Ya you can push those statins all day. But they really shouldn't be the cure. People in a high cholesterol situation should really watch what they consume and all that but I bet alot never do, and fall back to that pill. Or try to home-remedy themselves, only to be put in a predicament of needing to go to a doc eventually for a stent or two.

Alot of people are misinformed. They don't care and really, take the friends advice and run with it. Many have no health insurance and face state cancelled insurance programs "Oh, sorry you make too much to be covered under the plan".........man thats Bullshit. Cancelled due to "no more funds available" to run the program.

Instead of seeing it as "Free Healthcare Now" The government should try to enact a plan to make healthcare available in say 10 or 15 years.... not adopted in 1 year. Why dont they stretch the timeframe out and add funds throughout time as they write up the "healthcare for all" plan? Then maybe we couldve had it enabled 5 years ago.

I think it is true that doctors "dummy" up the bill after he sees a patient with ridiculous costs even if he sees the patient for 30 minutes he writes it up as an hour kind of shit happens all the time.

If I had to give advice to someone who's going to the hospital, the best thing I could say is ASK QUESTIONS. Get informed. Don't leave that doctor's office without knowing what, when, why, and how, y'know. Youve gotta know and understand your ailment. They always seem as if trying to hurry you out of the room, dont take that shit from them. Keep the doctor there until YOU are satisfied. YOURE the one paying for it damnit.

All this talk I hear on the radio about "government run healthcare" like its a bad thing.....Why are we in a rush to enact it all of a sudden? Why don't they make a plan so in 10 or 15 years we'll all be covered? Hilary's gonna win Im sure, and after she gets in office its just going to blow over. This is BS like they say OMG its gonna burn a hole in our tax payer pockets. I for one, am ALL FOR IT. I need healthcare just like you.

Bring it I say. I think most doctors dont really care about us. Just another chart to look at.

And I didnt like that wacky story at all. BS to push Oxys and Hydro all day for people under the table. Good, people like that dude should be locked up. But what I hate more is people contradicting the doc looking for a malpractice lawsuit, thats farged up man. Addicted to painkillers is a problem for some people, but it should be regulated somehow. I took an Oxy once, that was most nastiest shitfaced I ever felt in my whole life. Damn that whole feeling was so fucking worthless I cant believe how people actually like that shit.

I look in the employment section and all I see is ad after ad of "nurses needed" all day long. They are ridiculously understaffed some places.

 

EBK, if you don't want to go to a doctor but want medical information you can just Google 'Restless Leg Syndrome' and you'll get both conventional and holistic information to pick from...you know, that whole 'find out on your own' thing. Its better than trying to ask a bunch of random people.

--Moony

 

I hate those commercials pushing "alternative medicines" as I agree with you that they are dangerous. I'm an advocate for alternative treatment when it is appropriate, but some of it is as dangerous or even more so then the more standard treatment. But, it is up to that person as to which treatment method they want to use, and their life they want to risk.

I've had some REALLY bad doctors that treated me like crap and I can entirely understand how EBK and Eriku feel about some of them. Yes, if you go to the ER frequently or even some general practitioners they'll give you some prescription just to get you out of their hair and hope they never see you again. I've had it happen myself and is one of the most discouraging things to experience.

But, I have thankfully had some good doctors. It just takes some time to find them and talk to them. I have a neurologist I really like, a GI doctor who is awesome, and a primary care doctor that is pretty sharp. It just matters what doctor you see, and if you don't feel confident with the first doctor you see get a second opinion for Pete's sake. If a doctor wants you try a drug, tell him no even if it s a pain pill. I've turned down MANY offers for pain medications simply because I didn't think it was right for me.

There are no laws, or requirements, that say a doctor can't prescribe a medication he thinks will work for you or one that requires you to TAKE it. If you don't want the prescription, then say NO. It is like they said in school, just say NO to drugs.

 

I have worked in drug stores for 9 years. Dont get me started on script abuse. I see it all day long and I dont like it. People eat themselves to death, and expect insurance companies to save there pathetic lives. I see the drug reps providing free pizza for the pharamcy for no better reason than money and publicity. It happens.

I now sleep with a pillow beneath my legs...it works!

Thanks doc! (money spent=0)

 

Yeah, cause all we "docs" care about is getting your money.  

 

By pass the Dr.So you mean buy your drugs right from the street?

 

Just keep rolling your eyes. Nobody here ever said ALL doctors are irresponsible and careless, but it's been my experience as well as my entire family's experience, as well as many of the people I know and have come across, that many of them ARE. YOU are biased because you work in the field. For those of us who 'depend' on your care have very real experiences that go against what you see through your rosy lenses.

This thread, as asinine and pointless as it is, just further proves that as soon as anyone offers any criticism against doctors or western medicine they're treated like lesser beings, like idiots, like people who have no idea what they're talking about and who have opinions and thoughts with no value. Just keep ignoring the fact that traditional medicines, the synergies between the vitamins and minerals in whole foods, have kept people healthy for thousands of years. It's only been in the last century that western medicine has come to be such a powerful entity, and it's within the last 50 to 100 years that mankind, especially us invincible americans, have been suffering from an exlposion of diseases and ailments that are all becoming epidemics. Cancer, Diabetes, heart disease, etc. were very uncommon a few generations ago. And now that we've replaced our healthy diets with processed foods that are filled with synthetic chemicals we're getting sick. And it's NOT something pharmaceuticals can fix.

