“They Are Death Machines”: 25 Things Doctors Wish That More People Knew
Article created by: Gabija Saveiskyte
The human body is fascinating. But if you think you know everything there is to know about what makes you tick, think again! There’s so much that the regular person doesn’t understand about how biology and health work. But if you’re lucky enough to chat to an expertyou can really expand your perspective. It could even end up saving your life.
Medical professionals hoping to make a difference in the world took to an informative thread on AskReddit and revealed the things they wish absolutely everyone knew about their body. Keep scrolling to learn something new about yourself, and we hope you’re taking notes!
Not a Dr. But l do have some advice.
If you’re ever short of breath and it’s unexplained ( not running while being a fat smoker like me)
GO SEE A DR. NOW.
For about 4 days prior to this past Christmas (2018) my wife (f29) was short of breath and felt generally crummy.
We didn’t think it was anything but a cold/allergies etc.
Christmas day she felt worse, didn’t move much. So I told her that if she doesn’t show improvement by the next morning (12/26/18, yes the dates are important, you’ll see why)
That I would be forcing her to go to the ER and get checked out.
She didn’t have any improvement. Only worse.
I took her to the ER around 4pm that day. When they took her back and got her hooked up she was at 40-45% O2 saturation. Which is bad. She was then sent by ambulance to the nearest hospital with an ICU.
For any Dr’s in the house, there was about a golf ball size part of her lungs that showed black on the x-ray, the rest was white……..
By 10pm that day she had dropped to 10-15% o2 saturation and was immediately put on a ventilator and was kept asleep for 2 weeks. She was, at most, a few hours from dying.
She had pneumonia and sepsis in both lungs.
Due to the amount of meds they gave her, and being dehydrated already her kidneys took a hard hit. She had dialysis 6 times in the hospital.
After 37 days in the hospital, 14 of which she was in and out of consciousness, she remembers not being able to talk and trying to write some stuff on a paper, she was released.
Last week (July 1st ish) we got blood work back that her kidneys were finally back to 99.6% function.
I’m an ENT. Please bring ear plugs to loud concerts and shows. Please don’t listen to music on your earbuds/headphones too loud. Your hearing doesn’t regenerate and you put yourself at a higher risk of developing tinnitus (ringing in your ears) and hyperacusis (sensitivity to sound).
There is no “cure for cancer” as it is traditionally thought about.
Cancer is a class of MANY MANY very different diseases, each with very specific causes (ie some molecule that went wrong allowing a cell to multiply out of control). Even within the same type of cancer (ie lung cancer) there are many types of lung cancer, such as small cell, large cell, squamous cell etc. Even within the same subtype of cancer, there can be different molecular mechanisms that caused it, requiring different approaches to treatment.
Looking for the “cure for cancer” is like looking for the “cure for disease.”.
Injuries accumulate. I cannot stress this enough. Little kids have no business lifting heavy weights or getting pushed so hard in sports by some of these ‘coaches’ who seem to have little knowledge of physiology or don’t care about the long term impact of the regiments. Stuff like this really changes people’s lives.
This is going to sound really basic, but I wish my patients would know what meds they are on when they come to the hospital. At least once a day comes somebody in who goes “Yeah i take 8 pills in the morning, 3 in the evening, and 4 at lunch but don’t ask me which, You’re a doctor, you should know”.
I beg of you, before going to a doctor that has never seen you before, write your meds, dosage and all on a piece of paper.
I work in Germany on the internal medicine ward. I can only see patients record if they were in my hospital or in the neighbouring hospital otherwise i have to call their family doc, who may or may not be at all times available. I mostly just send a family member home to bring the goodies bag so that we can go over them but as you can imagine, that takes a lot of time.
You often will feel normal even with high blood pressure. It’s often found incidentally. So don’t wait until it gives you symptoms you don’t want to go through.
To all those wondering how to figure out if it’s asymptomatic. Get checked at least once a year if you’re over 35y. There’s no other way.
As someone that works with those who may be in a psychotic break. GET SLEEP! Most psychosis happens because someone haven’t had slept or haven’t had good sleep for extended periods of time. Some people just need 20 straight hours of sleep and then they never end up in a psychiatric hospital ever again.
AND DON’T JUST RANDOMLY STOP YOUR MEDICATION BECAUSE YOU FEEL BETTER. You feel better because you have consistent amount of whatever is leveled in your body now. And now that your body is hitting equilibrium everything is going great, so KEEP DOING WHAT YOU’RE DOING. I’ve seen people go on and off their medications for years and it really starts to mess up your body if you do that for too long.
How to eat healthy. Just because you’re skinny doesn’t mean you’re healthy. Especially the teenagers who I take care of. Sometimes I will ask them what’s a healthy food your doctor wants you to eat? Rarely do I get a right answer. I feel like the internet has so many fad diets, and family members rarely cook, so families don’t know basic nutrition facts.
Alcohol is really *really* bad for you. I understand that ritualistic consumption of the poison has been part of almost every society for thousands of years, but that absolutley does not change just how terrible it is for your body.
You may think, “I binge drink all the time and I’m fine! I come from a long line of heavy drinkers! It’s just some booze, I’ve never gotten sick from it!” But BOY HOWDY do you not realize what it does to your body.
By binge drinking, you run the risk of developing:
Stomach bleeds.
Intestinal bleeds.
Pancreatitis (both acute and chronic).
Liver disease and/or liver failure.
Alcoholism.
Heart failure.
Seizures.
Stroke.
Osteoporosis.
Lung failure.
