# Discussion thread for the "Polls only" thread (Part 1) **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [September 28, 2022, 11:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discussion-thread-for-the-polls-only-thread-part-1/972380 "2022-09-28T11:33:16Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 196
**Author:** ![Velocity](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/velocity/32/18006_2.png) [@Velocity](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Velocity)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2023, 5:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discussion-thread-for-the-polls-only-thread-part-1/972380/3902 "2023-05-06T05:11:47Z")
I generally prefer female doctors for that, yes - because they listen better. The only situation where I prefer that my doctor be a man is where urology is concerned, because a woman wouldn’t know firsthand what it feels like to have a male set of organs. I’m guessing most women prefer female Ob-Gyns for the same reason. ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2023, 11:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discussion-thread-for-the-polls-only-thread-part-1/972380/3903 "2023-05-06T11:36:44Z")
> [@Maserschmidt](#): > > My possibly very sexist opinion is that women doctors listen better. I’m a guy who has only male doctors. I don’t want/need someone to listen. ---
**Author:** ![puzzlegal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puzzlegal/32/3827_2.png) [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2023, 11:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discussion-thread-for-the-polls-only-thread-part-1/972380/3904 "2023-05-06T11:45:57Z")
> [@Velocity](#): > > I’m guessing most women prefer female Ob-Gyns for the same reason Yup. I have a weak preference for a woman for my PCP, but I’ve been seeing a man for years now, and I’m happy with him. But i have a strong preference for a woman for my gynecologist. And when i needed an obstetrician, i REALLY wanted a woman, because i suspect that many male obstetricians see the baby as the patient, and the woman as mostly a vessel. I wanted an obstetrician who had borne children herself, and who would consider me her primary patient. ---
**Author:** ![puzzlegal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puzzlegal/32/3827_2.png) [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2023, 11:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discussion-thread-for-the-polls-only-thread-part-1/972380/3905 "2023-05-06T11:53:57Z")
Speaking of differences between male and female doctors, i ran across this commentary [Patients More Likely to Call Women Docs and DOs by First Name](https://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/982811#:~:text=The%20study%20reinforces%20a%20pattern,are%20greeted%20by%20their%20titles). Of this study > **[Patient Use of Physicians’ First (Given) Name in Direct Patient Electronic...](https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamanetworkopen/fullarticle/2797039)** > > This cohort study examines factors that may contribute to whether patients address physicians differently through electronic messaging Sadly, most of the commentary article is paywalled, but it bemoans the unfairness that women doctors get called by their first name. And there were lots of comments from doctors saying, “how rude”. And i was thinking, “pompous assholes, this study suggest that women are better doctors, and their patients trust them more.” ---
**Author:** ![Maserschmidt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/maserschmidt/32/18829_2.png) [@Maserschmidt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Maserschmidt)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2023, 1:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discussion-thread-for-the-polls-only-thread-part-1/972380/3906 "2023-05-06T13:50:05Z")
Oh, that’s an interesting paper. And it’s funny, I don’t think I’ve ever had a doctor address me by anything other than my first name, and I think I have inevitably reciprocated by referring to every doctor as “Doc”. I do also agree with this comment from the comment section of the JAMA paper: > In the “Discussion” section of this paper, the author stated “untitling (not using a person’s proper title) may have a negative impact on physicians”. I don’t see this as clinical research, but 100% about culture, and we all know that culture changes with time. In the workplace today, people address each other on a first-name basis far more frequently than they did 50 years ago. For healthcare providers to insist that their patients address them in a way that positions them as superior to their patients is, in my view, not helpful to the development of a trusting, collaborative patient-physician relationship, and runs against the general societal culture trends. My preference is that healthcare providers adapt and adopt the concept of their shared row in patient care, rather than “direct patient education” to teach patients to learn their “place” in the hierarchy of medical care. ---
