Many times on the board people ask vague medical questions, “what is this pain in my elbow?”, “Do I poop enough?”, “Is my snot the right colour?” (not actual threads obviously). Some people offer advice but many more say Run To The doctor NOW.
The threads I’m talking about are about seemingly mild medical issues not “my colon has been bleeding for six months” medical disasters. But many people still prompt the OP to get to the doctor lightening fast as if the OPs life will end without medical intervention. Each time I think, why would you go to a doctor for that?
This OP is not actually been prompted by anything on the dope right now but something I read on another messageboard. A person had cut their finger and it had reopened and bleed again several times through the day. What they were writing about had nothing to with the finger (it was just mentioned) but nearly every comment posted told them to RUN to the doctor. Many anecdotal incidents of bloody finger injuries and terrible things that happen to those with finger injuries if they don’t race to the doctor followed. So many that I gave up reading.
I haven’t been to the doctor in at least 2 years though I can’t actually remember when it was. I hate going to the doctor and will avoid it at all costs. A few weeks ago I almost completely lost my voice (many rejoiced) but I didn’t have a sore throat or any other symptom, just no voice. I can’t tell you how many times people told me to go to the doctor. My thought was …it doesn’t hurt, it will get better soon. If it doesn’t then I will ring the doctor. Well I’m all better now. No doctor required.
Last time the child was sick my mother bleated and bleated about taking him to the doctor. He had been mildly unwell for 3 days. Third day (no doctor) he was back to normal and back to school (yes I know the signs of meningitis).
Am I the only one left who thinks that I don’t need to see a doctor everytime I cough? I admit I have an irrational loathing of spending money on “it’s a virus” and I also had a mother who LOVED dragging me to the doctor as a kid but am I alone in thinking that many things people go to the doctor for now could be just as easily fixed with a day in bed or visit to the chemist?
Am I doctor phobic or do some people just need to relax?
I don’t rush to the doctor’s every time I or the kids catch a sniffle. Most colds go away on their own in 5-7-10 days and I have tons of over the counter medicines and gallons of prescription medicines from previous illnesses.
I also have a $20 deductible to pay for each office visit and if an RX is given, that is another $10 - 25.
I wasn’t raised to run to the doctor for every little thing.
My husband goes for everything. His medical file is thicker than mine and I’ve had two kids and a mysterious ear problem.
I certainly don’t run to the doctor every time an advice columnist in a magazine says, “see a doctor.” Nor do I run to the doctor when someone on an on-line message board says “see a doctor.”
People always say “consult a doctor” because they aren’t a doctor and they don’t want to feel guilty if it turns out those “flu like symtoms” mean you really do have Ebola Hemorrhagic Fever.
The thing that gets me is why does everyone say “IANAD?” I’m pretty sure when someone actually is a doctor, and they’re giving advice as a doctor, they say so. Why do the rest of us have to always point out that we aren’t? Shouldn’t everyone just kinda assume that?
A friend of mine recently took a rough tumble while skiing. She told me afterwards there was some blood in her urine. What was my first reaction? “See a doctor.” Sure if it’s a one time thing, it’s probably nothing. But then again, IANAD.
I’m with ya. Doctors are WAY overused for the small stuff. The important thing in your advice is the **rest ** part, though. If you have congestion, some achiness, a sore throat and you’re tired - go to bed! You probably have a cold. You can pay $50 to have a doctor tell you, “You probably have a cold.” Guess what: he can’t tell for sure, either! There are no tests or cultures for “common cold,” there are no miracle drugs he can give you. He’ll tell you to give it a week and then come back if it hasn’t gone away. Go home and go to bed. Don’t supress your symptoms with lots of medication, don’t simply ignore it and go to work and infect your whole office - go to bed! Rest! Drink lots of fluids. Once I started doing this, I was amazed to discover that a cold only lasts 3 days. When I try to push through it, its a week or two. Your body really needs rest to get better.
But once in a while there’s a :smack: when I counsel waiting and do miss something important. A friend of mine, heavy, heavy smoker with hypochondriac tendancies, recently moved all her stuff to a new apartment. The next day, she complained to me that she had this intermitent cough and a really sore side. I told her to knock off the cigarettes and take some OTC analgesic for the muscle soreness from moving heavy boxes.
The next day she went to the doc, who diagnosed her with pneumonia and pleurisy.
Not exactly, the nurses in the audience say it because we are licenced to practice nursing. I can tell you about the pathophysiology, or normal physiology. I can tell you what agency you could call for support of information, but I can’t say “take two asprin and call me in the morning.” Even QtM can’t say it, because he can’t see you. No reputable health care professional would truely try to diagnose an illness without seeing and touching the person. If you have a cough I want to listen to lungs and your heart. You wouldn’t ask a plumber to fix your plumbing, remotely, he has to see it.
