Paranoid people go to doctors

[Razgovory]

That's not paranoia.

[Darth Wagtaros]

That's not paranoia.

The Computer does not agree.

[garbon]

The Computer does not agree.

I don't even have a computer!

[Martinus]

My best friend complained that he discovered a "bump" behind his ear today. I looked at it and could hardly notice. Maybe a pimple. I told him to relax and wait a few days, but he was afraid he was going to "die".

So, he goes to his doctor straight away and texts me angrily that it may be a "cyst". I do a follow-up call and find out the doctor did not do anything except look at it and set up an appointment for an ultrasound with some other specialist.

Perhaps I am too quick to judge, but is it people like him that drive up the cost of healthcare?

The test costs are negligible compared to costs of treating people like you who don't get tested and then develop an advanced medical condition.

[Phillip V]

The test costs are negligible compared to costs of treating people like you who don't get tested and then develop an advanced medical condition.

I have yet to see anyone pull up some good research/figures on the cost of waiting a few days to see if a pimple will go away, whereas one of the factors of ballooning health costs in America is due to the fee-for-service system where doctors want the repeat checkups and tests to make their money. Meanwhile, when I used to go in to the doctor's office for such worries about aches and bumps that went away after a few days, I would see the other patients waiting their turn that were coughing their lungs out or burning up while I got my paranoia assuaged. Let's not be selfish.

http://www.economist.com/opinion/displaystory.cfm?story_id=13900898

[DisturbedPervert]

I don't go to the doctor unless it's fairly serious.  Last time I went almost a decade ago, when I caught pink eye and my eyes got glued shut with gunk. 

[Lucidor]

I don't go to the doctor unless it's fairly serious.  Last time I went almost a decade ago, when I caught pink eye and my eyes got glued shut with gunk. 

Which goes away by itself without medication most of the time. Still - since it's quite painful and often quite treatable you should go.

Waiting a day or a few unless having symptoms of a more serious nature never hurts. I don't know how much my medical knowledge has altered my conception of "minor complaint", but I see one area where we need to get better. Where a swollen lymph node may scream cancer to a worried layman, we tend to think that it's a reaction to some injury or minor infection. We need to be more pedagogic and explain how the body reacts to disease and injury, and what is "normal".

[Jaron]

I don't go to the doctor unless it's fairly serious.  Last time I went almost a decade ago, when I caught pink eye and my eyes got glued shut with gunk. 

Which goes away by itself without medication most of the time. Still - since it's quite painful and often quite treatable you should go.

Waiting a day or a few unless having symptoms of a more serious nature never hurts. I don't know how much my medical knowledge has altered my conception of "minor complaint", but I see one area where we need to get better. Where a swollen lymph node may scream cancer to a worried layman, we tend to think that it's a reaction to some injury or minor infection. We need to be more pedagogic and explain how the body reacts to disease and injury, and what is "normal".

Is coughing up blood "normal"?

[Lucidor]

I don't go to the doctor unless it's fairly serious.  Last time I went almost a decade ago, when I caught pink eye and my eyes got glued shut with gunk. 

Which goes away by itself without medication most of the time. Still - since it's quite painful and often quite treatable you should go.

Waiting a day or a few unless having symptoms of a more serious nature never hurts. I don't know how much my medical knowledge has altered my conception of "minor complaint", but I see one area where we need to get better. Where a swollen lymph node may scream cancer to a worried layman, we tend to think that it's a reaction to some injury or minor infection. We need to be more pedagogic and explain how the body reacts to disease and injury, and what is "normal".

Is coughing up blood "normal"?

Ask your doctor!

[The Brain]

With Lucidor around I don't see why any of us should have to pay for medical advice. Can he get a sticky thread?

[Razgovory]

That's not paranoia.

The Computer does not agree.

I knew that was coming.   I just couldn't stop it.

[Jaron]

I don't go to the doctor unless it's fairly serious.  Last time I went almost a decade ago, when I caught pink eye and my eyes got glued shut with gunk. 

Which goes away by itself without medication most of the time. Still - since it's quite painful and often quite treatable you should go.

Waiting a day or a few unless having symptoms of a more serious nature never hurts. I don't know how much my medical knowledge has altered my conception of "minor complaint", but I see one area where we need to get better. Where a swollen lymph node may scream cancer to a worried layman, we tend to think that it's a reaction to some injury or minor infection. We need to be more pedagogic and explain how the body reacts to disease and injury, and what is "normal".

Is coughing up blood "normal"?

Ask your doctor!

I did. :grrr:

[Iormlund]

I had what I thought was gastroenteritis when I was 24 years old. Instead of going to the doctor, I stayed home till it passed. Now I know it was the first Crohn's flare up.
Had I pushed for a diagnosis and gotten medication I may have been able to save my terminal ileum instead of having it chopped off. Sure, barium swallows and colonoscopies are expensive. But surgery isn't exactly cheap either.

[Jaron]

I had what I thought was gastroenteritis when I was 24 years old. Instead of going to the doctor, I stayed home till it passed. Now I know it was the first Crohn's flare up.
Had I pushed for a diagnosis and gotten medication I may have been able to save my terminal ileum instead of having it chopped off. Sure, barium swallows and colonoscopies are expensive. But surgery isn't exactly cheap either.

Could I have something like that? I've had a stomach ache all week and it has me worried.

[Lucidor]

I woke up with a headache today. Could I have: brain cancer?