The human body is fascinating. But if you think you know everything there is to know about what makes you tick, think again! There’s so much that the regular person doesn’t understand about how biology and health work. But if you’re lucky enough to chat to an expert, you can really expand your perspective. It could even end up saving your life.
Medical professionals hoping to make a difference in the world took to an informative thread on AskReddit and revealed the things they wish absolutely everyone knew about their body. Keep scrolling to learn something new about yourself, and we hope you’re taking notes!
#1
You need some kind of exercise. Doesn’t matter how you feel right now, sitting for 12-16 hours a day will have negative consequences.
Image credits: CrispyJelly
#2
You often will feel normal even with high blood pressure. It’s often found incidentally. So don’t wait until it gives you symptoms you don’t want to go through.
To all those wondering how to figure out if it’s asymptomatic. Get checked at least once a year if you’re over 35y. There’s no other way.
Image credits: doctor_d9
#3
Don’t do DIY surgery or hold off on reporting things that are obvious warning signs. Don’t be the guy who tried to remove his skin cancer with a knife.
Akumakaji:
My buddy works in the cancer ward and told me a crazy DIY surgery story, that’s hard to fathom. There is this guy who somehow brakes of a tooth at work. Not wanting to be a wuss, he scoopes up the splinter and reattachs it to his jew with some industrial grade glue of death.
It holds and he is quite pleased with himself, but a few month later he notices some strange growth in his mouth and it turns out that the industrial grade glue was carcinogenic… at least if administered directly into your jaw! He got cancer all over his mouth and throat and didn’t go out of this world pleasantly.
Image credits: ibeatsmymeats
The best way to live a long, happy, and healthy life is to take such good care of yourself that you preemptively avoid (some) problems before they arise. This means getting the basics right and developing positive habits like:
- Eating nutritious food while avoiding highly processed and junk foods
- Getting plenty of movement every day and steering clear of a passive, sedentary lifestyle
- Getting adequate sleep and rest
- Drinking plenty of water throughout the day to stay hydrated
- Being out in nature and away from screens
- Spending lots of time with the people you love and fostering positive relationships
- Meditating, cultivating a growth-oriented mindset, and being grateful for what you already have
- Going to frequent check-ins with your doctor and dentist
#4
Your kidneys and liver cheerfully do all the toxin elimination you’ll ever need. Cleanses and other “detoxifying” products are b******t woo and a waste of money. The people who sell them are predators who only care about your money becoming theirs.
Image credits: taRxheel
#5
How to check for skin cancer. If you see any moles or anything that are:
A – asymmetrical
B – border (odd borders, like they’re jagged or something)
C – Colour (different colours)
D – Diameter (grows)
E – Evolve (Well, evolves)
Go get it checked out. It might be skin cancer.
Image credits: evgueni72
#6
That they only have one [body] and their behavior now (drinking, smoking, not taking medicines, or whatever…) will impact their life quality and expectancy… sounds logical, but very few patients really realize it…
Image credits: Clamoxyl
Naturally, getting the basics right is easier said than done. Often, even if someone already knows what they should do, it won’t automatically make them do what they should. Developing new habits is difficult. And some habits take far longer to form than others. It depends on the activity itself, your character, and your environment.
According to sports medicine psychologist Matthew Sacco, PhD, simpler habits are easier to form. “Something that you can do pretty frequently can get established quickly—in 18 days or so,” Sacco told Verywell Mind.
On the other hand, complex activities take far longer to become automatic parts of our daily lives. “Something complex like exercise can take six-plus months to make it a really well-established habit.” That being said, the “minimum requirement to establish an exercise habit” is at least 6 weeks of exercising 4 times per week.
The CDC recommends that you engage in at least 150 minutes of moderate-intensity physical activity per week, as well as 2 days of muscle-strengthening activities.
#7
Your mental health is just as important as your physical health
.
Optimal_Meow:
Absolutely avalanched here, but your brain is an organ like any other; susceptible to disease and malfunction. When sh*t is going awry mentally, it is in absolutely no way different to lungs struggling with bronchitis, your skin (biggest organ, brain dudes) being overtaken by some weird rash, kidneys or gall bladder pumping out stones… you get the point, I hope.
If you’ve got a brain then you’ve got mental health to look after too, bottom line. Just because the output is mainly social doesn’t mean the disease disrupting your life isn’t as important. Our brains are awesome but also sometimes misguided in how to preserve our wellbeing.
Tell someone. If they don’t listen, tell the next person. But the best person to talk to is alway a mental health professional. If you don’t synch with them just move on to the next on, no biggie. Your whole body will thank you for it in the long run, my friends.
Image credits: _Kofiko
#8
Some people seem to think that if you act healthy for a bit, it’ll make up for being a wreck.
There are so many things wrong with this. Just one example – antioxidants are like gas for your car. You can store up a certain amount of vitamins, but your tank can only hold so much. If you binge and overfill your tank, it doesn’t do anything (you excrete it out as waste), and you can’t expect to go the next several months without gas just because you tried to overload it before. You’re going to still need to get gas. Same goes for your fruits and veggies.
Had someone tell me he went vegetarian for a few weeks, which meant he was done for the year. He was dead serious.
Had a patient at risk for heart failure try to insist that if she stayed away from salt entirely for x days/weeks, she should be able to have her fill of McDonald’s fries and ramen.
Had a smoker argue that if he stopped for some time, he should be able to smoke freely for a while. With some digging, “stopping” turned out to mean a couple less cigarettes a day.
Image credits: bhappyyyy
#9
I think there are a lot of obvious ones, like how lifestyle choices in your 20s impact your health and quality of life in your 40s.