Many serious illnesses have vague symptoms early on, and no one on line can see you. If you say you have a cut finger that’s been bleeding all day, I’m picturing a finger hanging from a tendon gushing arterial blood, when in fact, its a little cut on a knuckle, that breaks open when you move it.
What we’re really saying is have sombody look at it. For most things, Groucho said it best. “If it hurts when you do that, don’t do that.” calm kiwi If its any consolation, I don’t go to doctors if I can in any way avoid it. Not because I’m afraid, but because so many doctors are condesending jack-asses, that don’t really do anything, but say “take a pill, a pill will make you feel better”. I don’t want a pill, I want a cure! If my feet hurt, I want to know why, then I want to know how to make them stop hurting for good. no pill.
You’re certainly entitled to your mildly anti-doctor views. I don’ t think it is a big deal.
But you raised my suspicions when you brought up your child. I’m not going to indict you for it, but I would hope that you would be far more cautious about diseases in children than your own sniffles and aches. Frankly, the dismissive “I know the signs of meningitis” comment doesn’t sit well with me.
In NZ Meningitis is a HUGE deal. I may have been a bit flippant otherwise but I wanted it to be clear I wasn’t oblivious to the major risk in children in my country (emergency wise).
As a kid I wasn’t taken to the doctor for colds or other bugs, unless I was either really sick or sick for more than a few days. I was, overall, disgustingly healthy anyway. When I needed a doctor I got taken, though, no doubt about it, as was my brother. Having a cold for three days didn’t, and doesn’t, call for a doctor visit. After a week, yeah, I’d go, but I’ve never had one that lasted that long that I remember.
My poor brother was once subjected to a spinal tap because he was acting like he might have meningitis. It turned out he had a bad ear infection. Better safe than sorry, though – apparently, he was holding his head funny, and he was maybe eighteen months old so he wasn’t able to communicate very well yet.
Absolutely, children (and adults) presenting with frightening symptoms should be taken to a medical professional. Slurred speech, holding the head to one side, paralysis, being off balance, uneven pupils, sudden onset of a high fever, extreme lethargy, trauma, or just “that feeling” that something isn’t right are all good reasons to seek medical treatment. But sniffles and a cough? Meh.
Meningitis, while serious and requiring medical treatment, is not hard to spot. This site has information on how to determine if a skin rash may be meningeal, and Brudzinski’s sign is easy for a parent to spot (lay your child on his back and tip his chin towards his chest. If his hips and knees bend, get him to a hospital.)
Unfortunately, too many people can’t afford to lose three days’ productivity. So medication and being sick for a week it sometimes has to be. You ever try to take three days off in a row without getting dirty looks from bosses/ falling horribly behind?
Sorry, just getting fed up at myself because I’ve been sick in one way or another for way too long now and don’t have time to take off.
I didn’t rush to the doctor when I was unable to keep down food for a couple of days, and had really bad belly ache, then on the third day the pain became excrusiating and I had to call a doctor to my house (luckily paerants were there to help). Turns out the really bad pain was my appendix bursting. If I had gone to the doctor early I would have needed a week or so in hospital and a simple small scar appendoctomy. Having waited till the darn thing burst, I spent 6 weeks in hospital, sufferd potentially lethal blood poisoning and have a scar 6 inches long. So now-a-days I advise that for anything that lasts more than a day and is not obvious cold or food sickness you really are better off going to your doctor.
I rarely go to the doctor unless I’m sick for a long time, or I feel like I’m going to die, but my family almost never goes to the doctor for anything. We’re big on “toughing it out.” For example, when my father’s appendix ruptured, he thought he had a bad cramp so he punched himself in the stomach for 20 minutes. It’s pretty funny to hear him tell that story.
Well, a lot of people suggest consulting a doctor because innocuous-seeming stuff can either be innocuous, or be warning signs of really, really bad shit. The bleeding finger cited in the OP, for example. Most of the time, once a wound has clotted, it doesn’t start bleeding again unless there’s further trauma. It could be the person in question was just knocking the scab loose repeatedly, or it could be that he or she has something fun like a clotting disorder or leukemia or something. Posters on a message board can’t see the cut, or what you’ve been doing with the hand, or how much blood we’re talking about, so we tend not to feel comfortable assuming the best, you know?
I usually avoid the doctor. If I’m really sick and I call his office, they tell me that I can have an appointment next week. Great, by then I’ll either be well or dead.
One time I was going into shock from internal bleeding. I called the doctor’s office and they tried to give me an appointment for days later. They refused to let me talk to him on the telephone, even after I explained that I was seriously ill. I finally gave up and took a taxi to the nearest hospital emergency room. They took my problem seriously, and admitted me to the hospital, where they told me that I was about 40% low on my blood supply. I left about four days later, after some tests and an operation to stop the bleeding.
You sound like my mum. It is a miracle he made it to 13 really.