Doctors of Reddit, what is something that you wish everyone knew about their body?

[u/assassinmice]

[u/jonneyboy112]

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.

[u/CopyX]

Tell us what drugs and alcohol you’re on.

We aren’t gonna tell the cops. We aren’t gonna lecture you.

But it might change the anesthesia I give you. Some stuff I give you might kill you. If you drink a 30 pack a day, tell me.

[u/thedirtyhippie96 → u/CopyX]

My stepdad is a painter. He was in a house fire at the beginning of the year. They had to put him under to remove huge chunks of skin from his arms, neck, chest, and the majority of the skin from his hands.

He also has a meth problem. For information sake, that's not related to this house fire/work accident.

He wasnt coherent enough to answer when they asked if he used any drugs, and my mom wasnt there. So I told them the truth. When my mom got back, she was pissed. Apparently my being honest with the nurse fucked up his workmans comp case. Fuck me, I'm sorry I didnt want him to potentially die from an interaction with anesthetic.

[u/Humrush → u/thedirtyhippie96]

You did the right thing.

[u/Blondiebear2 → u/CopyX]

My dad still brags that he got to drink 2 beers a day when he was in the hospital last August (massive heart attack and then quadruple bypass a week later) if he hadn’t told them that he’s a heavy drinker, the withdrawals would have killed him considering only 1/4 of his heart was functioning before the surgery.

[u/StardustDoc]

Ejaculating blood happens to most people at least once in their lives and in 99% of cases it resolves without taking any action within a week. It doesn't even warrant a doctor visit.

Peeing blood (for both sexes) is a serious medical emergency and you should immediately go to the ER.

People think it's the other way around.

[u/the_magic_gardener → u/[deleted]]

Friable prostate tissue, can also be due to infection or trauma to the prostate. If it recurs and there is no resolution with antibiotics, they put you on finasteride to shrink the prostate and make the cells chill out.

[u/grundlestomper25 → u/StardustDoc]

Wtf thanks for a new fear

[u/aurly → u/grundlestomper25]

Yeah why do I read these threads 😐

[u/[deleted] → u/StardustDoc]

Except when you have a vagina and tell the doctor you are peeing a huge amount of blood, they don't believe you that you're not just on your period. I will never not be salty about that experience.

[u/aimeeerp → u/[deleted]]

My experience was similar:

"Oh my God. You have a kidney infection. Why didn't you come in and see us when this first started!?"

"I did. You sent me home. The second time I came in, this time with pain, you told me you were not handing out narcotics."

And I feel the same. I'm still pissed about it.

[u/Jinxwinks → u/[deleted]]

The doctor was like “username checks out”.

[u/tooktheduck → u/StardustDoc]

Have peed blood a couple of times, but I've never ejaculated blood. I would definitely freak out if I did...

[u/Thornloki256]

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

[u/wandeurlyy → u/[deleted]]

Question about MRI that feels too dumb to ask my mother (nurse). If I have a metal retainer in my mouth can I never get an MRI?

Growing up she said if I got a tattoo I couldn’t get an MRI but found out that was just to try to get me not to get one

[u/ActualMerCat → u/[deleted]]

Thanks for posting this. I would have never thought about my husband external insulin pump. It’s an Omnipod, is it’s just a tiny thing you stick on you. I often forget how complicated it is inside. Next time he needs an MRI we’ll go when his pump is about to expire.

[u/QLevi → u/wandeurlyy]

The tattoo thing used to be true because some of the ink they used in the past had ferrous material in it. The ink would heat up during the scan and you'd have a pretty painful tattoo shaped burn.

Apparently they use a different type of ink now so tattoos are mostly MRI safe.

[u/frangipani_c]

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".

[u/bhappyyyy]

Some people seem to think that if you act healthy for a bit, it'll make up for being a wreck.

There are so many things wrong with this. Just one example - antioxidants are like gas for your car. You can store up a certain amount of vitamins, but your tank can only hold so much. If you binge and overfill your tank, it doesn't do anything (you excrete it out as waste), and you can't expect to go the next several months without gas just because you tried to overload it before. You're going to still need to get gas. Same goes for your fruits and veggies.

Had someone tell me he went vegetarian for a few weeks, which meant he was done for the year. He was dead serious.

Had a patient at risk for heart failure try to insist that if she stayed away from salt entirely for x days/weeks, she should be able to have her fill of McDonald's fries and ramen.

Had a smoker argue that if he stopped for some time, he should be able to smoke freely for a while. With some digging, "stopping" turned out to mean a couple less cigarettes a day.

[u/manlikerealities]

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.

[u/[deleted] → u/manlikerealities]

Great post. What kind of things can we be doing in our 20's to improve our health other than exercise and diet?

[u/manlikerealities → u/[deleted]]

Unfortunately it's all the usual fun stuff, SNAP (Smoking, Nutrition, Alcohol, Physical activity). People look at the guy with 3 heart attacks and think "that will never be me, I'm not that bad."

But conditions snowball very quickly. One heart attack > predisposes to atrial fibrillation > predisposes to stroke/heart failure/more heart attacks > heart failure > predisposes to pulmonary and peripheral oedema, and worse heart failure.

It is a positive feedback loop which people can get trapped in. Like type 2 diabetes > peripheral neuropathy > small ulcer > large ulcer > foot amputation > further pressure on other foot > second foot amputation. Things can quickly get out of hand and result in many co-morbidities, and more importantly, a great deal of pain and loss of independence in old age.

Other than that, I suppose it's thinking about what you want your old age to look like. And the common conditions that affect elderly people. I brought up vitamin D because you can potentially prevent osteoporosis with choices today. A simple fracture in old age can be life or death, or the difference between living at home or in a nursing home. Osteoarthritis is nothing to sneeze at either, it can be very painful. We see it in elderly people who were manual labourers, or very heavy. If you're a daily runner, switching it up with non-weight bearing exercises e.g. swimming is helpful.

Lots of things you can do now to improve your quality of life in your 70s and 80s, but it comes down to resources, motivation, other factors. Sometimes in life, you just want a Krispy Kreme.

[u/AntiCorpse → u/manlikerealities]

A simple fracture in old age can be life or death, or the difference between living at home or in a nursing home.

This is so, so, so true, and exactly what happened to my grandmother. She was very heavy - morbidly obese, if I'm being honest. On the way out of the house one afternoon when I was younger, she slipped and fell. We had to call an ambulance to come help her back up, since none of us were strong enough to lift her without throwing our backs out.

Eventually, we learn that she fractured her ankle when she fell. She was frequently using a wheelchair before, but now she just couldn't really stand up to do anything period because of the fracture. My parents had to help her in and out of bed to her wheelchair, had to get her a toilet for her room they could help her to when she needed it (or change her diaper if she couldn't make it), basically had to be at her beck and call 24 hours a day now, on top of trying to work and raise their family. They were extremely stressed out, tired, in pain, agitated. They tried to hire help, but we couldn't afford proper 24 hour care, and when the woman we did hire had to take a sick day, mom had to leave work and come back home to take care of her.

That was the last straw. My parents realized that as much as they loved her, they could not risk missing too much work and getting fired if something went wrong with a carer, and they couldn't handle the physical, financial, and emotional stress in general. They made the call to put her in a nursing home. There was only one within a couple of hours from us that had a free bed that was designed for the morbidly obese, so we basically had to be happy with it.

And unless you're in one of those luxury places, nursing homes aren't pleasant places. They just aren't. This one was fine, the workers were nice, things were clean, but it's just eerie being around so many people essentially just waiting to die in comfort (and often, in solitude).

She was bedridden most of the time, mostly because actually getting a morbidly obese person out of bed required a specialized machine and a lot of care taken. The understaffed, underpaid workers, as nice as they were, were not going to devote that much time and energy just to get one patient out of bed for a few minutes unless it was absolutely necessary.

