowing they are sick make me so angry. It is so selfish and could be life threatening to others. If your kids are sick, keep them home.
I work in a burn unit.
Don't put accelerants on a camp/bonfire.
Don't go back into a burning house/vehicle/airplane
Don't put accelerants on bonfires. This includes aerosol cans of stuff. Those blow up.
Don't make meth unless you have an advanced degree in the field.
Don't put accelerants on bonfires. Even if it "Just won't light."
Don't let your pot handles hang over the edge of the stove where your kid can reach.
Don't put accelerants on bonfires, even if you've "been doing it for years."
Don't pick up containers of flaming grease and oil.
Don't put accelerants on bonfires. Diesel is an accelerant.
Don't keep electric cigarettes in your pocket.
If you wear oxygen, don't smoke with it on/in your lap.
Don't burn trash. You don't know what the f**k's in there. Probably accelerants.
Stop opening your radiator cap unless the car is cold.
Carburetor injuries are common. I don't know how it happens. Help me out car people.
DON'T. PUT. ACCELERANTS. ON. YOUR. GADDAM. FIRE
if exercise were a pill, it'd be the most prescribed drug in existence
Just gotta manage the side effects like my actual meds. Especially since my actual meds cause fatigue. I’m having to start really small with exercise and increase it gradually.
Vaccines are the greatest advancement in modern medicine. They save lives and prevent weeks of lost work each year (flu season). If people started seeing more pertussis (whooping cough) or epiglottitis (part of the throat swells up and can kill children) they'd get their shots, but vaccines have become victims of their own success. Get your shots to protect immunodeficient people that can't get their shots.
tl;dr If you don't get vaccinated and you don't vaccinate your kids then you are an a-hole.
You should not stop an antibiotic treatment because you feel better already.
Smoking will kill you.
"Nah... cancer won't get to me" you might say, and you'd be statistically right.
It'll be your heart.
In the simplest of terms, smoking makes your arteries rigid, so as they progressively get filled with fat, instead of increasing their diameter they'll just get stuffed until no more blood can get through and you'll be done.
If you're lucky you'll get some chest pains beforehand but that's not always the case.
"Joke's on you sucka! I got a heart attack and survived, death ain't got shit on me!"
Welcome to the world of chronic heart failure where from now on every day that goes by your heart will be less a pump and more a container, until you get out of breath from just speaking and eventually die. There's no going back.
Please stop smoking.
Not only that. It makes others sick, which is the bad part. My mother always smoked around us, even whenshe was oregnant of me. I "banned" her from smoking in my bedroom when I was 16 and she got really pissed. Now i have ton of heth issues including lung problems and I do blame her for those.
Your immune system is one of the greatest assets you have and you never thank it. In your life, your body will autonomously eradicate between 6-10 cancers without your realising. It will fight your infections, repair micro traumas and police the entire population of billions of cells in your body without your asking.
All it requests in return is a little bit of health to preserve it. Stop smoking, lose weight. Maybe exercise a little. Don't drink so much. Your diet is so much more important that you realise.
I can attest to this. A few years back I went on a health food and exercise kick. Not anything nutty like veganizing or working out three times a day. Just healthy servings of fruits, veggies, lean meats. Cut the soft drinks. Only occasional alcohol, absolutely NO smoking. Cycling 3-4 times a week. I had a streak of about five years with no colds or flu with no flu vaccination, and nothing else other than mild spring allergies. Once I started back into a more "normal" American diet and lifestyle, the seasonal flu started visiting me again.
Australian paramedic intern here. we are not the police and we really honestly don't care about any of the shit, illegal or not, you have done or taken. we just need the full story to make sure that you can get the best targeted treatment. also, we don't mind getting called to old people falling and not being able to get up, especially if they have no family or no way to contact them. for me, that's a medical emergency, because if you stay there you will die and paramedic school taught me that that is bad for you.
Viral infections cannot be treated with antibiotics.
I sometimes wonder if is there some placebo antibiotic, which doctors presbribe to those morons demanding antibiotics for their viral infections. You know, instead of arguing with them, just give them a prescribtion for a week of "nothingasol", which works best when used four times a day with a cup of tea with honey and lemon.
Just because you're not suffering from a mental health disorder, it doesn't mean it's not a real thing.