Not that anyone here really cares. I'm just a raving madman.

 

I think your legs are subconsciously trying to kick your ass.

 

This post is as far as I got in this thread before I had to stop and comment. Now, here I am and I discover I'm rendered speechless.

Let me see if I can understand this: violent, painful leg spasms for two weeks and rather that actually see a medical professional you come to an action figure themes message board for a diagnosis.

Yup. Well, hey, good luck with that. Maybe give Hugh Laurie a call and he can make you feel better by laughing at you.

And hey, your member title says 'Professional Drunk'. Is that where your money goes instead of towards health insurance?

 

I dunno, it has always been my observation that the problems on encounters at a Doctors office seem to be the result patients with bloated senses of self importance, and the directors of facilities over burdening their nurses and doctors.

That patients tend to be anything but patient, and the doctors do what they can with their patient loads, which are over booked due to insufficient help due to management.

I could go on and on about the times I have seen it, and I will never blame the doctors, or individual health care providers because I choose to believe they are doing the best that they can in the situation.

Sometimes it just comes down to the fact that while we all live on the same planet we often live in different worlds.

 

Oh, I will keep rolling my eyes. There's way too many generalizations about medicine in this thread that will make me. I am biased as this is my profession, but you seem just as biased against medicine due to your experiences. Don't make it seem like I'm the only one with a bias here.

Western medicine is ok with herbal treatments and when patients usually want to go this route, we don't disagree, so as long as it doesnt affect them in any negative way. I do agree that most people get into a degenerative cycle and eat themselves into all sorts of chronic problems like hypertension and diabetes, but as a doctor, once a patient presents with these things, I'm not gonna say "dude, its your fault that you didnt take better care of yourself and your punishment is that I won't give you medicines that can prolong your life." There's something called prevention in our field. Primary prevention is basically urging people to take care of themselves by exercising and eating right so they don't deal with the problems that are associated with leading a sedentary lifestyle. What you're talking about, in terms of prescribing medicine, is tertiary prevention. Any competent physician will say primary prevention >>> tertiary prevention. Ever hear of the phrase "an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure"? It's not just a motto put on G1 First Aid's tech spec. It's what western medicine is based on.

Oh, and I like how you stick up for EBK being called an idiot yet right before that you point out how asinine and pointless his thread is.

 

What I meant by asinine and pointless was the direction the thread has taken, which is an argument about how western medicine is the be-all end-all of human salvation and that anything else is something to be scoffed at. Just the mere mention of doing something in an alternative way caused all sorts of people here to come down on EBK, tossing ridicule at him and even wishing ill-health on him. That, to me, is very alarming, even if this is just a faceless internet forum where people seem to feel like there aren't real human beings on the other side of the screen.

Perscription drugs may prolong lives in certain cases, but they also further deplete minerals in a persons body and in many cases they prolong and even worsen problems. There are other cultures out there living longer lives than Americans, and in much better health, and without our artificially produced pharmaceuticals.

Simply put, there are a lot of options out there for people that don't just include an unlegible written perscription from a doctor. With some research and some knowledge and an open mind there are all kinds of possibilities.

 

For example? You must have some scenario in your mind that you base this off of. It doesn't make sense to me if you say that doctors prescribe drugs that not only are ineffective at treating the problem, but make it worse.

I mean, I don't totally disagree about side effects. Before prescribing drugs, we look at a drug's therapeutic index. If the pros outweigh the cons and can help alleviate some of the problems, we prescribe it.

 

I think I love you.

 

So what am I so afraid of?

I'm afraid that I'm not sure of

A love there is no cure for.

 

There's a cure - pills. Lots and lots of healthy, delicious pills.

 

David Cassidy FTW!

 

Have they? This is a problem with your arguments--you make a blanket statement that sounds great, but you don't provide supporting evidence.

According to a reasonably well-respected body, the IMF, life expectancy has been increasing steadily over the course of human history--with a sharp, almost exponential increase in the last hundred years. Coincidentally, the same period you point out has seen modern--not western, that's a misnomer (just ask the countless Indian and Pakistani doctors practicing in America)--medicine has become prominent.

Here's a chart:

http://www.imf.org/external/pubs/ft/weo/2004/02/chp3pdf/fig3_1.pdf

It's true that those diseases have become more common. Do you think that could be at least in part because modern medicine has allowed people to survive longer, to the ages where those diseases are simply more likely due to the inevitable breakdown of our bodies?

For example, there's a truism in medicine that every male will develop prostate cancer eventually--it's just a question of whether or not they live long enough to do so. So the rates of prostate cancer go up because we're helping people live longer, to the point where they're more likely to develop it.

Absolutely, I believe that processed foods--especially fast food and high sodium frozen foods--contribute to the poor state of American health. I would rather my patients practice the primary prevention Fresh described, and I encourage it strongly. But when they don't, I'm not going to withhold the pharmaceutical treatments that CAN help fix those issues. Would I rather healthy eating and lifestyle choices be the only thing necessary? Absolutely. But I can't help it if my patients take the easy way and only take the medicine, then continue to live poorly.

But that's NOT the fault of modern medicine, and it's not the fault of the providers who practice it. In fact, it's in spite of the medicine we practice.

 

Holy Crap, I never knew that!

 

Is there a known reason for this?