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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsHow Collapsing Social Infrastructure Led to Everyone Becoming an Internet Medical Expert
The vitriol that has been unleashed against "anti-vaxxers" has consolidated a flaw in the Democratic party that used to be just a stereotype fabricated by the GOP PR mill: Democrats are an arrogant ivory tower elite who only patronizingly tolerate the opinions of average people.
While the opinions of the mainstream American public have almost converged with academic science on vaccines, a recent Pew study shows many areas where the public continues to distrust scientists. I don't think these folks should be immediately expunged from the Democratic Party by their Bell Curveous Educated Superiors unless we somehow get points for having the smallest political party in the end. Yesterday I posted a request to dial down the ATTACK(!) tone being taken toward anti-vaxxers, and I argued that this was a broader cultural problem that would need to be approached from the angle of rebuilding consensus.
One of the major breakdowns in consensus was over the source of medical authority, and one of the source of frustration for those who argue against "anti-vaxxers" is the ease with which they start citing their own chain of evidence, journal citations, and expert opinions from their "Advanced Degree in Internet Medical Studies". So I'd like to go over how gaps in the medical and social system encouraged - indeed FORCED - the rise in this phenomenon.
I hope we can all stipulate the American medical system sucks. It has especially sucked in rural areas. At the same time, the decline in labor protections has intensified worker exploitation in ways that increase accidents and stress. People in rural areas and inner cities were offered scanty choice at grocery stores and developed enhanced potential for diabetes and other chronic diseases as a result. On the other end of the scale, welfare was decimated, and it's a lot harder to get SSI/SSDI than the GOP leads people to believe - especially before you're 60. To sum this up - people were sick and in pain, but they had no safety net to fall back on - they had to keep working.
Wait - this is where the reasonable person would say "the doctor is there to make you better when you are sick!"
Not in my experience - at least not if you are poor.
First of all, before the ACA, you were lucky to be able to see a doctor at all if you were poor. Most likely you were uninsured. If you did see a doctor, that doctor was expensive. Even if you had insurance, there was always a "co-pay" and prescriptions might cost a lot of money, too. But, worst of all, it takes MANY - as in years - of visits to a doctor for criteria of a medical condition to build up. Before that all a patient gets is "lifestyle" speeches about diet and exercises while they patiently keep bringing in the same complaints until the doctor notices a pattern (and this is a lot harder to do in "one symptom at a time" circumstances) and/or makes a referral to a specialist (which costs more money!!!).
But note, the patient's goals are different than the doctor's. The doctor wants to get through a day of clinical encounters and for some reason usually takes a skeptic's position against anything a patient has to say (perhaps because this usurps their authority, and they want to make any diagnosis freestyle). The patient wants three things:
1) Diagnosis with proper documentation (the documentation is important for access to State resources).
2) Treatment, usually with emphasis on PAIN RELIEF.
3) Cure for curable disease.
Uh oh. Sometimes doctors can cure stuff, sometimes they can't. They do even less well on pain relief since all the drugs that work are regulated, questioned, and probably prescribed only short term. Diagnosis also takes forever - it doesn't cost doctors a thing to do "watchful waiting" or just shrug "if the medication works, go with it", but the patient still needs that documentation. Who knows what the politics of the doctor is before the patient presents them with paperwork to sign off on their disability, as well. Then there are legal ramifications if the doctor gets the diagnosis wrong. What will happen once Obamacare incentivizes doctors on the basis of "successful outcomes"? Will patients just be declared well, whether they are or not? While all this is going on, triple-booked doctors are seeing patients for 15 minutes at a time and telling them they can only mention one symptom and can't have another appointment for three months.
Sooo...there has been a divergence between what patients need and what doctors do. At least for poor patients. Things have improved under the ACA in that at least poor patients in many States can see doctors and get basic prescription medications, but they are still left to fend for themselves in terms of self-diagnosing complex chronic conditions for years until the medical system catches up to them and trying to do all they can to remedy their own pain and other symptoms.
I know this for a fact because I have a multiple genetic disorders - a very complex medical situation. I was uninsured for years. I live in an urban area, so I have had access to more resources than most, but I grew up in a rural area, so I have a basis for comparison.
Even though I have had access to a medical clinic for three years now, I didn't get to see the right specialists until the ACA kicked in. Before that I was left mostly to my own devices. I did a lot of Internet research on both diagnostic possibilities and natural remedies for symptoms and pain (my situation was especially complicated because I can't take nsaids). I had to trust my own education and common sense to be able to sort out the "science" from the "woo". I had to trust myself not to be a hypochondriac and over-diagnose myself with the most exotic diseases known to humankind. I experimented with a lot of things to find out what works. Reading widely and personal experience made me feel like an expert in some areas.