And being denied work because you tell your employer you have it, or can't do university work because you have an anxiety disorder and being ignored or told "don't worry we'll do all we can to make sure you pass!" doesn't bloodywell help.
Vaccines don't cause autism, nor do they contain elemental aluminum or mercury.
Former EMS here.
Don't get angry when that quiet person gets taken out of the ER waiting room before you. You have a headache and are raging and I can't help you, but that person who just got taken back is quiet for a reason.
You're not dying. Death is quiet. I can't tell you how many times I took someone to the ER yelling and kicking and screaming and when we roll up and they get looked at it's often minor.
I've seen people who I had a feeling would not make it. They don't rave like idiots, they lay still and quiet and it's almost eerie.
Pee after sex. Any sex, just do it. All kinds of bacteria get pushed up your ureatha. UTIs suck.
The pregnancy test you get in the ER is no different from the one at the store and equally accurate.
Nurse here. If you're an alcoholic that's admitted to the hospital, don't lie about how much you drink. There are drugs we can give you to take the edge off of withdrawals. It's safer for you and safer for us. We're not judging you, we have safety in mind.
Doctors are there to help you, stop lying to them. They have to protect your privacy, so if you're doing drugs - tell them, they have to keep it secret, and it could kill you if you don't.
Some people are just morons. The doctor doesn't give a shït about your lifestyle, and even so, you as a fkcn adult shouldn't care about what other people think of you. If you do drugs, they'll most likely interfere with your treatment, and you know what? Dying is not the worst that could happen to you. Becoming a vegetable and a burden to your family is way worse. (One of the many reasons I'm pro euthanasia, btw)
It's significantly more effective to prevent cancer than it is to treat it, but the world isn't interested because most people just want a pill to fix their problems.
Don't smoke. Wear sunscreen. Don't drink excessively. Get a bit of exercise and eat some goddamn vegetables. Do those and bam!, huge drop in cancer risk, but nobody wants to hear it.
I don't smoke, I hardly drink and I used to do a reasonable amount of excercise and it didn't help one iota! Whilst the point is that your lifestyle can significantly increase your risk of some types of cancer, there are others that you can do nothing about. A kinder more effective treatment is still needed, as chemo is brutal.
If you're impaled by something don't pull it out.
Hollywood movies are so damaging, actors are forever yanking out a knife or arrow, the poster is 100% spot on. The item and the inflammation around it may be keeping you from bleeding out, Steve Irwin, the crocodile hunter pulled a stingray barb out of his chest, causing massive blood loss in an instant.
Not a doctor but something a doctor told me when the incident occurred.
Girls if you get excruciating cramps at the time of your period and it feels much worse then it actually is, go to a doctor.
When I was 13 I had already been confirmed to having a ovarian cyst, and it made it very painful for me during my periods to the point where I had passed out from the pain of it once. However at one point it felt much worse then it typically did and I blew it off as being because of my period.
It turned out my appendix was bursting.
The doctor told me a lot of woman blow off period cramps because doctors tend to do the same. Don't, it almost meant life or death for me.
I had a volvulus (where your large intestine twists and closes). It is excruciating, but it's also in the lower abdomen. So, being a woman, it was OBVIOUSLY period cramps. It took five (!) years before I finally managed to get a scan - and then I was told I shouldn't have waited so long. I had no reply to that, well, not any that would help ...
If you get in an accident as a biker, don't take your helmet off your head under any circumstances. You can unhook the strap if you really need to to not suffocate, but that's it.
(Stop reading here if you're a faint of heart): Many times, your head will break like an egg and the helmet is basically the only thing preventing your skull from being skewered by your cranium shards or spilling out.
Nurse & Midwife here.
I wish people understood that if they are receiving treatment for a condition, they still have that condition.
Case in point: If you're taking medication for something you aren't suddenly free of that disease.
Your blood pressure meds are maintaining a normal blood pressure BECAUSE you have the condition of high blood pressure. Your insulin is maintaining your blood sugars BECAUSE you have diabetes.
Sounds simple but amazing how much people tell us they have no conditions but are on 1000 medications that tell a different story
Volunteer SAR-ship crewmember here; when you suspect whoever is lying down is not breathing by themselves, begin CPR immiditially AND DO NOT STOP until medical professional arrives, even if this means that you have to go on for several hours. We do not perform CPR to have the patient miraculously wake up and make out with us, we do this to sustain the most vital bodily function - the circulation of oxygen to the brain - until we can get that person to a hospital.
