4 ms·

A few years ago I suffered from an autoimmune issue for about 3 months. It took most of that time just to convince a doctor to give me meloxicam, which is just

A few years ago I suffered from an autoimmune issue for about 3 months. It took most of that time just to convince a doctor to give me meloxicam, which is just strong panadol/aspirin really. Having a chronic fever for a few months really made it hard to do anything more substantial than play video games. I don't know how we teach general practitioners, but we are doing something horribly wrong. A lot of long covid people must be finding this out too, and it is just super sad.

dmix 5y ago
A big part is people are typically afraid, or don’t have the opportunity, to get a second opinion. One of my biggest lessons early in life was that not all doctors are the same (by a long shot). This is why it’s so important to see specialists related to your condition. And ultimately you’re going to be most responsible for getting proper care as often only you know what you’re experiencing. Medicine and pathology are far to wide of subjects for generalists to operate efficiently across every field and niche. Which is why specialization is so important and connecting the patients to the right specialists. There’s a lot of analogies to technology, where people tend to expect the experts to do and know everything and completely defer to them. I think we all have experienced this with our parents or people who didn’t grow up with computers. When ultimately the individual is always going to be a huge part of the puzzle and must accept that fact.
dTal 5y ago
>I don't know how we teach general practitioners We send them to a school which emphasizes cramming vast amounts of established knowledge into their heads, at the expense of critical thinking skills, social skills, and for that matter sleep. In a world where doctors use Google and WebMD the same as everyone else (because of course they do, no one retains an encyclopaedic knowledge of every medical condition), it's basically a hazing ritual.
- throwaway316943 5y ago
  It’s really unfortunate the position they’re put in. It’sa hangover from the 1800s really when they were part of the professions and almost minor aristocracy. We need more competent technicians who are willing to work with their clients and admit that they don’t know the answer and then actually do the research.

dmix 5y ago

A big part is people are typically afraid, or don’t have the opportunity, to get a second opinion. One of my biggest lessons early in life was that not all doctors are the same (by a long shot). This is why it’s so important to see specialists related to your condition. And ultimately you’re going to be most responsible for getting proper care as often only you know what you’re experiencing. Medicine and pathology are far to wide of subjects for generalists to operate efficiently across every field and niche. Which is why specialization is so important and connecting the patients to the right specialists. There’s a lot of analogies to technology, where people tend to expect the experts to do and know everything and completely defer to them. I think we all have experienced this with our parents or people who didn’t grow up with computers. When ultimately the individual is always going to be a huge part of the puzzle and must accept that fact.

dTal 5y ago

>I don't know how we teach general practitioners We send them to a school which emphasizes cramming vast amounts of established knowledge into their heads, at the expense of critical thinking skills, social skills, and for that matter sleep. In a world where doctors use Google and WebMD the same as everyone else (because of course they do, no one retains an encyclopaedic knowledge of every medical condition), it's basically a hazing ritual.

throwaway316943 5y ago
It’s really unfortunate the position they’re put in. It’sa hangover from the 1800s really when they were part of the professions and almost minor aristocracy. We need more competent technicians who are willing to work with their clients and admit that they don’t know the answer and then actually do the research.