If there's anyone people can count on on the internet, it's medical professionals.
In 2021, Ipsos asked people from 28 countries how much they trust different professions, and doctors came out on top with an average reliability rating of 64%, ahead of scientists (61%), and teachers (55%).
So if their word is good in real life, it should be solid online, too.
Sleeping less than 5 hours a day increases risk of heart disease by 75% and shortens your lifespan. It also increases risk of alzheimer’s disease & dementia in general. So sleep well lads.Drink water when thirsty. No soft drinks, no juice. Just plain water.
In addition: Give water to your kids, because if they regularly get soft drinks when feeling thirsty, you are conditioning them into connecting thirst with soft drinks. These are the people that will say: I don’t like water, water doesn’t taste good….
A large proportion of possible health and dietary issues can be prevented by just stick to this simple rule. This of course excludes special dietary needs, but in general it’s a good thing. .Empty your bladder when you feel the need to go. Don't delay it too often.You are super fertile right after giving birth and you CAN get pregnant while breastfeeding. Use protection. Most people are clueless about sexual health.A sedentary lifestyle is bad for you even if you’re a healthy BMI range. Get yourself moving.Paramedic.
The things that can kill you and the things you can survive constantly amaze me. I've seen people survive a bullet through the head and walk into my fire station after they recovered. I saw a guy that shot himself in the chest and head and was able to shake it off and manage to get the gun and take a third shot to finish the job. I've seen people survive crazy amounts of trauma in car wrecks. I survived getting shot with buckshot, I saw a guy shot in the neck with a shotgun and every pellet missed anything vital.
I've also seen people die from an injury that penetrated less than an inch into someone's arm. Death from falling backwards and hitting their head. From a single punch, from a bullet that hit them in the butt and penetrated about an inch according to the xray. And don't forget that a lethal heart attack or stroke is caused by a piece of plaque around the size of a pencil point. People have an aneurysm in their head right now and don't know it.
The line between alive and dead is unimaginably thin.If a man has a positive pregnancy test go to the doctor asap! It's probably cancer.Clearing your throat can make you feel like you need to clear your throat even more. if you find yourself constantly clearing your throat, it maybbr due to chronic inflammation and irritation. it is important to rule out other sources of irritation (like post nasal drip or acid reflux), but if it is due to an irritation loop you can be seen by a special speech and swallowing therapist to help with the issue.If you're thinking something like "ow...my knee has been feeling weird lately...not everyone feels this way right?" even after being told "everyone feels that way", there's probably something going on.Having worked at a vet: a majority of cat bites are gonna go septic if untreated. Go to urgent care for antibiotics.
Also: obesity in pets is more of a concern than in humans, because of differences in body fat distribution. Most animals gain fat around their organs first and then start gaining a layer of fat under the skin, whereas humans gain a majority of our fat under the skin (this is an oversimplification, but that's the gist of it).Please do resistance training now and always -obviously to a safe degree when older- this will delay age related atrophy and will keep you mobile at an older age.
Being mobile at an older age is a huge component for living an independent and healthy life!Please, wash your bellybutton. Especially if you're going to have surgery anywhere near it. If you only saw the things that come out of them. Thank you!You're vitamin D deficient.Are you or your kids peeing more than usual? Can't get enough to drink? Feeling tired or extra hungry? Check for diabetes. The early symptoms can be easily explained away until you or your child becomes quite sick!Smoking is bad for you. It will likely shorten your life and decrease the quality of your life. It smells terrible even if you don’t think you smell or “I only smoke outside.” And it will never be easier to quit than it is today.Your brain is you. Even though it is completely encased in darkness, it interprets the whole world for you and makes you you. Everything else is just scaffolding.Paying attention to what you eat is important, but more so when living with diabetes. Many of my diabetic patients have not been provided with adequate education on nutrition in general.
Many are often surprised to discover:
1) non-diet soda has calories
2) non-diet soda has sugar and will contribute to elevated blood sugar
3) a single meal from a fast food restaurant may exceed their recommended daily calories for the day
More importantly:
The pins and needles feeling (neuropathy) in your toes and fingers is literally your peripheral nervous system dying off as a result of poor blood sugar control. If it’s happening in your distal extremities, it’s also happening in your brain.