In a situation where first aid is required it is better to do something than to be scared and not do anything. You might save someones life.
RPh here. Do not keep your medicine in your "medicine cabinet" in your bathroom. The steam from a shower and the temperature fluctuations will degrade your medication. Keep them in a cool dry place away from direct sunlight.
Also look through your OTC items in your house and clean out the expired drugs and restock your basics ( ibuprofen, acetaminophen, pepto, eyedrops, etc).
Alcohol withdrawal is deadly. Many of my patients don't know this. It's a gamble - I've seen fifth of vodka/day drinkers not withdrawal, and 2-3 beers/day withdrawal. It onsets quickly, and it's deadly. Anyone who drinks almost daily and is deciding to quit cold turkey needs to understand this, and notify family at the bare minimum.
Not a doctor and this is a minor thing, but: If you don't have celiac disease, gluten is not bad for you.
More important: Vaccines do not cause autism. They save lives.
If you want to keep hands/fingers/upper limbs intact:
Do not punch a wall/car door/guy in the face/brick, etc. You will end up with a "boxer's fracture," or a break of your fifth metacarpal bone. Most of the time everyone will know you were drunk when it happened and it's not comfortable or fun.
Do not reach into the chute of a running snow-blower, even if it's stopped because something is stuck in there.
Do not attempt to fix your chain-driven garage door opener by putting your fingers in the track and asking your wife to "hit the button."
Do not reach into an auger at work trying to retrieve your safety glove that just fell in there.
Do not hold onto something at work that winches rope.
If you have a wound on your hand/fingers/arm, and it is oozing something that looks green, yellow, white, or pink, go to the doctor and have it looked at. You may save yourself from an amputation.
Source: I'm an RN at an orthopedic surgery center. All of these things have happened NUMEROUS times. And yes, archaic as it seems, sometimes people have to get fingers or even hands amputated (in this day and age!) because they ignored an infection.
Prostrate is to throw yourself onto the ground.
Prostate is the gland that can make it hard to pee. (or give you cancer).
And only men have one. I'm not kidding, I once spoke to a man of thirty who was astonished to learn that his girlfriend didn't have a prostate.
Doctor here. Don't stop your medications by yourself. Just don't, no matter how good you feel. Patients stop antibiotics and relapse. So many resistant TB cases here. Stop taking insulin and come with DKA. Stop taking anti-hypertensives and get a stroke. Don't stop any drug unless cleared prior with your doctor. Most of the diseases can only be managed, they can't really be cured. If you have diabetes, get sugar levels tested at least once a month. Don't ignore it. Don't mix alcohol and anti-depressants. Also, no matter how bad it is, we have seen worse. Don't be ashamed. Pull out doesn't mean she won't get pregnant. Precum has sperm too. Last, if you see anyone vomiting and loss conscious, turn them to their side. Less chances of it entering lungs.
A lot of the medications mentioned are stopped because of no money. Rail against it if you like, your patients are still broke with broken (if any) insurance.
Keep an eye on your weight. Rapid unintentional weight loss is often a sign something serious is up.
My doctor actually told me this one. My mom was a bit of a hypochondriac. I was constantly in and out of doctors' offices as a child. Now, I have a hard time determining what's worth making an appointment for. I told my doctor I wanted to go in less. She said to come in for 1) any substantial head injuries, 2) moles that change shape, or 3) losing weight when you weren't trying to.
The 10% of your brain thing is a myth. So is most left/right-brained stuff you hear. Stop asking me about it.
STAY AT HOME WITH NOROVIRUS.
Call and ask for advice don't come in and infect a bunch of possibly already ill people
Clinical Psychologist here... if you need mental health treatment, try your local college campuses. Oftentimes there are training clinics, supervised by some of the best clinicians around. Most will provide a generous sliding fee scale. Treatment works, especially for sleep problems, depression, anxiety, PTSD, etc.