I should add that I also often needed to document detailed medical information on forms. The need to access government resources based on medical disability gave rise to the need to be able to document that disability in the ways the government demands. This gave rise to an obsession with formal diagnosis as the key to resources. If you have ever wondered about the phenomenon of "activist parents" doctor shopping for children until they had the right diagnosis to get their children into X program, and then continuing to obsess over the disease in Internet forums - this the reason.
Now when I go to the doctor, part of the frustration of the experience is that I know a lot more than I bring up at the clinical visit. I don't bring it up because I don't want to sound like an "Internet expert" or usurp the doctor's authority. But then I get frustrated when he or she doesn't draw what I thought was the obvious conclusion. Is it because my "Internet degree" led me astray or is it because my doctor really did give me short shrift in 15 minutes and my "Internet degree" should be listened to? I'm not sure - I don't have any sounding board for checking this.
I hope this gives people at DU a more considered view of the culture that underlies the development of the Internet Medical Expert, and how this is a symptom of how the medical and social system failed to provide what people actually needed. Anti-vaxxers and other alternative-science-theorists come out of this same petri dish. People could not get what they needed from the system. Scientists and doctors seemingly went their separate way, their noses in the air, not hearing simple requests like: "What do I do about my pain? What do I do about my difficulty walking...?" And I'm sure diet and exercise didn't work fast enough for obese people who needed to keep working while they were suffering, while the suffering prevented them from losing weight. That's probably the story of the entire South right there.
I will end with the same thing I said yesterday: no one has ever been converted by "shaming" or mockery. This theory is simply a pretext for mean-spirited behavior and has nothing to do with upholding the spirit of science.
hollysmom
(5,946 posts)it is not based on distrust of experts, but accepting they are human and that doctors have limited time with you and can not know everything about you to make a reasonable decision,
take notes to the doctor when I see them - the questions I want to ask, the problems I am having, - this way I can get it out quickly within a little time. New doctors get a list of my allergies and the medications I am on. Carry them in your wallet. Being old, there is a lot of pain but when its the pain abnormal, I will look on line to see if there might be an easy solution, or maybe I should as for a quick appointment, there are flow charts on line or in books you can use that ask you questions to determine if you should pursue it with a doctor or just use ice or rest.
do I questions doctors? - yes indeedy - my cousin worked as a sales person for a pharmaceutical - so I do know about how they manipulate doctors to prescribe their pills - right now my doctor is pushing me to get the shingles vaccine and I refuse. I see no need - 1) it is a live virus and I had chicken pox 3 times - if this vaccine gives me another case I would kill myself, each time I got it was worse that the time before - the last time I had scabs in my eyelids and had to be careful to keep my eyes shut in jsut the right way to not scratch my eyes, I had kitchen mitts taped to my hand and thought the itchiness would kill me, the pain in my ears form the scabs in there, etc. I could go on, but it was horrible and I was a teen ager - how much worse would it be as an adult.
2) I never had shingles, not everyone gets it, if you get it you can get the shot in the middle of an attack - why not wait?
the other thing I don't want to do is have a sleep apnea test,. I travel with friends and have shared hotel rooms, if there was a problem, I am sure they would have told me. there is no symptom I have that would require this test,it seems like a waste of money, much like many of the tests he sent me for. This doctor is caring and responds to all my problems, but damn,he seems to be so easy to fall for the latest fads in testing,.
daredtowork
(3,732 posts)But the Internet did make it much easier to be one, and it expands the depth of the patient's knowledge with access to the same medical journal articles the doctor might be reading - though the patient might not have the same skill in culling and interpreting those articles.
But I think you are underscoring my point: you have reasons that you don't completely trust your doctor meet your needs. This caused you to fill in the gaps with your own "research". The fact you did your own research built up your own knowledge until you felt like an authority on certain matters yourself, and you knew better than your doctor about whether you needed the shingles and the sleep apnea test.
