Asking non-doctors for medical advice

[Dreamstalker]

The ex started this rant, but I figure I should make it more general:

What is it with people who ignore medical signs that something's seriously wrong, instead waiting and asking someone who is not qualified to give a diagnosis beyond "WebMD/[medsite of choice] says that you should get your ass to a hospital now"? Medical shows like House do not automagically confer a degree of M.D. (if it did, I wouldn't be broke and none of my family would be in debt).

Typically, when I say that I'm not qualified to say anything other than "ok, do [commonly-known homecare for minor issue that is known to fix things]" or "that sounds serious, you should really go to a hospital", people respect that. The ex complained about my lack of medical knowledge...look, I am not qualified and am just covering my own ass in the event that you try to say "well, Dreamstalker told me to do this".

I don't get it. I would think that normal people would want to get something questionable checked out by an actual doctor rather than rely on third-hand advice that may or may not be correct.

[Flyndaran]

Do you work some place that may give others the impression that you do have medical training?
If not, then I'm at a loss. I've never known anyone to have this problem.

[Slytovhand]

The ex complained about my lack of medical knowledge

Yes.. I'm confused by that - unless you're in a medical type field (without the medical training).

OTOH, I would like to point out that doctors (MD's) aren't necessarily god's gift either. Sure, for some things, a doctor is great. For others, they're practically useless! For example, for most musculo-skeletal stuff, and nerve stuff, you're better off with other health professionals. Same also for strains and sprains.


But, as per the spirit of the OP, yep - gotta agree!! And I hate all those fads that come out that say the latest discovery will cure everything!!!

[Boozy]

Maybe Dreamstalker works at a drugstore? My mom gets asked for health advice all the time because she works at a drugstore.... and she's just the cosmetician. She can offer a few cream suggestions for mild and common skin irritations, but that's it.

She wishes that people would stop showing her their festering wounds. There's no cream for that.

There are probably a dozen reasons why someone wouldn't go to the doctor. Here are a few off the top of my head:

- They have no insurance and no money
- They have no family doctor, and no time to wait in an emergency room or walk-in clinic for hours on end
- They have no transportation to get to a medical centre
- They are afraid of doctors and/or what the doctors may tell them
- It's a very minor health issue and they aren't concerned enough to bother making an appointment

[Dreamstalker]

Do you work some place that may give others the impression that you do have medical training?

Nope. Back in the day I was hoping to pursue paramedic training (obviously that never happened for various reasons), but I never told anyone. Basically the only advice I freely give is simple home-care stuff (cold, stomach bugs, cuts/scrapes, etc) that is known to work.

[BlaqueKatt]

What is it with people who ignore medical signs that something's seriously wrong, instead waiting and asking someone who is not qualified to give a diagnosis beyond "WebMD/[medsite of choice] says that you should get your ass to a hospital now"? <snip>

I don't get it. I would think that normal people would want to get something questionable checked out by an actual doctor rather than rely on third-hand advice that may or may not be correct.

you're not the only one-I'm regularly "consulted" by my friends/coworkers on medical issues-so much that I say "well I'm not a doctor" more than twice a week. In my defense I do have more than layman's knowledge though(not going to go into detail as it's not relevant), and am usually correct*-one of my coworkers asks me on everything-and goes to her doctor for a "second opinion".

*I usually say well it could be x,y,or z-see a doctor-sadly her doctor wants to meet me, as he suspects I would make a good office assistant.

I actually think it has more to do with the sufferer of the issue feels a need to be reassured that they aren't "being silly" and should seek medical assistance.

[Dreamstalker]

I also have a bit more than layman's knowledge (watching House, Mystery Diagnosis et al often spurs me to research the stuff, and as a kid I would read my mom's graduate-level AP text for fun), but to my knowledge I have never said anything that would come across as "Dreamstalker knows everything!"

I think Boozy is correct as to the reasons...to return to the ex for a second, he has no insurance and also for some reason thinks doctors don't know anything (and I would?). He gets one muffed minor diagnosis and decides that doctors are useless.

I got a missed diagnosis as well--minor-but-annoying mystery stomach problem a couple summers ago was diagnosed as: Hep C, pregnancy (hi I'm on the pill), and something else that I don't remember. Doctors are human and will miss things...I knew it wasn't really serious so the mistake wasn't a big deal (it wound up clearing mysteriously when I returned to NM).

[Sylvia727]

I am the oldest of four rambunctious siblings; between us, we have been to the Emergency Room 20+ times and had surgery 6 times. Each and every injury was self-inflicted, by the way. (Folks, keep this in mind when considering whether or not to have children. Either have really good health insurance or several hundred thousand dollars in the bank. I'm not kidding.) As the oldest, I was the one who learned how to apply Neosporin and band-aids and administer healing kisses. I never thought of myself as particularly qualified until I started hanging out with some people who apparently led boring childhoods. They're convinced they need to go to the emergency room for every wound that doesn't stop bleeding after 2.5 seconds. I tell them to go if they want, but all the ER personnel will do is pour some acid over the wound, slap on a fancy band-aid, and charge an arm and a leg for the privilege. Then when they don't go, they try to blame it on me. Hey, you asked my advice and I gave it. You knew my credentials and lack thereof. And anyway, no matter how nasty the scab looks, it doesn't change the fact that you just weren't injured badly.

I can understand asking another person if they think it's bad enough to warrant medical attention, because some people either don't have any experience or don't trust their own judgment. But anything else is just weird to me. Why would I ask the cosmetics lady about my open sore? For that matter, I wouldn't ask a pharmacy tech about anything other than drugs.

[BlaqueKatt]

but to my knowledge I have never said anything that would come across as "Dreamstalker knows everything!"

sometimes it's not what you say but how it's said or your actions really.

I had one former coworker that referred to me as "nurse Katt"-why you ask? because I was the only person in his life that was there to perform basic first aid when he inevitably injured himself while drunk. I dressed some burn wounds, and sent him to the ER-the ER staff told him specifically to have me do any dressing changes, as they were impressed by the initial bandages, I closed a cut with butterfly closures for him, and did other stuff as I felt kinda maternal towards him(bad time in his life-he had no one to turn to but me). No idea what happened to him though once I left....

[PepperElf]

i think it's because they're afraid.

afraid to hear the truth from the doctor that yes, they have that medical condition... and they're trying to convince themselves that they're healthy and fine.

kinda like the opposite of a hypochondriac sortof...

[Dreamstalker]

That sounds right. Some warped version of positive thinking where their thought process is along the lines of "I can't possibly have [problem], maybe if I call X and get them to tell me I don't have it it will go away." Which can most times turn out to make things much worse by waiting.

Now, I agree that positive thinking can keep people motivated in general, but it alone doesn't really work insofar as magically curing all physical ills.