Why do people ask for medical info here?

[jemmouse]

I actually posted one about a tooth, and have also about cortisone injections, and plantar fascitis. I think knowledge is power and I personally learn from other people through their experiences. My best friend is a pharmacist and she tells me about new allergy meds, then I ask the doctor about them. I don't see no harm in questions....

I personally have never read one where someone is writing about chest pains and should they go to doctor. I think common sense is if it were real bad most of us are adults on here and I would hope they would know to dial 911 and not DIS boards. With that being said, I still stand by KNOWLEDGE IS POWER, SHARING experiences, just enriches your own wisdom....

Happy Health to all!!!!

P.S----I call my friend for advice why wouldn't I reach out here, kindness, support can be found in wide variety of places. SOme people might be new to a community, have hectic family lives, or are to busy in their careers to call a friend. This is second best and I know myself, I have gotten some great advice on here..

 

[ShelsGoingToDisney]

Because we all have terrible insurance now with a $3,000 deductible and DIS boards are our new way to receive medical care?

Seriously though, I think it's the same as calling your mom, sister or friend and asking for their opinion.

(btw, I do have a $3K deductible and have stopped going to the Dr. because of it, lol)

Same here except my deductible is $4K!

I do avoid going to the Dr a lot more than before. Obviously if I were having symptoms of an emergency I would go to the ER. If it is something that is iffy I may post here or another Mom's forum I read. I have wasted far too much money going to the Dr and paying an outrageous co-pay, seeing the Dr for 2 minutes and basically being told to go home and see if it gets worse. Of course returning would then be another co-pay. Not to mention I seem to now be getting billed for a bunch of little things during the visit. The co-pay seems to be a cover charge now just to walk in the door.

 

[beaucoup]

It's funny. Here, I see posts of people who clearly need to go to the ER right away but don't.

Yet, on Facebook, I see people who go to the ER when it's something they should have made a doctor's appoint for.

Can't win.

Me? I have been to ER just twice in 20ish years. Last time was this past summer. I called the Nurse Hotline first & she said to go to the ER. When I got there, they took me right in ahead of others waiting. ER diagnosed wrong & gave me nothing for the condition. Made me feel like a fool for going there. Within hours, condition was even worse. It was late Saturday night.

When my Dr was in her office on Sunday catching up on paperwork & got the report that I had visited ER, she called me at home to see what was wrong, and told me to come right to her office. She was in sweatpants & I hadn't even showered yet. lol She took care of the situation much better than the ER did. Correct diagnosis & script written.

 

[Handbag Lady]

It always boggles my mind when I see someone with "insert random medical issue here" and asks everything from if they need to go to the ER, call 911 or set up their plot at the local cemetery..

Honestly, don't folks call a MEDICAL professionals? If your first instinct is to hit a Disney forum to see if that red bump is a going to give septic shock, you got your priorities wrong..

I mean, there are stuff here that people post that screams call 911 and they take the time to post and hope some random person with zero true medical training might give them good advice.

Before I read everyone else's answer, I will give mine. People here are NOT just looking for advice about visiting any Disney park. They may have found this place because of a trip, but after a while, you become friendly and you start to learn about others. This builds trust, and who else do you go to for help except for your friends?

Someone asking for medical advice may already have gone to their doctor and are waiting for the appointment. Others may be looking for a starting point on how to go about something. For example, if you have a rash on your arm and a fever, do you go to your primary or straight to the dermatologist?

From my personal experience with a medical issue, the help I found here not only gave me multiple personal backgrounds on my issue, but also real-life hands-on experience. After searching my topic, I was able to go into my medical appointment armed with really good questions that helped guide me to a solution that worked best for me. They truly were questions I would not have thought to ask in the first place.

Finally, the traffic here is fairly frequent, so if you are a mother and your child has a fever, and it is your first child, you are more than likely going to find out the answer to "What temperature should I panic about and rush to the ER over?" Not only that, this mother would more than likely find other mothers and grandmothers that would help put her mind to ease OR confirm her suspicions that something just isn't right.

 

[DisneyATlast]

I don't see a problem with it. Obviously, if you're bleeding to death then you wouldn't be posting on a discussion board...hopefully. However, there are plenty of nurses (myself included) that participate in discussion boards so I don't see any harm in asking a general question and getting advice.