If you take personal recs, though - don't mess around with shingles. I've had that, and it's nothing to shrug off. I had it on my back where I couldn't even get to the lesions when they itched and/or burned. It lasted for over a month. Recently I had tingling around the same place, and it freaked me out so much I practically ran to urgent care to get it checked out. Don't get shingles if you can avoid it.
hollysmom
(5,946 posts)believe I have a good reason to avoid the vaccine - 2 out of 3 people don't get shingles - why should I expose myself to potentially getting Chickenpox again, and it has happened when people got the vaccine, when I can get this vaccine in the middle of a shingle attack to reduce the pain and length of the attack, should I get one, although the odds look small for me at this age. Especially when the vaccine only cuts the risk by 50%. Not for me, good for someone else.
daredtowork
(3,732 posts)I think your chances are pretty good if your immune system seems strong in general. But if you get sick easily, then protect yourself from shingles also. My housemate thinks I got shingles because my immune system was weak in general. (That would be the Housemate-Internet Medical Expert Corollary, teehee).
hollysmom
(5,946 posts)get immunity to Chicken pox, the odds are this vaccine will cause it.
As I said I have not yet had a case, and if I get it I can still get the vaccine to help with it - so why take chances with a live virus, when I can wait and see if I need it,
I am sorry you were in horrible pain, but pain I can deal with. I know you think it is horrible, and that is true, things can be horrible, but I think dying is worse,. so we make out choices, and mine makes sense to me.
daredtowork
(3,732 posts)pnwmom
(108,978 posts)a sleep study will show more than sleep apnea. One of my sons had no apnea, but he had a problem with leg jerks partially waking him many times an hour. There are some things that can make that worse (a number of drugs, including common anti-histamines) and some that can make it better (low levels of iron and magnesium). Nobody including my son knew that he had the leg jerks while he slept -- he wasn't aware of them at all -- so the sleep study was very useful.
hollysmom
(5,946 posts)they recommended bananas and that helped. I sleep fine, I have shared a room with friends,they claim when I am out, I am out like a light,. The doctor wanted me to have this test because I was complaining about sleeping too much. He asked if I slept enough and I said I slept too much, I am just not as active as I used to be, I really don't feel a need for this test. It is jsut when I shovel snow or am bored , I tend to nap. Not a biggy.
pnwmom
(108,978 posts)My son's only symptom was needing too much sleep.
In case your sleep issues ever get worse, it's something to keep in mind.
Jesus Malverde
(10,274 posts)Only a fool would trust American doctors.
daredtowork
(3,732 posts)I'm a lot more worried about the poisonous swamp DU has become in the last week or so, though. I hope this is a bit of a reality check on how regular people live. (Especially those who went without any health insurance at all for years before the ACA).
closeupready
(29,503 posts)if this board's members are socially autistic ...?
Regardless, this type of mass hysteria take hold here every month or so - just let it go (and let God, as the expression goes).
Blue_Tires
(55,445 posts)You want to call him untrustworthy?
closeupready
(29,503 posts)Big babies, wah wah wah.
Blue_Tires
(55,445 posts)and I've taken all this site can dish out plus more, so you can jam your insults up your asshole
closeupready
(29,503 posts)Plonk.
pnwmom
(108,978 posts)daredtowork
(3,732 posts)LeftyMom
(49,212 posts)The lowest vax rates in CA aren't in poor farm towns, they're in posh bedroom communities.
pnwmom
(108,978 posts)don't require vaccinations for these children, and some of the rest don't track vaccinations of home-schooled kids.
And home-schooled children aren't particularly affluent.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/02/05/home-school-vaccination-_n_6624100.html
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17714256
Abstract
To protect public health, states require that parents have their children immunized before they are permitted to attend public or private school. But for homeschooled children, the rules vary. With the spectacular growth in the number of homeschooled students, it is becoming more difficult to reach these youth to ensure that they are immunized at all. These children are frequently unvaccinated, leaving them open to infection with diseases that are all but stamped out in the United States with immunization requirements. States should encourage parents to get their homeschooled students vaccinated through enacting the same laws as those used for public school students. This could be done by enforcing current laws through neglect petitions or by requiring that children be immunized before participating in school sponsored programs. As most states require some filing to allow parents to homeschool their children, it would be easy to enact laws requiring that homeschooled children be immunized or exempted before completing registration.
daredtowork
(3,732 posts)Well-meaning politicians will try to force vaccination via the public education system, anti-vaxxers with decamp from the public education system, and we will end up with a school funding crisis as taxpayer funds are siphoned off into home-schooling. Meanwhile not just crackpot science, but crackpot politics, will flourish in the echo chambers of this revived home school movement.
