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Google almost convinced me to spend $400 on useless laser treatments

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Re: Google almost convinced me to spend $400 on useless laser treatments

#231

Post by Auracle »

ErikVandeWater wrote: post #163
gtirloni wrote: post #93

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Gatekeepers that block access to potential treatment pathways until you can convince them it’s worth a try. You assume they actually know what needs to be done. In my experience, you can see they don't have a clue and aren't willing to do research to learn. They just hand out their usual prescriptions, etc and sometimes hope an exam will give them an obvious answer. On top of that, most doctors only have a very nar…

> On top of that, most doctors only have a very narrow understanding of the human body and don't know when to refer you to some other doctor they will be better equipped to help you. Are we talking about doctors, not nurse practitioners? It's hard to understand how a doctor with 4 years of medical school and 3-7 years of residency would have a "very narrow understanding" of the human body. Also, my experience has bee…

Let me give you my own example:

I suffer from pretty debilitating fatigue. It started when I was 13 or so, which was also a few months after I suffered a bad concussion. I have low testosterone, and treating that helps some. Autoimmune diseases run in my family; my father has lupus, his siblings all have something, and I have a small patch of psoriasis on my head (to which my doctor said "huh.."). My white blood cell count is always moderately low, even after an infection. I get sick extremely easily and stay sick longer than other people. I frequently get chills in my limbs like a person does when they're sick, though the testosterone helps. The chills are a sure thing when I don't get enough sleep. I get cluster headaches, and recently I started getting really frequent eye twitches leading up to when the cluster of headaches start.

Who should I see to try and figure out the root cause of the fatigue? An endocrinologist? Urologist? Sleep doctor? Neurologist? Immunologist? Rheumatologist?

It's hard to know what's relevant to the fatigue. When I was first treated they simply put me on antidepressants. After giving up on those, years later I did some research and had to practically beg just to have my testosterone levels checked along with some other things that were fine.

Re: Google almost convinced me to spend $400 on useless laser treatments

#233

Post by [deleted] »

ryandrake wrote: post #230
vasco wrote: post #120

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So your opinion is that if research tells you that you should overrule a doctor's opinion, the right course of action is to not bring it up, not do the research in the first place, because the doctor "knows better"? In my opinion if you disagree or have doubts about treatment you should definitely bring those up with your doctor, see what they say about your reservations, and either get convinced or find some second…

Everyone's using that word in this thread: research. Watching a bunch of YouTube videos is not research. Browsing medical web sites and choosing "treatments" that are cleverly and subtly marketed to you is not research. Matching your symptoms with a TV ad is not research. We saw what two years of "dO yOuR oWn ReSeArCh!" left us with during a deadly pandemic. We're all dunking on doctors in this thread, but look at it…

[deleted]

Re: Google almost convinced me to spend $400 on useless laser treatments

#234

Post by FollowingTheDao »

bryanlarsen wrote: post #226
Auracle wrote: post #210

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My dad almost died in the 90s because they couldn't diagnose his lupus.

Lupus is really hard to diagnose. There's a reason that ends up being the diagnosis on pretty much every episode of House M.D. Doctors generally see 6 patients an hour, and have 5-7 minutes of paperwork per patient. The remaining 3 minutes gives enough time to diagnose the obvious, but not much else.

It is not hard to diagnose once you eventually get to a person that can diagnose it. You said it yourself. It is not about difficultly, but time spent with the patient.

But I literally showed my doctor the cutaneous lupus in my ear and she said "Oh, some people just get gunk in their ears" and would not send me to a rheumatologist.

The slow diagnosis is because the specialists are so reluctant to see people. Right now I am on a six month wait to see a rheumatologist. Why? Capitalism.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7255118/

Re: Google almost convinced me to spend $400 on useless laser treatments

#235

Post by wackget »

unpythonic wrote: post #165
noasaservice wrote: post #100

The title is wrong: Dentist almost convinced me to spend $400 on useless laser treatments; Google results of search spam SEO cesspool

If you read through to the bottom, you'll see the article itself is just a call to action for yet another service which the author is starting. It's an ad. Seeing it buried so deep doesn't make me feel that the author has any better intentions than Google itself -- credibility already gone.

