Will the admins allow medical questions where I’d like to hear the opinion of others WITHOUT seeking actual medical advice?
I would have no trouble with a general discussion of medical treatments and such. Don’t get me started on CPAP, honestly. No one wants that.
Defining the question in such a way, however, that makes clear that a poster is facing an issue and is looking for information about how they should be treated is another thing. We’re not qualified medical professionals. Ever if we were, of course, we still couldn’t define and diagnose a problem via a message board. Best practice is that we just avoid those as a fool’s errand.
That’s would fit fine in IMHO.
Any question where you’re seeking opinions should go in IMHO.
Questions about an actual medical condition that you or someone you know has would also go in IMHO.
Strictly factual questions about physiology, anatomy, etc., where general information not related to a specific case is sought can go in General Questions.
We used to prohibit questions seeking medical advice. I think the reasoning was something about legal liability for the SDMB. Some people believe that medical advice questions are still prohibited, but they aren’t. That rule was changed a few years ago.
Now we allow questions seeking medical advice, but we do require that questions about medical issues be posted in IMHO. As the forum name indicates, any responses received are just the opinions of some online folks, so the SDMB isn’t on the hook (legally) for dispensing medical advice. Of course, it is always best to get medical advice from a real life medical professional who can actually examine you and see what is going on.
So to be clear, questions seeking medical advice are no longer prohibited. Just post them in IMHO.
If it’s a purely factual question, it can be posted in GQ (see Colibri’s post above). Medical advice questions and questions seeking opinions belong in IMHO.