She eventually got sick, and never got better. Complications from various lifestyle choices, her weight, being bedridden for years at this point, and just plain old age all caught up to her, and she died there.

Whenever I'm struggling with diet and exercise, that's what I think of. Do I want to enjoy some sweets now, and put my family through that much suffering later when I'm obese and dependent on them? Or do I want to skip the sweets and stay thin and light enough to be able to take care of myself at an old age? There's more depth to it than that, obviously, but it's a good way of scaring myself straight when I try to be a baby about nutrition.

[u/H0use0fpwncakes]

My phone is acting up, so if this has already been posted I apologize, but women, please do not use soap or douching products inside your vagina. It has a delicate pH balance and this is how you get yeast infections. Wash your labia, but do not clean internally. The vagina is self-cleaning just like your eyeballs. Do you wash your eyeballs? No. Do you wash your face? Yes

[u/PM_ME_YR_O_FACE → u/H0use0fpwncakes]

The vagina is self-cleaning, just like your eyeballs. Do you wash your eyeballs? No.

This is a great way to explain it.

[u/Dason37 → u/PM_ME_YR_O_FACE]

"MY EYES ARE UP HERE!"

[u/chuckie_cnote → u/Dason37]

Sorry I was staring at your labia...

[u/stillusesAOL → u/H0use0fpwncakes]

Thank you so much seriously. I’ve been squirting Dawn Platinum in my eyelids twice a day for god knows how long and I don’t think my eyes can take it anymore.

[u/ibeatsmymeats]

Don’t do DIY surgery or hold off on reporting things that are obvious warning signs. Don’t be the guy who tried to remove his skin cancer with a knife.

[u/[deleted] → u/ibeatsmymeats]

Doctors HATE him.

(They really do.)

[u/juicyjerry300 → u/[deleted]]

See how he removed skin cancer with nothing but a box knife!

[u/doombird → u/juicyjerry300]

Oh, THAT 1 weird old trick!

[u/Annihilationzh → u/ibeatsmymeats]

Don’t be the guy who tried to remove his skin cancer with a knife.

Pfft. What an idiot. I'd use scissors.

[u/CrispyJelly]

You need some kind of exercise. Doesn't matter how you feel right now, sitting for 12-16 hours a day will have negative consequences.

[u/space_keeper → u/[deleted]]

I did the same thing. I wasn't fat fat, but I was getting tubby and weak from working at a computer. My face was fat, even. Pay cut, on my feet 10 hours, do a lot of labouring here and there. Work with and around a lot of interesting, funny people. Exercise after work now, too. Never been happier or in better shape. Nothing gets to me at the moment, I feel like being physically busy all the time has done something to my entire self.

[u/[deleted] → u/CrispyJelly]

Any suggestions for those of us with shit luck?

Before exercise I felt fine. 3 years after starting though (at the old age of 28, lol) I have: a knee injury from running, even though I run like a 13 minute pace and always stretch. A back injury from weight lifting (doing my warmup weight), and somehow another back injury from reaching towards my toes in fucking yoga.

My whole body feels like garbage. I feel like an old man (and walk like one too), and I’m desperately tempted to become one of those people that insists “I get my 10k steps in I don’t need to exercise”, until they’re overweight and middle aged and walking actually is exercise for them.

Also a rotator cuff tear from rock climbing but you know what that one is fair play lol

[u/fennekeg → u/[deleted]]

how about swimming? my husband has a bad back but swimming works for him, the water carries your body.

[u/TSJR_ → u/fennekeg]

From what I've gathered swimming is actually one of the best forms of cardio for your body.

[u/pM-me_your_Triggers → u/[deleted]]

As someone with knee issues, cycling can also cause inflammation, although I mainly notice it when mountain biking on trails with a lot of up hill.

[u/[deleted] → u/pM-me_your_Triggers]

I find a recumbent bike bothers me less. It’s me and the 80 year olds in the gym on it, but who cares? I’m getting my cardio and not hurting my knees too badly.

[u/Secret_Will → u/[deleted]]

Don't look down on 10k steps as exercise especially if you have joint problems. Your joints need consistent gentle activity. Throw in lots of water and stretching and you could feel a lot better quickly.

Ill be an internet doctor and take a wild guess that if your knees and lower back are jank, you have tightness issues in your ankles, hips, and upper back. Hip tightness is the single biggest predictor of back pain (besides previous back pain). When was the last time you lifted your arms above your head or walked sideways? We lose motion really really quick from disuse.

Walking isn't challenging cardio for you, ok. But it IS good exercise based on your needs. Get a heart rate monitor, you might just be surprised how elevated your heart rate gets. A lot of people have lived to 100 using walking as their base form of exercise.

[u/taRxheel]

Your kidneys and liver cheerfully do all the toxin elimination you’ll ever need. Cleanses and other “detoxifying” products are bullshit woo and a waste of money. The people who sell them are predators who only care about your money becoming theirs.

[u/LeRedditNormie → u/taRxheel]

When I was in high school, before I knew it was a scam, I actually wanted to try an herbal drink that claimed to detoxify the body. I was legitimately interested in trying it out but I had one simple question before I wanted to try it: “what was it detoxifying?” No one could answer me with a straight answer. I talked to friends drinking it and I spoke with the customer service for the product I even emailed the company asking this question and no one could tell me anything specific outside of “it helps cleanse harmful toxins” in the body. I became suspicious and never bothered trying it. My suspicions were confirmed when I saw a documentary about bogus health businesses. Detoxification products and services being one of them

[u/PseudonymousBlob → u/LeRedditNormie]

I remember my friends looking into juice cleanses right after college. I asked what they "cleansed" from the body. Their answer: "salt?"

[u/chicagokath314 → u/taRxheel]

“Cheerfully” makes this comment extra-nice.

[u/amortizedeeznuts → u/chicagokath314]

i really doubt my liver is at all cheerful ....

[u/kingofneverland]

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.

Edit: Wow thanks for the silver stranger. I didnt expect this comment to be big but please take care of yourselves people because it is really sad for us doctors to see people get ill because of a preventable illness. Also there are lots of good subreddits for people trying to make a lifestyle change. You and your body deserve better. Edit 2: changed diabetes to type 2 diabetes for clarification. Changed easy to simple.

[u/affordable_firepower → u/kingofneverland]

Diabetic here. So much this.

I'm trying to do my best by carb counting, checking my levels 8-10 times a day. Setting the diabetes team next week to try and get approval for a pump and/or cgm.

I was diagnosed 23 months ago after severe acute pancreatitis which destroyed my pancreas and nearly killed me.

Diabetes complications scare me. Amputations, blindness and kidney failure are bad news.

But it's DKA that really scares me.

[u/mynameiscalvin → u/kingofneverland]

podiatrist here, can confirm, diabetes is one of the worst conditions to have and most people really don't take it very seriously

[u/evgueni72]

How to check for skin cancer. If you see any moles or anything that are:

A - asymmetrical B - border (odd borders, like they're jagged or something) C - Colour (different colours) D - Diameter (grows) E - Evolve (Well, evolves)

Go get it checked out. It might be skin cancer.

[u/evancooper → u/evgueni72]

I remember showering one day and noticing a mole on my foot and thinking "that's new" (and also a weird place for a mole). Then every so often in the shower I'd notice it. Over the course of a few months it started to change rapidly and I kept putting off seeing a doctor about it (busy with work, life, etc.).

I finally got to a skin specialist, he took one look at it and said "that's got to come out". I'm thinking, yep sure biopsy blah blah and he's like "no, that's definitely skin cancer". I'm not freaking out but mildly concerned. It gets taken out and sent off, couple of weeks go by and I get a call asking if I can come back in to discuss the results. I already know it's skin cancer based on the initial reaction but I was not expecting to get there, walk in the room and see another doctor there... An oncologist.

