If you’re fat they would claim that it is a consequence of your weight and should diet and exercise.
this post was submitted on 16 Jul 2025
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Chronic Illness
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I have a tongue issues which five different doctors have decided is geographic tongue, and told me it will go away “in a couple of weeks”. The last two times I heavily prefaced adding “Before I get into it, it’s OK to say you don’t know, but don’t tell me it will go away in a couple of weeks because it’s been over ten years.” Both times as soon as they saw my tongue they cut me off with a “it will go away in a couple of weeks” and refused to discuss it further.
My ex's doctor refused to refer her to a specialist because he didn't think she had the condition they specialized in. Until I went along one time and just asked "what makes you rule it out?"
At that point, he admitted knowing nothing about the condition and said he'd do some research. Which he did do and promptly referred her to the specialist because it matched her weird symptoms very well and she's since been diagnosed with two variants of it (one from each parent).
And the sad part is that doctor was her better newer doctor after getting rid of one whose advice would have killed her because he didn't realize the birth control he wanted her to finish the course of was causing her organs to shut down because he didn't bother with the follow up blood tests he was supposed to do or take her severe symptoms seriously.
😭…
average medical appointment.
That's usually related to vitamin deficiencies, have you been screened for that at all? Doctors tend to skip over vitamin deficiencies
I’ll ask the next one!
I'm sorry, are you saying they haven't brought it up before? Maybe do some of your own research and try supplementing the vitamins listed or eating foods with thise vitamins in them. My word, it's like a classic symptom of B3 deficiency among others, I'm so sorry no one has told you. It's literally the first thing they are supposed to give you, are vitamins, to treat that and see how it responds.
You know what? There's this thing called AI...and it somehow cares more than an actual human.
The fuck we need meatbags for anymore?
And medical diagnosis is one of the areas very well suited to automation, the only thing is answering some of the binary questions in the flowchart involve giving and interpreting complex tests. But a machine could decide what tests need to be done and would probably do a better job than a lot of doctors out there as long as they don't add a bunch of conclusions like "patient is probably just looking for opiates" or "pain can't be that bad if the patient is still able to function and talk about it" or "it's never rare condition".
Then the human doctors can be left to do the interesting work or find a new career if all they wanted to do is say whatever words will make the patient go away (and pay their bill).
What you're describing doesn't even require AI. Skip that unreliability and just code a flow chart questionnaire.
Yeah, it wouldn't need to be an llm or nn. But a flow chart questionnaire that can dynamically add new nodes can be considered a form of machine learning.
People died because of their apathy. Deserved!
They're also going to do a pregnancy test if they suspect you have a vagina.
Translation: “I’m out of my depth here. I don’t know how to help. I would refer you to the right person but I don’t even have a good, professional referral network.”
If your lucky. Often it’s just “I’m too overworked and busy to take you seriously”.
Or “I don’t believe you / think you are exaggerating”.
I still remember the time I was like 17, hiking, and got bit by a tick just over my belt buckle, and a rash started to develop and the doctor was like “it’s a byproduct of an allergy to your belt” and prescribed me steroids. I basically begged for a Lyme disease test. If I didn’t get that test and those meds at the time (after testing positive for lyme), life would be way more fucked up right now
Lucky the tests worked for you as they are notoriously inaccurate!
For me it's more like 'im out of my depth here. I don't know how to help. I would refer you to the right person, since there is a good, professional referral system in place in this country. But that would require me to admit I'm out of my depth, which I will never do'.
I finally got a diagnosis and it's so freeing.
Yes it's terminal, but it's so sooooo good to know what's happening.
If your Dutch they will tell you to take paracetamol for 2 weeks and make a new appointment if you still have the same problem.
Wait until you see what "insurance" costs.
Dutch medicine is the worst, man. They will Google symptoms in front of you and just treat those, no thinking of the bigger picture.
I go abroad to visit doctors now.
Unless you're close to death they won't put any effort into diagnosis but once you actually get diagnosed the treatment in the Netherlands is pretty good.
The healthcare system suffers from years of budget cuts, bad working conditions and our education system being gradually demolished.
meanwhile i have multiple friends who moved from America to the Netherlands to get their medical issues actually treated
From my experience in Germany, getting a proper diagnosis is often the hard part; I think that may actually be easier in the USA, US doctors have clear economic incentive to diagnose you with something and either way a diagnosis is usually much cheaper than the treatment.
Plus, even if I knew my issues would be treated in another country, I'd have great difficulty migrating there - it's a very specific subset of ill people who are desperate enough to migrate to a different country but still able enough, and wealthy enough, to actually go through with it.
You might think but I bet the diagnosis in America is more expensive then the treatment somewhere else...
From the perspective of health insurances, it depends; pills can be pretty cheap, but surgery is usually expensive. I don't think psychotherapy comes cheap, either.
At least you don't have to pay $100 for the privilege of wasting your time.
Hahahha experienced that in Austria too
Here in Germany they won’t even recommend the paracetamol, they’ll just tell you to drink tea and rest.
Ah, the hypochondriac is back. What is it this time?
Well, my lead pipe hurts a little.
That's normal. NEXT PATIENT!
And after 5 months of having your head weighed down by a giant axe: Of course you're in pain! Your posture is all wrong!
Cause most doctors aren’t Dr House, and they don’t really have any idea what is wrong with you, unless it’s one of the common problems they deal with like 95% of the time.
"Clearly you're overweight, have you tried exercise?"
Started reading up Guyton's Physiology today. Your health is in your hands.
If only they didn't make making our own meds fucking illegal, now thag they won't treat them!
Only for the office to call you and reschedule the follow up appointment