It would help if more patients knew their family history (though not everyone has this opportunity unfortunately). Prevention is becoming more and more important in medicine, and treating a disease in its early stages is a lot better than catching it late. If you have family members who had ovarian or colon cancer in their 30s, that is very significant for your own risk. The screening and tests we run might change, depending. If you want to start the pill, it’s important to know about breast cancer, DVTs, clotting disorders in the family. If you’re a bit overweight and have no metabolic syndrome problems in the family, compared to a bit overweight but both your parents have type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular disease, the management priorities change. Asking your family about any recurring diseases or diseases that occurred early (20s, 30s, maybe 40s) can be helpful.
There are certain common conditions that are underdiagnosed but easily fixed. Even if you have non-specific symptoms, it doesn’t hurt to tell your doctor during the next visit. About 5% of US adults have an iron deficiency which can cause loss of concentration and fatigue, and a huge amount are vitamin D deficient. When I am able to complete a systems review (ask screening questions about every different body system) I end up discovering a lot of irritable bowel syndrome, hypothyroidism, insomnia, joint pain, headaches, etc that impact quality of life. But people don’t bring it up because they don’t want to be a bother, or think the symptoms are too vague. It’s not a bother, and often (but not always) these conditions have simple treatments which can really improve how you feel.
Image credits: manlikerealities
Which of these medical professionals’ insights surprised you the most? Which ones did you find the most useful? What do you do to stay healthy? Do we have any doctors, nurses, surgeons, sports scientists, or the like in the audience here today? What do you wish everyone knew about their body? What advice would you give everyone to help them take better care of their health?
Let us know in the comments below.
#10
That there is a wide range of ‘normal’. Don’t be embarrassed by your body. Having said that, if you are concerned about anything, ask your doctor. We have generally heard it all before, and trust me, we have (nearly always) seen it all before. Maybe you have something that has been bothering you for ages, but you were too scared or embarrassed to ask about it … Just ask! It might be ‘nothing’ and you have been stressing about it for no reason. And if not, then you are at least one step closer to getting it fixed. No one can help if they don’t know. There are no stupid questions, so ask away.
I’m always amazed when I have been asked about something that has been bothering a patient for years and years, but they were too embarrassed / scared to bring it up. Most of the time, it is nothing / a completely normal body function / feature. Other times, it is something that should have been discussed right away.
YOU know your body best. So speak up! Don’t wait for the doctor to “ask the right question”.
Image credits: frangipani_c
#11
Tell us what d***s and alcohol you’re on.
We aren’t gonna tell the cops. We aren’t gonna lecture you.
But it might change the anesthesia I give you. Some stuff I give you might k**l you. If you drink a 30 pack a day, tell me.
Image credits: CopyX
#12
Alcohol is really *really* bad for you. I understand that ritualistic consumption of the poison has been part of almost every society for thousands of years, but that absolutley does not change just how terrible it is for your body.
You may think, “I binge drink all the time and I’m fine! I come from a long line of heavy drinkers! It’s just some booze, I’ve never gotten sick from it!” But BOY HOWDY do you not realize what it does to your body.
By binge drinking, you run the risk of developing:
Stomach bleeds.
Intestinal bleeds.
Pancreatitis (both acute and chronic).
Liver disease and/or liver failure.
Alcoholism.
Heart failure.
Seizures.
Stroke.
Osteoporosis.
Lung failure.
The list goes on… Every time you have more than a few drinks in a night, you are essentially juggling hand grenades hoping that they don’t go off. There is just no reason to do that to your body. Having 4 drinks spread out over a few hours can be JUST as fun as having 10 drinks in the same time span, AND you’re not putting yourself at risk for massive organ failure and making yourself look like an idiot.
Image credits: Mosessbro
#13
If there could be a public service announcement about how utterly miserable it is to die by paracetomol o******e, that would great. Its the most common medication used for deliberate self poisoning that Ive seen and its not a ‘go asleep forever’ type deal. Its a long painful process that can last weeks if not caught early.
Image credits: Fergalbuttmuncher
#14
I’m an ENT. Please bring ear plugs to loud concerts and shows. Please don’t listen to music on your earbuds/headphones too loud. Your hearing doesn’t regenerate and you put yourself at a higher risk of developing tinnitus (ringing in your ears) and hyperacusis (sensitivity to sound).
Image credits: hapabeauty
#15
Teeth are the most disrespected body part. A healthy set is as important as a healthy heart.
Anon:
This. I’ve ignored a cavity for about 2 years now and as of recently it’s been hitting the nerve which is causing a headache in my right temple. AND I LITERALLY HAVE A HOLE IN MY TOOTH!
Image credits: anon
#16
Some things just don’t belong in your r****m.
BloodsNCrits:
I mean..nothing wrong with gettin a little freaky folks, just keep it within reason. Mason jars? Traffic cones?A vacuum cleaner hose attachment? All things that do NOT belong in your r****m.
Image credits: BloodsNCrits
#17
That administering CPR compressions ASAP is one of the greatest indicators of successful outcomes.
ChaplnGrillSgt:
Had a guy roll in post Torsades arrest. The guy behind him at the dmv when he went down was an ICU Nurse who started compressions within seconds and got the aed attached. Patient came in talking with his only complaint being chest pain from the compressions. I wouldn’t have believed it if the medics hadn’t given me the rhythm strip.
Image credits: hodl_this
#18
This is going to sound really basic, but I wish my patients would know what meds they are on when they come to the hospital. At least once a day comes somebody in who goes “Yeah i take 8 pills in the morning, 3 in the evening, and 4 at lunch but don’t ask me which, You’re a doctor, you should know”.
I beg of you, before going to a doctor that has never seen you before, write your meds, dosage and all on a piece of paper.
I work in Germany on the internal medicine ward. I can only see patients record if they were in my hospital or in the neighbouring hospital otherwise i have to call their family doc, who may or may not be at all times available. I mostly just send a family member home to bring the goodies bag so that we can go over them but as you can imagine, that takes a lot of time.