</cassandra>
pnwmom
(108,978 posts)But it sounds very possible.
daredtowork
(3,732 posts)LeftyMom
(49,212 posts)CA does not have a homeschooling law per se, homeschooling families report under the private school statute.
daredtowork
(3,732 posts)anti-vax positions come out of the *same* broader culture of reaching for help and knowledge on the Internet, because public/institutional resources have broken down. Self-help breeds self-confidence, even if that self-confidence is later deemed unwarranted.
The rural vaccination coverage has largely been led by self-interested elites, who have not been leading health care coverage otherwise. I would hardly call that a bottom-up revolution in enlightenment. But the people who are trying to get the vaccinations done are so busy quashing the anti-vaxx conspiracy theories that they don't look at the little illiberalities and unconstitutionalities that go by in the process. If the GOP tried to get away with the same sort of the thing, we'd be pounding them over their hypocrisy.
Vaccination is good. Science is the end of education. We'd like to limit he measles outbreak. I hear you. Now can you hear me? The Vax Attackers have been rude and obnoxious. They make Democrats look bad. Their spam posts on DU make it look like the off chance of measles of IMMEDIATELY turning into a pandemic means more than #blacklivesmatter, which seems to be getting pushed off the forum all together. The eagerness to attack can be noted in the way both of my own posts have been jumpily reacted to as anti-vaxx positions - which they aren't. Vax Attackers need to dial it down because they apparently can't hear anything over the din of their own voices.
jwirr
(39,215 posts)I was going to use the internet that I make sure I was reading a reliable site. He suggested two: the Harvard Medical School chat site and the Mayo Clinic site. That is good advice.
By the way a lot of us are old enough to have first hand info on measles and vaccines. We are not the internet.
Bluenorthwest
(45,319 posts)being rude and obnoxious. It's certainly not just one side of the discussion. At all.
Bonobo
(29,257 posts)I knew we were in big trouble. Because I just knew that for many they were not -as advertised - temporary solutions "until you can get to the Dentist".
I just knew they were the very best they could get. Because dentistry is just too expensive for many.
It is a crying shame and something America should be deeply embarrassed about.
daredtowork
(3,732 posts)Bonobo
(29,257 posts)daredtowork
(3,732 posts)Bonobo
(29,257 posts)who will never be able to afford better treatment. #thenewmiddleages
daredtowork
(3,732 posts)is that they were particularly enlightened in regard to dental care. There's a reason you see a lot of toothless people in Virginia!
cally
(21,594 posts)I lost a cap and the dentist wasn't open and/or couldn't see me for a few days. Once I lost a cap traveling. I used that kit to put the cap back on until I could see my dentist. It was a good idea so I didn't chip the underlying tooth and protected it. The dentist told me that he recommended these kits for this purpose. It was a quick, pretty inexpensive fix when I got to my dentist instead having to fix a broken tooth and fit a new cap. If I remember correctly, I paid about $75 dollars to reattach the cap instead of the astronomical cost of new cap.
Prism
(5,815 posts)Paraphrasing.
And that's where the hostility comes in. People have the facts, a whole pile of them. Why are anti-vaxxers so impervious to them? Precisely because of what I quoted above. There's no reasoning people out of a fear-based reaction.
And that's what really started this whole problem: fear. You had celebrities and pseudo-doctors being given media credibility by talk show hosts and other uninformed sources. You had gauzy, soft-focused interviews and re-enactments of the vast tragedy when, "the light went out of my child's eyes." It was a dangerous brew intended to terrify people. And for some? It worked. They were terrified.
Now all of society gets to suffer the consequences when bad science, celebrity, and the dramatic narrative coalesce to give uninformed Americans health care advice.
Doctors are busy. Some are shitty. Some are great. But that isn't why we are at this anti-vaccination impasse. People willfully, ignorantly, and famously brought us here, interview by interview, credulous media outlet by credulous media outfit.
There's a reason there's a special place in hell for Jenny McCarthy. She has the blood of children all over her hands.
daredtowork
(3,732 posts)I totally agree with your point about fear and how that can open people up to the advice of celebrities, quack doctors, and self-help book doctors. The advice seems "free" when its on a talk show or on TV. The advice seems cheap when the "whole cure" can be found in a book or in a magic diet or some other "secret".
You left out the other source of the dreamy haze: the Doctor/Hospital TV show where patients get attention and medical mysteries are solved. Or soap operas where sick people get bedside vigils and everyone is praying for them to get well. Real world doctors won't deliver on that dream, but perhaps some hustler will sell you a shadow of it by validating you have X DRAMATIC ILLNESS followed by an affordable treatment/cure.
