I'm so sick of every single medical-related question people have online constantly getting spammed with 'talk to your doctor!!!!'
I'm so sick of every single medical-related question people have online constantly getting spammed with 'talk to your doctor!!!!'
The way people online constantly say 'talk to your doctor' like it's a panacea is a lot like how medieval peasants weren't able to read scripture and they just had to trust their clergy's interpretations
Sick of it. Usually it's not even like if I'm trying to find out if I have fucking cancer, I'm saying oh i feel sad in the evenings. why in the NAME of GOD would i want to then, for that, find the guy's number, call, leave a message cause it's midnight, wait for them to call back, schedule something 2 weeks later, worry the whole time, and try to remember and rephrase in formal clinical terminology exactly what's happening and get formal cold clinical advice for it from a guy I see twice a year. Just tell me! Give me colloquial advice and home remedies! good god!
There could be so many miracle tips or tricks online that really work but nooo people constantly shout 'talk to your doctor! call your doctor!' i don't want to fucking call the doctor, medical environments give me anxiety and all the bureaucracy and insurance and bills don't help matters either.
some zoomers on tiktok seem to get this and happily share 'oh this worked for me!' and usually it's somewhat helpful and a very nice, casual interaction that doesn't involve interaction with an authority figure and potential bills. it's that easy.
'ooh what about liability' don't care. liability has destroyed modern america, gatekeeping knowledge behind a culture of fear. if you're so scared about liability over a reddit comment, simply don't say anything! rather than leaving a pointless piece of advice that every single person on the planet knows is the default 'ideal' answer, that isn't necessarily actionable for many who don't have easy or trivial access to healthcare.
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One of the nice things about the internet is being able to draw upon the experiences of others. If you're afflicted with something that someone else has had, then there is absolutely the chance that you can get some helpful advice. At the very least, if none of that works, you can then tell your doctor what you tried to narrow things down. After all, an important step in diagnosing is to match symptoms with the underlying condition. Provided that the advice isn't harmful, it doesn't hurt to try and may save you time and money.
Provided that the advice isn’t harmful,
And that is the key problem: The stupid internet has no idea what will be harmful in a special case and what not.
That's true, but there's a wide range of things that can be tried before dipping into harmful territory. We should be cultivating an environment of critical thinking. If the reaction is to always immediately defer to experts then you get issues of people taking up healthcare resources for the tiniest issues. Additionally, if you can't trust people to have a bit of sense when applying remedies, then what makes you think they'll choose the correct "experts" to listen to?
That’s true, but there’s a wide range of things that can be tried before dipping into harmful territory.
Problem is that most people don't know about how far this range goes.
We should be cultivating an environment of critical thinking.
Indeed we should, but keep in mind that when you among people, half of them has an IQ of <100.
If the reaction is to always immediately defer to experts then you get issues of people taking up healthcare resources for the tiniest issues.
People tend to ask medical questions in places like this usually because googling has not helped so far. I think at this stage the problem is far off the beaten track that random information from random strangers is not going to cut it.
Additionally, if you can’t trust people to have a bit of sense when applying remedies, then what makes you think they’ll choose the correct “experts” to listen to?
I cannot make them listen to voices that tell them "go see a doctor". I can only hope that when they see a wall of similar responses a small spark of common sense makes a difference. A determined idiot can still scroll down past all those messages to find the fellow idiot who recommends dewormer to cure cancer and everything.