# Ignoring doctor's orders **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [September 30, 2017, 1:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ignoring-doctors-orders/797638 "2017-09-30T13:13:59Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 15\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/qadgop_the_mercotan/32/83_2.png) [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qadgop_the_Mercotan)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2017, 4:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ignoring-doctors-orders/797638/41 "2017-10-02T16:45:38Z")
Avoid grapefruit juice if you’re on lovastatin or simvastatin. > **[Do Your Statins and Grapefruit Safely Mix?](https://health.clevelandclinic.org/statins-grapefruit-safely-mix/)** > > Statins protect your heart by lowering "bad" cholesterol ---
**Author:** ![erysichthon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/d07c76/32.png) [@erysichthon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/erysichthon)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2017, 7:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ignoring-doctors-orders/797638/42 "2017-10-07T19:37:34Z")
> [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](#): > > Just FYI, it’s fine to consume grapefruit with statins like atorvastatin and rosuvastatin. Thank you for giving me a reason to resume drinking Fresca! 😃 ---
**Author:** ![glowacks](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/glowacks/32/5548_2.png) [@glowacks](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/glowacks)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2017, 4:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ignoring-doctors-orders/797638/43 "2017-10-08T04:20:26Z")
Generally health warnings tend to be more general than needed because a lot of people aren’t very good at remembering details. Perhaps they’ll remember that X and Y statin are ok with grapefruits, but when they were really told that they were _not_ OK with grapefruits. It’s much safer to just say to everyone “don’t eat/drink grapefruit (juice) if you’re on statins”. ---
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2017, 7:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ignoring-doctors-orders/797638/44 "2017-10-08T07:45:10Z")
ISTR hearing that only white grapefruit interferes with the effectiveness of statins, and this is the primary reason that I only see pink/ruby red grapefruit products around anymore. Did this turn out to be bogus? ---
**Author:** ![Broomstick](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/broomstick/32/246_2.png) [@Broomstick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Broomstick)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2017, 1:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ignoring-doctors-orders/797638/45 "2017-10-08T13:19:47Z")
I think the fact that pink and red grapefruit are usually sweeter than white grapefruit has more to do with them being more common than medical issues. Rather like it’s getting harder and harder to find watermelons with seeds in them anymore, and there seems to be a race on to breed the World’s Sweetest Apple. ---
**Author:** ![nearwildheaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/90db22/32.png) [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2017, 5:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ignoring-doctors-orders/797638/46 "2017-10-08T17:46:08Z")
Grapefruit interferes with the metabolism of statins, and some other drugs, because of a certain P450 enzyme. Exactly how it happens and why is still being studied, and it doesn’t do that to everyone. ---
**Author:** ![Pabitel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/bbce88/32.png) [@Pabitel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pabitel)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2017, 4:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ignoring-doctors-orders/797638/47 "2017-10-09T16:39:47Z")
My father took this path to the point of suicide. He was a lifetime smoker and a closet alcoholic. When he developed COPD he was told no more smoking and no more alcohol. He ignored both. He always was terrified, from middle age on, of getting old and losing agency. I don’t know whether it was a conscious decision or if he was in denial till the end, but he essentially chose death over old age. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2017, 5:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ignoring-doctors-orders/797638/48 "2017-10-09T17:49:57Z")
The doctor may be the expert on medicine in general, but that does not always mean that he knows more about that specific patient than the patient does. For comparison, consider my grandfather (who sounds like he was cut from much the same cloth as **FairyChatMom** ’s FIL), who got hit by a truck at age 83. The doctors who didn’t know him said that he’d never walk again. The doctors who did know him said that he wouldn’t be walking again for six months. It took him one month. Now, granted, he still couldn’t handle stairs, and that was a big impact on his quality of life, but not walking at all would have been an even bigger impact. ---
**Author:** ![MacLir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/9e8a1a/32.png) [@MacLir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MacLir)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2017, 8:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ignoring-doctors-orders/797638/49 "2017-10-12T20:52:20Z")
> [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](#): > > People are primates. Just watch the primates in the monkey house at the zoo, and eventually you’ll learn all you need to know about human behavior. > > Logic? Reason? My ass . . . Worked for Valentine Michael Smith … :rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![MacLir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/9e8a1a/32.png) [@MacLir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MacLir)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2017, 9:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ignoring-doctors-orders/797638/50 "2017-10-12T21:25:22Z")