**Author:** ![thorny\_locust](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thorny_locust/32/431_2.png) [@thorny\_locust](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thorny_locust)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2023, 3:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discussion-thread-for-the-polls-only-thread-part-1/972380/3907 "2023-05-06T15:39:26Z")
> [@kayaker](#): > > I’m a guy who has only male doctors. I don’t want/need someone to listen. You don’t want them to listen when you tell them your symptoms, or if you tell them that you tried X medication or technique before and that it made you ill in a specific fashion so you don’t want to do that again? – there may be average differences, but my experience is that some men listen and some don’t, and some women listen and some don’t. I think women may on average be less likely to dismiss a complaint just because it’s being made by a woman, which gives me a slight preference for a woman for primary care; but that preference isn’t enough to override anything I think indicates a difference in competence. ---
**Author:** ![elfkin477](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a9a28c/32.png) [@elfkin477](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elfkin477)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2023, 4:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discussion-thread-for-the-polls-only-thread-part-1/972380/3908 "2023-05-06T16:02:01Z")
> [@squeegee](#): > > I have an inner dialog _only_ if I’m either recalling a conversation, or internally rehearsing a conversation I want to have. > > Otherwise my thought process (say) walking around the house is visualizing the next thing I want to do, picturing my self doing it, visually finding flaws in that plan (I need my left hand free for that), and making a better picture. No dialog, pure visualization Interesting. I have an interal dialog. I almost never visualize anything. It’s not that I’m _completely_ incapable of visualizing, I just rarely make the effort to do so. ---
**Author:** ![Wheelz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wheelz/32/5718_2.png) [@Wheelz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wheelz)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2023, 4:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discussion-thread-for-the-polls-only-thread-part-1/972380/3909 "2023-05-06T16:05:12Z")
My thoughts are generally a combination of words and images - there’s also music, sounds, smells, etc. I voted that I have an internal monologue, but it’s really more of a multimedia presentation. ---
**Author:** ![eschereal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eschereal/32/18939_2.png) [@eschereal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eschereal)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2023, 5:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discussion-thread-for-the-polls-only-thread-part-1/972380/3910 "2023-05-06T17:15:57Z")
We have had fried ice cream, but it was not at the fair, it was at the Guadalajara Grill (the one in El Prado). ---
**Author:** ![Zyada](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zyada/32/3028_2.png) [@Zyada](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zyada)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2023, 5:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discussion-thread-for-the-polls-only-thread-part-1/972380/3911 "2023-05-06T17:25:51Z")
Re pills: when I was in grade school, I was diagnosed as “swallowing backwards” I was also able to make a TH sound when I was missing my front teeth. As a result, I had speech therapy in school. When you swallow, your tongue makes a wave from front to back. I started in the middle and went both directions. After I learned how to swallow properly, I was able to swallow pills. I still had to concentrate on proper technique for a long time, but now I don’t have to think about it. I still have to take pills with water (unlike my mom who could take pills dry) ---
**Author:** ![Spice\_Weasel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spice_weasel/32/5435_2.png) [@Spice\_Weasel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spice_Weasel)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2023, 5:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discussion-thread-for-the-polls-only-thread-part-1/972380/3912 "2023-05-06T17:28:33Z")
I have a really hard time with pills. I still take them but I almost always gag at some point. I’m taking a current medication that beyond all reason is in the shape of a pentagon with jagged little edges and it always gets stuck in my throat. ---
**Author:** ![Loach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loach/32/350_2.png) [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2023, 5:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discussion-thread-for-the-polls-only-thread-part-1/972380/3913 "2023-05-06T17:32:18Z")
> [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](#): > > I remember when everyone was panicking about radon, especially in houses with dirt-floor basements. Haven’t heard about that in _years_. It’s still an issue but now radon testing is a normal required part of home inspections. It’s not a mystery. If there is a radon problem there are ways to mitigate it. In the past people were living with it with no way of knowing ---
**Author:** ![puzzlegal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puzzlegal/32/3827_2.png) [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2023, 5:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discussion-thread-for-the-polls-only-thread-part-1/972380/3914 "2023-05-06T17:34:02Z")
I voted, “single pill, almost any size”, but in fact, i routinely swallow a mouthful of small-to-medium pills. However, when i take really large pills, like the giant capsules of fiber i take with breakfast, i usually take them one at a time. ---
