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[ChairmanPoo]

 

[Loud Whispers]

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

Doctors tend not to like being questioned by a Scientist about thier work. Possbly as they dont like the idea I could actually understand and pick holes in thier argument.

"So, whats this machine here Doc?"

"Thats an ultrasound imager."

"What frequency does it use?"

"I dont know, sorry."

"I do - it says right here in the user manual..."

Scientists tend not to like being questioned by witch doctors about their work. Possbly as they dont like the idea I could actually understand and pick holes in thier argument.

"So, what's this machine here for?"

"Thats a mic-."

"Can you see into the future?"

"I don't know, sorry."

"I do - it says right here in the entrails of this goat..."

[MonkeyHead]

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

Doctors tend not to like being questioned by a Scientist about thier work. Possbly as they dont like the idea I could actually understand and pick holes in thier argument.

"So, whats this machine here Doc?"

"Thats an ultrasound imager."

"What frequency does it use?"

"I dont know, sorry."

"I do - it says right here in the user manual..."

Scientists tend not to like being questioned by witch doctors about their work. Possbly as they dont like the idea I could actually understand and pick holes in thier argument.

"So, what's this machine here for?"

"Thats a mic-."

"Can you see into the future?"

"I don't know, sorry."

"I do - it says right here in the entrails of this goat..."

Cant say thats happened, or ever likley to happen to me. 

[Truean]

I'm the sort who just says, "I can actually take it, tell me the side effects.... Sounds unpleasant.... Uh huh, and is there anything you could do for me if that happens or am I screwed? Either way, just trying to plan my day."

I'm normally pretty rational about risk assessment. For instance, no worries getting on an airplane or worries about terrorist strikes. But that's partially because I have virtually no control over those things and so as a good Taoist, I don't sweat it.

But here, I'm the one who has to actually take that carcinogenic pill, stick it in my mouth, and swallow. That seems to make a difference, at least in the "Oh shit, don't let me end up as a fascinating sidebar in a medical textbook" department. I'm still going to take the medicine, I'd just be happier without knowing the intricacies of the black magic powering it, just as I'm happy flying without knowing the failure rates of the various components of the metal tube that holds me 35,000 feet over the Earth's hard, unforgiving surface.

[nods] Knowing pretty much how doctors work, I'm good with it most of the time. I've been called an immensely pleasant patient, customer, etc. Nurses seem to like me, doctors don't usually mind. I've pretty much taken the attitude of:

"Well, I'm probably screwed and odds are not much is gonna change that, but if it does then that'd be lovely.... I'm sorry, what's that...? No, no, that's fine, I know it's not your fault, and thank you for trying. I appreciate the effort.... O, that's going to happen? Well that's unfortunate.... Anything to be done about it...? Didn't think so.... So how's your kid doing again with that basketball thing....? Glad to hear it."

[Bauglir]

User Manual!? They're Doctors (supposedly)! Doctors don't need to know how something works to assume that it works nowadays! >.>

To be perfectly fair, knowing the frequency at which the machine operates is totally irrelevant to their job, and I wouldn't expect a doctor to know a bit of trivia like that. Ask a radiology technician.

[MonkeyHead]

Its fun to annoy some of them like that though... especially the ones that assume that being a medcal doctor is the pinnacle of humanity and can do litte other than talk down to you, as if your condition is an inconvenience to them. I am sure many of us have come accross people like that in the past. I have a brain, and they need not bullshit me. I have taught doctors - many I wouldn't trust to treat me.

Granted, ones with good bedside manner, character and humanity about them are deserving of respect as its a highly challenging profession.

[ChairmanPoo]

I bet bothering them about useless trivia concerning ecography machines does wonders to improve their bedside manner.

[Loud Whispers]

Cant say thats happened, or ever likley to happen to me. 

Not even once?

Its fun to annoy some of them like that though... especially the ones that assume that being a medcal doctor is the pinnacle of humanity and can do litte other than talk down to you, as if your condition is an inconvenience to them. I have taught doctors - many I wouldn't trust to treat me.

Holy cow of Asura, these ARE doctors we're talking about?

[Lagslayer]

I much preferred it when medicine = "Take this magic pill and you'll be all better!" than "Roll d100: On 01-97, you steadily improve over 1d2 weeks. On 97, your skin falls off. On 98, you get cancer. On 99, you burst into flames. On 00, you do all three of the above simultaneously."

I'm tempted to sig this.

[RedKing]

I'm the sort who just says, "I can actually take it, tell me the side effects.... Sounds unpleasant.... Uh huh, and is there anything you could do for me if that happens or am I screwed? Either way, just trying to plan my day."

I'm normally pretty rational about risk assessment. For instance, no worries getting on an airplane or worries about terrorist strikes. But that's partially because I have virtually no control over those things and so as a good Taoist, I don't sweat it.