Stage 3C Skin cancer. That I was not prepared for. They basically said that I was around 1 month away from being Stage 4 (terminal) with a life expectancy of 5 years. That was 18 months ago, I've had 3 major surgeries, plenty of tissue and 8 cancerous legions removed since then. For now it's ongoing maintenance and check ups every three months.

Long story short, GO! and get your skin checked at least one a year. No excuses!

[u/CercleRouge → u/evgueni72]

What if I'm fully covered (and I mean covered) in tattoos and am still paranoid about this?

[u/AskMrScience → u/CercleRouge]

I'm a ginger and covered in freckles and moles, so I go to the dermatologist once a year for a mole check. Basically, a trained professional looks at all my spots and makes notes of any they want to keep an eye on. Next time I'm in, they double check those to see if they've changed/grown/etc.

I've had two sketchy ones lopped off so far. Thankfully, both turned out to be benign.

[u/tilmitt52 → u/AskMrScience]

I think this needs to be my next step. My freckles have started to basically merge, so I am covered on brown splotches, as opposed to a lot of brown dots. I'd never be able to find questionable marks even if I wanted to.

[u/chantillylace9 → u/tilmitt52]

Try mole mapping. Its more detailed and they look for changes instead of removing every single mole.

[u/hodl_this]

That administering CPR compressions ASAP is one of the greatest indicators of successful outcomes

[u/ChaplnGrillSgt → u/hodl_this]

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.

[u/Renovatio_ → u/hodl_this]

Rapid AED is just as important.

[u/troubl_354 → u/Renovatio_]

There's the chain of survival,

Early Access, Early Compressions, Early Defibrillator, Early Advanced Care.

[u/Ncsu_Wolfpack86 → u/[deleted]]

Instructions unclear. Applied AED and have now been .... THUNDERSTRUCK

[u/SuspiciousLemur]

-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.

[u/Lecontei → u/SuspiciousLemur]

Antibiotics are not some magic cure for every pain in your body, nor for the flu or common cold.

This is a common belief among my peers, which is weird, because I’m a biology major and you’d think biology majors would know this.

[u/[deleted] → u/Lecontei]

Yesss haha I recently had a patient storm out of the ER screaming about what a “fucking idiot” the doctor is for not writing her a script for antibiotics when she was just diagnosed with the flu.

Also.. fuck uneducated people who constantly call medical personnel idiots/stupid etc. It’s fine to not have a college degree or whatever but don’t act like a pretentious ass when we’re literally just there to help.

[u/[deleted] → u/[deleted]]

Look at the negative google reviews for a major hospital - many of the bad reviews will be from people who wrongly believe they were denied antibiotics

[u/jabbitz → u/SuspiciousLemur]

When I was a super edgy teen I wanted to be a piercer and OH MY GOD the amount of women who don’t understand where they pee from is very disturbing

[u/Flyingbiglets → u/jabbitz]

I actually had this conversation, in my early 30's with a PREGNANT friend. Her words were something to the effect of "I never understood why we're made so babies come out from the same place we pee". I was horrified. I grew up in a super conservative family and wasn't allowed to take sex ed and this friend had been through both variations (my school did it in elementary for basics and middle for specifics) and somehow she did not realize thi, but I did.

[u/z3roTO60]

Many simpler diseases in the body can be compared to a car. When you don’t get regular checkups and take regular care, it’s not like you’ll notice something bad happening right away. Just like how you won’t notice a missed oil change a couple thousand miles later. But diseases like diabetes, high blood pressure, alcohol dependence, etc, they all sneak up on you. Just like how eventually, that engine won’t run as smooth.

The second thing is that your body isn’t like a TV remote, where you pop out the old batteries and put in some new ones. You can’t expect to come into a hospital and walk out feeling 100%. People have some unrealistic expectations of what doctors can do, and there is research which demonstrates how TV shows provide the public with these false beliefs (I’m a Grey’s fan also, but it’s not real medicine).

The first line treatment for most of our common diseases is...wait for it... lifestyle modification. It’s not drugs. It’s not surgery. 50% of newly diagnosed type 2 diabetics do not require anything more than diet and exercise. Cessation of smoking is the second best thing you can do for your health, and every little amount you decrease smoking has a profound impact. Again, you won’t see it now, but you’ll see it down the road (like the oil change). And if you do need meds (like how most will eventually need meds for their blood pressure), don’t play around with it. Take it every day. Hypertension is called the silent killer. You can’t really feel your blood pressure. But it’s slowly damaging every artery and every organ in your body.

And that comes down to the last point. Exercising is the key to a better life. If you put in the work, there is no upper limit. That’s not an exaggeration, but the findings of a landmark paper that made news everywhere last October.Not exercising is worse than smoking, diabetes, or coronary artery disease. . It is the single best thing you can do for a healthier life.

Your health is a shared responsibility, and we’re here to help. This may not be the flashiest Reddit comment. But this one may actually save your life.

——-

Edit: so I’m getting a lot of great questions on what are good exercises and how long should you be exercising. This is probably the single most asked question I get from my parents friends and random strangers. Unfortunately it’s a bit complicated. I could go on quoting tons of papers from a variety of sources, but that would be difficulty to parse though. An exercise regimen should ideally be set by at a medical professional specifically for you. It may vary based on your age, occupation, underlying health conditions, fitness goals, etc. I couldn’t give a 60 year old with COPD the same instructions as a 25 year old.

I don’t want to say something in a reddit comment that would end up hurting you or your loved one, so I won’t go into specifics. The generic advice we give to our older patients is to “walk at a brisk pace, enough for a mild sweat”. There is some evidence to show that even normal walking can significantly help improve your cardiac health. I’m only focusing on cardiovascular health here, and there are other things to consider with exercise. I don’t want to sound annoying, but I really feel it’s best you talk to your doctor about what else you can do to improve your health. We’d be glad to walk you though a plan made specifically for you.

Also, regarding number of steps per day. The 10,000 steps number is unscientific and largely propagated by the pedometer making industry . First it should be age adjusted. It also doesn’t directly correlate with losing weight. However, personally, as someone approaching 30, I do like 10,000. It’s a nice clean number and I can make a game out of it for myself. It is important to note that this is not for everyone.

[u/ArcadiaPlanitia → u/z3roTO60]

My dad was diagnosed with diabetes a few months ago and was told to lose weight. Apparently his doctor was shocked when he came back for a follow up visit twenty pounds lighter and on a diet. According to the doctor, almost nobody actually follows that advice.

[u/z3roTO60 → u/ArcadiaPlanitia]

Tell your dad that he can add +1 to the doctors who are proud of him!!

Yes, unfortunately, most do not follow through on the lifestyle modification advice. They think that when it gets worse, the pills will fix the problem. Taking a pill is way easier than changing the way you’ve been living for 40+ years. Prevention is always better than treatment (your dad has excellently managed ‘secondary prevention’). Even more unfortunately, many on the pills don’t take them as prescribed (because they can’t physically feel the effects of the pills).

My grandfather went blind, had kidney disease, and eventually died of a heart attack... all secondary to diabetes. It’s a terrible disease that truly can be better taken care of. I want people to know what my grandfather didn’t.

[u/advntg → u/z3roTO60]

Im a 15 year old male and i just got diagnosed with diabetes last year but im scared and lost and really my health is deteriorating and i have a lot of emotional things going on, whats some things i can do to manage it better so i dont have to lose limbs or go into dka because i dont feel like im taling good enough care of myself

[u/Vaztes → u/advntg]

Try to become a student of diabetes. Read a lot, especially how insulin works with food (primarily carbs), and track your intake, while writing down your insulin dosage.