The list goes on… Every time you have more than a few drinks in a night, you are essentially juggling hand grenades hoping that they don’t go off. There is just no reason to do that to your body. Having 4 drinks spread out over a few hours can be JUST as fun as having 10 drinks in the same time span, AND you’re not putting yourself at risk for massive organ failure and making yourself look like an idiot.
That administering CPR compressions ASAP is one of the greatest indicators of successful outcomes.
Chapling grille:
Had a guy roll in post Torsades arrest. The guy behind him at the dmv when he went down was an ICU Nurse who started compressions within seconds and got the aed attached. Patient came in talking with his only complaint being chest pain from the compressions. I wouldn’t have believed it if the medics hadn’t given me the rhythm strip.
That there is a wide range of ‘normal’. Don’t be embarrassed by your body. Having said that, if you are concerned about anything, ask your doctor. We have generally heard it all before, and trust me, we have (nearly always) seen it all before. Maybe you have something that has been bothering you for ages, but you were too scared or embarrassed to ask about it … Just ask! It might be ‘nothing’ and you have been stressing about it for no reason. And if not, then you are at least one step closer to getting it fixed. No one can help if they don’t know. There are no stupid questions, so ask away.
I’m always amazed when I have been asked about something that has been bothering a patient for years and years, but they were too embarrassed / scared to bring it up. Most of the time, it is nothing / a completely normal body function / feature. Other times, it is something that should have been discussed right away.
YOU know your body best. So speak up! Don’t wait for the doctor to “ask the right question”.
-Where the orifice each gender urinates through really is.
-Antibiotics are not some magic cure for every pain in your body, nor for the flu or common cold.
-Never ever boil breast milk (in my country there is a popular belief that breast milk jaundice in newborns can be treated by boiling one’s breast milk – but by doing this you destroy all the nutrients and it basically becomes as nutritious as water is).
-Do not give honey to children below the age of 1.
-Do not rub your child with rubbing alcohol as to lower his fewer.
-Baby wipes don’t substitute daily baths/showers.
Yes, I am a pediatrician.
Teeth are the most disrespected body part. A healthy set is as important as a healthy heart.
Anon:
This. I’ve ignored a cavity for about 2 years now and as of recently it’s been hitting the nerve which is causing a headache in my right temple. AND I LITERALLY HAVE A HOLE IN MY TOOTH!
Not a doc but a nurse in a hospital that has the worst COPD cases in the country. Do not smoke at all. Sure it may seem cool when your young but it’s not worth it to die from not being able to breathe.
ocean_wavez:
Smoking is the absolute worst thing you can do for your body. It is a risk factor for almost every preventable disease, including heart disease and heart attacks, strokes, almost every type of cancer, diabetes, COPD, kidney disease, macular degeneration (blindness), and so much more. I know quitting smoking is hard, but please give it a try, for your body’s sake!
Not a doctor, but learn the difference between urgent care and emergency room. If you are in a non life threatening condition it will most likely be seen faster through urgent care.
This one is more about medication:
– Antibiotics only work against bacteria, they are not some kind of wonderpotion that cures anything, and they should not always be given
– Please please stick to your prescription the doctor gives you. Even if you already feel better, dont just stop unless the doctor says you can stop. A lot of medication needs to be taken according to the prescription in order for it to be effective, because you build up the dosis to an effective level. Stopping or not sticking to it really decreases effectivity.
Body is a complex machine, but like any machine needs regular activity, good quality fuel and regular inspection.
I’m not a doctor but I am a medical coder. I just want to add young people please be involved in the care of their elderly family members. They need you. It’s heart breaking some of the charts I read where families aren’t at all involved in the care of their elderly or worse-are completely neglectful. The elderly are very lonely and need visitation and love just like anyone else.
The frequency of bowel movements can range from every 3 days to 3 times per day and be considered normal. Having 3 soft stools per day does not mean you have chronic diarrhea.
Type 2 Diabetes is more serious than most people realize. I work as a doctor in hemodialysis and most of them are due to diabetic nephropathy. It also affects your eyes nerves immune system etc. Simple life changes can help you but noone seems to care. I even lost 9 kg myself because I had a family history of diabetes and to be healthy.
Take care of your feet.
If you can’t feel your feet, check your feet regularly to make sure they’re clean, dry, and haven’t started developing any sores. Even small sores and go straight to the bone. If the infection goes to the bone, chances are we are going to cut your foot off. I have helped prep about half a dozen people just this week for foot amputations.
I think there are a lot of obvious ones, like how lifestyle choices in your 20s impact your health and quality of life in your 40s.
It would help if more patients knew their family history (though not everyone has this opportunity unfortunately). Prevention is becoming more and more important in medicine, and treating a disease in its early stages is a lot better than catching it late. If you have family members who had ovarian or colon cancer in their 30s, that is very significant for your own risk. The screening and tests we run might change, depending. If you want to start the pill, it’s important to know about breast cancer, DVTs, clotting disorders in the family. If you’re a bit overweight and have no metabolic syndrome problems in the family, compared to a bit overweight but both your parents have type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular disease, the management priorities change. Asking your family about any recurring diseases or diseases that occurred early (20s, 30s, maybe 40s) can be helpful.
There are certain common conditions that are underdiagnosed but easily fixed. Even if you have non-specific symptoms, it doesn’t hurt to tell your doctor during the next visit. About 5% of US adults have an iron deficiency which can cause loss of concentration and fatigue, and a huge amount are vitamin D deficient. When I am able to complete a systems review (ask screening questions about every different body system) I end up discovering a lot of irritable bowel syndrome, hypothyroidism, insomnia, joint pain, headaches, etc that impact quality of life. But people don’t bring it up because they don’t want to be a bother, or think the symptoms are too vague. It’s not a bother, and often (but not always) these conditions have simple treatments which can really improve how you feel.