Image credits: walkingtornado
#19
Women, please do not use soap or douching products inside your v****a. It has a delicate pH balance and this is how you get yeast infections. Wash your labia, but do not clean internally. The v****a is self-cleaning just like your eyeballs. Do you wash your eyeballs? No. Do you wash your face? Yes.
Image credits: H0use0fpwncakes
#20
Many simpler diseases in the body can be compared to a car. When you don’t get regular checkups and take regular care, it’s not like you’ll notice something bad happening right away. Just like how you won’t notice a missed oil change a couple thousand miles later. But diseases like diabetes, high blood pressure, alcohol dependence, etc, they all sneak up on you. Just like how eventually, that engine won’t run as smooth.
The second thing is that your body isn’t like a TV remote, where you pop out the old batteries and put in some new ones. You can’t expect to come into a hospital and walk out feeling 100%. People have some unrealistic expectations of what doctors can do, and there is research which demonstrates how TV shows provide the public with these false beliefs (I’m a Grey’s fan also, but it’s not real medicine).
The first line treatment for most of our common diseases is…wait for it… lifestyle modification. It’s not d***s. It’s not surgery. 50% of newly diagnosed type 2 diabetics do not require anything more than diet and exercise. Cessation of smoking is the second best thing you can do for your health, and every little amount you decrease smoking has a profound impact. Again, you won’t see it now, but you’ll see it down the road (like the oil change). And if you do need meds (like how most will eventually need meds for their blood pressure), don’t play around with it. Take it every day. Hypertension is called the silent k**ler. You can’t really feel your blood pressure. But it’s slowly damaging every artery and every organ in your body.
And that comes down to the last point. Exercising is the key to a better life. If you put in the work, there is no upper limit. That’s not an exaggeration, but the findings of a landmark paper that made news everywhere last October. Not exercising is worse than smoking, diabetes, or coronary artery disease. It is the single best thing you can do for a healthier life.
Your health is a shared responsibility, and we’re here to help. This may not be the flashiest Reddit comment. But this one may actually save your life.
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Edit: so I’m getting a lot of great questions on what are good exercises and how long should you be exercising. This is probably the single most asked question I get from my parents friends and random strangers. Unfortunately it’s a bit complicated. I could go on quoting tons of papers from a variety of sources, but that would be difficulty to parse though. An exercise regimen should ideally be set by at a medical professional specifically for you. It may vary based on your age, occupation, underlying health conditions, fitness goals, etc. I couldn’t give a 60 year old with COPD the same instructions as a 25 year old.
I don’t want to say something in a reddit comment that would end up hurting you or your loved one, so I won’t go into specifics. The generic advice we give to our older patients is to “walk at a brisk pace, enough for a mild sweat”. There is some evidence to show that even normal walking can significantly help improve your cardiac health. I’m only focusing on cardiovascular health here, and there are other things to consider with exercise. I don’t want to sound annoying, but I really feel it’s best you talk to your doctor about what else you can do to improve your health. We’d be glad to walk you though a plan made specifically for you.
Also, regarding number of steps per day. The 10,000 steps number is unscientific and largely propagated by the pedometer making industry. First it should be age adjusted. It also doesn’t directly correlate with losing weight. However, personally, as someone approaching 30, I do like 10,000. It’s a nice clean number and I can make a game out of it for myself. It is important to note that this is not for everyone.
Image credits: z3roTO60
#21
-Where the orifice each gender urinates through really is.
-Antibiotics are not some magic cure for every pain in your body, nor for the flu or common cold.
-Never ever boil breast milk (in my country there is a popular belief that breast milk jaundice in newborns can be treated by boiling one’s breast milk – but by doing this you destroy all the nutrients and it basically becomes as nutritious as water is).
-Do not give honey to children below the age of 1.
-Do not rub your child with rubbing alcohol as to lower his fewer.
-Baby wipes don’t substitute daily baths/showers.
Yes, I am a pediatrician.
Image credits: SuspiciousLemur
#22
I’m a dentist and if you don’t take care of your gums your teeth will fall out of your head and you’ll get pissed at me when your jaw bone atrophies and your denture doesn’t fit anymore.
Essentially periodontitis causes inflammation and recession of the gums, which in turn cause inflammation and recession of bone. After that, teeth start getting mobile and falling out.
I appreciate you all asking questions and trying to improve your oral health but without doing an exam and x-rays there’s very little I can actually recommend other than using one of those new patient coupons you get from every dentist in the neighborhood to get checked out. Also I love the “dEntIsTs arEn’T d0ct0rz” comments lmao. I’ll think about them when I do the two surgeries I have planned tomorrow. :).
Image credits: TofuDeliveryBoy
#23
Type 2 Diabetes is more serious than most people realize. I work as a doctor in hemodialysis and most of them are due to diabetic nephropathy. It also affects your eyes nerves immune system etc. Simple life changes can help you but noone seems to care. I even lost 9 kg myself because I had a family history of diabetes and to be healthy.
Image credits: kingofneverland
#24
Ejaculating blood happens to most people at least once in their lives and in 99% of cases it resolves without taking any action within a week. It doesn’t even warrant a doctor visit.
Peeing blood (for both sexes) is a serious medical emergency and you should immediately go to the ER.
People think it’s the other way around.
Image credits: StardustDoc
#25
Drink water.
Image credits: anon
#26
Not a doctor but am a trauma nurse.
Motorcycles are f*****g awesome but they are also death machines. Don’t ever get on a f*****g motorcycle, but if you do anyway, WEAR A F*****G HELMET.
Image credits: LockeProposal
#27
Actually a doctor.
I wish people would know that when I say, “I don’t think CPR is in your/your relatives’ best interests”, I am not saying I am going to withdraw all treatment immediately. CPR is BRUTAL, and it has a much lower success rate (even if done promptly in hospital) than the movies make out. If you are old, or have a lot of medical problems, then the success rate goes down even more.