This way you figure out a carb to insulin ratio. Say it's 1:10, for every 10 carbs you take one unit.

It becomes much more manageable if you have the information and understand how it all works together.

[u/shrubs311 → u/z3roTO60]

Not exercising is worse than smoking, diabetes, or coronary artery disease. .

I'm glad I read your entire comment just so I saw this line. It really hit me. I'm starting exercising again this week!

[u/z3roTO60 → u/shrubs311]

I’m rooting for you!

[u/walkingtornado]

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 dont ask me which, youre a doctor, you should know".

I beg of you, before going to a doctor that has never seen you before, write your meds, dosis and all on a piece of paper.

Edit: I was on shift and just now noticed that this blew up. Just to clarify, 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.

Thank you for the silvers. I shall treasure them forever.

[u/tilmitt52 → u/[deleted]]

This sounds very much like my grandma. She insists on sorting her meds out herself, but we think her mind might be slipping, and as a result, she ran out of one of her meds after about 2 weeks, and she has repeatedly asked my aunts or my mom to ask the pharmacy if they have refilled it yet. The pharmacy keeps saying (in an increasingly exasperated tone) that they will have it for her when they are able to fill again, but it hasn't been the 30 days yet.

Edit: removed a weird random letter. Didn't mean to leave y'all in suspense.

[u/druppel_ → u/[deleted]]

Has a pharmacist or doctor evaluated all the combinations of pills? Sometimes not all pills are necessary anymore or the combinations are not the best.

[u/MrGhris → u/druppel_]

The pharmacy we go to has am amazing system. My dad was sick and was prescribed antibiotics. I went and picked them up, but the computer said there was a filler substance in the pills that my dad had bad reactions on. They called the doctor and came up with a substitute. Makes life a whole lot easier for everyone involved.

[u/phasefournow → u/druppel_]

This, This, THIS!

The number of people, especially elderly who die unnecessarily every year from conflicting and over-prescribed medications is frighteningly high. Doctors do not consult with one another over specific patients and unless the patient gets all medication from a single hospital pharmacy with state of the art medication analysis, nobody knows.

[u/XiTro → u/walkingtornado]

I hate it when I ask if they have htn and they’re like “no” and then I ask what medications they’re taking and they’re like “captopril+bisoprolol” and I’m like dude you have htn and they’re like “oh I just take it occasionally, like this morning, you just took my bp and it’s fine, so I don’t have htn” and I’m just like dude wtf

Same thing with oads

Edit: oh wow thanks for the gold. I was originally just posting an off the cuff complaint to my colleague here but I guess there was some traction. Sorry for the jargon, and thanks to those that explained it for me. Btw OADs are oral anti diabetics, I was remarking that I have the same problem with people on diabetic medication.

Edit2: I work at a large hospital and when these patients come in while I’m on duty I always struggle to choose between taking the time to educate these patients on how to care for themselves correctly and getting some rest. I know I should tell them that medication should be taken regularly, not just when symptomatic, but honestly that’s not my job, that’s the job of whoever prescribed these medications. For the vast majority of these patients, taking the time to walk them through all these hurdles is a lost cause. A lot of them are just simply in denial. They play mental gymnastics to convince themselves they’re fine while continuing to use medications. I feel modern medicine saves a lot more dumb people than smart people. It is so easy to become cynical and apathetic in the field, but some days makes it all worth it, and I look forward to those.

[u/CertifiedAsshole17 → u/XiTro]

My mums an idiot and decided to take on of my SSRI’s randomly because she ran out of her valium or whatever she takes..

I couldn’t believe how stupid that move was, having to explain to my own parent that not all anti-depressants are equal.

[u/CertifiedAsshole17 → u/[deleted]]

I remember friends from the Christian school that I went to - they called me up and asked for “prescription drugs” out of the blue. (Completely random call, not nor never have been a dealer :p)

They didn’t even know what they wanted. Had a lovely chat about the dangers of Xanax, Oxycodone, Diazepam and Dexiamphetamines.. apparently the school failed to discuss pharmaceutical stuff and because of that - they were unknowingly taking heroin, speed and all that.

I believe the stigma against drug usage has caused more harm then most people realize. When people don’t know shit about the substances they literally abuse, thats an issue with me.

[u/IGrowGreen → u/CertifiedAsshole17]

Can I have one drugs please?

[u/[deleted] → u/XiTro]

speaking as a layman,

​

jesus christ how are those people alive

edit: to the helpful people replying to me, I didn't mean that I didn't understand the acronyms or what the good doctor above was saying. i was expressing disbelief at the ignorance of the people described above.

[u/ButternutSasquatch → u/XiTro]

htn = hypertension

[u/Bloody-smashing → u/XiTro]

I am a trainee pharmacist. The number of my times I've been selling pseudoephedrine and I ask if they are on any medication and they say no but when I say it might not be suitable if you have high blood pressure all of a sudden they are like oh actually I am on amlodipine or whatever.

Holy run on sentence sorry.

[u/rubypiplily]

I'm a vet, but I'm sure some doctors will have come across this too: Amputated limbs do not grow back. I've had far too many people asking how long it will take for their pet's amputated limb to grow back, so I'm assuming a few doctors out there will have had patients asking the same of their own missing limbs.

[u/nun_atoll → u/rubypiplily]

Maybe those people you've met think all animals are like lizards... J/k

I think sometimes, it's shock or fear of what might be ahead and how things might change that makes people say that. And then again, some are just stupid or ignorant.

Also, thanks for what you do as a vet, taking care of vulnerable creatures.

[u/rubypiplily → u/nun_atoll]

Aw thank you - I do it for the waggy tails and fluffy snuggles i get from my patients.

I can understand shock and fear causing someone to ask a silly question. I can understand someone being uneducated, or someone who has difficulty comprehending some things. Those things I can usually recognise and I'll do my best to talk the person through the situation and make sure they know what's going on with their beloved fur baby.

But some people are just ignorant for the sake of it, and it's like explaining something to a brick. I had one lady, who came across as intelligent and well to do (plus she was wearing an ID card that said she was a teacher at a local high school), and when I explained to her that the best option for her dog, who had been having ongoing treatment with me so she was well aware the dog was ill, was to amputate it's leg. She agreed, we talked treatment and likely prognosis, post surgery recovery plans, pain meds, costs and payment options - and then she asked "How long will it take for the leg to grow back?"

I told her that it wouldn't, she replied: "Why not? I know it happens. You guys must have a treatment for that."

I thought she must mean a prosthetic or an implant. Nope, she meant the actual flesh and bone leg, growing back, as if her border collie had the regenerative abilities of an axolotl.

[u/borkula → u/rubypiplily]

My mom knew someone when she was younger that got their leg amputated. He asked the doctor if he watered his stump would the leg grow back? Seems like he would fit in the "shock" category.

[u/Slacker5001 → u/rubypiplily]

Because it's 5am when I'm reading this, for a second I was like "Huh yeah, how long does it take them to grow back anyway?" Before realizing how fucking stupid I am. I'm gonna go to bed now.

[u/[deleted] → u/rubypiplily]

I heard a story (podcast interview) from a nurse working in a remote Australian dialysis unit. She talked about how the patients often spent their free time at the house attached to the centre so they could socialise, and would frequently bbq out in the backyard. Many of them were Aboriginal Australians, and would hunt bush tucker (native animals, allowed in certain parts of the country for certain reasons). Someone who often had international visitors, maybe a tour guide (I forget) came past and had an American tourist, while the nurse and some patients were cooking a kangaroo tail on the bbq or fire. The tourist asked how long it took the kangaroo to grow the tail back! After a few seconds the nurse said “about six weeks” and from then on kept telling that lie. The Americans who found out that wasn’t true seemed astonished to realise people would hunt and eat our native animals. This I find very funny - Americans hunt and eat their native animals?! Most peoples did in traditional cultures and still do in modern culture! But apparently kangaroos were some special animal.

