My apologies for recently posting a question re: my having experienced acute, temporary pain in my lower back (kidneys?) after having swallowed a large blob of ice cream. One of the administrators noted that soliciting medical opinion violates SDMB protocol. I wasn’t aware of that, but it makes sense. In retrospect, I was curious about this transient pain and wondered what it might be. It’s happened twice in my life, so no biggie.
Yes, ** CKDexter**, I can afford physician’s care. 
Apologies accepted, no prob. We do have people from time to time asking for free medical advice online, and it’s almost always a very, very bad idea. The best doctor in the world couldn’t and wouldn’t offer a diagnosis online.
General comments are fine – “What are the symptoms of measles?” or “Is Glypseudomyocin addictive?” or any similar generalities are fine, talking about the general population. But as soon as you get to a specific individual case, like “why do I have these red spots on my feet?” or “I’m coughing up blood, do you think it’s OK if I take a couple of aspirin?” – then we’re into a realm where a medical professional needs to look at you, to ask questions about your history, about other symptoms, etc.
Carnac, seriously, call your doctor and describe the symptoms, and ask him/her whether that’s worth some follow-up. It could be a biggie, I don’t know and neither do you, and I’d personally prefer that a doctor tell me it ain’t a biggie.
For those that have medical insurance: A lot of insurance companies have free nurse lines that you can call and get quick feedback. They are particularily useful for situations where you are not sure if it is serious enough to schedule an appointment.
Seriously, CaveMike, what the hell’s wrong with me? What terrible truth is CK Dexter Haven keeping from me? Are these voices I keep hearing from an alien implant?
Clearly it’s Xenu (hence Dex’s fear of being sued).
Dex is not afraid of being sued for suggesting that you call your doctor when you have a recurring pain in the kidney area, and ask. I know that my doctor would then ask relevant questions (“Do you have any pain when you urinate? Does it only happen with ice cream or with any milk product? What medications or vitamins are you currently taking? Is there a family history of renal ablostomoctocities?” etc.) to determine whether to schedule an appointment.
And I admit a personal bias in these situations: I have a cousin who died of a treatable condition (prostate cancer) because he didn’t go to see a doctor for regular checkup, nor when there were early symptoms.
Points well taken, my good man. I’ll make an appointment.
Well, it’s not actually against the RAW. “Users should be particularly wary of medical, legal or other professional advice posted on the message board and recognize that it is no substitute for in-person consultation with a competent professional.”
If we want to make it against the rules, the rules should be a bit more clear. I read this as a caveat and warning not to follow said advice blindly as opposed to not asking for it.
We discourage overt medical advice – we certainly don’t want people diagnosing themselves off of something they read here.
That being said, medical problems do get touched upon here. Just mentioning them is not a violation, though attemping to get diagnosed here will get our attention.
We really do try to make most topics open for conversation here; there are some exceptions, but we’d like to think we can discuss most anything that y’all bring to the board. We don’t want you using the SDMB as your walk-in clinic, though.
your humble TubaDiva