At the end of the day, though, there is a lot of people who feel like crap, and they turn to the Internet first to resolve it - not to the medical system. People's minds are naturally set up to form connections, so after people do start thinking of the Internet as their Doctor, and then the Internet evidence tells them to distrust the real life doctors, that aren't really doing much for them anyway...well, that's that for public trust in the medical system.
IMHO, it's in the AMA's ball court to start rebuilding bridges.
Prism
(5,815 posts)Your post made me think of an incident just the other day. I was in a Berkeley primary care clinic trying to sort some paperwork out for someone, and a man in his 30s came breathlessly running in. He thought he was late. He kept explaining he was late because he couldn't read street signs, had gone west instead of east, etc.
In listening to him, I could tell there was no minor amount of cognitive impairment happening there. The front desk smiled, told him not to worry. He was in and out of the place in about 30 minutes. Then he tottered off, looking a bit disoriented.
The place was something of a mill, seeing the maximum amount of people in the shortest amount of time. Looking around the room, I could tell a lot of those people needed more help than their 10 minutes with a doctor or nurse practitioner was going to get them. It was inexpressibly sad. The one consoling thought was, "Better some care than no care at all." But the clinic was clearly understaffed, overworked, and overbooked. There's a waiting list to even make an appointment, and appointments are sometimes booked two months out.
Unacceptable.
Bluenorthwest
(45,319 posts)outbreaks of preventable disease due to vaccine refusing segments of the population. This indicates that there are elements other than those exclusive to the US which are at play. When Canada has an outbreak, it is not because the US medical system sucks. And our system does suck. Theirs does not. Yet they have these outbreaks, and these people who use misinformation as their guide.
Prism
(5,815 posts)The anti-vaccination movement is more a cultural phenomenon rather than a failure of the health system.
riderinthestorm
(23,272 posts)OP's like yours are why I stay here. I may not agree 100% but the thoughtful perspective is lovely.
daredtowork
(3,732 posts)Blue_Tires
(55,445 posts)daredtowork
(3,732 posts)jwirr
(39,215 posts)Medicaid or now ACA. We have access to doctors. It is the next step above the poor who often do not have access.
kcr
(15,317 posts)We should be kinder to that argument as well, right? I assume so, using the same logic. Because we've all heard it before. This strategy of crying elitism that anti-vaxxers are using and seems to be gaining in popularity with them is nothing new, although I imagine they think it is.
Bluenorthwest
(45,319 posts)Is this supposed to be an example of that kind verbiage?
sendero
(28,552 posts).... I have total sympathy for their point of view. It's not that people don't believe in "science", it's that in this age where everything and I mean EVERYTHING is about the money, people don't believe it IS science.
And why should they? More killer drugs have been unleashed on the public and then recalled in recent times than in all of history. Could it be that's because pharma does their OWN testing and maybe a corner or two gets cut? I'm pretty sure it is.
Could it be because useless cures like statin drugs (that do lower cholesterol but do nothing to prevent actual heart attacks) are foisted on the public like skittles?
The issue is trust and anyone that thinks medicine in America is any different than any other big business is really naive. Medicine can do some great things. But not everything done in name of "medical science" is good.
daredtowork
(3,732 posts)And the first moves need to come from the top down. Attacking anti-vaxxers is, fundamentally, blaming the victim.
jwirr
(39,215 posts)I actually cringe when I see DUers talking about their distrust of the doctors, the churches and the government because that is just exactly what the Rs have been teaching us since then.
cally
(21,594 posts)I am fortunate and do have medical care but it is the type you describe. Short office visits, one symptom diagnosed at a time, send you to specialists for one symptom. No one doctor takes/has the time to diagnose the cause. My then 21 year old daughter started losing her eyesight with blurred vision. She had cat scans, blood tests, myriad of other tests. She saw multiple doctors. I was told she might be dying with no cause given. Finally her sister and her spent days on the internet diagnosing the cause. She diagnosed herself, went to the doctor and had a test confirming the diagnosis! My other daughter was prescribed pills that damaged her brain.
I don't blame the individual doctors but I do blame the medical establishment. We have a system that does not work for many of us. That's why so many people turn to the Internet and self-help cures.
I'm not an anti-vaxxer. I'm passionate about public health issues but I completely understand the thinking behind this choice.
daredtowork
(3,732 posts)closeupready
(29,503 posts)people' into "vaxxing" their children and shaming them into eschewing "woo". This board has, of late, become a parody of it's sanctimonious self. Quite entertaining, IMO.
