ProTip on BG Medical Advice

[Talus]

There have been a lot of threads lately asking for medical advice. As far as I know, no one that frequently posts has self-identified as any kind of physician, nurse, dentist, or mid-level caregiver (PA/NP). It's probably better that they don't.

Any "medical advice" offered by someone on the internet, licensed healthcare provider or not, should be taken for entertainment value. I think everyone understands this, and someone even jokingly asked for a section on the forums for medical issues, but any advice you follow is at your own risk.

Most of the medical advice offered is by BG pre-meds, pre-pharm, pre-dental, etc. or just people with common sense and/or a bit of knowledge. But remember, a bit of knowledge is usually just enough to get yourself into trouble.

See your doctor. See a doctor. Have said doctor examine you. If you don't have insurance, look into free clinics - a lot of municipalities offer them but the hours may vary.

[thestalkmore]

Somebody on here is a paramedic! Phooey on you you naysayer!

[Furtwangler]

Thank you oh wise Talus. I knew I should've gotten that MRI instead of asking everyone here, how foolish of me

[kuronosan]

I'm a medical technologist.

[Talus]

Ahha.. I stand corrected but my point's still valid.

[kuronosan]

Indeed. It gets a little annoying after a while hearing people complain about X problem because they want to avoid seeing a physician but at the end of the day... the best answer is to always consult a physician (and get lab work done).

Conventional treatment through medicine is always a good approach to fix short term symptoms but all they do is mask what could be a serious disease.

Case in point - foot fetish dude could possibly have diabetes but if he took advice to just take painkillers and ignore it he may have made things far worse.

[Furtwangler]

I would assume everyone that has posted medical threads knows the ramifications of not seeing a physician of some kind. If they don't then they are dumb and it doesn't matter what we tell them to do as they are probably ignorant also.

[kuronosan]

Well, it's one thing to ask for relationship advice or legal advice since most people have a little experience or enough experience to talk about it.

Asking for medical advice is like asking for the combination to every safe in the world at once to be delivered to your doorstep. Every person's body is physiologically the same but genes play a large role in what affects or doesn't affect them. That's why symptoms can be difficult to diagnose (again, without lab work it's really hard) by just describing them.

So you have a cough and some pain in your shoulder. Big deal - there are thousands of ailments that can cause that.

Unless you're looking for what it might be so that you can better talk to your physician about it, asking people for treatment options to potentially serious conditions is not only ignorant, it's retarded.

[Slapper]

I'm a doctor, but giving out any medical advice on a forum would get my license revoked

[Chicomagiko]

EMT-I here(working on becoming an EMT-A/Para). I dispense zero advice save going to the doctors or killing yourself.

[Hitoshura]

For the record, I wanted to make that thread mostly to get input on how I should approach the sort of thing I had since I didn't exactly think it was a big deal.

[Khamsin]

Seeing a doctor costs money (or at least, a copay or deductible).

Some people just want to find out if something is worth seeing a doctor for. Or reassure their hypochondriatic fears.

Obviously, if you're in intense pain or afraid there may be something seriously wrong, it's a no-brainer. Go to the ER. But if it's just a bump or rash or some other odd thing, doesn't hurt to ask if anyone's had similar experiences. If people say "no, never had that before", then see a doctor. If everyone says "yeah, that happens a lot, it's just _____", then don't need to worry so much unless it gets worse.

[Mizango]

BG is srs biz.

[hagun]

Some people have it so good, they fail to realize that not everyone is as fortunate as them. We take something as simple as seeing a doctor for granted. To some, that act is a luxury. Everything eventually falls down to money which isn't readily available to everyone. Asking for advice here isn't a bad idea before going to a doctor/ER if the problem isn't obviously life threatening. If it's some simple ailment that popped up, simple advice could be given where the OP could go to the drug store, spend a few dollars and get a solution.

Snap back to reality. Do people not realize how horribly unaffordable our medical services are for people in this country? Nothing is free. There aren't magical clinics all over the place offering free medical services. My deductible is 100 dollars, some might have it worse and some can't even afford medical insurance. However, as the OP states, chances are you should see a doctor if the problem presists. Asking for advice here isn't that different from checking out webmd. Just have to deal with the assholes who can't help but give asshole advice/posts and think it's cute. It would be great if people who have no idea what they are talking about to stop talking.

[HadesChubbs]

WebMD? Google? Anything is better than asking BG, really. lol

[Vandalhart]

It's probably safe to say that all medical conditions can be cured by the following:

[Suited Aces]

In a previous thread I made a suggestion of having one medical thread with a big disclaimer that you really shouldn't follow any advise you get from it. Then I got a warning for shitting up the thread.

[Correction]

Isn't Odon a doc also?