A health sceptic.

I would call myself a health-industry sceptic.

The science of medicine is separate from the for-profit business of medicine, and both are separate from your own individual health and wellbeing and longevity. The incentives don't always align. And sometimes they severely clash.
 
Tomtomtom said:
I would call myself a health-industry sceptic.

The science of medicine is separate from the for-profit business of medicine, and both are separate from your own individual health and wellbeing and longevity. The incentives don't always align. And sometimes they severely clash.
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There’s definitely a difference between actual medical science and the business side of healthcare. The incentives in the system don’t always line up with what’s best for individuals, and being aware of that just makes it easier to make decisions that truly benefit your own health.
 
BBSA said:
There’s definitely a difference between actual medical science and the business side of healthcare. The incentives in the system don’t always line up with what’s best for individuals, and being aware of that just makes it easier to make decisions that truly benefit your own health.
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Not really true for a lot of things. Often people have to go with what medical aid or the docror has decided as another route would quickly bankrupt you.
 
B-1 said:
Not really true for a lot of things. Often people have to go with what medical aid or the docror has decided as another route would quickly bankrupt you.
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That’s kind of the problem I’m pointing at: the system decides what’s ‘affordable’, not necessarily what’s best for long-term health
 
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Well I still say its better to take your health advice from a doctor, than from TikTok, FB and MBB carnivore threads.
 
BBSA said:
A health sceptic is someone who approaches health, medicine, and wellness claims with healthy doubt rather than blind acceptance.

@lexity say says I'm one, but I don't see that as a bad thing.
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Ftfy. I'm not like 'God', in Genesis... there is only one of me.

As for me calling you a health expert, I would hazard a guess and say you are pulling my leg.

If not, the reference was to what you said here....


BBSA: 'Definitely a topic worth exploring deeper, but with a bit of healthy scepticism too.'
 
BBSA said:
Many say you must follow your doctor's advice, without question; where do you stand?
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dont know. i believe the people that only accept prayer as any form of medication need to have their kids taken away from them. On the other hand my doctor told me to lose weight for last 10 years and still not doing that even though i believe the science that i am at higher risk of death because of it.
 
BBSA said:
Many say you must follow your doctor's advice, without question; where do you stand?
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Certainly not! Doctors are "professionals", as I am. I thus know, as in my profession, how much they know - not 'everything', especially a GP, which is nothing but a 'jack of all trades'. They know a little of many things, but never enough to be a specialist, hence they often miss the target because their knowledge base is not holistic, but limited.

I do my own research when a GP's advice is to be followed, even the medicines, actions, metabolism, caveats, etc will be scrutinised. I usually will have an informed discussion about the symptoms, diagnosis and treatment resulting in agreement on what treatment and/or medication is best for me. I recently "cautioned" my GP not to simply "eat all I bring as sweetcakes", but to critically evaluate my inputs because I still regard him as the expert.

I lend more weight to the diagnosis and advice of a specialist, yet it will not be blindly accepted.

I believe in taking primary responsibility for my health, including treatment when necessary.
 
BBSA said:
Many say you must follow your doctor's advice, without question; where do you stand?
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The amount of questioning I do, really depends on the condition.
If it is a general sickness and the doctor prescribes something pretty standard, then sure, I will do what they say, but even then, I do ask some questions regarding the information given.
When it comes to other things, I always get additional opinions, do some research (even if it is just to confirm diagnosis and treatment) and then make a decision or ask further questions.

I have had some pretty bad experiences with doctors, not just GP's, but specialists, who I strongly believe have given poor advice and then there are those I trust almost implicitly. For example there is a radiographer that honestly has been so damn good that they have picked up things and changed the lives of myself and many people I have recommended to go there. A fair bit of people have been surprised at the stock I put in this radiographer, but their reports and analysis are incredible.

It is probably not surprising that my level of trust goes up when dealing with a more specialized medical professional, but even then, I probably had 5 or 6 neurosurgeons and the same amount of orthos look at my back, all with varying opinions, some of which were so outdated and poor, that even when dealing with a specialist, I dont think it hurts to be informed and at the bare minimum understand the treatments, side effects, recovery and so on.
 
syntax said:
The amount of questioning I do, really depends on the condition.
If it is a general sickness and the doctor prescribes something pretty standard, then sure, I will do what they say, but even then, I do ask some questions regarding the information given.
When it comes to other things, I always get additional opinions, do some research (even if it is just to confirm diagnosis and treatment) and then make a decision or ask further questions.

I have had some pretty bad experiences with doctors, not just GP's, but specialists, who I strongly believe have given poor advice and then there are those I trust almost implicitly. For example there is a radiographer that honestly has been so damn good that they have picked up things and changed the lives of myself and many people I have recommended to go there. A fair bit of people have been surprised at the stock I put in this radiographer, but their reports and analysis are incredible.

It is probably not surprising that my level of trust goes up when dealing with a more specialized medical professional, but even then, I probably had 5 or 6 neurosurgeons and the same amount of orthos look at my back, all with varying opinions, some of which were so outdated and poor, that even when dealing with a specialist, I dont think it hurts to be informed and at the bare minimum understand the treatments, side effects, recovery and so on.
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Yeah, in general, some doctors keep up with changes in the field, and some do not, so it is important to try assess their levels of engagement, especially with older doctors.

There are various dynamics at play: older doctors have more experience, but they also may not be briefed on the latest results, views, technologies, etc. The converse for younger doctors.

Then of course, they’re unlikely to spend as much time as you on your condition. They have the advantage of experience and education, but you have the advantage of understanding your symptoms differently, as well as time. For most common things (and many less common things), they’ll be able to figure out the situation quickly because of this. In my experience though, for the exceptional cases, where you go from one specialist to another, and get little help, you really need to start digging into it yourself, and eventually propose ideas yourself to the doctors, and possibly eventually solve it.
 
cguy said:
Yeah, in general, some doctors keep up with changes in the field, and some do not, so it is important to try assess their levels of engagement, especially with older doctors.

There are various dynamics at play: older doctors have more experience, but they also may not be briefed on the latest results, views, technologies, etc. The converse for younger doctors.

Then of course, they’re unlikely to spend as much time as you on your condition. They have the advantage of experience and education, but you have the advantage of understanding your symptoms differently, as well as time. For most common things (and many less common things), they’ll be able to figure out the situation quickly because of this. In my experience though, for the exceptional cases, where you go from one specialist to another, and get little help, you really need to start digging into it yourself, and eventually propose ideas yourself to the doctors, and possibly eventually solve it.
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As much as I hate jumping on the AI bandwagon, I suspect diagnosis will be done with much more accuracy in the near future utilizing specialized AI models.
My cousin has been working on this for almost 10 years now, it was pretty humorous initially, where it gave some pretty wild diagnosis, what was interesting, is how incredibly accurate, even in the preliminary / infancy stages it was at diagnosing rare or uncommon diseases. This makes quite a lot of sense, where the data is sometimes pretty specific when it comes to these things, but with more common diseases or diseases that share very similar attributes or markers, it would make more mistakes.

I am fairly hopeful that the medical industry will take a significant leap in early detection and even pretty good predictions that will help save many lives and probably help reduce significant costs that late stage treatments can incur.
 
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