But here, I'm the one who has to actually take that carcinogenic pill, stick it in my mouth, and swallow. That seems to make a difference, at least in the "Oh shit, don't let me end up as a fascinating sidebar in a medical textbook" department. I'm still going to take the medicine, I'd just be happier without knowing the intricacies of the black magic powering it, just as I'm happy flying without knowing the failure rates of the various components of the metal tube that holds me 35,000 feet over the Earth's hard, unforgiving surface.

[nods] Knowing pretty much how doctors work, I'm good with it most of the time. I've been called an immensely pleasant patient, customer, etc. Nurses seem to like me, doctors don't usually mind. I've pretty much taken the attitude of:

"Well, I'm probably screwed and odds are not much is gonna change that, but if it does then that'd be lovely.... I'm sorry, what's that...? No, no, that's fine, I know it's not your fault, and thank you for trying. I appreciate the effort.... O, that's going to happen? Well that's unfortunate.... Anything to be done about it...? Didn't think so.... So how's your kid doing again with that basketball thing....? Glad to hear it."

Yeah, my gastroenterologist is a good guy. I think he actually appreciates knowing that he doesn't have to use small words with me and can describe things in clinical detail, and that I'll relay my symptoms in a methodical timeline with relevant data on fever, pain, etc.

As opposed to just meandering around about everything I did for the last two weeks, or sitting there like a lump and waiting for him to ask leading questions. I know this because much of what I do is similar to the discovery process for medical professionals: "Okay, so when did your computer first show symptoms? What kind of symptoms? What were you doing before that? Okay, now what were you REALLY doing before that?" 

So I feel their pain. It's just that when *I* try something without 100% chance of knowing if it'll work, the downsides are typically no result at all. And none of the things I have a person try could give them cancer. Still kinda perturbed by that. I know everything is potentially toxic/carcinogenic in a large enough quantity or over a long enough exposure...but this stuff is actually banned from use on livestock because of it. That raises a yellow flag to me.

[MonkeyHead]

but this stuff is actually banned from use on livestock because of it. That raises a yellow flag to me.

That does seem kind of odd.

[ChairmanPoo]

Well, bear in mind that livestock will be consumed by healthy  people. Having a drug as a second-line reserve for people with serious conditions might be acceptable. Having it be intaken along with their food by thousands of otherwise healthy people, not so much.

Plus, it's no good to get overly worried about this stuff. There's not a single drug that cannot cause horrible stuff if you happen to be unlucky enough to have the underlying  necessary causes for that. Consider NSAIDs, like aspirin. Besides each's individual drug quirks, they all can pretty much cause liver and kidney damage, if you take too many, or too often, or -unknowingly- your kidney does not work that well to begin with, etc... Yet we all keep taking them every now and then. You have to be pragmatic about this stuff 

[Pnx]

Its fun to annoy some of them like that though... especially the ones that assume that being a medcal doctor is the pinnacle of humanity and can do litte other than talk down to you, as if your condition is an inconvenience to them. I have taught doctors - many I wouldn't trust to treat me.

Holy cow of Asura, these ARE doctors we're talking about?

Medical professionals are usually competent at whatever their field is, but quite a chunk of them have really horrible attitudes towards the patients. There's also a lot of doctors who are jaded from dealing with stupid patients all the time, then there's also various doctors who are just in it for the money, this last category is the worst.

So I feel their pain. It's just that when *I* try something without 100% chance of knowing if it'll work, the downsides are typically no result at all. And none of the things I have a person try could give them cancer. Still kinda perturbed by that. I know everything is potentially toxic/carcinogenic in a large enough quantity or over a long enough exposure...but this stuff is actually banned from use on livestock because of it. That raises a yellow flag to me.

To be fair there's a lot of stuff that's been linked to cancer that you're likely to deal with on a regular basis, like booze, cosmetics, mouthwash, meat, sunlight. If you get cancer chances are it's not going to be the antibiotics that gives it to you.

[RedKing]

There's not a single drug that cannot cause horrible stuff if you happen to be unlucky enough to have the underlying  necessary causes for that.

That's why I'm worried. If watching medical TV dramas has taught me anything  , it's that these freak conditions that take the team all half-hour to figure out usually stem from a medication or condition intersecting with some other rare condition that nobody knew about up front. I've got plenty of genetic anomalies, enough to make me worry about how they're going to interact with something like this. Without being able to suss out the incredibly detailed biochemisty involved, it's kind of a black box: Put medicine in, put genetic conditions in, hope that the output doesn't involve spontaneous decapitation, testicular myopia or brain tooth*.


*All potential side-effects of products from the wonderful folks at Prescott Pharmaceuticals.

[GlyphGryph]

http://rayfish.com/

Grow your own pair of shoes, genetically!

(not sure if real...)