And are you suggesting he is? You can suggest all you like, but there’s no way any of us can verify that, and I don’t think you want to put the Reader in the position of validating medical credentials, which, if I’m not mistaken is the entire reason for closing medical advice threads in the first place. For all I know or care he’s a grocery-cart jockey in real life with good research skills. It doesn’t change the fact that a real-life physician who has actually examined their patient and made a diagnosis based on those examinations should trump any internet yahoo’s advice, no matter how well-thought out or cited.
No, that is EXACTLY what she said. I’m pretty sure she was mistaken and was probably thinking of Sodium saccrine, or whatever. Furthermore, I’ve just done a quick medline search - ya’ll do know that I work at a medical school, right - and there doesn’t seem to be a connection between asparatame and blood pressure.
Of course, all of that doesn’t change the fact that I didn’t actually ask for that info in my OP about aspartame. I asked about diet drinks. Some people were gracious enough to answer my question. Others wanted to give me a lesson in high blood pressure management. I’m sure they were well meaning. I’m pitting NONE of them.
It doesn’t change the fact that in the future I will be taking my Drs’ advice over anyone on here, even if she did get her terminology wrong this one time. Honestly, I hope the egos here can handle that.
Assuming you’re correct about her mistake, I hope she writes prescriptions more accurately than she speaks. :eek:
I dunno - my perscription for CASODEX 50 seems to be ok…
So if only she had acknowledged the medical advice of random strangers on the internet as being sufficient for her to question her actually-qualified and demonstrably real doctor, everything would’ve been hunky-dory and she would’ve been allowed to have her thread return to the question she’d actually asked, as opposed to having it closed for not listening to advice she hadn’t even slightly asked for in the first place?
Fucking hell, this place gets complicated.
Without wanting to put words into Waverly’s mouth, I’d assume that he’s suggesting that Karl Gauss is a random person with access to an internet account that some other random people happen to assume belongs to a person with an MD, and that hell fucking yeah we shouldn’t take the words apparently typed with this account over those of an actual, real-life, properly present doctor who has a direct duty of care to their patient.
Really; why the hell do you think this board even has a “no medical advice” rule in the first place? For fun? Because Qadgop gets commission?
Okay, that was funny.
I’m a funny, funny girl.
In the context of the SDMB, he is a member. Nothing more, nothing less. If the administration wants to vouch for people with special expertise, so be it. But I don’t think that is what they want. I can think of several members (Karl is NOT one of them) who profess to have professional degrees who are either lying, or aren’t very good at what they do. Does the administration want to be in the business of sorting the good from the bad, or does the administration want to avoid holding up one member as more expert than another?
I should have said, that was funny, Your Majesty.
You’re welcome to ask the Administration what their position is. I just tend to rely on my common sense. I have personally emailed with member Karl Gauss, and have read more than a few of his contributions in General Questions on medical matters, and have no reason to question his profession. But I do understand your qualms about generally doing this with any random poster on the SDMB who professes to have certain professional qualifications. I don’t accept all of them at face value. I make judgements over a long period of time. And, again, only a fool would accept at face value what is posted on the internet or the SDMB at face value.
Real life is sometimes about making value judgements. Informed opinions. I make that about Karl Gauss. I know more about him than you do. I wouldn’t lightly say that he is a doctor. I wouldn’t even come close to saying that unless I had 99% confidence in my judgement. I have that.
I also know members of the SDMB who claim to have expertise in certain fields, as you suggest, but I would NEVER suggest on the board that they do. I don’t believe them. The preponderance of evidence is against them. That isn’t the case with Karl Gauss, Qadgop or some of the lawyers we have on the board.
Huh - what, are you doubting the voracity of my claim that i’m a cheerleader?
he opposite.
Complete outdated BS. Dude- didya read the thread we are talking about? I may not be a MD, but I do research for a living and have an advanced degree in the Life Sciences. A rigorous Search on Google scholar could find no, repeat NO recent papers or research which linked aspartame to increases in BP, in fact I found several that indicated the opposite. I spent a reasonable length of time doing my research, and no one- including the ever helpful and brilliant Karl Gauss found fault with it. I stand behind those cites- well shit that means nothing- a *dozen + of the top researchers in the field *stand behind those cites 100%.
19fucking**86 **study on fucking rats you give us? :rolleyes: Without even a link. :dubious: Dude- go back and read the studies and research papers I linked to- they included modern studies on humans.
Look, if Alice wants to do something with those cites or not, that’s her business. But don’t come in here late with a fucking 20 yo study on rats and act like you know what you’re talking about. Maybe you do, but that cite is crap.
Her original question had been answered very early. Samclem properly closed the thread due to that fact. Maybe he could have worded his reason better, I dunno.
(psst, isn’t Karl Gauss a she? 
)
Yer like an UBERnerd, huh? 
That’s totally a complement, BTW
A bit, I must confess. I even play D&D.
Note that I appreciate your sense of humour here. Other dudes- not so much.
Uh, I’m not actually a DUDE…
Say doc, I’m not quite clear on this, how do you really feel?
You’re a voracious cheerleader?
So how YOU doin’…?
To the best of my knowledge, a good deal of lab work is still done with rats. To the best of my knowledge the understanding of human physiology in 1986 was not so backwards so as to completely obsolete today.
But look, I’m not intending to debate the effects of aspartame. Stop. Back up. And read that again. Don’t get all wound up and try to debate it with me, because I won’t be engaged. I’m also am not going to whip out my own credentials and measure them against your “advanced degree”. I find that childish.
The only point I was making is that whether the information is good or bad, Alice’s GP could very well have come across literature that linked aspartame and blood pressure. That’s it. Now, regardless of accuracy, if you want to doubt the literature even exists, be my guest. Come right out and call me a liar.
Wonderful. So I don’t have to trust that someone is a real expert; all I have to do is trust you to vouch for the veracity of the claim. I’m sure you are diligent and all, what with emailing the person and your 99.44% accuracy guarantee.
Heh, send me an email. I want the samclem seal of approval. I want to put it in my sig. I want you to close threads and admonish posters who have not shown appropriate deference to my input. This is a fucking fantastic program you have going, and I insist that I be allowed to participate. You will vouchsafe for my expertise in material science, marketing, international business, and my sexual prowess. Especially that last one.
Thanks, samclem!