5 ms·

I'm under the impression that the vast majority of significant medical problems, in the US anyways, are associated with obvious risk factors such as obesity, se

I'm under the impression that the vast majority of significant medical problems, in the US anyways, are associated with obvious risk factors such as obesity, sedentary lifestyle, and alcohol/tobacco consumption. Those are all trivially avoided.

hinkley 7y ago
Uh huh. You come back in fifteen years and tell us how that's going for you, sport. Most of what I need doctors or other quasi-medical professionals to assist with is congenital or... wait for it... sports related. Turns out that 'get plenty of exercise' doesn't automatically fix everything. And it's harder to manage 'plenty' once you get older and everything fucking hurts. So many of my older friends have informed me that my definition of 'everything hurts' is adorable that I'm starting to worry that they're right when they tell me that I haven't seen anything yet.
- kranner 7y ago
  There is just so much lack of general awareness about the things that can go wrong with your body once you're past the midpoint. Most young people are oblivious, just like I used to be. Now I'm 40, and this Sunday night I start seeing double when gazing above the horizon. After finding an opthalmologist who would see me immediately and getting MRIs and blood tests, it is diagnosed as idiopathic optical inflammatory syndrome and mostly treatable (although it tends to come back). I suppose I should be happy it's not a tumour in my brain. Ah youth, wasted on the young.
- newnewpdro 7y ago
  > Uh huh. You come back in fifteen years and tell us how that's going for you, sport. When I report all's well in fifteen you'll just claim it's good genetics.
  - hinkley 7y ago
    The critical ingredient between the two sides in such debates is that one side believes that hard work is all you need to be successful, and the other side thinks it’s hard work and luck. And doesn’t tolerate the micro aggression or outright aggression exhibited by people who have both but their fragile egos can’t stand that they are anything but self-made, full stop. There are things in my life that have gone spectacularly well, and some that have gone pretty badly. So here’s me in the middle, with a pretty okay life that others envy, but the bootstraps people look down on.
  - deleted 7y ago
    [deleted]
retsibsi 7y ago
The major disease most strongly associated with a known, avoidable risk factor that I can think of is lung cancer. And Wikipedia tells me that > The vast majority (85%) of cases of lung cancer are due to long-term tobacco smoking.[4] About 10–15% of cases occur in people who have never smoked.[14] These cases are often caused by a combination of genetic factors and exposure to radon gas, asbestos, second-hand smoke, or other forms of air pollution. So even for lung cancer, a significant minority of sufferers have never smoked. Genetic factors are obviously out of one's control, and the others mentioned can be pretty damn hard to avoid, especially if you're poor and/or born in the wrong place.
- newnewpdro 7y ago
  I would have gone for Atherosclerosis instead of lung cancer personally.
- retsibsi 7y ago
  > I would have gone for Atherosclerosis instead of lung cancer personally. Okay, but that isn't fully within anyone's control either, and you're still ignoring the diseases that are predominantly genetic, the ones that happen more or less randomly as far as we can tell, the ones caused by environmental factors in childhood, and all the people who get a 'preventable' disease despite doing what they could do avoid it. I'll stop arguing after this though, I think we're either talking past each other about the definitions of 'vast majority' and 'preventable', or having an unspoken argument about the general attitude we should adopt toward people with health problems, or at a factual impasse that we can both google our way around if we care enough.

hinkley 7y ago

Uh huh. You come back in fifteen years and tell us how that's going for you, sport. Most of what I need doctors or other quasi-medical professionals to assist with is congenital or... wait for it... sports related. Turns out that 'get plenty of exercise' doesn't automatically fix everything. And it's harder to manage 'plenty' once you get older and everything fucking hurts. So many of my older friends have informed me that my definition of 'everything hurts' is adorable that I'm starting to worry that they're right when they tell me that I haven't seen anything yet.

kranner 7y ago
There is just so much lack of general awareness about the things that can go wrong with your body once you're past the midpoint. Most young people are oblivious, just like I used to be. Now I'm 40, and this Sunday night I start seeing double when gazing above the horizon. After finding an opthalmologist who would see me immediately and getting MRIs and blood tests, it is diagnosed as idiopathic optical inflammatory syndrome and mostly treatable (although it tends to come back). I suppose I should be happy it's not a tumour in my brain. Ah youth, wasted on the young.
newnewpdro 7y ago
> Uh huh. You come back in fifteen years and tell us how that's going for you, sport. When I report all's well in fifteen you'll just claim it's good genetics.
- hinkley 7y ago
  The critical ingredient between the two sides in such debates is that one side believes that hard work is all you need to be successful, and the other side thinks it’s hard work and luck. And doesn’t tolerate the micro aggression or outright aggression exhibited by people who have both but their fragile egos can’t stand that they are anything but self-made, full stop. There are things in my life that have gone spectacularly well, and some that have gone pretty badly. So here’s me in the middle, with a pretty okay life that others envy, but the bootstraps people look down on.
- deleted 7y ago
  [deleted]

retsibsi 7y ago

The major disease most strongly associated with a known, avoidable risk factor that I can think of is lung cancer. And Wikipedia tells me that > The vast majority (85%) of cases of lung cancer are due to long-term tobacco smoking.[4] About 10–15% of cases occur in people who have never smoked.[14] These cases are often caused by a combination of genetic factors and exposure to radon gas, asbestos, second-hand smoke, or other forms of air pollution. So even for lung cancer, a significant minority of sufferers have never smoked. Genetic factors are obviously out of one's control, and the others mentioned can be pretty damn hard to avoid, especially if you're poor and/or born in the wrong place.

newnewpdro 7y ago
I would have gone for Atherosclerosis instead of lung cancer personally.
retsibsi 7y ago
> I would have gone for Atherosclerosis instead of lung cancer personally. Okay, but that isn't fully within anyone's control either, and you're still ignoring the diseases that are predominantly genetic, the ones that happen more or less randomly as far as we can tell, the ones caused by environmental factors in childhood, and all the people who get a 'preventable' disease despite doing what they could do avoid it. I'll stop arguing after this though, I think we're either talking past each other about the definitions of 'vast majority' and 'preventable', or having an unspoken argument about the general attitude we should adopt toward people with health problems, or at a factual impasse that we can both google our way around if we care enough.