I have family members and friends calling/texting all the time asking me about different things. It's really no different.

 

[HugsForEeyore]

I don't see too much issue with trying to inform yourself in trying to decide if you have an emergency or not. For many of us, costs are a huge factor in these decisions. I had a trip to the ER recently that cost me $7000 for the 5 hours I was there. Yep, $7000. My insurance refused to cover it (I had minimal "catastrophic" insurance, totally useless). If I could have avoided that trip, I would have. (I did have an medical problem that required follow-up surgery, so at least the visit did me some good).

Tyring to find as much information as you can makes sense to me. A trip to the ER is financial disaster for many of us, not a decision to be made lightly.

 

[mrsklamc]

Personally, I have a tendency to be more worried about medical stuff than I should be. I can see posting and getting a lot of 'relax, it's no big deal,' answers. I can see it happening, but I've yet to do it...sometimes it just helps to have someone who is detached from the emotion of the situation.

 

[Aliceacc]

I would never go online for help with a medical emergency. I would call 911, get into the car, or call my doctor.

BUT-- 5 years ago I found a Phyllodes tumor in my breast. One surgical biopsy, one mastectomy, and 3 reconstruction surgeries later, (oh, and an unrelated thyroidectomy, just for good measure) everything is fine, but I had a LOT of sleepless nights.

The absolute BEST source of practical info was the Breast Cancer thread here on the DIS. Not for the medical stuff- those questions went to my doctors. But for the practical, day to day coping stuff, those women (and one or two men) were angels sent from heaven. They had walked in my shoes and had concrete advice, support when I needed it-- they got me through.

Whenever I hear of anyone facing breast cancer, I give them two things: my email address and the link to the breast cancer thread here.

Here it is: http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=2833381

 

[sam_gordon]

Maybe I've skipped over them, but I haven't seen a thread yet that said "I've got 103 degree fever, itching all over, and bleeding through my nose, what should I do?"

To me there's a couple "grey areas" when it comes to medical. There's "self treat" ailments, "grey area", make an appointment for your doctor, "grey area", and go to the ER. People come here because, at least in their minds, their ailment falls in one of the grey areas. They don't know if they're blowing things out of proportion, or in true danger. So they hit a sounding board (here). If everyone made every decision correctly 100% of the time... I don't know what would happen.

 

[The Mystery Machine]

I think it is valuable to share knowledge with others.

Perhaps OP, you do not have any ongoing medical conditions or situations in which outside opinions & support can be helpful? I am on the WISH boards trying to be healthier. Let me tell you there is no ONE way to go about that. Everyone will have a different approach.

Take mental health. That is one area of practice where sharing experiences can really be helpful. It varies so much.

Lastly, I will say that it can give people the courage to change their doctors. How do you know if you are getting "good service" if you have nothing to compare it to?

 

[indimom]

I don't think I've ever asked for emergency medical advice here, I have plenty family and friends I can hit up at home for that.

I have asked for medical advice. Like another poster described, it was a "gray area,", I had seen a doctor and was very concerned about the advice I had gotten (wait a month to see a specialist when it seemed like more of an emergency than that).
I wanted to get opinions, but noone in my family had ever dealt with something like this.
The Dis (particularly the community board) gets a ton of traffic, so I came here.

I've also answered some of the medical questions on this board, doesn't bother me. Maybe they have friends here. Maybe they want more information than family can provide. Maybe they have questions they cannot take to family and friends (for any number of reasons), so they go to an anonymous source. Doesn't bother me at all.

 

[indimom]

I had to add this. Using the internet for medical information is very common (come on, you know you've done it).

I actually saw a news program last week that said the CDC is able to better track the flu because they are now compiling and contrasting Google searches of key words related to the flu. They will see an influx of searches as the flu begins to hit an area. This is giving them a better idea of where and when people are starting to see particular symptoms, track it through small community areas; and get information that includes people who do not go to the doctor. It was very interesting.

 

[U2_rocks!]