If I don’t want to do CPR on you it’s not because I want you to die, it’s because I don’t want to fracture your ribs, expose your body to a huge group of people you don’t know (everyone loves attending a crash call), and repeatedly a*****t your dead body for nothing. I want you to die with dignity and care if there is no chance of bringing you back.
In summary, CPR is great and everyone should learn how to do it, it does save lives. But, if a doctor suggests it should not be performed, please give serious thought to that. We don’t suggest a DNACPR for no reason.
Image credits: Persephone_88
#28
As someone that works with those who may be in a psychotic break. GET SLEEP! Most psychosis happens because someone haven’t had slept or haven’t had good sleep for extended periods of time. Some people just need 20 straight hours of sleep and then they never end up in a psychiatric hospital ever again.
AND DON’T JUST RANDOMLY STOP YOUR MEDICATION BECAUSE YOU FEEL BETTER. You feel better because you have consistent amount of whatever is leveled in your body now. And now that your body is hitting equilibrium everything is going great, so KEEP DOING WHAT YOU’RE DOING. I’ve seen people go on and off their medications for years and it really starts to mess up your body if you do that for too long.
Image credits: langdonsnare
#29
I’m not an MD, I’m an RN. Here’s some real advice: do not let yourself grow old and obese. I will forgo any talk of high blood pressure, heart disease, stroke, diabetes; that’s inside stuff and while I’m well educated on it, I want to talk of the outside stuff that will make your life miserable. I’m talking arthritis, skin breakdown, lack of hygiene and the depression that goes along with it.
The arthritis starts because your bone structure is in no way designed to carry 3 to 4 times the normal body weight. The joints wear down, the bone spurs develop, the spinal stenosis kicks in, and you find that every movement is an orchestra of multiple different minor but irritating pains all shooting off at once. You can’t get out of bed or up from a chair without several body parts giving out little screams of pain. You will get used to it, but you will not like it. And you will start moving less and less; you’ll start weighing the decision to get up and go do some social activity versus the pain it will cause you and at some point, the pain wins out and you start going out less and less. In the most extreme cases you will start to alter how to go the bathroom or clean yourself because a trip to the toilet and all the maneuvering it takes will just be too much.
As you start to move less and less, you start to clean yourself less and less, and the skin excoriation and fungal infections start to form in your various folds and crevices. You also have trouble fully wiping after a bowel movement, or you spill a little on yourself as you’ve adapted to using urinals instead of the toilet. Eventually your lack of movement and inability to clean yourself and exposure to bodily fluids leads to various ulcers that are painful and take a long time to heal. In the worst cases you can get a pressure ulcer that doesn’t go away, is constantly exposed to fecal material, an infection starts and you eventually go septic and end up in the ICU.
So with this lack of movement and ability to fully clean self comes the obvious result of just smelling bad. I’m not trying to be an a*****e here, but the lack of hygiene will cause friends and family to avoid coming over, or going places with you, or just having any social contact beyond a phone call. The isolation will escalate, the depression will increase, your world becomes smaller and smaller and you just hate yourself for the trap you’re in. It sucks but other people can only take so much.
And on top of it all, even at rest, you won’t be comfortable. You can’t breath properly when sleeping so you get a cpap at home, and while that takes care of properly oxygenating yourself while at rest, the aching joints and muscle spasms will prevent you from ever having a satisfying sleep again. You will always be tired, this just exacerbates all the problems I just mentioned.
And in the end, severe depression. Severe self hate. Feeling trapped in a body that’s become a prison and at your age there’s no way out. You’re isolated, you’re alone, and the friends and family you do have avoid visiting. When they do come around, you have to either ask them for help with all the things you’ve neglected to do because you physically can’t (which they start to see coming, so they up and leave or just don’t come by at all), or you just sit their and have a sad conversation that dances around the elephant in the room that is what’s become of your life. It’s sad, just all around sad.
So I didn’t write this to be an a*****e, I wrote it because I see these types of people in the hospital and in home care regularly. In America the obesity epidemic is so prevalent, and it affects every aspect of a persons life. Obesity is a prison cell in and of itself. Now as an RN and as a human being, I’m not trying to judge you for why it happened, it is what it is, but please if you are seriously overweight or obese, now is the day to start doing something about it. Do not wait any longer. Do not hope for a magic cure. Do not deny what is happening. Make the changes, you are worth it.
Image credits: 6202019
#30
This one is more about medication:
– Antibiotics only work against bacteria, they are not some kind of wonderpotion that cures anything, and they should not always be given
– Please please stick to your prescription the doctor gives you. Even if you already feel better, dont just stop unless the doctor says you can stop. A lot of medication needs to be taken according to the prescription in order for it to be effective, because you build up the dosis to an effective level. Stopping or not sticking to it really decreases effectivity.
Image credits: jonneyboy112
#31
There is no “cure for cancer” as it is traditionally thought about.
Cancer is a class of MANY MANY very different diseases, each with very specific causes (ie some molecule that went wrong allowing a cell to multiply out of control). Even within the same type of cancer (ie lung cancer) there are many types of lung cancer, such as small cell, large cell, squamous cell etc. Even within the same subtype of cancer, there can be different molecular mechanisms that caused it, requiring different approaches to treatment.
Looking for the “cure for cancer” is like looking for the “cure for disease.”.
#32
How to eat healthy. Just because you’re skinny doesn’t mean you’re healthy. Especially the teenagers who I take care of. Sometimes I will ask them what’s a healthy food your doctor wants you to eat? Rarely do I get a right answer. I feel like the internet has so many fad diets, and family members rarely cook, so families don’t know basic nutrition facts.
#33
That gut health is so important in terms of overall health – nurture that s**t!
#34
Body is a complex machine, but like any machine needs regular activity, good quality fuel and regular inspection.
#35
Take care of your feet.
