# Worst sincere suggestions you've received. **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [July 22, 2011, 9:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-sincere-suggestions-youve-received/590028 "2011-07-22T21:13:48Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 10
**Author:** ![RedBloom](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/dbc845/32.png) [@RedBloom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RedBloom)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2011, 7:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-sincere-suggestions-youve-received/590028/181 "2011-08-09T19:10:39Z")
Mom and I were at a garage sale, and I held up a pair of jeans which were so cute, but about a size or two smaller than I wear. I said “wow, I like these, but I don’t think they’re my size”… as I’m putting them down she said “Well, make it your goal to get DOWN to that size!”… Ohhhkayyy… thanks mom. ---
**Author:** ![TruCelt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/trucelt/32/523_2.png) [@TruCelt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TruCelt)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2011, 7:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-sincere-suggestions-youve-received/590028/182 "2011-08-09T19:14:08Z")
I was 13 years old, and in the doctor’s office with severe dysmenorreah. We’re not just talking extreme pain, but also throwing up until I had blood blisters around my eyes, and bloating to the point that I could barely bend my fingers. The young male doctor told me there was really very little he could do. I said “What do you mean, there has to be some answer!” He shrugged his shoulders and said: “Have a baby?” Seven years later I was disgnosed with endometriosis and surgery reduced the symptoms. ---
**Author:** ![Namkcalb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/c89c15/32.png) [@Namkcalb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Namkcalb)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2011, 10:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-sincere-suggestions-youve-received/590028/183 "2011-08-09T22:21:03Z")
> [@RedBloom](#): > > Mom and I were at a garage sale, and I held up a pair of jeans which were so cute, but about a size or two smaller than I wear. I said “wow, I like these, but I don’t think they’re my size”… as I’m putting them down she said “Well, make it your goal to get DOWN to that size!”… Ohhhkayyy… thanks mom. I don’t see anything wrong in use clothes as a dieting incentive. > [@TruCelt](#): > > I was 13 years old, and in the doctor’s office with severe dysmenorreah. We’re not just talking extreme pain, but also throwing up until I had blood blisters around my eyes, and bloating to the point that I could barely bend my fingers. > > The young male doctor told me there was really very little he could do. I said “What do you mean, there has to be some answer!” He shrugged his shoulders and said: > > “Have a baby?” Well, he gave you an honest answer to begin with, and when you persisted asking him it appears he gave you a light-hearted answer. ---
**Author:** ![purplehorseshoe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/purplehorseshoe/32/2996_2.png) [@purplehorseshoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/purplehorseshoe)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2011, 10:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-sincere-suggestions-youve-received/590028/184 "2011-08-09T22:24:40Z")
> [@tdn](#): > > I’m not sure how the topic came up, but I once told a cab driver that my then-GF was going through a cancer scare, and was scheduled for a full hysterectomy, and was scared shitless about the whole thing, and didn’t really have anyone to rely on for emotional support but me. > > His response? Leave her, because she would no longer be a Real Woman. I just mentally punched that cabbie square in the nuts. ---
**Author:** ![Tess](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e480ec/32.png) [@Tess](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tess)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2011, 12:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-sincere-suggestions-youve-received/590028/185 "2011-08-10T00:36:20Z")
> [@Namkcalb](#): > > I don’t see anything wrong in use clothes as a dieting incentive. Reaching a healthy weight with a goal in mind is fine. Losing weight to fit into a new pair of bargain jeans while leaving the rest of your wardrobe two sizes too large sounds rather expensive. ---
**Author:** ![RedBloom](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/dbc845/32.png) [@RedBloom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RedBloom)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2011, 1:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-sincere-suggestions-youve-received/590028/186 "2011-08-10T13:27:29Z")
> [@Tess](#): > > Reaching a healthy weight with a goal in mind is fine. Losing weight to fit into a new pair of bargain jeans while leaving the rest of your wardrobe two sizes too large sounds rather expensive. Let me add that my BMI is in the normal range and I wear a size 8 jeans. I don’t think I’m classified as morbidly obese by any means. My mother is the one who has the obsession with my weight. ---