**Author:** ![eschereal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eschereal/32/18939_2.png) [@eschereal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eschereal)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2023, 5:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discussion-thread-for-the-polls-only-thread-part-1/972380/3915 "2023-05-06T17:45:22Z")
I voted something else, because I am that crazy bastard that makes you cringe when you hear me chewing up the aspirin tablets (it gets to work faster that way). ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2023, 6:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discussion-thread-for-the-polls-only-thread-part-1/972380/3916 "2023-05-06T18:07:22Z")
There was a Mexican restaurant chain here in the Nineties that featured deep-fried ice cream; I had it a couple of times. It was okay. I can swallow just about any pill, but always do so with a pretty big gulp of water. I’m a dude and have had both male and female PCPs over the years. My current one is female, and I’ve been seeing her for over a decade. We get along fine. She always refers to me as Mr. Mylastname (she has a lovely Indian accent); I invariably refer to her as Doctor or Dr. Herlastname. ---
**Author:** ![DCnDC](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dcndc/32/2842_2.png) [@DCnDC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DCnDC)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2023, 6:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discussion-thread-for-the-polls-only-thread-part-1/972380/3917 "2023-05-06T18:58:05Z")
I sometimes struggle with pills larger than about a Tic-Tac, which is nearly all of them. ---
**Author:** ![thorny\_locust](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thorny_locust/32/431_2.png) [@thorny\_locust](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thorny_locust)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2023, 7:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discussion-thread-for-the-polls-only-thread-part-1/972380/3918 "2023-05-06T19:09:46Z")
I am currently managing to swallow a single Much Larger Than I’d Like pill daily, as well as several smaller ones. Chewing the thing is forbidden, it’s delayed release and must go down whole. (Ditto one of the smaller ones.) I’m getting better at it: the smaller ones no longer give me much trouble – as long as I approach them right: First, eat some food, so the mouth and throat are in this-is-food-so-swallow-it mode. Then, pill, carefully and rapidly positioned, and followed immediately by large gulp of water, more than one if necessary. Then another bite of food, to clear the sensation out of my throat and convince myself that the pill’s actually gone down. That same technique seems to be getting these large ones down also, so far. It’s always a bit unnerving, though, because I never know if this is the time I’m going to wind up choking the thing back up, or having it go down but leave a scraped sensation in the throat behind it, or worse the sensation that the pill’s still in the throat even though it apparently isn’t. Voted Something Else. “Can swallow fairly large pill but with difficulty” didn’t seem to be on the list of options. ---
**Author:** ![markn\_1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f9ae1b/32.png) [@markn\_1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/markn_1)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2023, 7:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discussion-thread-for-the-polls-only-thread-part-1/972380/3919 "2023-05-06T19:18:15Z")
I voted “who the hell is Charles” because that was the closest match, although not strictly true. I knew the name and could probably identify a photo of him. I was vaguely aware that he was next in line for the throne, although wouldn’t have been surprised to learn I was wrong about that. I had no opinion at all about whether he would or should become king. ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2023, 8:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discussion-thread-for-the-polls-only-thread-part-1/972380/3920 "2023-05-06T20:01:00Z")
> [@thorny\_locust](#): > > You don’t want them to listen when you tell them your symptoms, or if you tell them that you tried X medication or technique before and that it made you ill in a specific fashion so you don’t want to do that again? I want an intelligent person but I don’t want a “friend” to talk to. I’m assuming they will listen to my complaints, suggest diagnostics/therapeutics, etc. Kinda like taking my car to a skilled mechanic. ---
**Author:** ![pjd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pjd/32/3009_2.png) [@pjd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pjd)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2023, 8:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discussion-thread-for-the-polls-only-thread-part-1/972380/3921 "2023-05-06T20:10:59Z")
Need more options between Like an angel. I will make you cry. and I probably won’t win any awards, but I can carry a tune, more or less [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discussion-thread-for-the-polls-only-thread-part-1/972380.md?page=195) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discussion-thread-for-the-polls-only-thread-part-1/972380.md?page=197)