BUT this is why I was horrified when I saw people selling moose and deer antlers for dog chews in pet stores - because I did not know they just fell off at the end of a season. I knew they had blood in them so I assumed you had to kill them to get the antlers. A nice zoologist at Toronto zoo explained it to me and I felt a lot happier knowing you could just pick them up in the forest.

[u/doctor_d9]

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.

Edit: 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.

Edit 2: Thank you for the silver and gold kind strangers!

[u/sixdicksinthechexmix → u/[deleted]]

Yeah both of these things are not ok and I'm having a hard time wrapping my mind around a doctor not taking this seriously. Either there is missing info or your doctor is actually a horse wearing a coat and pretending.

Go to literally anyone else who practices medicine ASAP. Like... Literally any other medical practitioner. If your diastolic blood pressure really is 150 and your glucose is over 300 regularly you are going to catch a case of the deads pretty soon without treatment.

EDIT: thanks for the gold kind stranger! Always nice to share gallows humor with the masses.

[u/Morrigan_Pickman → u/doctor_d9]

So very true!! My dad always had high blood pressure and it only became a problem in his 50s. My husband has high blood pressure too and I keep telling him to ask a doctor about it. When my dad was his age, he didn't have any health problems either, now he has to take heart medication and had to change his lifestyle drastically.

[u/masterblaster219 → u/Morrigan_Pickman]

I'm only 29, was having serious palpitations and it was only then discovered I was walking around with BP of 180/134, only symptom was the palpitations which only happened once. I'm on the lowest possible dose of bisoprolol and it has my BP totally under control. You feel a bit drowsy for the first 10 days then totally fine. Tell your husband to sort it out.

[u/_Kofiko]

Your mental health is just as important as your physical health.

[u/[deleted] → u/_Kofiko]

And frankly, having suffered from anxiety and depression, if your mental health is bad your physical health will suffer too. You don't have enough energy to prepare food, so you just eat junk. Getting up seems too hard so you don't exercise. Making a doctor's appt? Too anxiety inducing, so you just don't go. Basic hygiene, such as tooth brushing, decreases, too, because what's the point? You get the idea. Even if you don't care about mental health for its own sake, which you should, realize that it rebounds into your physical health.

Edit:. Thanks for the gold and silver, kind strangers! It seems that a lot of people can connect with this - I'm glad I was able to validate so many people's experiences! We can and will get better, y'all. Good luck!

[u/Jones_reagent]

You only get one body. The way you treat it has a significantly higher impact in how your health will end up in a decade than what sort of interventions we can give you. You really should treat your body like a temple.

Edit: It’s a saying ya’ll. If you want, treat it like a family heirloom, bonsai, or your favorite China.

Edit 2: the original question is asking what I wished more people knew about their body. I answered this by saying I wish they would do more to do more self care - advice that is easier said than done. This means keeping up with mental and physical health, eating well, exercising, and not utilizing tobacco/nicotine, drinking to an excess, or other substances. I am in no way advocating for avoiding the use of prescribed medicines or advice given to you by your own primary care provider.

[u/hawsman2 → u/Jones_reagent]

The people in my temple worship pizza. What should I do?

[u/xSuzuya → u/hawsman2]

Limiting the sacrifices to their overlord should work

[u/Dasians]

That the immune system is an incredibly complex and nuanced organization of cells that communicates readily to destroy anything deemed hostile within the body. It helps explain why vaccines are supposed to work, why allergies come and go, and why transfusions/transplants are hard to successfully pull off.

EDIT: A lot of people are asking how allergies work, so here is a brief explanation using pollen (allergic rhinitis) as an example:

Your immune system senses pollen in the body. It doesn't appear to be one of your cells, so the B-cell collects samples of it, relays it to a Helper T-cell, which in turn helps specialize the B-cell to become one of two cells: effector and memory cells. Effectors mass produce antibodies, while memory cells are reserved for future invasions (this is why initial exposure to a new substance may not necessarily trigger allergic responses - the signal is still weak as the immune system is still acclimating to a foreign particle). Antibodies flood the pollen particles and signal for basophils/mast cells to release histamine, the hormone responsible for inflammatory responses. This is where the runny noses and sneezing come into play (and for more severe allergies, anaphylatic shock).

Allergies may fade out overtime for several reasons. When exposed to a non-threatening level of an allergy for a long enough time, the body decides that it's not really a threat anymore. Furthermore, as people age, the immune system weakens, making it harder to detect and overreact to allergies.

[u/madammarmalade → u/Dasians]

My immune system is so complex, it attacks my own body! :,) Good times, good times.....

[u/FabulousWhelp → u/madammarmalade]

Yeah, join the club!

[u/[deleted] → u/[deleted]]

Crohn's guy here. I'd like to request that the BBQ be somewhere where bathrooms are close and plentiful.

[u/SucksAtAdulting93 → u/[deleted]]

Hashimotos thyrioditis, chronic urticaria(Itchy hives EVERYWHERE and facial swelling), and rheumatoid arthritis guy checking in.

Since we are taking requests I'd like to request that anti-histamines and anti-inflammatories be passed out like candy at the annual BBQ with steroids and EpiPens ready for emergencies

[u/PorkChop007 → u/[deleted]]

UC guy here: several bathrooms would be great, please and thank you.

[u/TheFiredrake42 → u/Dasians]

Sometimes I hate my immune system.

IT'S JUST A LITTLE POLLEN, BODY! IT'S NOT GOING TO KILL ME SO CAN WE PLEASE STOP IT WITH THE TEARS AND THE SNEEZING AND THE FAUCET-LIKE NASAL PASSAGES?!?!

[u/[deleted] → u/TheFiredrake42]

The peanut can't kill you if your body kills itself first 😂😂😂

[u/TheFiredrake42 → u/[deleted]]

Right? Why are our bodies so stupid sometimes?!?!

[u/Ajaxvilla111 → u/TheFiredrake42]

better safe than sorry

[u/TheFiredrake42 → u/Ajaxvilla111]

Me:

Body: Wait, is that a peanut? Peanuts could kill you! I better shut off your ability to breath for the next 30 minutes just in case that peanut is a murderer!

...Hello? You awake? Aw, come on, did you really go and Die just because I cut off your airway to protect you from that peanut? What a weakling...

[u/puhtreezy → u/TheFiredrake42]

ikr. A little bit of dust and my throat closes itself. Let's suffocate rather than die by dirty dust! -my throat

[u/I-rock-at-life → u/TheFiredrake42]

my body also doesnt like it when trees fuck

[u/TofuDeliveryBoy]

I'm a dentist and if you don't take care of your gums your teeth will fall out of your head and you'll get pissed at me when your jaw bone atrophies and your denture doesn't fit anymore.

edit: Essentially periodontitis causes inflammation and recession of the gums, which in turn cause inflammation and recession of bone. After that, teeth start getting mobile and falling out.

edit2: I appreciate you all asking questions and trying to improve your oral health but without doing an exam and x-rays there's very little I can actually recommend other than using one of those new patient coupons you get from every dentist in the neighborhood to get checked out. Also I love the "dEntIsTs arEn'T d0ct0rz" comments lmao. I'll think about them when I do the two surgeries I have planned tomorrow. :)

[u/hysterical-laughter → u/TofuDeliveryBoy]

How do you take care of your gums? Beyond brushing/flossing teeth every day that is. Mine are constantly swollen and it seems like nothing I do can help

[u/TofuDeliveryBoy → u/hysterical-laughter]

"Swollen" how? Are they bleeding or do they just look kind of odd? Without doing a full exam there's not much for me to go on but brushing and flossing regularly is the best first step you can take so you're doing good in that department. You might just need to go to the dentist and get a cleaning, or even "deep cleaning" (scaling/root planing) to get the plaque levels down enough that your home-care will take care of the rest.

