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232 points BostonFern | 1 comments | | HN request time: 0s | source
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jim-jim-jim ◴[] No.41856061[source]
I've been looking for relief from abdominal pain, bloating, poorly formed movements, and breathing problems for well over a year now. It started right after a round of antibiotics, which strikes me as a very clear cause-and-effect situation involving some sort of microbial imbalance.

I don't think restrictive diets are a great idea, because I want to stay healthy otherwise and ultimately restore that balance, but curiously enough, I've found that wheat might be exacerbating some of these symptoms—despite eating it without issue my whole life.

No matter how neutrally and deferentially I approach doctors with this info, I'm treated like a paranoiac for merely inquiring about certain possibilities like so-called SIBO. I'm pretty sure I'd get dragged straight to the loony bin if I ever mentioned parasites.

Sorry for making this about me, but I wrote all this to say: this guy is very lucky he's a medical student. Even with similar evidence, I have a hard time believing he'd get medicine (and respect) as a single mother. The moment she whipped out slides like he did, they'd be writing an antipsychotic Rx.

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vasco ◴[] No.41856193[source]
You need to prove your knowledge to doctors contextually, and even then it's much easier if they are not actively giving you a consultation. Doctors don't respond well to randomly dropping theories on them. If you respond to something by dropping an inappropriate paper for the illness or ask about rare issues when common ones would fit they'll stop listening.

Most of the people a doctor gets either almost can't read or think they have all the diagnosis from "the internet". It's rare to have someone capable, who isn't going to jump to conclusions and just complicate everything, so I get why they discard most of what people tell them.

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theshrike79 ◴[] No.41856336[source]
I actually had a discussion about this with a very experienced gastroenterologist.

They said that doctors love data. Don't come at them with theories or papers. Give them a food diary + symptoms, it helps a LOT more than "I think I have X".

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dekhn ◴[] No.41864962{3}[source]
Doctors don't love data: they love a veneer of data on top of a seductive narrative, typically at a conference in Bermuda, after a couple of wine glasses.
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1. littlechef ◴[] No.41866858{4}[source]
So take them a food diary and a bottle of wine??