I agree with you, but on principle, I must trash this thread as I'm trashing every vaxx-anti-vaxx thread that pops up these days. But I will K&R it.
daredtowork
(3,732 posts)I actually already complained about DU being spammed by vax/anti-vaxx because I felt it was burying other important issues. What ever happened to #blacklivesmatter, for example? And one even had the gall to call the anti-Amazon guy, who was doing his own "cause work" for spamming! After a WEEK of nothing but vax threads? If you feel the need to trash mine, too, just on that basis - go ahead.
closeupready
(29,503 posts)to not trash it.
Bluenorthwest
(45,319 posts)Two other countries that have repeatedly faced major outbreaks of diseases that are vaccine preventable are Canada and the Netherlands. Both of these countries have much different medical systems than we do, and liberal Americans almost always agree that their systems are far, far superior to ours because they are in fact superior to ours.
So countries that have single payer, universally inclusive health care systems also have anti vaccine believers. Take money or scarcity of services entirely out of the question, you still see segments of the population who simply decide to hold other beliefs.
Do Canada and the Netherlands have collapsing social safety nets and crappy medical systems too? No. So how then do you explain their outbreaks? Last year British Colombia had a 400 case outbreak of measles. I bet you never even heard about it.
And I think it was the creation of the internet that made everyone into an internet expert on everything.
closeupready
(29,503 posts)Do you pretend to be an expert on everything, Bluenorthwest? Or maybe the question should be, ARE you an expert on everything?
The creation of the internet simply made communicating with other people easier.
Bluenorthwest
(45,319 posts)which of course you don't comment upon and instead make a personal attack. Obviously you nor the OP have any interest in the international issue that is pubic health.
closeupready
(29,503 posts)Bluenorthwest
(45,319 posts)It's childish nonsense introduced into a very serious discussion. There is no call for personal attacks at all. It's just vapid and rude.
liberalhistorian
(20,818 posts)hurled at them, I have NO sympathy for them whatsoever. And I'm speaking as a mother who raised an Asperger's son. Their arrogance, ignorance, and selfishness has cost, and will continue to cost, lives and unnecessary suffering. Fuck them.
Trillo
(9,154 posts)I was the opposite growing up, upper middle class family, healthcare professionals (though no physicians), and there was never a shortage of medical care when I needed it. Unfortunately, I learned that most of the doctors I saw were, for whatever reason, incompetent, or corrupt. They were unable to diagnose a very simple milk allergy. I remember reading in newspapers as a kid and teenager that some folks had food allergies to citrus fruits, or milk, or something else, and I remember thinking, "Sure am glad I don't have that." Once I became an adult, skin tests were done and I found out a lot more about why I always felt rotten, I had a lot of food allergies. However, that wasn't the end of it. It was a pre-Internet era, at least it hadn't yet been adopted by most folks, and I got milk intolerance confused with milk allergy. I wanted to be a vegetarian, so went to an MD at a world-renown medical clinic of over 300 doctors, and after filling out the form and duly noting my milk allergy, had this MD tell me that a lacto-ovo vegetarian diet was in the opinion of him and his colleagues, a very good diet, and I'd do well on it (lacto-ovo diet includes milk and cheese and butter). So, I spent the next 5 years eating cheese as a protein source, which I never could assimilate, and gained a lot of weight, an unhealthy amount, even though I avoided liquid milk. I eventually figured it out just a few years ago, changed my diet, lost a lot of weight, and very much so, stay away from doctors as much as possible.
I do not understand how some highly educated and highly paid physicians can be so incompetent. There is something seriously wrong with the system. My presumption is that the incompetence is less about education and more about pecking order and average citizens being "lab rats" of a sick, corporatist system to whom average citizens are little more than chattel. That makes more sense to me than presuming some doctors are stupid and ignorant. Those "incompetent" doctors are more likely intentionally harmful.
Doctors, as "authority figures", are a critical part of the Police State in which we find ourselves, and for some-to-many doctors the health of their patients is of little-to-no concern.
I don't trust the medical establishment because I think the system is big business and not set up to help many, many people. We live in a country with chronic pain, depression, overwork, obesity, addiction, etc. The system tells us to just go to a doctor for fifteen minutes, take a pill, and if you are not well then you obviously have not followed doctor's orders. Been there, done that.
closeupready
(29,503 posts)Real experts aren't free; pretend ones are.