Also- do NOT ignore mental health problems in your children or adolescents- including when you are concerned about substance use. Early intervention works best and if you wait until they are 18, they may not get treatment for another decade because they refuse to go in (until they mature in their late 20's). So if your child or adolescent is showing signs of a mood or anxiety disorder, cutting, struggling with ADHD, and is using drugs regularly (weekly or more) and you are concerned- consider an intake assessment with a licensed psychologist.
And don't be ashamed if your child has problems, get help! I work with adolescents and young adults (almost exclusively male), and the kids whose parents have accepted and sought treatment for whatever they had, were the ones who did best, exactly because they got help early on and learnt to manage. You can't cure autism spectrum, but you can help them to work with it. Denial never worked for anyone.
Doctor here:
Most important rule: Know your own history and drugs. Our EMRs are too inefficient to depend on, especially if you've been to many different institutions.
Always know if you're allergic to any medication, which ones you're taking, and for the love of jeeesaaas, don't fkcn lie to your doctor! If you do drugs, drink excesivelly, over eat or anything that's not quite good for you, tell them! They don't care about your lifestyle, but their job is to cure you / save your life, and lying will only harm you, not them.
Don't lie to us. It never works out.
And if your pee is a different colour, don't ignore it, seek help.
Know the signs of a heart attack and stroke and don't "tough it out". These are time sensitive and potentially deadly events.
Paramedic here: super frustrating when I get a patient who didn't call early enough and because of that they can't get life-saving treatment or the damage is already done
Resident here: There is no singular "cure for cancer". There is not a "big pharma" conspiracy that hinges on keeping said cure a secret.
Well, endocrinologist here and I have to let off steam. Last month I lost a 24 year old patient to diabetes. Seriously, people. Visceral fat is f**king serious. Sometimes I see people mocking their "potbelly" as if it's not a big deal, but it is. You have no idea how many silent illnesses you may be developing in your body by not monitoring your weight.
Unfortunately, advising people about their weight is tagged as 'Fat Shaming'. Body positivity is great but not when it makes you susceptible to diseases, illnesses and what nots
TAKE YOUR GODDAMN BLOOD PRESSURE MEDICINE!
Please... I'm so tired of seeing young adults come in with kidney failure because they didn't want to take their meds. Most of it is cheap as dirt. You can get $4 generics at Wal-Mart.
ER doc here: medical fact...Emergency means potential loss of life, limb, or eyesight. It does NOT mean inconvenience, irritation, or chronic condition. Your sore throat evaluation in the ED is gonna cost you $1000; go to an urgent care.
i've been to the ER when i shoudln't have, but that was bc it was the 4th of July and i'd dislocated my elbow and urgent care was closed.
If you're sexually active, go for STI testing once or twice a year. HIV can take up to six months to show and it's possible to have an STI with no symptoms
This is annoying. I tried to do the right thing and do this when I was in college and each time the doctors & nurses would ask ME what specific STIs I wanted to be tested for and would be extremely rude when I didn't have an answer. Look, I've always heard you should get tested if you are active and possibly at risk. No one ever told me what specific STIs I'm supposed to ask to get tested for, shouldn't the doctors and nurses know what the major ones are or which ones are commonly being spread in the geographic area?
If you're prescribed a pill for a chronic condition, you'll probably be on that pill for the rest of your life. That's not a bad thing, it's keeping you healthy.
I've seen too many people stop taking their blood pressure or seizure medications because "I was feeling better so I thought I didn't need them any more". No, you were feeling better because you were taking them. Don't stop taking any long term medication without consulting your doctor first.
Not a medical fact, as much as it's just something I wish all patients would do: I'd love it if patients could bring a sheet of paper with all the meds they're on, past medical history, past surgical history, allergies, and family doctor contact info. It's a small thing, but can be so helpful.
Avoid grapefruit and grapefruit juice if you are taking some kind of medication! About 50% of pharmaceuticals on the market are metabolized at least in part by CYP3A4, which is inhibited by compounds found in grapefruit.
Smoking not only causes cancer, but also ateriosclerosis, COPD and multiple other problems you're much more likely to encounter when smoking.
Not a doctor, but one year off of the mark. As a training psychologist on an interdisciplinary team, I wish patients knew that community resources often work on income-based, sliding fee scales to meet the client, financially.
Let's be real: mental health coverage is trash right now, but there is an abundance of professionals who acknowledge this and advocate in-house. It is always worth asking around!
