Unpopular Opinion

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I'm so sick of every single medical-related question people have online constantly getting spammed with 'talk to your doctor!!!!' (self.unpopularopinion)

submitted 6 months ago* (last edited 6 months ago) by _number8_ to c/unpopularopinion

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The way people online constantly say 'talk to your doctor' like it's a panacea is a lot like how medieval peasants weren't able to read scripture and they just had to trust their clergy's interpretations

Sick of it. Usually it's not even like if I'm trying to find out if I have fucking cancer, I'm saying oh i feel sad in the evenings. why in the NAME of GOD would i want to then, for that, find the guy's number, call, leave a message cause it's midnight, wait for them to call back, schedule something 2 weeks later, worry the whole time, and try to remember and rephrase in formal clinical terminology exactly what's happening and get formal cold clinical advice for it from a guy I see twice a year. Just tell me! Give me colloquial advice and home remedies! good god!

There could be so many miracle tips or tricks online that really work but nooo people constantly shout 'talk to your doctor! call your doctor!' i don't want to fucking call the doctor, medical environments give me anxiety and all the bureaucracy and insurance and bills don't help matters either.

some zoomers on tiktok seem to get this and happily share 'oh this worked for me!' and usually it's somewhat helpful and a very nice, casual interaction that doesn't involve interaction with an authority figure and potential bills. it's that easy.

'ooh what about liability' don't care. liability has destroyed modern america, gatekeeping knowledge behind a culture of fear. if you're so scared about liability over a reddit comment, simply don't say anything! rather than leaving a pointless piece of advice that every single person on the planet knows is the default 'ideal' answer, that isn't necessarily actionable for many who don't have easy or trivial access to healthcare.

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[–] [email protected] 5 points 6 months ago (3 children)

My favorite is when the question starts out with "I don't have insurance and can't afford to see a doctor, but I have dandruff and it just won't go away", and the first response is "I know you said you can't afford it, but you should really just see a doctor".

Like, sure, homeopathy is slightly better than snake oil because it doesn't generally have random poison in it, so getting recommendations for that is worthless. But that doesn't mean asking people who have been through similar things for advice is also worthless.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 6 months ago

Err, homeopathy often does have poison in it, one of the more famous "treatments" is watered down belladonna as a "teething gel".

[–] nickhammes 6 points 6 months ago

There are also lots of home remedies that doctors actually recommend. I had a doctor teach me a technique for using a shower a bit like a netty pot, to keep my sinuses clean, and it's great. I've shared it with a few people when it made sense. Sorting out the useful home remedies from the useless or harmful pseudoscience is harder than it should be, though.

[–] dustyData 4 points 6 months ago

Homeopathy is literally just water. Drinking a bottle of sparkling water has literally more active ingredients than homeopathy.