I always thought the advice to pull an aching tooth by tying a strong string to it and attaching the other end to the door (and then yanking the door open) was something out of a “Tom and Jerry” cartoon or some strange old fairy tale. That was until my daughter received the same piece of advice from an elderly neighbor a few years ago.
Yep, centuries of education and hundreds of clever books and TV shows seem to mean nothing when some random guy decides to “bless” us with yet another “wise” health tip, which, in reality, won’t bring us any healing – and luckily, won’t cause any harm.
More info: Reddit
I was interning at a hospital and observing a pap smear of a 16 year old girl when the doctor said she had a yeast infection. The mother, who was in the room at the time, told the girl to just soak in bleach. when the doctor explained to the mother why this was bad, she refused to listen and got super upset. So we left them and went to lunch. Dumb. A*s. People.
Being out in the cold does not f*****g make you sick you idiots. Viral and bacterial infections make you sick.
There’s a popular thread online where the topic starter, user u/Blotman, asks netizens: “What is the dumbest health advice you’ve heard people give out?” The author’s original target audience was doctors and nurses, but it turned out that ordinary people with no connection to medicine had also witnessed incredibly strange “medical” advice.
Today, we present to you a selection of four dozen such pieces of advice, from the simply ridiculous to the downright harmful, so please feel free to scroll this list to the very end, and make sure to never follow any of the tips listed here!
This is probably too late to be seen, but we had some volunteers that were leading a diabetes education class for low-income / uninsured patients at a free clinic.
The volunteers were not health professionals, but were given worksheets and a clear list of talking points. They were also told that if they didn’t know the answer to a question, they should have the patient submit it via e-mail where one of the volunteer nurses or physicians would answer it.
The worksheet basically walked them through diet and exercise advice, how to measure blood sugar levels appropriately during the day, what kind of follow up care (podiatrist, opthamologist, etc) is important, what symptoms of worsening disease to watch for, that kind of thing.
Anyway, 2 months ago, one of the nurses had some free time and was able to sit in on one of these sessions. The volunteer, who had been there for a little over a year at this point, was telling type 2 diabetics to go on juice cleanses.
This bears repeating; a volunteer at a free clinic, who is going to come across as a health expert to these patients who generally have low health literacy, is telling glucose intolerant individuals to eat nothing but sugar as a diet strategy.
The nurse asked her for a quick word outside, and then told her she wouldn’t be leading those sessions anymore.
Anytime someone tries to predict their outcome based on some relationship.
Doctor: “sir, you had a heart attack, you aren’t out of the woods yet and we need to talk about some serious lifestyle changes going forward. “
Patient: ” Dr. My wife’s mother’s cousin had like 4 heart attacks and lived to be 99 years old and he smoked and ate bacon and eggs twice a day until he died, I’ll be fine.”
In that same vein when a Doctor makes a recommendation for treatment or surgery and the person whips out webmd and tries to one up the doctor.
As a registered dietitian in a hospital, I’d say a solid 90% of my job entails hearing people’s b******t. So eating a tablespoon or so of cinnamon each day is going to control your blood sugar, no need to follow a meal plan or take your meds? Dr. Oz says that tumeric/cumin/whatever random spice will speed up your metabolism so you don’t need to change any of your habits to lose weight? Outstanding.
Perhaps the most offensive thing for doctors is when a patient, after being told in detail what they need to do to cope with a problem, starts extrapolating from someone else’s alleged experience to their own experience. That experience, of course, completely devalues the doctor’s recommendations.
For example, a heavy smoker, instead of taking the doctor’s advice and avoiding lung cancer, begins to recall that one of their distant relatives kinda smoked several packs a day – and that this didn’t prevent them from living to 100. If this semi-mythical guy could do it, why can’t I, such a patient thinks.
Paramedic and CPR instructor here.
I was teaching CPR to a room full of cops and we were talking about AED use. After I finished the Lt. comes to the front and explains to his officers that each police issued taser can be used in place of an AED by shocking directly over the heart! I was dumbfounded. I quickly told everyone that was NOT true and the act could get them in a LOT of trouble. The Lt. was visibly mad that I corrected him in front of everyone and he ended up calling my supervisor.