ER nurse here. Got a few of these, but this is my biggest pet peeve.
You can't "cure" your diabetes by ignoring it. And stop eating five extra pieces of cake and just injecting more insulin. That's not how this works.
Also, it doesn't matter if you only drink diet pop. Diet pop is still terrible for you, especially if you're diabetic. Drink some f**king water. Jesus.
Physical Therapist here:
Take time to build up your strength and endurance. You didn't get weak overnight and you won't get strong overnight either.
Also with the exception of pregnant women, bed rest doesn't make you stronger or healthier. Quite the opposite. For every day you lay in bed and rest you have to work for three days to recover from the muscle wasting.
Bed rest is rarely a good idea during pregnancy either. It seems to be recommended in the US much more than elsewhere?
Keep an up-to-date list of all the medication you take, including doses, and bring it with you whenever you are seeking healthcare. If you say that you take two white pills and an orange one, that's so vague as to be useless. Being involved in your own care by making sure to have specific and accurate information is very helpful.
NP here. Not every illness is cured by antibiotics. Antibiotics can have nasty side effects, so don't get mad if we tell you that they are not required for your current illness.
If there was the slightest bit of benefit from that alternative health treatment, mainstream health would be all over it. No-one passes up a profit or the chance to empty out this mega-overcrowded hospital for some kind of philosophical hangup. (Which overcrowded hospital? Every single one in the world bar the private US ones that permanently have beds. Everyone else is struggling, so that's 99% of the world's hospitals).
Drug allergies and side effects are not the same thing. It makes you look like a crazy person when you have 20 allergies and 19 of the reactions are nausea.
You don't need some kind of prescription every time you go to the doctor. You don't need antibiotics every time you have a sore throat or cold or cough and you don't need narcotics every time you have pain somewhere. The "I need to get something or I've wasted my time coming here" mentality is one of the main reasons antibiotic resistance and opiate addiction have surged in the last 20 years.
Bleeding from the rectum should be taken seriously. Can be fatal if left unattended. Seek medical help ASAP.
Having IBS seems to be a doctor's 'get out of jail free' card for any and all abdominal symptoms, including rectal bleeding. Abdominal pain, bloating, bleeding, diarrhoea, constipation, weight loss, lost appetite, - it's all dismissed as "just your IBS playing up".
Not necessarily a medical fact, but, please carry an up to date list of medications in your wallet, or take a picture of your various pill bottles at home and keep it on your phone. Despite what everyone thinks, everything about you isn't "in the system."
Influenza is a respiratory illness. Please stop saying you have the flu when you have vomiting/diarrhea. You don't have the flu.
This....
And people- don't come to the ER asking for a 'pregnancy blood test' to confirm your three positive urine pregnancy tests
OK so my main take away from this is don't put accelerants on bonfires.
Sick to death of hearing advice to exercise and lose weight, I have depression which makes daily living sometimes impossible, let alone exercising. Someone tell me how to get the ball rolling on exercising when I'm suffering from depression! ("Just do it" isn't advice, if it was that simple I'd have done it by now)
General/trauma surgeon here: if you ride a motorcycle, it doesn't matter how "safe" you are on the road. If a reckless car hits you at highway speeds, your body will still fly off the motorcycle and break multiple limbs or your neck or die.
And if the reckless driver is you, the motorcyclist, weaving in and out of cars at highway speeds, your body will pay a heavier price, but the driver that hits you will never be the same. Just drive safely people!
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I pity the dr, provider, nurse ass. who has to see me in future..I'm prepared for your shenanigans this time..
I went to the doctor’s freshman year of high school with severe ankle pain that had persisted for several weeks (yeah, I’m stubborn and have a stupidly high pain tolerance; also I didn’t want to stop running cross country). They basically told me “it’s a sprain, and you’re being a hysterical female athlete (no, not using those words, but that’s what they meant). Fast forward two weeks and an MRI later, I found out I had two bad stress fractures. I no longer go to that facility or that doctor (the same one incidentally who said my mom’s immune disease was menopause for four years).
My alcoholism led me to a very bad liver & a medically induced coma for about months. After coming home from the hospital, the consulting doctor recommended 6-7 different medicines which me drowsy all day long. Checking upon the medications on a website; I found out except for one the rest were for depression & not for my liver!!