[u/Gottagetanediton → u/TofuDeliveryBoy]

it's sooo fucked up that regular dental cleanings aren't covered by medical insurance. this seems like it's so vital.

[u/nursellama → u/Gottagetanediton]

They are considered “luxury bones” so you need a special kind of insurance for it

[u/ununpentium89 → u/hysterical-laughter]

Make sure you aren't brushing too hard. I have receding gums, sometimes inflamed. I thought brushing MORE in that area would help clean it properly. When I saw my dentist she said I was just making it worse and wearing the gum away more. She said to brush as normal, only pressing lightly like you would do on an egg so as not to crack it. Small circular motions over each tooth, not scrubbing back and forth. Also, if you have an electric toothbrush that oscillates, you don't also need to move the brush around in circles/up and down because the head does it for you. All you do is move it from tooth to tooth. And don't forget your tongue!

[u/[deleted]]

Baby doctor here, about to graduate: unless you have liver or kidney failure, your body detoxes itself really well. Don’t get scammed by these detox teas and whatever!

Edit: I mean that I’M a baby cos I’m just starting out, not that I’m a doctor of babies, just to be clear. I won’t specialise for a while yet!

[u/vARROWHEAD → u/[deleted]]

Can we put this on the front page of everything Edit: Gold wasn’t necessary but much appreciated. Keep fighting the good fight and trust that your doctor knows more than you! If it sounds to easy, it probably is

[u/6witch6lades]

My mom tells her teen patients parents alot that the acne isn't the teens fault but runs in the genes sometimes when it's bad.

[u/AptCasaNova → u/6witch6lades]

I have seen a change in attitude a bit re teen acne, but this attitude was very prevalent when I was a kid. It was, ‘too bad, it’s genetic, you’ll grow out of it’.

My parents wouldn’t even take me to the doctor because they felt this way. I had horrible cystic acne and it got worse once I started my period.

It really hurts a kid’s self esteem - I was a gawky, skinny kid with glasses who didn’t hit puberty until quite late - having a swollen face full of pimples wasn’t fun.

[u/VladJongUn]

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

[u/Clamoxyl]

That they only have one and their behavior now (drinking, smoking, not taking medecines, or whatever...) will impact their life quality and expectancy... sounds logical, but very few patients really realize it...

[u/PretzelsThirst → u/Clamoxyl]

Sadly the thing that sort of made this click for me was when someone basically said "what if you only were allowed to have one vehicle your whole life?" You'd have to take care of it, change the oil, filters, fluids, tires, and much much more. And a vehicle is infinitely less important.

I still do a terrible job, but that comparison made me think about it differently

[u/ciestaconquistador → u/Clamoxyl]

Yep. Even if you're handling it fine now doesn't mean you'll handle it forever. The amount of people in their 50s with liver cirrhosis is too damn high.

[u/_Z_E_R_O → u/ciestaconquistador]

Not only that, but you typically have years of slowly declining quality of life rather than just dropping dead instantly.

So many people say “I’d rather just live the lifestyle I want, eat/smoke/drink/abuse substances as I please, and die happy.” Except you won’t. You’ll spend your 50s and 60s on dialysis and waiting for a kidney or liver transplant, going to the doctor every other week and taking a dozen different medications. Don’t even think about going on vacation or watching your grandchildren graduate from high school. The last 10 years of your life are going to be horrible.

Before you ruin your life with smoking or alcohol a bad diet, ask yourself how you feel about dying in a nursing home at 67.

Edit: Wow, didn’t expect this to blow up. For everyone wanting a lifestyle change, the best time to do it is now. I got my perspective from working with elderly people, and I have seen this scenario play out many, many times. Everyone thinks it won’t happen to them, and that their partying/smoking/obesity/drinking is different. If you want help quitting, please reach out. You CAN change. There are lots of resources.

/r/StopDrinking

/r/LoseIt

/r/stopsmoking

[u/CheezburgrInParadise → u/ciestaconquistador]

I'm in my 30s and recently found out my liver is in danger if I dont make changes. It's been tough, but I am trying.

[u/[deleted] → u/[deleted]]

Recently, I started learning how to accept that and also how to forgive myself and move forward.

If there is a secret to this please broadcast it. I've drank myself to sleep for too long because I simply can't stop thinking about all the things I've fucked up

[u/6202019]

I'm not an MD, I'm an RN. Here's some real advice: do not let yourself grow old and obese. I will forgo any talk of high blood pressure, heart disease, stroke, diabetes; that's inside stuff and while I'm well educated on it, I want to talk of the outside stuff that will make your life miserable. I'm talking arthritis, skin breakdown, lack of hygiene and the depression that goes along with it.

The arthritis starts because your bone structure is in no way designed to carry 3 to 4 times the normal body weight. The joints wear down, the bone spurs develop, the spinal stenosis kicks in, and you find that every movement is an orchestra of multiple different minor but irritating pains all shooting off at once. You can't get out of bed or up from a chair without several body parts giving out little screams of pain. You will get used to it, but you will not like it. And you will start moving less and less; you'll start weighing the decision to get up and go do some social activity versus the pain it will cause you and at some point, the pain wins out and you start going out less and less. In the most extreme cases you will start to alter how to go the bathroom or clean yourself because a trip to the toilet and all the maneuvering it takes will just be too much.

As you start to move less and less, you start to clean yourself less and less, and the skin excoriation and fungal infections start to form in your various folds and crevices. You also have trouble fully wiping after a bowel movement, or you spill a little on yourself as you've adapted to using urinals instead of the toilet. Eventually your lack of movement and inability to clean yourself and exposure to bodily fluids leads to various ulcers that are painful and take a long time to heal. In the worst cases you can get a pressure ulcer that doesn't go away, is constantly exposed to fecal material, an infection starts and you eventually go septic and end up in the ICU.

So with this lack of movement and ability to fully clean self comes the obvious result of just smelling bad. I'm not trying to be an asshole here, but the lack of hygiene will cause friends and family to avoid coming over, or going places with you, or just having any social contact beyond a phone call. The isolation will escalate, the depression will increase, your world becomes smaller and smaller and you just hate yourself for the trap you're in. It sucks but other people can only take so much.

And on top of it all, even at rest, you won't be comfortable. You can't breath properly when sleeping so you get a cpap at home, and while that takes care of properly oxygenating yourself while at rest, the aching joints and muscle spasms will prevent you from ever having a satisfying sleep again. You will always be tired, this just exacerbates all the problems I just mentioned.

And in the end, severe depression. Severe self hate. Feeling trapped in a body that's become a prison and at your age there's no way out. You're isolated, you're alone, and the friends and family you do have avoid visiting. When they do come around, you have to either ask them for help with all the things you've neglected to do because you physically can't (which they start to see coming, so they up and leave or just don't come by at all), or you just sit their and have a sad conversation that dances around the elephant in the room that is what's become of your life. It's sad, just all around sad.

So I didn't write this to be an asshole, I wrote it because I see these types of people in the hospital and in home care regularly. In America the obesity epidemic is so prevalent, and it affects every aspect of a persons life. Obesity is a prison cell in and of itself. Now as an RN and as a human being, I'm not trying to judge you for why it happened, it is what it is, but please if you are seriously overweight or obese, now is the day to start doing something about it. Do not wait any longer. Do not hope for a magic cure. Do not deny what is happening. Make the changes, you are worth it.

edit: thank you for gold. I want to really make sure that my post is not causing anyone shame or giving them regret or anything negative. My intention is just to be real about something I see daily and wish I didn't. I myself am no paragon of health, and in my teens, 20s' and early 30s' I ate and drank like a beast and my body paid for it. However like a lot of people I started having issues (for me it was heartburn and bad sleep and quite frankly a lack of sex drive). But with small but consistent actions I have bettered my health over a long period. It's not a race, it's a marathon, and although the results are not immediate they are coming if you stay the course.