This is detectable on MRI and will eventually go on to result in a vascular neurocognitive disorder (dementia).If you’re not taking steps to prevent pregnancy and you’re sexually active then you are trying to get pregnant. Applies to both men and women. Be responsible.Dentist…. A tooth infection can kill you.Idk if this counts really but I've been working as a nurses aid for the past decade. Urinary incontinence, while common, is not just a part of aging. There's usually an underlying cause and you should speak with your doctor on ways to help it.If you eat generally healthy, drink plenty of water and limited other beverages, and get 30-60 minutes of exercise (anything that gets you moving and your heart rate up), you can have a tremendous impact on chronic conditions. In many cases, it will impact outcomes as much as, if not more than medication management.Not a doctor or surgeon or whatever but worked at a pharmacy
DOSE MAKES POISON. Stop overusing medication. Follow the instructions on the goddamn bottle. "But it doesnt do enough" talk with a pharmacist or your doctor. Most people have no idea how their meds work and think just taking more will lead to better results. This can kill you in some cases, and worse - ruin your organs in others. For the love of God stop f*****g around with meds. It won't be fun for anyone when you find out.Most people don’t die the way they want to. Talk to your parents and grandparents about what they would want at the end of their life. Sit down with them and make an Advanced Directive. Keep a copy. Give a copy to their doctors. There is a big difference between a “good” death and a “bad” death and often that difference could be bridged just by knowing what someone wants ahead of time.
Things to know:
- Would you ever want to be intubated? (Have a tube down your throat for a machine to breathe for you, you are usually sedated and unconscious.) what if you aren’t able to breathe on your own after a few weeks with the tube? Would you want it removed, or to stay on it indefinitely?
- Would you ever want to be shocked or have chest compressions that will probably break your ribs if your heart stopped or wasn’t working? Or would you prefer to die naturally if your heart stopped?
- If you couldn’t eat for yourself, would you want a tube to feed you? Would you want to try that for a short period (1-2 weeks) to allow for recovery and remove it if you weren’t able to eat or communicate by then?
- If you became severely ill and it looked like you would never recover to communicate with is meaningfully, would you want to focus on comfort and quality of life instead of amount of time you are alive?
- Would you ever want an amputation?
- Do you have any plans for your body if you were to die?Strength training is so important for both men *and* women.
It doesn't matter how you do it, staying strong across middle and old age is immense beneficial. Physically and mentally.Because I haven't seen it yet: basic women's anatomy. I can't begin to tell yall how often I've met other women that don't know that we don't pee out of our vaginas. I even had a friend in high school that came and got me because she thought she was dying. She'd gotten her first period, and her ultra fundie Southern Baptist mother had never told her about periods. So there I was, explaining the birds and the bees to a fifteen year old peer in a crappy high school bathroom. No surprise, she thought we peed out of "the front hole" too.
If I could add a second fact to this: it's OK to seek mental healthcare, there is nothing to be ashamed of! You are worth it, and you are loved!If you have *any* vaginal bleeding after menopause see your doctor. It could be cancer. .If you have hearing loss you need to treat it sooner than later as it is a leading cause of dementia risk/ Alzheimer’s / cognitive decline and hearing aids have shown to cut cognitive decline by nearly 50% per a recent Johns Hopkins study.Infectious disease doc. There is a LOT of misinformation surrounding UTIs in adults, including among nurses and other medical staff. I've seen too many people get inappropriate antibiotics for "oh it's just a UTI" over years and then they land up in my office for a very resistant bacteria in their urine that can now only be treated by very specialized, hard to get IV antibiotics.
White blood cells or bacteria in your urine WITHOUT any symptoms is NOT A UTI. Checking a urine sample for an infection in the absence of symptoms leads to lots of misdiagnoses- some folks have white blood cells or bacteria in their urine ...just because. Unless you're pregnant or expecting a urinary tract surgery in the upcoming weeks, we do not treat it.
Incontinence ALONE is not a sign of a UTI. Lots of other reasons to have incontinence, including pelvic floor dysfunction.
Confusion ALONE in the elderly is not a sign of UTI. I see too many confused and sleepy old folks brought in from their nursing homes for "UTI" by staff. Most times, hydration alone fixes the problem.
Foul smelling urine ALONE is not a sign of UTI. It's pee, not rose water.
Dark urine is not a sign of UTI. Far too many people don't drink enough water and think dark yellow urine means they have an infection.