If you can’t feel your feet, check your feet regularly to make sure they’re clean, dry, and haven’t started developing any sores. Even small sores and go straight to the bone. If the infection goes to the bone, chances are we are going to cut your foot off. I have helped prep about half a dozen people just this week for foot amputations.
#36
Injuries accumulate. I cannot stress this enough. Little kids have no business lifting heavy weights or getting pushed so hard in sports by some of these ‘coaches’ who seem to have little knowledge of physiology or don’t care about the long term impact of the regiments. Stuff like this really changes people’s lives.
#37
Not a doc but a nurse in a hospital that has the worst COPD cases in the country. Do not smoke at all. Sure it may seem cool when your young but it’s not worth it to die from not being able to breathe.
ocean_wavez:
Smoking is the absolute worst thing you can do for your body. It is a risk factor for almost every preventable disease, including heart disease and heart attacks, strokes, almost every type of cancer, diabetes, COPD, kidney disease, macular degeneration (blindness), and so much more. I know quitting smoking is hard, but please give it a try, for your body’s sake!
#38
Ear wax is normal. You shouldn’t try to remove it. People cause all sorts of problems with Q-tips and (god forbid) ear candles. They don’t work and can cause you harm. If you *genuinely* need wax removed, go to a professional.
#39
I’m a nurse not a doctor but… All these fad diets that claim to “detoxify” you are nonsense. Your liver and kidneys are the only way you’re getting detoxified, not some MLM magic vitamin pill that your co-worker sells.
Quit asking for antibiotics when you have a virus. It’s literally doing nothing for you, except killing the good bacteria in your body, and it’s creating super bacteria. Doctors, quit prescribing antibiotics when you know it’s a virus because you just don’t feel like arguing with Karen. I’ve seen this way too many times. “Karen” brings her kid with the sniffles to the ER and demands antibiotics. Doc prescribes them to shut Karen up and get her brat out of the ER. Stop it.
Vaccines aren’t some big pharma conspiracy. They work. Big pharma is gonna f**k you by price gouging you, not in some crazy conspiracy to poison you. The amount of aluminium in a typical vaccine is a smaller amount than you consume in your everyday diet. There is no Mercury in children’s vaccines. The mercury that’s in multi-dose adult vaccines is not the same as the mercury that was in old thermometers. Many facilities ,such as mine, don’t even use multi dose vials. Just because a chemical compound sounds scary doesn’t mean it is scary. The vaccine schedule for children is fine. Not getting your kid the chicken pox vaccine is setting your kid up for shingles when they get older and that s**t is not fun. I get it, you had chicken pox when you were younger and you are ok. I hope you don’t get shingles cause you are gonna regret having chicken pox. The pain from shingles is no joke.
#40
When we say your bad diet caused diabetes we literally mean you caused this to yourself by eating and drinking too much bad food. It can be cured – literally cured – if caught early enough and you are dedicated to cutting enough sugar out of your diet… We are not just “punishing” you with this treatment because we think you’re bad… I think all of these points get lost on a lot of people some where in translation. I’ve tried sitting down and actually explaining this stuff in depth to people here recently and they seem to “get it” a little better.
#41
Nothing is too embarrassing to see your doctor about.
If you’ve been ejaculating blood, it could be an early symptom of prostate cancer.
If you’ve been peeing blood, it could be an early sign of bladder cancer.
If you’ve been pooping blood, it could be an early sign of colon cancer.
If you have a skin ulcer or lesion that isn’t healing, it could be a developing skin cancer.
Small amounts of intense exercise are just as beneficial as larger amounts of moderate exercise. You don’t need an hour a day or whatever to make a positive change to your lifestyle, even 15 minutes is worth the extra effort.
If you smoke, quitting will be the single best thing you can possibly do for your health in your entire life.
Exercise is as effective for treating depression as medication. That being said, depression involves changes in your brain chemistry which can be reversed or mitigated by taking the right medications. You need both for an optimal recovery.
Treat your body with the same care as your most prized possession – because it *is* your most prized possession. You can’t enjoy any of the things that money can buy if you are suffering or in pain. Anything else in life is replaceable, your body and health are not.
#42
Please do not confuse your google search with my medical degree!!!
Such a cliche but seriously please don’t !!!!
#43
That the immune system is an incredibly complex and nuanced organization of cells that communicates readily to destroy anything deemed hostile within the body. It helps explain why vaccines are supposed to work, why allergies come and go, and why transfusions/transplants are hard to successfully pull off.
EDIT: A lot of people are asking how allergies work, so here is a brief explanation using pollen (allergic rhinitis) as an example:
Your immune system senses pollen in the body. It doesn’t appear to be one of your cells, so the B-cell collects samples of it, relays it to a Helper T-cell, which in turn helps specialize the B-cell to become one of two cells: effector and memory cells. Effectors mass produce antibodies, while memory cells are reserved for future invasions (this is why initial exposure to a new substance may not necessarily trigger allergic responses – the signal is still weak as the immune system is still acclimating to a foreign particle). Antibodies flood the pollen particles and signal for basophils/mast cells to release histamine, the hormone responsible for inflammatory responses. This is where the runny noses and sneezing come into play (and for more severe allergies, anaphylatic shock).
Allergies may fade out overtime for several reasons. When exposed to a non-threatening level of an allergy for a long enough time, the body decides that it’s not really a threat anymore. Furthermore, as people age, the immune system weakens, making it harder to detect and overreact to allergies.
#44
You only get one body. The way you treat it has a significantly higher impact in how your health will end up in a decade than what sort of interventions we can give you. You really should treat your body like a temple.
Edit: It’s a saying ya’ll. If you want, treat it like a family heirloom, bonsai, or your favorite China.