> [@FairyChatMom](#): > > Like the time he was way up on an extension ladder, chain saw in one hand, leaning out to cut down a branch?? :eek: :eek: :eek: He was in his 60s at the time. > > Or the time he blew his fingertip off firing a homemade cannon? He was a teenager at the time. > > And other things that I’m not going to list… > > He’s not a stupid man by any means. But sometimes I have to wonder. And I don’t know if it’s genetic or a learned behavior, but I see similar choices being made by his firstborn. Maybe it’s a guy thing that I don’t understand. It’s a guy thing. I am told that for several years after I graduated highschool my former teachers would twitch involuntarily at the words “Science Project”. :rolleyes: OK, so I made a thermite volcano - and set it off inside - and shocked the bejesus out of two of my classmates - one of them with a biology project! :smack: Plus the death threat I got from the chemistry teacher when I paid too much attention to the crystalline iodine. Despite her being 2/3 my mass, I took her seriously. ---
**Author:** ![Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/qadgop_the_mercotan/32/83_2.png) [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qadgop_the_Mercotan)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2017, 9:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ignoring-doctors-orders/797638/51 "2017-10-12T21:44:08Z")
> [@MacLir](#): > > Worked for Valentine Michael Smith … :rolleyes: He’s a good role model. 🆒 ---
**Author:** ![gigi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a587f6/32.png) [@gigi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gigi)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2017, 3:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ignoring-doctors-orders/797638/52 "2017-10-13T03:15:19Z")
> [@FairyChatMom](#): > > I don’t get it. Is it denial of mortality? Revolt against authority? \*“You’re not the boss of me!!!” \* You have to make the effort and make the appointment - why would you then ignore the advice and guidance? Good timing – I was just internally ranting about that commercial where the doctor warns the lady to take it easy on her leg but she goes ahead hiking and running anyway. I thought, yeah, great ignore the doctor’s orders, super. (And wondered if there was a tiny disclaimer on the ad!) But then I thought, for other things you may consult the doctor and then make your own decision. My mom had what was clearly a tumor in her breast but didn’t go in to have it looked at. She went in for the usual annual check-in and let the doctor tell her what they would typically do for what she had, and decided not to pursue anything. I discussed my hypothyroid with my doctor and relunctantly agreed to take a pill but still toy with stopping. Long term there may be effects on my heart but maybe that’s not enough for me to care to keep taking it. No, it’s not always rational but it’s my own decision to make. ---
**Author:** ![Derleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Derleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Derleth)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2017, 3:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ignoring-doctors-orders/797638/53 "2017-10-13T03:23:06Z")
> [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](#): > > He’s a good role model. 🆒 Eat me! 😛 For some people, “being mature” seems to equal “making problems for others for absolutely no benefit to myself”, or at least no _intelligible_ benefit. Some even refine their opposition to a specific person: “If _they_ tell me to do something, I’m _definitely_ not going to do it”, yea, even unto keeping their hand on the hot stove just because _that one specific person_ suggested they might avoid being burned by taking it off. Completely self-sufficient, except for all the problems their actions cause others, ayup. ---
**Author:** ![Irishman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/b487fb/32.png) [@Irishman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Irishman)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2017, 8:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ignoring-doctors-orders/797638/54 "2017-10-16T20:23:37Z")
> [@Tom\_Terrific](#): > > Sometimes people do or continue to do things that may not be in their best interests. Your 87 yo. FIL may look at staying off his bad leg as something against his best interest. He is 87 and active. How did he get there, by not letting a sore leg stop him. His view may well be that if he stops for a couple of weeks he may not be able to resume his normal level of activity. For an 87 year old, this is more true than for, say, a 67 or a 47 year old. Aging does a number on the body. I’m witnessing the effects on my parents, who are hitting 77 and 75. One exercise my dad does is sitting down and getting up from a chair. Yep, just that. It was recommended by a specialist because people begin to lose strength in their muscles, and start having to push themselves up with their hands, and the next thing you know, they are immobile without help. My aunt went into the hospital - she was 69, but in poor health from a lifetime of a) kidney damage in her 20s, b) smoking like a chimney during a blizzard, c) heart disease leading to a heart double bypass, d) decline in kidney performance requiring her to go on dialysis, e) having a stroke caused by the blood thinners she was on. She was getting a kidney