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PaperclipPerfector  5d ago (text post)   23507 thread views

Culture War Roundup for the week of November 18, 2024

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I'm going to push back on the assumption that nurse practitioners, or even registered nurses, tend provide worse care than doctors for most patients. I want something more than an impression of anecdotes--preferably actual studies--because in my circle complaining about getting misdiagnosed made by doctors is a well-honed pastime.

I haven't been able to find it again, but I remember reading a story somewhere (possibly by Dave Barry, but I could be wrong) that went something along the lines of:

My tongue was swollen, and I went to my doctor. He did an examination, then diagnosed me with two Latin words, that when I looked them up later, turned out to mean 'swollen tongue', and told me to come back if it hadn't gone away in two weeks. I then asked a nurse, who told me to gargle with salt water; I did and the swelling was gone quickly. I'm hoping my dog's tongue becomes swollen; if the vet tells him to gargle with salt water, I'm taking all my medical problems to him.

(If anyone knows the source of this, please let us know.)

I had severe and persistent shoulder pain a few years back, it would radiate down my arm to the point it it became actually debilitating. Went to urgent care, they did X-rays, a doc came in and felt around, asked me some questions, and looked at the X-ray results.

Said I likely had bursitis and gave me a scrip for muscle relaxers and painkillers, that BARELY got me through the next couple weeks until the pain went away.

Last year, the pain came back. This time I spoke to one of my Physical Therapist friends who I KNEW saw tons of patients a year. She agreed to do an exam for cash, then give me her thoughts and possible options.

Took her about 10-15 minutes of prodding around to diagnose elevated first rib and a muscle imbalance causing possible shoulder impingement.

She gave me some stretches to ease the discomfort, then some exercises to remedy the imbalance once the pain subsided. Took <1 week for the pain to alleviate, and after easing into the exercises everything started working even better than before. No drugs needed.

Sort of broke my last remaining faith in Doctors as the gatekeepers of health.

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