4 ms·

> Staying generally healthy helps Its that easy huh. I'm afraid you got it exactly backwards. Snake oil is the last resort of people who are not being helped b

> Staying generally healthy helps Its that easy huh. I'm afraid you got it exactly backwards. Snake oil is the last resort of people who are not being helped by the medical system. People don't love going from one doc to another, being told that "its probably psychological". Countless tests are not great even if they don't bankrupt you. I'm not saying its easy! Most doctors aren't even remotely trained for this, and they don't have the time per patient. Its a difficult task. What we need are special doctors for chronic diseases. There is a department at a German university (Heidelberg I think), which is being subsidised by the other things they do. They have good successes, helping people that could not be helped for years, but the waiting list is very very very long.

Broken_Hippo 7y ago
Generally healthy: You can have a chronic disease and work on being generally healthy. Eat a varied diet. Exercise as you can. Don't smoke. I should mention at this point that I have a chronic disease - MS. There is no cure. But all that stuff helps people's outcome. The special diets do not. There are special doctors for some chronic diseases - like MS. Most folks go to a normal neurologist, and a few are lucky enough to have some specialists near them. I have nurses that are specialized that I see more than the neurologist as it helps the neurologist see more folks. That said, not all chronic diseases and conditions need a specialist. Type 2 diabetes is a chronic condition. High blood pressure is a chronic condition (and not always caused by diet/exercise). Depression is chronic. The thing is that some of these are common enough that it is pretty easy for a doctor to know about them. If you are lucky, you see an internist, who specialises in adult general medicine. Not all chronic diseases and conditions are things that are puzzling either. There is no reason for most folks to see these sorts of specialists, but I wish they were more available for folks that need them. This is a pretty slim portion of patients, though. Some diseases we don't know much about, and we need science to help. I've donated spinal fluid to help things along and I'll donate my body to science after whatever organ donation they'll let me do. I urge others to do similar stuff, and this is why I both want medical records digital and want them to be searchable by researchers. For everyone that doesn't specifically opt out, anyway. Most of the tests you mention? Yeah, if you are going to see a specialist, they are going to do the tests. Medicine is a profession of puzzles. You take vague symptoms that could have many causes and do tests to rule things out.

Broken_Hippo 7y ago

Generally healthy: You can have a chronic disease and work on being generally healthy. Eat a varied diet. Exercise as you can. Don't smoke. I should mention at this point that I have a chronic disease - MS. There is no cure. But all that stuff helps people's outcome. The special diets do not. There are special doctors for some chronic diseases - like MS. Most folks go to a normal neurologist, and a few are lucky enough to have some specialists near them. I have nurses that are specialized that I see more than the neurologist as it helps the neurologist see more folks. That said, not all chronic diseases and conditions need a specialist. Type 2 diabetes is a chronic condition. High blood pressure is a chronic condition (and not always caused by diet/exercise). Depression is chronic. The thing is that some of these are common enough that it is pretty easy for a doctor to know about them. If you are lucky, you see an internist, who specialises in adult general medicine. Not all chronic diseases and conditions are things that are puzzling either. There is no reason for most folks to see these sorts of specialists, but I wish they were more available for folks that need them. This is a pretty slim portion of patients, though. Some diseases we don't know much about, and we need science to help. I've donated spinal fluid to help things along and I'll donate my body to science after whatever organ donation they'll let me do. I urge others to do similar stuff, and this is why I both want medical records digital and want them to be searchable by researchers. For everyone that doesn't specifically opt out, anyway. Most of the tests you mention? Yeah, if you are going to see a specialist, they are going to do the tests. Medicine is a profession of puzzles. You take vague symptoms that could have many causes and do tests to rule things out.