Edit 2: the original question is asking what I wished more people knew about their body. I answered this by saying I wish they would do more to do more self care – advice that is easier said than done. This means keeping up with mental and physical health, eating well, exercising, and not utilizing tobacco/nicotine, drinking to an excess, or other substances. I am in no way advocating for avoiding the use of prescribed medicines or advice given to you by your own primary care provider.
#45
Not a Dr. But l do have some advice.
If you’re ever short of breath and it’s unexplained ( not running while being a fat smoker like me)
GO SEE A DR. NOW.
For about 4 days prior to this past Christmas (2018) my wife (f29) was short of breath and felt generally crummy.
We didn’t think it was anything but a cold/allergies etc.
Christmas day she felt worse, didn’t move much. So I told her that if she doesn’t show improvement by the next morning (12/26/18, yes the dates are important, you’ll see why)
That I would be forcing her to go to the ER and get checked out.
She didn’t have any improvement. Only worse.
I took her to the ER around 4pm that day. When they took her back and got her hooked up she was at 40-45% O2 saturation. Which is bad. She was then sent by ambulance to the nearest hospital with an ICU.
For any Dr’s in the house, there was about a golf ball size part of her lungs that showed black on the x-ray, the rest was white……..
By 10pm that day she had dropped to 10-15% o2 saturation and was immediately put on a ventilator and was kept asleep for 2 weeks. She was, at most, a few hours from dying.
She had pneumonia and sepsis in both lungs.
Due to the amount of meds they gave her, and being dehydrated already her kidneys took a hard hit. She had dialysis 6 times in the hospital.
After 37 days in the hospital, 14 of which she was in and out of consciousness, she remembers not being able to talk and trying to write some stuff on a paper, she was released.
Last week (July 1st ish) we got blood work back that her kidneys were finally back to 99.6% function.
#46
Take care of your kidney. If your renal function is shot, it closes the door on so many options.
Edit: a lot of people asked about how to take care of your kidneys. I suppose this just shows that we need to learn to take care of all parts of our body more!
The most important thing is to care your your cardiovascular health. Healthy arteries and healthy kidneys are strongly correlated. For most Americans this would require an adjustment to their diet and lifestyle. Most people would also do well to increase water consumption and reduce salt intake. If you have diabetes or SLE, your kidney health pretty much determines your expectancy, so have a conversation with your doctor.
Other than this, regular self examination and health examinations can be very beneficial. Changes in urinary patterns? Bubbles in your urine that won’t pop? Does your urine smell sweet? Talk to your family physician. Do you have a family history of PCKD or whatnot? Think about getting regular ultrasound examinations of your kidney every few years.
#47
Having wet hair in a cold room will not make you sick.
#48
That psychological states may infuce bodily symptoms, and that saying so isn’t dismissing that the symptoms exist.
#49
I am not a doctor, but I am taking a physiology class, and our instructor, who *is* a doctor, gave everyone an extra credit project where we learned that wearing high-heeled shoes contributes to osteoarthritis of the knee. So I assume that would be her answer.
#50
Holy s**t, this needs to be a PSA, kids stop getting those magnet piercings on your mouth, every week a dozen idiots come in swallowing them, once in a blue moon we have to take them to theatre, open them up and fish them out.
The issue is if they don’t come out by you s******g them, there’s a risk they make a hole in your bowel (fistula) and it becomes an emergency.
That’s why we’d rather fish them out before we have to cut out bits of your bowel.
#51
Not a doctor but I managed a private practice for a couple of years in California: The reason we ask for your **biological s*x** and not what ”gender” you identify as in your form is not because the doctor is a bigot whateverphobic, but because men and women require different dosages for several d***s and there are d***s that women can take that would k**l a man and viceversa. Also, because we have to know what tests and check ups you will need. For example: If you changed s*x from a man to a woman you still need a prostate exam because the inside of your body will always be that of a male human, cancer doesn’t give a d**n.
#52
Neonatal provider checking in here! Feed your d**n baby!!! The badge of honor you get for exclusively breastfeeding isn’t real. Dehydration, severe hyperbilirubinemia, hypoglycemia, these are all real and happen all the time. Feed your baby!! Lots of hospitals will even let you use donor breast milk initially if you’re strongly opposed to formula. Just feed your baby. And don’t use a cup or a spoon. The lactation consultants will tell you that babies know how to lap it up. Well, you didn’t give birth to a kitten. If your baby has an intact suck reflex you should use it. It allows the gag reflex to work better. If you feel strongly about the concept of n****e confusion (it’s not a thing) then ask for a SNS System. Tape that tiny tube to a b**b and let your kid eat that way. Just feed your baby. Also, this nonsense about how a baby only needs a few drops of milk in the beginning because their stomach is only the size of a walnut. True, their stomach is small. But much like most other stomachs it stretches and empties pretty readily into the small intestine. Plenty of babies eat a full ounce right out the gate. Errrr, vag.
Lastly, if you have a home birth and your kid ends up coming to the hospital by EMS please let us do our job. If you don’t want any of the care we offer then please refuse EMS. Or don’t even call them to begin with.
Edited: but wait there’s more. I don’t give a s**t if you don’t want hepatitis B vaccine at delivery, you can take that up with your pediatrician. I don’t really care about erythromycin either, unless you’re unclean. But vitamin K. Don’t skip that. It prevents bleeding. It’s a big deal. Babies don’t make their own vitamin K until their gut has sufficient substrate and time to. It’s a key part of the clotting cascade. If it were well absorbed orally we would give it that way, we’re not sadistic pricks that like to give shots to newborn babies for grins. We give it that way because it actually works that way.
#53
I’m not a doctor but I am a medical coder. I just want to add young people please be involved in the care of their elderly family members. They need you. It’s heart breaking some of the charts I read where families aren’t at all involved in the care of their elderly or worse-are completely neglectful. The elderly are very lonely and need visitation and love just like anyone else.