**Author:** ![Ferret\_Herder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e47774/32.png) [@Ferret\_Herder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ferret_Herder)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2011, 2:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-sincere-suggestions-youve-received/590028/187 "2011-08-10T14:50:14Z")
> [@Namkcalb](#): > > Well, he gave you an honest answer to begin with, and when you persisted asking him it appears he gave you a light-hearted answer. He gave her a bullshit answer. Pain that is severe enough to cause near-incapacitation and violent vomiting probably needs to be, at the very **very** least, managed with some kind of pain relief medicine and something to reduce nausea if need be. Secondly, he assumed it was nothing for him to be concerned with since it involved menstruation. If a man came in with severe abdominal pain and vomiting, that doctor would be all over finding out what was up. (I have to thank the doctors at my university’s student health clinic who took my severe menstrual cramps - typically 4 days of very heavy flow and terrible pain which made it difficult to walk, even - seriously, who managed my pain well and rotated me through tons of different oral contraceptives trying to improve the situation, and who did finally go with an exploratory laparoscopy to rule out endometriosis. It came up negative, thankfully, and they finally hit on a pill that improved the situation greatly for me. My mother told me about a few of her friends who were pleasantly surprised that the docs would take a 19-year-old’s menstrual complaints seriously, and were distressed at how many years had gone by before they were diagnosed with endometriosis.) ---
**Author:** ![TruCelt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/trucelt/32/523_2.png) [@TruCelt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TruCelt)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2011, 2:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-sincere-suggestions-youve-received/590028/188 "2011-08-10T14:58:40Z")
> [@Ferret\_Herder](#): > > He gave her a bullshit answer. Pain that is severe enough to cause near-incapacitation and violent vomiting probably needs to be, at the very **very** least, managed with some kind of pain relief medicine and something to reduce nausea if need be. Secondly, he assumed it was nothing for him to be concerned with since it involved menstruation. If a man came in with severe abdominal pain and vomiting, that doctor would be all over finding out what was up. > > (I have to thank the doctors at my university’s student health clinic who took my severe menstrual cramps - typically 4 days of very heavy flow and terrible pain which made it difficult to walk, even - seriously, who managed my pain well and rotated me through tons of different oral contraceptives trying to improve the situation, and who did finally go with an exploratory laparoscopy to rule out endometriosis. It came up negative, thankfully, and they finally hit on a pill that improved the situation greatly for me. My mother told me about a few of her friends who were pleasantly surprised that the docs would take a 19-year-old’s menstrual complaints seriously, and were distressed at how many years had gone by before they were diagnosed with endometriosis.) Thank you FH! I couldn’t seem to come up with an answer that wouldn’t land me in the Pit. But you said it beautifully! ---
**Author:** ![alice\_in\_wonderland](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alice_in_wonderland/32/176_2.png) [@alice\_in\_wonderland](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/alice_in_wonderland)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2011, 4:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-sincere-suggestions-youve-received/590028/189 "2011-08-10T16:20:47Z")
> [@Namkcalb](#): > > Well, he gave you an honest answer to begin with, and when you persisted asking him it appears he gave you a light-hearted answer. No, it was a douchy answer that was dismissive of her concerns. ---
**Author:** ![EmAnJ](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/d2c977/32.png) [@EmAnJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EmAnJ)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2011, 4:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-sincere-suggestions-youve-received/590028/190 "2011-08-10T16:29:34Z")
> [@TruCelt](#): > > I was 13 years old, and in the doctor’s office with severe dysmenorreah. We’re not just talking extreme pain, but also throwing up until I had blood blisters around my eyes, and bloating to the point that I could barely bend my fingers. > > The young male doctor told me there was really very little he could do. I said “What do you mean, there has to be some answer!” He shrugged his shoulders and said: > > “Have a baby?” > > Seven years later I was disgnosed with endometriosis and surgery reduced the symptoms. A somewhat similar situation happened to my youngest sister last year, but luckily she’s 22. She took the doctor’s advice and is scheduled to have the baby on September 15. It really pissed me off that that was the ‘solution’, though I think my sister was looking for an excuse to get knocked up anyhow. ---
**Author:** ![TruCelt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/trucelt/32/523_2.png) [@TruCelt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TruCelt)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2011, 4:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-sincere-suggestions-youve-received/590028/191 "2011-08-10T16:57:35Z")
> [@EmAnJ](#): > > A somewhat similar situation happened to my youngest sister last year, but luckily she’s 22. She took the doctor’s advice and is scheduled to have the baby on September 15. > > It really pissed me off that that was the ‘solution’, though I think my sister was looking for an excuse to get knocked up anyhow. Worst of all, it’s very often a solution that doesn’t work. In fact, I had severe pain throughout my pregnancy because of lingering endometriosis cysts. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-sincere-suggestions-youve-received/590028.md?page=9)