Medical terminology is understandably difficult for the average person to comprehend. However, instead of simply asking a professional, many people make up their own explanations, or, especially in the US, venture down the oftentimes dangerous route of alternative medicine…
If you’re a medical professional, feel free to tell us the most common myths you have to debunk using this anonymous form!
1. “The myth that ‘vaccines do more harm than good.”
“What I hate is that people think there’s some big conspiracy, and we refuse to admit that there could be side effects. Everything in life, from the water that we drink to chemo, has risks and benefits. Yet, when we do come up with safer vaccines without the additives that were removed for unfounded concerns, they don’t change their mind. I do not know how to talk to folks so stuck in this mindset, as I can’t fathom why one would think like that in the first place.
I also really want my Big Pharma checks. I might have been given a pen once or twice, but otherwise I’ve never gotten anything! Where is all this money they talk about?”
2. “‘Circumcision is necessary.'”
“I just had a baby boy, and the pediatrician in the hospital was overjoyed when we said we weren’t circumcising. His exact words were ‘Oh my gosh, that makes me so happy!'”
3. “I’m not a doctor, but I work in end-of-life care. So many people think hospice workers are just waiting to kill their loved ones with morphine…”
“I’ve even heard they think we get a bonus if their loved one dies more quickly. This belief is very prevalent amongst older people, and it’s incredibly insulting and hurtful. I’ve heard it repeated so many times that I have lost my patience with it and have to bite my tongue.
No one is recommending morphine because they want your loved one to die; it’s because they can’t swallow their pain pills anymore, and they’re suffering.
End of story.”
4. “‘Electroconvulsive therapy is torture and will destroy your brain.’ When in reality it’s the most effective treatment we have for certain mental health disorders like depression and catatonia.”
“I’ve found the biggest misconception around ECT was its portrayal in One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, which is just a travesty. Don’t get your medical advice from movies.
For one thing, you’re not awake for it — it’s done with anesthesia. You’re put to sleep, with a paralytic on a board, and you don’t even convulse unless they tourniquet an extremity to watch for the muscle contractions after the paralytic is given. It’s not torture, and it’s outrageous that people believe the film’s representation of the procedure. It’s a horrible way to stigmatize a useful therapy that helps people who have no other options.
For people with severe catatonic depression, it’s a godsend similar to hitting the reset button.”
5. “‘Women have been having babies for thousands of years’ as a rationale to dismiss risks.”
“Childbirth has massive risks, most of which are carpet swept under the joy of having kids, and leads to a lot of shock during pregnancy, birth, and postpartum.
Every would-be parent should assess the risks before getting pregnant. Not as a deterrent, but as a way to be fully informed, as various things can unfold, and how to be ready for them.”
6. “I don’t work in the US, but I’ve done some conferences there and have heard some colleagues claim that different races/sexes naturally have different pain tolerance levels. While it’s true that people have different pain tolerance levels, I’ve seen no evidence suggesting there’s any correlation to race or sex.”
“Redheads tend to be the outliers with pain tolerance. Redheads feel more pain, yet they’re tougher than anyone else.”
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7. “‘You’re too young to be experiencing menopausal or hormonal symptoms.’ Perimenopause starts as early as 35 for some women; some women go through ovarian failure before 40. HRT is incredibly important and helpful. Hormonal issues are a big concern for cardiovascular, osteoporosis, metabolic risks, shorter life expectancy, and weight management issues. Autoimmune disorders should also be considered alongside diagnosis.”
“HRT does not cause any higher likelihood of blood clots or cancers than birth control does. Prescribe the HRT as it bypasses the liver and has fewer potential side effects. Do not let your patients suffer, please. Refer out to a specialist if you’re not well-versed in endocrine concerns. Birth control is not safer than HRT, and HRT is absolutely necessary with premature ovarian failure until at least age 55.”
8. “Pee is NOT sterile.”
“Urine cultures in the absence of urinary symptoms, pregnancy, or expectant urological surgery are useless. It shocks me how often I have to teach medical professionals this. I don’t care if you have bacteria in your pee.
Signed, an infectious disease doctor.”
9. “The ‘ivermectin is better for cancer than standard therapies’ myth is growing. And whenever a patient shows data, it’s always cell culture data.”
“I just ran into a former coworker. She’s battled colon cancer, breast cancer, and now has a blood cancer. She swears by ivermectin and says chemo ‘fries’ your organs. Also, it gets rid of worms, and she checks her toilet and sees tons of worms.
I just smile and nod.”
10. “‘Natural supplements are better and safer than proven medications.’ I have seen people die with treatable cancer, heart disease, liver failure, or get very sick from these untested products. And they cost a lot. Please be careful.”
“It will never cease to amaze me how scientifically illiterate some people are. They are honestly convinced by the concept of ‘natural’ things being inherently better, as if some mystical concept of what is ‘intended’ for your body trumps actual chemistry and pharmacokinetics.”