#54
Not a doctor, but learn the difference between urgent care and emergency room. If you are in a non life threatening condition it will most likely be seen faster through urgent care.
#55
The frequency of bowel movements can range from every 3 days to 3 times per day and be considered normal. Having 3 soft stools per day does not mean you have chronic diarrhea.
#56
ER doc, Reddit-confirmed. Some pearls I’ve picked up:
# The colon is in general air-tight. Therefore your d***o ALWAYS needs a flared base. Once it gets up past the point that I can grab it out, it’s vacuum sealed in.
# If you don’t smoke cigarettes, if you wear your seatbelt, and if you don’t drink and drive, you’ve just greatly increased your chances of avoiding a tragic end.
# No one really knows when they’re going to die. With that in mind, have a plan. Talk to your family about your end-of-life care wishes. I had a 90 year old the other day with terminal cancer and 6 kids and they had evidently never thought their mom was going to die. Are you sure she would really want “everything”? Intubation, CPR (bye bye, sternum), central line (giant iv in the neck)….
# A child’s fever is in the overwhelming majority of cases a healthy response to an infection. It wouldn’t be unusual to expect 6 fevers a year during the toddler years.
# The body is astoundingly complex and what counts as “disease” vs that which is a normal and a temporary aberration from the mean is a philosophically rich and unanswered question. Therefore, no amount of testing may ever reveal what is “wrong”, which begs the question as to whether anything is actually wrong. All pathology reveals itself with enough time. A twinge here, 2 sneezes, a faint discoloration of the skin. Sometimes these are best left unexplained and you can save yourself the ambulance ride.
#57
You can’t EVER get enamel back.
Flossing isn’t b******t.
#58
It gets worse when you worry too much. The only three rules for health we need to focus on are: Don’t smoke, exercise and *don’t worry*.
#59
Feeding your child sugar 24/7 isn’t good for his teeth, like what the f**k did you expect to happen Jillian?!
#60
If your baby is crying and crying and won’t stop, check their toes and if it’s a boy, check his p***s. Sometimes a strand of hair can get caught around a toe or a p***s or a testicle and slowly strangle it, called a hair tourniquet. I saw one little baby who lost a testicle like this so now I warn every parent to double check.
#61
Most people dont need to see me. They need to see a dietitian and go to a gym.
#62
Doctor here.
Being admitted to ICU is no guarantee of survival. If you have many significant medical co-morbidities (bad heart/lungs/kidneys, dementia, widespread cancer or very frail), your body may not tolerate the invasive measures they use to sustain life. It may not be appropriate for you to be admitted to ICU if you became sick because your chances of recovery with a period of intensive life support are very poor and therefore your doctor may take a more conservative approach and suggest they manage you in the ward environment. As an example, someone with poor lungs is unlikely to be weaned off a ventilator and therefore would become dependent on it and may never leave the ICU.
This would also avoid invasive procedures like intubation, invasive lines in the neck and wrist, which can be very disturbing and aggravating for patients requiring them to be heavily sedated.
Similarly, CPR has been made very Hollywood on shows lime Grey’s anatomy and House MD. It only works on 20% of patients in hospital (and that’s the healthy 20% who have relatively good health and well-functioning organs). CPR is chaotic, undignified and fraught with risks e.g. rib fractures and organ injury, and even surviving it may mean you have permanent damage to your brain/heart/kidneys from lack of oxygen while your heart was not beating. Doing CPR is unlikely to be successful in the majority of frail elderly patients and patients with severe medical problems, as they can be allowed a more gentle and dignified death in the company of their loved ones. We can give medications to help with pain, breathlessness and agitation so comfort can be maintained all the way to the end.
Many patients wish their loved ones to have all the care that can be provided for them which is understandable, but as a doctor, this is not always the right decision for every patient. For some people, a more gentle approach does the least harm. Please consider your doctor’s judgement and feel free to talk to them about it.
#63
Smoking will cause you to have life limiting pain in your legs making walking difficult, and then you will straight up lose limbs (mainly legs). Peripheral vascular disease is a thing and it’s one of the things you don’t necessarily hear about a lot when it comes to the bad effects of smoking. I’ve met a patient who has two fingers left… That’s the extent of his limbs remaining. I’ve cut off too many legs due to smoking (and diabetes too). Patients don’t seem to ever know that’s a possibility.
Also, every donut you eat makes my job (surgeon) a whole lot harder. Operating on someone who is 400 lbs carries a lot more risk than someone who is 150. Think about doing a rubick’s cube on a table in front of you, versus holding it at full arms length away and doing it with your arms and the cube wrapped in a very tight amount of rubber. The constricting effect of operating on someone gallbladder or intestines through an 8 inch thick abdominal wall is pretty difficult.
Source: general surgery resident.
#64
My ex girlfriend is a gynecologist and she always hated how many regular women misunderstood how the v****a is self-cleaning (which it is, inside) and absolutely refused to wash down there (not inside, but refused to clean the vulva and general outside c****h area).
#65
Couple of points from an inpatient doctor.
It’s not that hard to live a healthy life.
Drink water. At least 8-12 glasses a day or at least make sure your urine doesn’t look yellow. It should be clear.
Stop smoking. Yesterday !!! Vaping = SMOKING. There are some chemicals that should never go near your lungs. The only reason tobacco companies are pushing vaping and e cigs now is because public is slowly getting aware of dangers of smoking and shying away from it (fun fact : up till 1950’s , doctors used to smoke openly in front of patients , in fact there is a famous ad , what cig does your doctor smoke – Camels ) ITS THE SAME REASON FACEBOOK IS TRYING TO PUSH MESSENGER KIDS – The younger you get them hooked , the harder it is to quit.
Stay physically active. I am a physician but this fact was told to me by my nutritionist and it blew my mind. People who are active throughout the day , constantly on their feet , lose weight faster and stay healthier than people who go to the gym or exercise once a day or once a week and then just relax or become lazy rest of the day (or week).