That is a fairly common practice, to subscribe some anti-depressants for someone if your circumstances. It is supposed to help with the withcrawal symptoms, mostly the mental ones... The irony is of course that anti-depressants tend to be a bit rough on the liver...
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(2) "Hi, doc. I told the nurse my symptoms, but they're like this. What do you think?" Doctor (mumbojumbo) reply. Then, "I got freaked out/worried, and looked it up on (website). Should I worry about (list that disease/disorder) or (list other that you're pretty sure it's *not*)?" Doctor (ego properly soothed) reply. Then you can persist with, "All the same, is it possible to rule it out so I can sleep at night?" And doctor will pat you on head, patronize you, then go do what you want in about 70% of cases. .... My old med school profs were easy to manipulate once my mom (a career nurse) taught me the coded language of Doctor Directing! :-) If no success, then ask to see a specialist, politely, while looking worried. And be NICE TO NURSES. Their first impression of you is usually a doctor's first impression of you!
Quick note, as a person who got the MD, but did not go into practice: 90% of patients will have a very common issue, and yet, of those common issues, everyday GPs have to know about 1,000 off top of their heads. We are not walking databases; we are not all going to have heard of every disease in every one of its manifestations; we are going to be conservative in treatment so we don't get sued or kicked out of practice etc.; we are going to get very cranky if you barge in and TELL US what you have, and not TELL US your symptoms first! Please, talk to doctors as thus: (see 2)
US-centric question: if taken, would all the sound, practical advice given here save the same number of lives lost to over-prescription of opiates and physicians organizations' resistance to the socialization of healthcare funding?
Many physicians do not resist centralized national health, but the way it's been attempted, that is, without practicing doctors getting much say in what they see every day and find to be important. Lawyers and accountants are still the ruling voices on what medical doctors should do, an dthat's why the system sucks,.... Profit-centric, not patient-centric. We'd all love to go patient-centric. Alas, we're stuck by malpractice law, utility bills, and restrictions by the "care system" that bought the practice . (Note: Not practicing MD< but say "we" b/c we all discuss this a lot ---- docs, nurses, etc.) And, yes, big pharma hands out meds like candy but for some docs in rural areas, the only way their patients get those meds? Is from the handouts from big pharma as samples. I've known docs who kept people alive on those samples until their health insurance kicked in to pay for the stuff.
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Terrible "advice " here. So many patients have done all of these only to be dismissed. Many doctors do not care, they care about the symptom at hand, and their career. It is human. People "wait" to get something treated because people just send them home with an aspirin and a huge medical bill, or healthcare in simply INACCESSIBLE for thousands. Medical staff are not saints, and they don't have the magic listening ears that these posts imply.
I am a patient with a chronic condition; I also hold an MD. BE YOUR OWN ADVOCATE. And stop dissing doctors for responding as they were trained to respond. I've been dismissed by docs and I hvae the same flippin' degree, but do not disrespect so many docs. They're being told to diagnose you in ten minutes, when it needs half an hour and testing, but in the US, HMOs won't cover testing and they can't afford to book more than ten minutes per patient.... The system is the problem, don't just blame the doctors alone. Blame HMOs, "care systems" (ugh), and laws that allow profit to take precedence over patient care. Rant over. Patient-centric medicine is my pet cause.
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Never forget, gentle reader, some of these clowns graduated at the bottom of their med school class....
And some of us have co-authored textbook chapters on patient-centric pediatric medicine. Have a nice day1
Load More Replies... OK so my main take away from this is don't put accelerants on bonfires.
Sick to death of hearing advice to exercise and lose weight, I have depression which makes daily living sometimes impossible, let alone exercising. Someone tell me how to get the ball rolling on exercising when I'm suffering from depression! ("Just do it" isn't advice, if it was that simple I'd have done it by now)
General/trauma surgeon here: if you ride a motorcycle, it doesn't matter how "safe" you are on the road. If a reckless car hits you at highway speeds, your body will still fly off the motorcycle and break multiple limbs or your neck or die.
And if the reckless driver is you, the motorcyclist, weaving in and out of cars at highway speeds, your body will pay a heavier price, but the driver that hits you will never be the same. Just drive safely people!
Load More Replies... I pity the dr, provider, nurse ass. who has to see me in future..I'm prepared for your shenanigans this time..