If you have dark or foul smelling urine, try increasing your water intake and see if that changes. If you start having burning when you pee or abdominal pain, def could be a sign of an infection and see a doctor.75% of health conditions would be solved or not have occurred with a healthy diet, enough sleep, enough exercise and enough water.The Hepatitis B and HPV vaccines prevent cancer. Hepatitis B is one of the leading causes of liver cancer, and HPV causes multiple oral and genital cancers. Get the vaccines for your kids and get them for yourself if you haven’t. Males and females can both get cancer from these viruses.
Also, Hepatitis B is not only transmitted sexually. You can catch it from a microscopic amount of blood on a surface. Small children are especially at risk because they put everything in their mouths faster than you can always prevent. Plus there’s the horrible possibility of assault. Do not wait to get your children these vaccines until you think they’re “old enough for sexual activity.”
Bonus tip- if the Hep A + B combo vaccine is an option for you, choose that one. Hepatitis A is a potentially deadly gastrointestinal virus.Death is not the worst thing possible. Being tortured with every available option to stay alive while you rot in a bed is worse than death. Stop keeping someone alive who has no QUALITY of life just because you can't let them go. Not being able to move, eat, communicate, etc is not good quality of life. It's cruel and selfish to make your loved ones suffer like that.There is zero reason for you to know your blood type. If you need blood products, you will be typed every time. Those dumb patches that cops wear with their blood type are useless. We will type them too, regardless of the dumb patch.
Very few people, almost none, have rolling veins. That's an excuse someone told you because they missed and didn't want to take responsibility for missing. If your veins are that rolly, then you probably have connective tissue issues, or you're very elderly and wasting away.
Your dishwasher is not sterile. You can't p**s in any old jelly jar and take it to the lab, just because you ran it through the dishwasher. We aren't rejecting your Cool Whip container to be mean. We are trying to give you the most accurate results that you're paying for.
Fasting for labwork means dont eat. Please take your medicine and drink plenty of water.Psychologist here. I wish everyone who was sad didn’t call themselves depressed. Or wanting things neat and tidy and calling it OCD. These terms refer to real diagnoses, not moods or quirks.Basic care of your body is the most underrated thing eat healthy ,exercise and sleep well. Every single one of them are needs not a luxury.
Mental health is real. Please seek help if you have issues !!
Basic first aid and CPR.
How to keep wounds clean and prevent contamination.
Also I really wish all of the medical misinformation out there would go away somehow.Sugary drinks (Monster, Redbull, coffee) aren’t nearly as bad for your teeth as you would think. They are bad for your heart though.Overly controlling what you eat may be worse for your health than any ingredient(s) you’re trying to avoid.If you are a woman in your late 40's to early 50's, there are a slew of problems that can result from perimenopause, and most of your doctors will just ignore them, or ignore the fact that you are in menopause. Besides the symptoms everyone knows about (hot flashes, weight gain and vaginal dryness) you may experience anxiety, mood swings, migraines, insomnia, joint and muscles pain, memory lapses and difficulty concentrating. And I'm pretty sure this is not a complete list. Talk to your doctor about ways to mitigate these problems, which can include diet changes, exercise, and meditation, as well as hormone replacement therapy.Breathing deeply through your nose releases nitric oxide which is a natural vasodilator (it opens up your vessels) and can help reduce blood pressure.