Understand how food works. 300 calories from broccoli is not equal to 300 calories from pizza AND IS CERTAINLY NOT EQUAL TO 300 calories of running 3 miles. Just no !! You can’t drink 20 oz soda and just sweat it all out. Try it , I dare you.
I work in the inpatient side of things. So a couple of things from there.
The big H sign in the front of the building means a hospital , not Hilton Hotel. If you are coming to the hospital for a insurance funded 3 meals , free kind suite and hbo on tv , you are doing it wrong. Understand that you are in the hospital because you are sick , and as long as you are being cured and respected , you are getting what you deserve from a HOSPITAL.
understand that nurses are not wait staff. Their primary duty is to give your medications , clean you when you soil yourself and make sure you don’t fall and hit your head. Everything else is secondary. I have seen patients call the patient complaint line because the 4th ice cream wasn’t delivered on time. Seen them throw a tantrum coz ice pitcher had started to melt and had some water and wasn’t all ice. Or the tv remote wasn’t working. Jeez , have realistic expectations.
Understand how pain works. Pain is your body’s way to tell you something is wrong , don’t use this part of the body please. As long as the underlying disease process isn’t cured , you will be in some kind of pain. Pain meds, especially narcotic , numb the pain , not cure it. And our goal is not to get you at 0 pain , our goal is to keep you at a comfortable level. So as long as you can watch tv , take deep breaths and read this on reddit , you are at a comfortable level of pain.
Don’t demand narcotic. That’s how you become addicted. Some doctor gives you 10 days of narctoics after surgery , you initially take them coz they take care of the pain, then keep on taking them coz your body starts to feel good when you take them. There you go , now you are addicted
And know how pain scale works from 0-10. A pain of 10/10 would be equal to getting all your bones crushed all at once while your balls are being sliced open and then dunked into acid , all the while you have been set on fire and then forced to give birth to a basketball through your butt. Anything less is not 10/10. So don’t give me the c**p that you stubbed your pinkie and it hurts 15/10.
#66
That depression can also be due to an interplay of various neurotransmitters in our body. Low levels of dopamine, serotonin & nor-epinephrine are responsible for a person feeling completely down. So, it is imperative for you to seek timely help and take your anti-depressant medications regularly. Please don’t battle it alone.
#67
Med student here and there are so many things worth mentioning.
One thing worth knowing is that stress and anxiety can cause a lot of changes especially on your skin and gastrointestinal tract.
Also when you feel different for a while for exemple more tired, appetite loss, diffrent pooping habbits for a longer time something may be wrong.
Something not about your body but important is that anual check ups like blood tests, abdominal ultrasounds and gynecological visits starting from youth and colonoscopies when older do save lives. And most importantly never be ashamed to go to the doctor when you feel something is wrong, even if it turns out to be nothing it’s better to be safe.
#68
That when I ask a parent about their child’s vaccination history, I hear the words, “fully up to date” I know I can rule out most of the nasty infections that could be going on.
We haven’t had a case of epiglottitis in 15 years at our hospital.
#69
RN here. It’s shocking how many people don’t know the anatomy of women. The urethra is where your pee comes from. It is also where bacteria can enter and cause a UTI. No a UTI is not a STD. And it isn’t in your v****a. It’s in your urinary tract. Yes you need to go see a doctor because that infection can travel all the way up to your kidneys and eventually into your bloodstream and you will end up septic.
Also a yeast infection is not the same thing. Often you get them after a dose of antibiotics that caused an overgrowth of yeast in the v****a. And husbands/boyfriends, familiarize yourself so you can be understanding. She is not gross. She could have some anatomical problems and chronic UTIs. It can happen to you too. You just got blessed with a urethra that has a longer distance from the entrance to the bladder. So most men don’t get them as easily.
#70
Your d**k can break.
#71
Sleep in a dark room; no cellphone lights, no tv on.
#72
This will get buried but…
Life is uncomfortable.
It is unreasonable to expect that you will be pain free as you were when you were younger. Parts get older. Joints develop osteoarthritis. They just do. After a certain age, it cannot be avoided. We can help you to control pain and give advice on how to limit progression, but unless you want a joint replacement (and many joints cannot be replaced) I can’t take it out of you.
You will catch colds. You will have sore throats. You will have plugged ears. Sometimes they just have to be worked through on their own and, if I prescribed you antibiotics, it would make things worse.
Your sleep won’t be 8 hours every night, uninterrupted, blissful, and flawless. You will have trouble sleeping because you spend 1/3 of your life doing it and s**t happens. Practicing good s sleep hygiene is the best way to fix this, and don’t roll your eyes at me when I counsel you through this versus automatically writing you a prescription for Ambien, or worse, a benzodiazepine.
Essentially, have realistic expectations, be willing to put in the work if you really want something better, and don’t get upset at the doctor because we cannot return you to your perfect version of yourself, whenever you happened to have that. If you’re pain free, illness free, *embrace* how awesome that is and don’t take it for granted!
#73
F******n in infants is fused to the head of the p***s by the same biological adhesive that holds fingernails. It’s not meant to be retracted or cleaned. Let alone circumcised.
F******n self detaches from the glans later on at 2-6 years.
#74
Opiates will stop pain but they do not fix the problem. Chronic opiate users be definition have a low tolerance to pain because they have a high tolerance to opioids, so a bad case of indigestion can feel as badly as the worst pain of your life.
Also you can get addicted to marijuana. If you start having chronic nausea that improves with hot showers, quit the THC. It’s not the cure all for everything.
#75
Never call and ask your doctor about d**g interactions; take all your meds with you and go speak to your pharmacist… it’s what they specialize in. My doing this, saved my father’s life.
#76
Not a doctor but a biology graduate. Collagen is extremely complex and drinking or applying collagen products on your face won’t add them into your body.
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