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] 11 points 6 months ago (1 children)

Actually a great many people honestly believe they know better than doctors, that their snake oil will fix them. Look at the entire antivax movement. Look at the pandemic deniers.

So, uh, we can't take it for granted that people actually know that they should talk to a trained professional. Because many don't.

And that's important. If we find out that we're talking to a certain kind of fundie or antivaxxer or COVID denier, depending on the context of course, often there's no point wasting time. Get the good advice on paper in hopes that other readers see it, and move along with life.

[–] Delphia 3 points 6 months ago (1 children)

What people DO with advice they asked for is on them.

I was having issues with positional hypertension, I posted about it in a bodybuilding forum. Someone said "I bet your caffeine intake is too high. I had the same issue after my morning coffees and whenever I had preworkout. Dial back the caf and see what happens" That advice was safe, free and easy to test. It worked too. The thread has a bunch of people saying "Go see a doctor" and a bunch of people recommending supplements to help. I looked at what I asked rationally and thought about it.

I think the type of people who will.apply internet quackery as fact are probably the same people who put "doctors" in inverted commas and shop for the opinion they want anyway.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 6 months ago

Yeah I largely agree with you. If I think that OP (of whatever topic) is not going to be receptive to reasonable advice, clearly I don't want to waste my time, but I might spend just enough time to get good information out there so that other readers can see it.