When you're tempted to cry during times of stress, let it out. Cortisol (the body's stress hormone) is released in those tears and your body releases oxytocin and endorphins (feel good hormones). You're literally venting your stress and decreasing emotional and physical pain by doing so.*screams in orthopedics* the stress on your knee is equivalent to approximately 4x your body weight during walking. Body weight matters to your joint. It matters especially much if most of your weight you carry is not in joint supporting musculature.Our bodies are meant to move. You would be suprised not only how quickly your body adopts to it but also how just the act of moving can lead to some chronic injuries decrease or even disappear. Now I'm not saying this is catch all situation. But doing something is better than nothing and it will most definitely be better than sitting or lying all day.Keeping your mind active through constant learning as you get older is just as important as keeping your body active.Humans have a strong need for touch and connection. Touch is a fundamental human need and can be critical for maintaining wellbeing, as well as providing comfort and improving quality of life. Skin-to-skin contact can have numerous positive effects, including reducing stress hormones, strengthening social bonds, and boosting the immune system. Even the simple act of hugging can release oxytocin, the "love hormone," which creates a sense of well-being and connectedness.Dentures suck a*s. They really really suck. And dental implants are extremely expensive. You're not going to 'replace all your teeth with implants'. Trust me, you're not. Even a set up where you have large bridges and a few implants is going to cost you about $40,000-60,000. Save your teeth. Root canals are not mysterious. They're removing infected tissue out of a tooth and placing an inert filling material in its place. It can get re-infected just like a tooth can get infected for the first time, but it's not causing all sorts of zany s**t like some show on netflix claims.By the time pre diabetes progresses to diabetes over 50% of your pancreatic beta cells (insulin producing cells) can have burnt out already (they don’t come back). Don’t brush off a pre diabetes diagnosis even if your doctor keeps saying “let’s watch it” and suggest half hearted lifestyle changes. Ask to see a dietitian or diabetes educator and take care of your one body. Once it fails it fails and there’s no going back, it’s just damage control at that point.Avoid trampolines.Women have 3 holes down there.
The number of people -including grown women- who don’t know this is astounding.If you go to a hospital and expect 4-5 surgeons to be the ones actually taking care of you or running a code THINK AGAIN. Medical shows really be giving a false narrative of doctors and I feel the ones who are performing most of the skills and patient care are often looked down upon in real life. BE NICE TO YOUR NURSES, YOUR NURSE AIDS, RT, TECHS, PT, OT, etc.Vapes are not a safe / better alternative to smoking. Get the wrong one and it can f**k you up for life.Don’t drink, don’t smoke, don’t do d***s, don’t be fat, don’t be sedentary. Nothing has changed. There are no magic bullets yet.You probably don’t know s**t about the hymen, even if you think you do.
Even in medical communities I see references to the hymen being analogous to the protective film on an iPad when you buy one, and I want to clear up some common myths and misconceptions about the hymen. The hymen is not a magical freshness seal over the vagina that many people think it is.
The hymen is a [thin rim of stretchy tissue (NSFW)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hymen#/media/File:Yorefzvagnl.png) that surrounds (but doesn't usually obstruct) the entrance to the vagina. [Another NSFW image](https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Hakan_Kar/publication/221916192/figure/fig2/AS:305122233077771@1449758217923/Prepubertal-hymen.png) And [another](https://edc2.healthtap.com/ht-staging/user_answer/avatars/2451834/large/Intact_hymen.jpeg?1450491804). These are considered "intact" hymen, showing no obvious tears or damage. Some women have very little noticeable hymen, and some are born without one at all.
I know what you're thinking, "If it's not a virginity freshness seal, what the hell is it for?" Great question! It's thought that the hymen may serve its purpose early in life, providing an extra tissue barrier to prevent fecal bacteria from getting into the vagina during infancy and childhood. In children the hymen is a thicker and less flexible ring, and may (or may not) obstruct more of the opening of the vagina (again, not generally covering it completely). As it is less flexible in childhood, trauma to the vaginal area through sports, gymnastics, horseback riding, and other normal activities can damage the hymen early in life, and even sometimes later in adolescence or adulthood, but less often.
These tears may heal completely, or result in "notching" of the tissue. This is a super NSFW medical photo of a young person who experienced sexual assault and trauma to the hymen resulting in [notching](https://ars.els-cdn.com/content/image/1-s2.0-S1522840116300404-gr2.jpg). This doesn't always cause visible damage, but in this case, pretty severe tearing occurred.
It's also worth noting that the sports and activities I mentioned are more likely than others to cause hymenal damage, but usually don't. (A good friend of mine was quite surprised at an ob/gyn visit to discover she had an intact hymen at ~24 years of age, having been a competitive horseback rider since she was a small child.)
During adolescence the hymen thins out and becomes very flexible and stretchy, and will actually stretch really well during arousal and when lubricated, so there is NO NEED in like 90% of women for the hymen to tear during sex, even the first time!
There are certain variations that can be problematic for sexual activity and general health ([for example, imperforate hymens are medically dangerous and result in an inability to have penetration AND a buildup of menses, and semi-imperforate or cribriform hymen may allow menses but won't allow penetration, these hymen require either tearing or a quick ob/gyn visit to fix](http://girlsliteracydictionary.weebly.com/uploads/1/3/7/0/13702939/2593796_orig.jpg)). However, more than 90% of women do not have these variations.