11. “‘Stroke level’ blood pressure. As if there’s a certain blood pressure at which point you will absolutely have a stroke. High blood pressure is a chronic problem. A stroke is a consequence of long-term high blood pressure, not a one-off day of high blood pressure.”
“Also, high blood pressure while pregnant is more of a concern for seizures and not stroke. That said, please follow your OB/GYN’s guidelines regarding blood pressure in pregnancy.”
12. “I am a GI doctor, focusing on IBD patients (I myself have Crohn’s). I see/hear a lot of bad advice or outdated myths. ‘Just eat less processed foods,’ ‘IBD inflammation is mostly diet-related,’ etc. It’s increased in recent years, due to the focus on ‘gut health’ in alt-right crunchy rhetoric. A persistently nefarious one is exaggerated claims about how dangerous biologics really are. There are risks, but risk assessment is a basic part of treatment management.”
“A pretty harmless myth that persists is that ‘nuts, seeds, popcorn, etc., cause diverticulitis.’ It used to be standard advice, but there’s actually no significant evidence that they inflame diverticula more than other foods. I don’t care if someone wants to avoid them, though, because it isn’t actually harmful like some of the above myths.”
13. “That you have to take the bullet out — you don’t. The holes the bullet made are the problem; simply taking the bullet out doesn’t fix anything. I give a hard eye roll every time I see this in movies.”
“More often than not, we leave bullets in. They get into places where it’s more trouble than it’s worth to remove them, as they will stop deep in tissue or next to bone. So the simple answer is, no, we don’t bother.
The more complex answer is that there are a few situations in which it is important. If they get into ‘privileged’ spaces like eyes or joints, they can be a real problem and often require removal. Or if they end up in a blood vessel, they can embolize to the heart and lungs and act like a pulmonary embolism, which is also bad. Finally, if, as an outpatient, the bullet is annoying the patient (they can feel it under the skin, etc.), we will remove it in the clinic under local anesthesia a lot of the time. There is some evidence that there is a psychological benefit in these cases, as the bullet is a reminder of the trauma. But there are vanishingly small times when you ‘need’ to remove a bullet.
And far worse is digging blindly in a hole with metal instruments, trying to get something out. Bullets aren’t a fast-acting poison (few are even made of lead these days) that you have to get out. It’s what they hit on their way through the body that is the problem.”
14. “Vitamin C cures/prevents a cold.”
“I’m AMAZED at how deeply people hold the outdated idea that taking huge doses of vitamin C when sick or feeling like they are ‘coming down with something’ will have a major effect or otherwise prevent the full severity of an illness.
Vitamin C is, of course, necessary for the good functioning of the immune system, but no, it isn’t some kind of miracle cure or supercharges your immune system.”
15. “‘Teeth are luxury bones and that’s why insurance doesn’t cover them.’ Teeth are not just cosmetic; they are also needed.”
“Without teeth, the ability to chew food properly diminishes, leading to potential nutritional deficiencies and digestive problems. Not having teeth also causes bone loss in the jaw and speech problems.
Not to mention all the trouble that comes with an infected tooth. They can and will kill you without treatment.”
16. “‘The doctor told me I had six months to live.’ Not that I can blame people for possibly misunderstanding the details of a cancer diagnosis. What the doctor is actually saying is that the median survival is six months. Half of the patients diagnosed will live more than six months, and the other half will live less.”
“This might seem trivial to some of you, but I think this misunderstanding hurts trust in doctors at the exact time they need it most. How many times have you heard something like, ‘The doctor gave me one year to live, and I’m still alive three years later.’ The implication for some is that doctors don’t know what they are talking about.
I have seen too many people forgo effective treatment to do something dumb like smoke marijuana instead of having a bone marrow transplant for their leukemia. And misunderstandings like this are partly to blame.”
17. “‘Babies and toddlers don’t have kneecaps.’ They have kneecaps, which are just cartilage, so you can’t see them on X-ray.”
“If you peeked at an X-ray of a baby or toddler’s foot or hand, it would look like they have no bones at all.”
18. “‘Eating carrots makes your eyesight better.’ Nope. Carrots contain vitamin A, which is important for vision, and vitamin A deficiency can definitely result in vision problems. But eating more carrots does not equal better vision.”
“Fun fact: the ‘carrots give you better vision’ myth was started in WWII, to hide radar’s existence and uses from the Axis!
It was like, ‘Oh no, we don’t have any new war tools. Nope, our pilots just eat a ton of carrots!'”
19. Lastly, “‘Insurance covers it.'”
“This is one of the things I find odd about the American healthcare system. You put massive amounts of money into insurance policies aimed at avoiding huge, unaffordable healthcare bills, but can still end up with a load of stuff not covered by them and have huge, unaffordable healthcare bills anyway.”
Did any of these surprise you? Medical professionals, what medical myths do you have to debunk often? Tell us in the comments or answer anonymously using the form below!
Note: Some responses have been edited for length and/or clarity.
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