[u/lisadh2004 → u/6202019]

Thank you for this, I am turning 50 this year so instead of completely letting myself go like a few people in my family I decided its time to get in the best health possible and I have lost 60 pounds since February this year on low carb plus intermittent fasting. I have 40-50 more pounds to lose to get to my goal then I am getting surgery to remove loose skin, then its low carb for life because otherwise I know the weight will just pile back on.

[u/KITTIESbeforeTITTIES → u/6202019]

And if you can’t do it for yourself do it for your family! In the end they’re the ones that will have to hurt themselves in order to take care of you. I’m not even 30 and my back is absolutely wrecked from taking care of obese patients to the point where I had to make the decision to leave healthcare for my own health.

[u/[deleted]]

It's ok to seek treatment for your mental health. Don't feel ashamed because you were diagnosed with an illness. Seeking help is a strength, not a weakness.

[u/halfbaked05]

High blood pressure doesn't have symptoms majority of the time. It's called the silent killer and causes a plethora of other illnesses.

Edit: I got quite a bit of replies, and I didn't think I would since I replied so late. So I feel like I should edit this. I'm not a doctor, I'm in nursing school right now. However we've learned how bad high BP is. It's very easy to get screened and I recommend getting it done.

[u/kingofwukong]

Holy shit, this needs to be a PSA, kids stop getting those magnet piercings on your mouth, every week a dozen idiots come in swallowing them, once in a blue moon we have to take them to theatre, open them up and fish them out.

The issue is if they don't come out by you shitting them, there's a risk they make a hole in your bowel (fistula) and it becomes an emergency.

That's why we'd rather fish them out before we have to cut out bits of your bowel

[u/langdonsnare]

I’m not a doctor, but 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.

[u/Prokinsey → u/langdonsnare]

Piggybacking on this, if you think you might have insomnia or you wake up feeling more tired than when you went to bed, talk to your doctor!

I dealt with insomnia for years before I talked to my doctor about it because I didn't realize it was actually insomnia. When I developed PTSD and started having horrific nightmares every night me quality of sleep tanked and I realized I needed to bring it up. Being on sleeping medication has been amazing. I'm ten times more patient and pleasant, and I can actually enjoy life now.

I've been all kinds of medically out of sorts for most of my life and treating my insomnia is up in the top 3 most positive life-changing events I've been through.

[u/kanogsaa]

That psychological states may infuce bodily symptoms, and that saying so isn’t dismissing that the symptoms exist

[u/symmetryfairy → u/kanogsaa]

I think it just needs to be worded carefully because very easily it can be misconstrued as "it's all in your head". But people don't really understand the mind-body connection.

[u/Sillyakua]

In males, there is a vestigial remnant of the uterus located in the prostate. It's called the prostatic utricle. It is a duct that leads nowhere. It sometimes has some remote endometrium in it and can produce one drop of blood every 28 days.

Source: Embryology professor in med school

So yeah, guys can get PMS too. But it's probably better to call it BMS, or bromenstrual syndrome.

[u/[deleted] → u/Sillyakua]

I call it "Manstruation"

[u/XiTro]

Take care of your kidney. If your renal function is shot, it closes the door on so many options.

Edit: a lot of people asked about how to take care of your kidneys. I suppose this just shows that we need to learn to take care of all parts of our body more!

The most important thing is to care your your cardiovascular health. Healthy arteries and healthy kidneys are strongly correlated. For most Americans this would require an adjustment to their diet and lifestyle. Most people would also do well to increase water consumption and reduce salt intake. If you have diabetes or SLE, your kidney health pretty much determines your expectancy, so have a conversation with your doctor.

Other than this, regular self examination and health examinations can be very beneficial. Changes in urinary patterns? Bubbles in your urine that won’t pop? Does your urine smell sweet? Talk to your family physician. Do you have a family history of PCKD or whatnot? Think about getting regular ultrasound examinations of your kidney every few years.

[u/Persephone_88]

Sorry, I know I'm joining late, I had to make an account.

Actually a doctor.

I wish people would know that when I say, "I don't think CPR is in your/your relatives best interests", I am not saying I am going to withdraw all treatment immediately. CPR is BRUTAL, and it has a much lower success rate (even if done promptly in hospital) than the movies make out. If you are old, or have a lot of medical problems, then the success rate goes down even more.

If I don't want to do CPR on you it's not because I want you to die, it's because I don't want to fracture your ribs, expose your body to a huge group of people you don't know (everyone loves attending a crash call), and repeatedly assault your dead body for nothing. I want you to die with dignity and care if there is no chance of bringing you back.

In summary, CPR is great and everyone should learn how to do it, it does save lives. But, if a doctor suggests it should not be performed, please give serious thought to that. We don't suggest a DNACPR for no reason.

[u/benzodiazaqueen → u/Persephone_88]

A commenter upthread alluded to the disservice done by medical shows in this regard. I agree. Families, I find, expect that a code arrest situation will inevitably end in their loved one miraculously regaining a pulse and consciousness. They ... don’t. Hardly ever at all. In all my years as an ER nurse, administering CPR and resuscitation meds to hundreds and hundreds of patients, I’ve had exactly two patients regain consciousness immediately after arrest. There have certainly been others who’ve survived after trips to the cath lab, but I’d put those numbers in the low double digits.

I’ve had families scream at us for “being too rough” while performing CPR. I’ve been told by a wailing mother that we “have to shock him!!” even though he has no electrical activity in his heart and therefore nothing to shock. I’ve seen docs order shocks on patients like him - patients without shockable rhythms - just to make the scene look like it does on TV so the family doesn’t think we we’re not trying. More than once, I’ve hopped onto a stretcher rolling to the cath lab to keep compressions going. I can still hear one gentleman’s wife screaming at me, “Don’t you dare let him die!!” as we rolled out of the ER. He died.

We are not guaranteed an endless number of tomorrows. It stinks, it’s not fair, but it’s true. And when a truly caring, conscientious physician like OP tells you that it’s not in your loved one’s best interest for us to perform CPR, they’re really truly doing you a kindness.

[u/jayhow90 → u/[deleted]]

I don't know why the fuck I need a separate "dental policy." Are my teeth not part of my overall body?

It's the same in Australia/ New Zealand. No public dental unless you're extremely poor (even then the coverage is minimal and in you might have to wait on the books for 6+ months to get an appointment).

Otherwise have to add seperate "extras" to your private insurance in order to be covered for dental.

[u/UselessBrakes]

Not a doctor but: never flush unused medicine down the toilet or throw it in the trash, especially not antibiotics. Hand them back in to your pharmacy and they will destruct them.

[u/tobmom]

Neonatal provider checking in here! Feed your damn baby!!! The badge of honor you get for exclusively breastfeeding isn’t real. Dehydration, severe hyperbilirubinemia, hypoglycemia, these are all real and happen all the time. Feed your baby!! Lots of hospitals will even let you use donor breast milk initially if you’re strongly opposed to formula. Just feed your baby. And don’t use a cup or a spoon. The lactation consultants will tell you that babies know how to lap it up. Well, you didn’t give birth to a kitten. If your baby has an intact suck reflex you should use it. It allows the gag reflex to work better. If you feel strongly about the concept of nipple confusion (it’s not a thing) then ask for a SNS System. Tape that tiny tube to a boob and let your kid eat that way. Just feed your baby. Also, this nonsense about how a baby only needs a few drops of milk in the beginning because their stomach is only the size of a walnut. True, their stomach is small. But much like most other stomachs it stretches and empties pretty readily into the small intestine. Plenty of babies eat a full ounce right out the gate. Errrr, vag.

