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Meet Web Hypochondriacs
prostoalex writes "When Jerome K. Jerome in 1889 described going to the British Museum to read medical encyclopedia and subsequently finding symptoms of almost all diseases in his body, he didn't realize the problem would exacerbate more than a century later. Web hypochondriacs are calling up doctors with requests for prescriptions for all sorts of diseases, since they discovered some similar symptoms on the Web. Wall Street Journal quotes a doctor: 'My impression is that people believe more of what they read than what I tell them. It seems that traditional Western medicine based on scientific evidence is less and less trusted by the general public. Meanwhile, some dubious theory from the Internet will be swallowed hook, line and sinker nine times out of 10.' "
The original: http://www.bash.org/?492775
I think it's important to look at the flip side, too. Doctors who are in their 50's learned medicine 30 years ago, and often haven't kept up to date on all the latest medical findings. For example, the advice I receive from my doctor for certain common illnesses is a bit outdated, and somewhat dangerous.
Not exactly as you described, but give The Merck Manual a try.
Bad news, someone already beat you to the punch.
I thought someone said there was going to be free beer!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Munchausen_syndrome
"Munchausen syndrome is a form of psychological disorder known as a factitious disorder (the term "Munchausen syndrome" is sometimes used, incorrectly, to refer to any form of factitious disorder). Sufferers mimic real diseases, presenting a great problem to themselves and their healthcare professionals. The disorder is named after a literary figure, Baron Munchausen, a real person who was portrayed in fiction as a famous teller of tall tales."
Funny but I have had the exact opposite happen. I went to a doctor for a small infection. The doctor looked at it gave me some meds and told me to come back in two days. It was not healing as well as he would have liked so he did a blood test. Turns out I was diabetes and did not know it. He spent a lot of time claiming me down and telling me not to worry that my life was not over and that we would manage it. He found me a good endo and got me on treatment. I am doing well and I am managing it with diet and just some light drugs now.
The strange thing is that doctor was at a walk in insta med clinic!
See my blog http://ilovecookes.blogspot.com/ for light hearted technical information.
If you have alot of lower back pain but aren't fat, try drinking water ONLY for a few weeks.
Two meanings for this:
1. Go on a fasting diet where you don't eat food but do drink liquids;
2. Drink more water (several more glasses per day) to your normal diet;
The first concept, fasting, is of dubious value. BUT: According to the CRON diet people, and peer-reviewed research into longevity, the ONLY known way to extend the lifespan of a mouse is to reduce their available caloric intake while maintaining a proper nutritional diet. This forces the metabolism into a maintenance-mode (instead of growth-mode) so all energies are put into repairing cellular damage and decay. This method is proven to work in many animals, but is
Sure, you'll be healthy and feel great, but you'll also feel really hungry. Not sure I like the option.
The second is a reasonable response to your kidneys complaining; flush them out and keep them flushed for a bit, but don't go overboard, too much water can really put a strain on your kindeys, too, and in extreme cases (several gallons per day for many days straight) can be toxic, since your body loses electrolytes, and (b) cannot eliminate that much water.
If you constantly crave a certain type of food, whatever is in it may be lacking in your body.
Very true, but misleading. Doughnuts do not apply. If you crave carrots or broccoli or salt, this might mean you need these things or the nutrients they contain. If you crave Ho-Ho's, your body is just being gluttenous.
Unitarian Church: Freethinkers Congregate!
1. Go on a fasting diet where you don't eat food but do drink liquids;
2. Drink more water (several more glasses per day) to your normal diet;
Third meaning: replace your current soda, tea, coffee, etc. intake with plain water. You don't have to add more (though it might be a good idea), just replace all the other stuff you drink anyway.
Will hiring more MDs fix the problem- NO! because DOctors are typically working all the time -getting calls from hypochondriacs, and from people who are actually sick. Familly practice and Pediatricians are about the lowest paid MDs around and they start around $80k in Kalifornia - and that's for working around 70 hours a week.
Lesson is if you want a better service - you need to pay for it.
..........FULL STOP.
1) There are antibacterial soaps out there. They started out in places like operating rooms and hospitals, however in recent years have been permeating our homes and society by the ultrahygenic movement.
2) Soap itself does not kill bacteria. It helps you to remove loose, dead cells on the surface of your skin to which the bacteria are clinging. The water washes it away.
However, medical students are well aware of this phenomenon (at a rational level) and soon get over it. The problem with having so much medical information (even assuming it is all trustworthy) available to the general public is that your average person has no preparation whatsoever to deal with it. Expect to find plenty of aunties with prostate cancer... :-)
Despite all of these pitfalls, I think the advantages of having broader access to information still outweight the disadvantages. If not for anything else, it keeps doctors on their toes: they are not the sole guardians of the "mystical medical knowledge" anymore.
At last, consider that in some cases you may discover on the Internet "second opinions" about some medical treatments which otherwise you would be totally ignorant about. Check this story for a very enlightening example.
GP wasn't saying using soap excessively breeds bacteria that are resistant to it, but that not exposing the body to bacteria that it will normally encounter as a matter of course means the immune system won't be able to cope with those bacteria when it does encounter them.
Basically, keeping your kid in a clean room and spraying everything he touches with Dettol Antibacterial Spray, or whatever that crap's called, means when he *does* catch something, something that would cause trivial symptoms if any in a health, normal person, it'll kill him.
Leastways, that's what I think he was saying, and if it was, then he's right, in my opinion.
Thank you for your condescending attitude. Perhaps it may be of use to you too look at your linked references. Also, you may want to google "triclosan", a common ingredient in antibacterial soaps.
The first hit I received from "mechanism of triclosan" was this:
Mechanism of Triclosan Inhibition of Bacterial Fatty Acid Synthesis (I apologize if you can't see this, I'm at a university and never know if people can see the links to journals I post)
So as you can see, triclosan affects the cell chemically.
Now, when these soaps say they kill 99.9% of all germs, guess which 0.1% they're not killing. I'll also give you another guess as to which ones keep reproducing.
Triclosan isn't the only antibacterial, for example, bleach (sodium hypochlorite) is also commonly used. Here is a reference to bacterial resistance to bleach. (Actually I was quite surprised myself to see this)
Kearns AM, Freeman R, Lightfoot NF (1995). "Nosocomal enterococci: resistance to heat and sodium hypochlorite." J Hosp Infect 30(3): 193-199.
I would love to continue this diatribe, but I have a chemistry Ph.D. to complete.