That's an extremely jaded outlook. Just because the OP is presenting an alternative solution doesn't necessarily mean it was all borne out of greed/profit-seeking. At least the OP's service was built from the outset to be facts- and evidence-based unlike Google search results.

I'm really not sure what you expect. Should articles which point out problems be written completely independently of the people creating solutions to those problems? Cos clearly that is totally unrealistic.

Re: Google almost convinced me to spend $400 on useless laser treatments

#236

Post by floren »

matsemann wrote: post #12

Why are dentists so scammy? In Norway I've seen documentaries about them sending the same people to multiple dentists, and some of them receive wildly different advice. Some of that can be ascribed to some being in the school of pro-active, so they want to fix your teeth at the first glance of issues. But in the end, most of the things being quoted were unnecessary. They all seemed very intent on removing wisdom teet…

We recently moved and my wife & I both scheduled checkups at the same new dentist. She recommended a crown replacement and Invisalign to both of us, in my case while wearing an Invisalign-branded face shield. We both got weird vibes from that place and don't intend to go back. Didn't help that the hygienist said something like "oh, the crown replacement is easy, we just got a brand new machine to make them in-house!" which sounds to me like "wow we really need to pay off this machine"

Re: Google almost convinced me to spend $400 on useless laser treatments

#237

Post by someotherperson »

drspock11 wrote: post #87

What the article author doesn't seem to realize is much of dentistry (and medicine in general) is not based on evidence. There is zero clinical evidence that flossing actually does anything beneficial. I wouldn't be surprised if there was a lack of evidence for 6-month cleanings actually being beneficial. Similarly, doctors make decisions based mostly on hunches and gut feelings unless you're actively bleeding from a…

Limited evidence doesn't mean it doesn't work.

The reasoning behind flossing makes a lot of sense:

1. You remove food sources for streptococcus mutans

2. You avoid inflammation from teeth shifting

3. You disrupt biofilm (plaque) formation in the joints of your teeth

I imagine the evidence is limited because genetics, diet and other oral hygiene routines significantly impact the outcome. There is a whole microflora system in your mouth, and the advice is to throw everything (floss, scrape tongue, mouthwash, brush) at it for everyone because personalising it is not worth the effort.

Re: Google almost convinced me to spend $400 on useless laser treatments

#238

Post by JamesAdir »

323 wrote: post #222

I once asked the dentist why are there so many different toothbrush head shapes, with the bristles at all kind of angles and patterns, rubber inserts and so one. Surely by now we know what's the optimal shape? And the answer was that yes, the optimal head shape is known, but since it's not that consequential this is not regulated as other medical stuff and basically everyone does weird shapes just for marketing and d…

What's the optimal shape?

Re: Google almost convinced me to spend $400 on useless laser treatments

#239

Post by wackget »

noasaservice wrote: post #204
unpythonic wrote: post #165

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you read through to the bottom, you'll see the article itself is just a call to action for yet another service which the author is starting. It's an ad. Seeing it buried so deep doesn't make me feel that the author has any better intentions than Google itself -- credibility already gone.

Well, yuck. I did completely miss that this was just a shitty advert complaining about other shitty adverts.

I'll ask you what I asked the other commenter: should articles which point out problems be written completely independently of the people creating solutions to those problems?

Even if it is an advert, it's not a shitty one. It presents scientific arguments and is well-sourced. It's about as a good as an "advert" as you'd ever get. Really, what more do you want from people?

Re: Google almost convinced me to spend $400 on useless laser treatments

#240

Post by Dma54rhs »

andrem wrote: post #212
bsuvc wrote: post #181

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No need to buy the machinery, unless you really want to. You can order your own tests right now from LabCorp and Quest, through sites like requestatest.

Does anyone know of EU based alternatives to the above?

What do you mean? There are always private places where to get tests done. Synlab is one of the biggest in Europe. Or you mean to take them at home?
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