transplant, but complications kept her on bed rest for over a month. She already didn’t have much strength, and that long on bed rest is detrimental to your ability to move. She ended up having the new kidneys fail and get infected, so they were removed, and then she was beginning the long journey back to mobility and decided to try to make coffee on her own, got up out of her wheelchair, fell and broke her hip. For the elderly, there really is a case of “use it or lose it”, the “it” in this case being physical ability to stand up and walk on your own, or get out of bed without help. > [@kayaker](#): > > ETA: for all we know, his working the Achilles early on might lead to less scarring and he’ll wind up with better mobility. For all we know, early use might lead to _more_ scarring due to being stressed while trying to heal, and he winds up with more limited mobility, or permanent pain. > [@kiz](#): > > I think, in some cases, doctors want certain people to start taking it to prevent _something_ happening. There’s a history of heart issues in my husband’s family. He has never shown any symptoms of inheriting such. But, because the history is there, his doctor wants all bases covered “just in case”. Why is it that people gripe that conventional medicine is all about treating and not about preventing like holistic woo, but when doctors try to talk about prevention, they are ignored because people don’t want lifestyle changes, and they are mocked for “covering their bases” and “just in case”? > [@FairyChatMom](#): > > He’s not a stupid man by any means. But sometimes I have to wonder. And I don’t know if it’s genetic or a learned behavior, but I see similar choices being made by his firstborn. Maybe it’s a guy thing that I don’t understand. Partly a guy thing. We think we’re invincible, that we are better than all the other dumb schmucks who blew-their-finger-tip-off/used-a-chainsaw-one-handed-dangling-from-a-ladder/whatever. > [@Broomstick](#): > > …, and there seems to be a race on to breed the World’s Sweetest Apple. Can’t happen soon enough, IMO. Get rid of the tart. > [@Pabitel](#): > > My father took this path to the point of suicide. > He was a lifetime smoker and a closet alcoholic. When he developed COPD he was told no more smoking and no more alcohol. He ignored both. For my aunt, it was the heart surgery that drove her to stop smoking. ---
**Author:** ![Grestarian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/grestarian/32/3227_2.png) [@Grestarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grestarian)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2017, 2:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ignoring-doctors-orders/797638/55 "2017-10-19T02:06:19Z")
Anecdotes and Hasty Generalizations… I’ve ranted about this before in other threads. There seems to be a subsection of humans (I’ll stop short of calling them sub-humans) that seem to object to the whole practice of analyzing/investigating/researching/blasphemously snooping around the inner workings of God’s creation when such workings are best left as mysteries of our non-heavenly existence. This tends to mean that scientists and engineers (in general) and biologists [especially human biologists] and doctors are treated not just with disrespect but actively maligned among those of a religious bent. In arguing with my friend/former sensei about treatment of my ex-girlfriend’s (his sister’s) cancer, I kept insisting she needed to be given scientifically tested-and-proven therapies. His response tended to be an irritating, “Well, there ARE other paradigms…” in a way of suggesting his crystals and essential oils would do just as well or better to help her if only the oncologists would get out of the way and let him work his magic. And, as a general backlash against the sacrilege of pursuing knowledge (after all, that’s why we’re no longer in the Garden of Eden) there are some who just distrust and malign smart people in general. We’ve had threads around here about the value – or lack thereof – of high school diplomas, college degrees, technical certifications, et cetera. My wife’s ex-husband often commented about me to his daughter, “Well, he ain’t really all that smart^…” because I might have earned my degree in contrast to his dropping out of college, but I knew less than him about electrical wiring. And even up above in this thread, there are disdainful comments of “Those guys [i.e. scientists, medical researchers, doctors, physicians, et cetera] claim to know what’s going on in our bodies but then they change their great pronouncements all the time.” and the only thing left unsaid$ is “They ain’t really all that smart!” And even I admit to rejecting some of the widely-distributed medical wisdom like “Drink at least 8 glasses (64oz) of water a day” and “Salt is bad for your health” but that, after all, is because the first is a popular Woo misconception and the latter is [popular] unsupported speculation that was never investigated. > [@Irishman](#): > > Can’t happen soon enough, IMO. Get rid of the tart. Hey, I happen to like tarts! [Oh, and the slightly sour apples make better pies.] 😃 –G ^But, then again, I’m not the one who went out in a rainstorm and got hit by lightning while to trying to fix a diesel power generator. I was busy in another part of the world at the time, studying for my last finals to get that worthless college degree. $The general gist being something like “So-called scientists are just making shit up to make us think all the money we throw at them is producing results. At best, they’re guessing at reality. To KNOW reality all ya gotta do is read yer Bible.” and there’s a whole lot of profit to be made by discrediting science in general. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ignoring-doctors-orders/797638.md?page=2)