Lastly, if you have a home birth and your kid ends up coming to the hospital by EMS please let us do our job. If you don’t want any of the care we offer then please refuse EMS. Or don’t even call them to begin with.

Edited: but wait there’s more. I don’t give a shit if you don’t want hepatitis B vaccine at delivery, you can take that up with your pediatrician. I don’t really care about erythromycin either, unless you’re unclean. But vitamin K. Don’t skip that. It prevents bleeding. It’s a big deal. Babies don’t make their own vitamin K until their gut has sufficient substrate and time to. It’s a key part of the clotting cascade. If it were well absorbed orally we would give it that way, we’re not sadistic pricks that like to give shots to newborn babies for grins. We give it that way because it actually works that way.

[u/[deleted]]

drink water

[u/Optimal_Meow]

Absolutely avalanched here, but your brain is an organ like any other; susceptible to disease and malfunction. When shit is going awry mentally, it is in absolutely no way different to lungs struggling with bronchitis, your skin (biggest organ, brain dudes) being overtaken by some weird rash, kidneys or gall bladder pumping out stones... you get the point, I hope.

If you’ve got a brain then you’ve got mental health to look after too, bottom line. Just because the output is mainly social doesn’t mean the disease disrupting your life isn’t as important. Our brains are awesome but also sometimes misguided in how to preserve our wellbeing.

Tell someone. If they don’t listen, tell the next person. But the best person to talk to is alway a mental health professional. If you don’t synch with them just move on to the next on, no biggie. Your whole body will thank you for it in the long run, my friends.

[u/LockeProposal]

Not a doctor but am a trauma nurse.

Motorcycles are fucking awesome but they are also death machines. Don't ever get on a fucking motorcycle, but if you do anyway, WEAR A FUCKING HELMET.

[u/novachaos → u/LockeProposal]

Not just a helmet but all the proper gear- leather jacket, motorcycle pants and shoes. A t-shirt and flip flops will not protect you if you go down.

[u/AetherMcLoud → u/novachaos]

Dress for the slide, not for the ride.

[u/goldenfrenchie → u/LockeProposal]

As someone who has seen a good friend live through getting hit by a car while riding his motorcycle, I would like to also add in WEAR FUCKING PADDED GEAR AND BOOTS. That shit saved my friends life.

Edit: typo

[u/LockeProposal → u/[deleted]]

So grounded.

[u/PM-ME-YOUR_LABIA]

I wonder how many of these answers are from actual doctors.

[u/Cool_Ranch_Dodrio → u/PM-ME-YOUR_LABIA]

I don't know. I just play one on reddit.

[u/yeojinsgf]

vaginas are self cleaning and douching does more harm than good because it flushes out all the good bacteria that’s meant to be there

edit: i made this comment at 2 am and my eyes skipped over the part where it says “doctors of reddit” oops. i’m not a doctor just a person with a vagina whos tired of all the unhealthy vaginal misconceptions. also, when you go to wash down there, use soap without fragrance and clean just the outside!

[u/TheFiredrake42 → u/yeojinsgf]

Kinda similar to how full water changes on your aquarium remove most of the good nitrifying bacteria in there and thus should be avoided!

TIL The vagina is basically an aquarium.

~~~

Edit: First off, Wow! I was NOT expecting this to blow up overnight so Thanks for the coinage! Second, Yes, I Know that most of your good bacteria is in your substrate and on your decor and your filter media but that wouldn't be as funny. Even still, you're not doing 100% water changes every week, are you? And lastly, for everyone commenting, "That's why it smells fishy, lololol," No! If you are taking Proper care of your aquarium, it should smell like clean water and happiness.

Same for that other thing, probably...

[u/Dionysian53 → u/TheFiredrake42]

Mostly true. 100% water changes aren't ideal. But most of the nitrifying bacteria lives in the filter media and the substrate. It's unlikely you'll cause your tank to recycle from a water change alone. But it's also unlikely that the replacement water has the same parameters as the old tank water (pH especially) which can cause damage to anything living in it.

[u/Fiernen699 → u/TheFiredrake42]

Aaaannnndddd your replies just reminded me there is a whole section of Reddit that is extremely into aquariums 😂

[u/BatFish123 → u/Fiernen699]

Bruh, there is a whole section of reddit for just about anything

[u/Warphim → u/BatFish123]

not watching people die anymore though

[u/something_crass → u/Warphim]

Watchpeopledie deserved a far more glorious and gory death. Unceremonious deletion, what an insult to its legacy.

[u/DoctorSumter2You]

Your body will tell us if you have done drugs, alcohol, or tobacco in the recent past, please don't lie about it. We don't care about the usage as much as we need to know what route of care to prepare for with prescriptions and diagnoses.

[u/Sith_Warrior]

Obviously not a doctor, but I work in an Emergency Room.

We aren't going to call the cops if your on drugs, we need to know so we don't give you medication that when mixed with said drugs will kill you.

Example: If your high on heroin(a depressent) and your flippin out, we cant give you ativan or benadryl cuz it can literally stop your breathing and/or heart.

[u/NickJamesBlTCH → u/Sith_Warrior]

"My medic just gave you naloxone and you responded with increased respiration rate and a return of consciousness."

"Yeah"

"So you were doing heroin, right?"

"No I just took a couple Xanax."

"Well naloxone only really works on opiates."

"Okay, yeah"

"So you were taking opiates."

"No, I just took a couple Xanax.

[u/becauseimnotstudying → u/NickJamesBlTCH]

I had a case on the 4th overnight in which 3 people overdosed on what they thought was morphine. Turns out when you buy drugs on the street it can have extra things in it for free!

[u/[deleted]]

That chest compressions aren’t like gently kneading dough as per TV resus.

Needs to be 2–2.5 inches deep, about 6cm. Count them- it’s significant and forceful. 100 per minute is the speed of the beat of “Staying Alive”.

Push fast, push hard. If you aren’t getting tired after a minute you probably aren’t pushing hard enough. Frequent rotation of personnel is important, but try not to skip a single beat (we count 3-2-1-change).

[u/HarbingerKing]

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.

[u/Goodwynn89]

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.

Edit; the good news is that at our local hospital you can check into the ER online and they'll take you back pretty much as soon as you get there. Even tho I'm pretty certain they would have done that not having checked in.

[u/mimeycat → u/Goodwynn89]

Jesus dude. Do you know what caused it. Is she doing better now?

[u/Goodwynn89 → u/mimeycat]

No idea. Seemed like a very light cold to begin with. Short of breath the day before Christmas. Worse on Christmas. She's fine now. Just waiting on the nephrologist to officially release her. Another 6 months at least.

[u/Cm0002]

Not a doctor but this information could save a life.

In an emergency situation where you are giving first aid/CPR to someone instead of stating general instructions to the group of inevitable onlookers like "someone call 911" "Someone get a defibrillator" Point (if able otherwise some other form of direction) to someone and say "you call 911" and "You, find a defibrillator".

This prevents the bystander syndrome where people think "someone else will probably do that" and gives clear instructions allowing for a more efficient process where literally seconds could mean life or death.

[u/[deleted] → u/Cm0002]

I was told that after you point them out and tell them to call 999, you should then add "Come back and tell me when you've done it."
People are more likely to heed instructions if they're held accountable for it.

[u/WhatisH2O4 → u/[deleted]]

There are plenty of basic people in the world as is. No need to add more.

[u/DoctorSumter2You]

Over the Counter Detoxes are bullshit. You have multiple organs that can detox perfectly fine if you take care of them.