1. Not everything is that clear-cut - there's a lot of gray area between "take care of it at home" and "rush to ER".

2. A lot of doctors' office don't have advice lines and the docs aren't willing to give any opinion over the phone.

3. ERs are crowded and often it takes hours to be seen - why would you want to go through that if it wasn't necessary? Sometimes people need to bounce things off of others in order to form a clearer picture.

4. Urgent care clinics are usually nicer but boy do you pay for them! Again, why would you want to rush down there if you aren't sure you really need to?

5. Your regular doctor is probably all booked up and the wait for a walk-in will also be hours.

Due to the above, a lot of people take a little extra time to evaluate a situation before seeking medical help. There are some obviously life-threatening situations such as not being able to breathe or bleeding excessively. But not everything that seems scary at the time is actually life-threatening.

 

[chiefmickeymouse]

People post on this board about all sorts of things. The medical posts usually aren't emergency type issues.

 

[princesspumpkin]

I agree with most of the previous posters about people confuses about those grey areas, but there is another reason as well.

As a nurse, I often see patients tell me things instead of their doctor. The residents will make their morning rounds on the patients, and no more than five minutes later, my patient will call me to tell that they are experiencing "insert sign or symptom here". I ask them if they told the doctor that just left their room and they always say no.

I truly believe that many patients feel that if they tell the doctor about their problem, then the doc will think something is really bad and order lots of
blood tests or X-rays and scans. But if they tell the nurse, then he/she could probably cure if with a Tylenol or hot tea (or just tell them that it's nothing).

Same reason many people don't want to go to the doctor - they might actually diagnose something (bad) and sometimes people don't want to know that and they will ask their family or friends instead because they can't diagnose something, so the problem isn't a reality, yet.

 

[DisneyATlast]

I agree with most of the previous posters about people confuses about those grey areas, but there is another reason as well.

As a nurse, I often see patients tell me things instead of their doctor. The residents will make their morning rounds on the patients, and no more than five minutes later, my patient will call me to tell that they are experiencing "insert sign or symptom here". I ask them if they told the doctor that just left their room and they always say no.

I truly believe that many patients feel that if they tell the doctor about their problem, then the doc will think something is really bad and order lots of
blood tests or X-rays and scans. But if they tell the nurse, then he/she could probably cure if with a Tylenol or hot tea (or just tell them that it's nothing).

Same reason many people don't want to go to the doctor - they might actually diagnose something (bad) and sometimes people don't want to know that and they will ask their family or friends instead because they can't diagnose something, so the problem isn't a reality, yet.

This happens all the time! Just two days ago I was admitting a young girl who told me she was having burning, discharge, odor when she went to the bathroom. "Did you tell the doctor?" ...."No."

Of course where I work the doctors walk around with an army of residents, students, etc. so I can't really blame anybody for not wanting to divulge to a room full of people what's going on with them.

 

[DVC-Don]

Personally I use WebMD or some other medical online source rather than post a question on a board like this.

 

[KiKi Mouse]

Sometimes people just need a sounding board. As long as it's not something life-threatening then I see no harm.

I agree with this.

Sometimes people have things on their mind and they are venting or thinking out loud.

 

[eliza61]

It always boggles my mind when I see someone with "insert random medical issue here" and asks everything from if they need to go to the ER, call 911 or set up their plot at the local cemetery..

Honestly, don't folks call a MEDICAL professionals? If your first instinct is to hit a Disney forum to see if that red bump is a going to give septic shock, you got your priorities wrong..

I mean, there are stuff here that people post that screams call 911 and they take the time to post and hope some random person with zero true medical training might give them good advice.

Because some random person may have some really good advice.

#1. You're assuming that no one has medical training. how do you know? I'm betting there is a doctor or two lurking about.

#2. some times experience is much better than the advice a doctor can give you. I found that out first hand from dealing with my dh when he was battling leukema. sorry but some of the advice I got here from other cancer patients was 1000X's more helpful than a boatload of oncologist from the University of Penn hospital.

#3. Some times a perfect stranger who has no vested interest can do a lot. that's the old "bar tending" syndrome. You really don't want or expect advice but some times it can help just by some one who doesn't know you pushing you in the right direction.

 

[mikehn]

This is an entertainment forum as much as anything. I dont see the big deal with posting whatever questions you want, even stupid ones.