A lot of this wasn't even known until a series of studies in the 1980's found that about 20% of sexually active women had "intact" hymens with no signs of notching or tearing. A report by physicians who [evaluated children and women who were vaginally assaulted noted that a lack of specific hymenal damage in the assault was actually quite common,](https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/1169/682f85204f59bee6da18d93fc08a05bbb1cb.pdf) especially in adult women and adolescents, and suggested to the public that tearing the hymen was not the necessity for sex that many people think it is.
A more recent study in 2004 found that [52% of sexually active women had no hymenal notching or clefts.](https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/14993089) In several studies afterward there was also found to be [no statistically significant association between tampon use and visible hymenal tears,](https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/8021768) however it is thought that using tampons can sometimes cause tears. (I mean who is actually aroused and comfortable when inserting a tampon, right?)
It's common for people to believe the myth that the hymen must tear the first time, and for young inexperienced people to have sex without proper arousal, lubrication, and communication that results in hymen tearing. In fact, the expectation of pain often becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy, with women too nervous to be aroused properly, and unwilling to stop and slow down their partners when something hurts.
You might be thinking "well this is some liberal b******t propaganda if I've ever heard any", but if that's your thought, [check out this super biased religious journal article regarding the hymen](https://www.researchgate.net/publication/260578888_Hymen_Facts_and_conceptions), which actually confirms most of this, and adds some interesting tidbits, for example the fact that elephants have been noted to have hymens as well, and these don't tear with sex, but only with childbirth.Ortho: That your fat a*s causes most of your health problems and your feelings getting hurt doesn't change that fact. One reason we have BMI cutoffs before many of our joint replacements/spines is because there's no point to do them otherwise.
Also don't tell us to do everything to keep your 98year old multiple comorbidity frail grannie alive with no DNR. I bench heavy and have a strong grip. That means her ribs are breaking during chest compressions and almost all of the time she's still not going to make it. Treat your family with dignity.If you want to lose weight, don't eat so much. Exercise has its own benefits, but you're not going to lose weight by exercising and then eating a bunch of late night snacks.Nicotine can be transferred through skin contact and even clothes.
In other words, be conscious of the fact that smoking outside etc is not enough if you want to prevent nicotine exposure to your baby/kid.The distance between your molars and your brain is about three inches. So take good care of your teeth, trust me you don't want an infection that close to the brain stem and temporal lobe.Sleep tech here. Just because you are in great health and normal BMI DOES NOT MEAN you can’t have sleep apnea!
We have so many people come in for sleep studies and say “yeah I’m tired all the time and snore but I’m in great shape and don’t think it’s sleep apnea related”. That does not matter. You can have a small airway or a crowded airway with adenoids/tonsils or certain medications or health issues can cause your airway to block off in your sleep.
On the flip side, while its seldom but I have had 300 and 400 lbs patients never have sleep apnea or issues breathing.
Also, can physicians please stop telling patients that their sleep apnea will go away if they lose weight and achieve normal BMI? I get the idea and that it can help lessen sleep apnea. But then we have patients lose 100 lbs+ or return to normal weight range and still have sleep apnea. And they become visibly upset. They’re happy it’s better but a physician explicitly saying their sleep apnea will go away and they will never have to wear CPAP once they reach normal weight range is terrible advice. Sometimes it won’t matter. Of course, patients can misinterpret doctors but I’ve heard it so many times I think it’s being said at least from some patients.Skinny does not equal healthy. Too many people are more worried about the number on the scale than the overall health of their body. Sure, you may be a size 2, but how are your hair, skin, and nails? What about your teeth and bones? Liver and kidneys?99.99999% of “healthy food” in packages at the grocery store is just advertising. Pick foods that are primary fruits and vegetables and unprocessed whole grains.
Added sugar isn’t great. Honey and agave instead of sugar is still pretty much just sugar.
Processed meats are not great. Meat in general is probably not great.
There really isn’t any healthy alcohol (sorry about that, red wine).
Pay attention to the carbs on the nutrition label. “Healthy” ingredients with a bunch of added sugar is just pretend healthy candy.Sedentary lifestyle is bad
The benefits of losing just 10% of your weight if you’re overweight obese etc can be tremendous on your cholesterol, joint health, cardiovascular health, mental well being.