I went to the doctor’s freshman year of high school with severe ankle pain that had persisted for several weeks (yeah, I’m stubborn and have a stupidly high pain tolerance; also I didn’t want to stop running cross country). They basically told me “it’s a sprain, and you’re being a hysterical female athlete (no, not using those words, but that’s what they meant). Fast forward two weeks and an MRI later, I found out I had two bad stress fractures. I no longer go to that facility or that doctor (the same one incidentally who said my mom’s immune disease was menopause for four years).
My alcoholism led me to a very bad liver & a medically induced coma for about months. After coming home from the hospital, the consulting doctor recommended 6-7 different medicines which me drowsy all day long. Checking upon the medications on a website; I found out except for one the rest were for depression & not for my liver!!
That is a fairly common practice, to subscribe some anti-depressants for someone if your circumstances. It is supposed to help with the withcrawal symptoms, mostly the mental ones... The irony is of course that anti-depressants tend to be a bit rough on the liver...
Load More Replies... (2) "Hi, doc. I told the nurse my symptoms, but they're like this. What do you think?" Doctor (mumbojumbo) reply. Then, "I got freaked out/worried, and looked it up on (website). Should I worry about (list that disease/disorder) or (list other that you're pretty sure it's *not*)?" Doctor (ego properly soothed) reply. Then you can persist with, "All the same, is it possible to rule it out so I can sleep at night?" And doctor will pat you on head, patronize you, then go do what you want in about 70% of cases. .... My old med school profs were easy to manipulate once my mom (a career nurse) taught me the coded language of Doctor Directing! :-) If no success, then ask to see a specialist, politely, while looking worried. And be NICE TO NURSES. Their first impression of you is usually a doctor's first impression of you!
Quick note, as a person who got the MD, but did not go into practice: 90% of patients will have a very common issue, and yet, of those common issues, everyday GPs have to know about 1,000 off top of their heads. We are not walking databases; we are not all going to have heard of every disease in every one of its manifestations; we are going to be conservative in treatment so we don't get sued or kicked out of practice etc.; we are going to get very cranky if you barge in and TELL US what you have, and not TELL US your symptoms first! Please, talk to doctors as thus: (see 2)
US-centric question: if taken, would all the sound, practical advice given here save the same number of lives lost to over-prescription of opiates and physicians organizations' resistance to the socialization of healthcare funding?
Many physicians do not resist centralized national health, but the way it's been attempted, that is, without practicing doctors getting much say in what they see every day and find to be important. Lawyers and accountants are still the ruling voices on what medical doctors should do, an dthat's why the system sucks,.... Profit-centric, not patient-centric. We'd all love to go patient-centric. Alas, we're stuck by malpractice law, utility bills, and restrictions by the "care system" that bought the practice . (Note: Not practicing MD< but say "we" b/c we all discuss this a lot ---- docs, nurses, etc.) And, yes, big pharma hands out meds like candy but for some docs in rural areas, the only way their patients get those meds? Is from the handouts from big pharma as samples. I've known docs who kept people alive on those samples until their health insurance kicked in to pay for the stuff.
Load More Replies... Terrible "advice " here. So many patients have done all of these only to be dismissed. Many doctors do not care, they care about the symptom at hand, and their career. It is human. People "wait" to get something treated because people just send them home with an aspirin and a huge medical bill, or healthcare in simply INACCESSIBLE for thousands. Medical staff are not saints, and they don't have the magic listening ears that these posts imply.
I am a patient with a chronic condition; I also hold an MD. BE YOUR OWN ADVOCATE. And stop dissing doctors for responding as they were trained to respond. I've been dismissed by docs and I hvae the same flippin' degree, but do not disrespect so many docs. They're being told to diagnose you in ten minutes, when it needs half an hour and testing, but in the US, HMOs won't cover testing and they can't afford to book more than ten minutes per patient.... The system is the problem, don't just blame the doctors alone. Blame HMOs, "care systems" (ugh), and laws that allow profit to take precedence over patient care. Rant over. Patient-centric medicine is my pet cause.
Load More Replies... Never forget, gentle reader, some of these clowns graduated at the bottom of their med school class....
And some of us have co-authored textbook chapters on patient-centric pediatric medicine. Have a nice day1
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