EDIT: Hey guys thanks for all the replies. I figured I should clear some things up. I did instruct the class that this was not appropriate conduct. Honestly most of them already knew what that their Lt was spouting BS. The PD and FD in my area (like most) take CPR/AED every year even though their AHA license is good for two years. Most of these guys are very smart and learn well.
I went on to explain that the only “shockable” heart rhythms you can be in are Ventricle Tachycardia and Ventricle Fibrillation. Both require “just the right amount” of electricity to restart the heart. The wrong “dose” of electricity can stop the heart which is even worse than VT and VF. The Lt had been implying that if no AED was available or coming soon he would “with good intent” shock the patients chest with his taser. I told him he no longer can say good intent because now he knows the medical truth.
Not so much advice but I had a patient who was having an asthma attack. We arrived at her house and she was smoking a cigarette. I try not to be a d**k to people, but I explained to her that next time she’s having an asthma attack, smoking might not be the best idea. Her response was incredible.
“Nah, it’s all good. I switched to menthol.”.
School nurse here so people automatically assume I’m an idiot. I had someone tell me that insulin makes their sugar go up, and it’s just like that in some people. I’ve also been told that it’s best to keep drinking diet sodas because stopping abruptly can make you very sick. “My doctor told me I need to drink diet cokes or I may end up in the hospital.” And don’t get me started on the best treatments for lice! Btw, don’t put gasoline on a child’s hair…
Another example of this line of thinking are the recent deaths of Ozzy Osbourne and Hulk Hogan, and the many similar reactions online. For example, if one led an extremely unhealthy lifestyle for most of his life, and the other was the gym frequenter, yet still lived less than Ozzy, then why even bother with sports?
This, of course, ignores the number of injuries, large and small, Hogan sustained during his wrestling career, and that Ozzy’s body was a de facto medical phenomenon, precisely because of its superhuman endurance. After all, many rockers who led the same kind of lives in their youth didn’t even live to be forty.
But this cynical dichotomy has already gone viral, and some folks will inevitably take it as a guide to living… Unfortunately, thereby putting their own health at risk.
Not necessarily a “tip” that’s given out, but rather ignorance/misinformation. Out of med school I worked at a women’s clinic in an inner city area. Very often someone would be treated for an STD, and contract the STD again because their partner was not treated. Often times the reasoning was that “the antibiotics gave me immunity to the STD”. This is exactly why enhanced and accurate s*x education is so crucial – especially in areas with high STD and teen pregnancy rates.
Similarly, natural remedies that involve sticking a garlic clove/parsley/cilantro into the v****a are guaranteed to end in disaster.
Not a nurse, but had to add this – my aunt just tried to tell me that taping a cut onion to the bottom of your foot will cleanse your blood of toxins. :/.
People who offer to “share” antibiotics with their friends. A) You shouldn’t really have any after YOUR course of treatment; B) They expire; C) Yours may not work for what someone else has.
It’s partly understandable why some people are prone to giving out strange health advice, but why do so many of us believe it? In fact, it’s all because many people fail to grasp how complex the modern world is, and subconsciously seek “simple” solutions. They actually embrace so-called “magical thinking.”
In fact, it’s not just a lack of proper education. “Less education is certainly a factor, but higher education does not, on its own, inoculate people from conspiracy thinking,” Ralph Lewis, M.D. writes in his article for Psychology Today. “People who believe in one conspiracy theory are more likely to believe in other conspiracy theories.”
Pharmacy tech here,really grinds my gears when I hear people recommending to friends to switch to gluten free.
Good lord woman(Yes it’s ALWAYS women) if you were intolerant of gluten you would be s******g from holes you didn’t know you had.
Nurse here.
Any and everything relating to Dr. Oz. I go into fits of rage the second he’s mentioned. Unless you’re getting advice from him on Cardiothoracic Surgery.
Also, people thinking you need to hold someone down who’s having a seizure so they don’t get hurt. That’s how we break bones. Just move furniture and what not out of the way and call appropriate help. Grabbing the arms and legs of a thrashing person is bad juju.
A patient’s brother came in to visit after his bro had a seizure. He said to me “So I was reading about seizures online. Next time I see my brother having a seizure, I’ll put a spoon in my brother’s mouth and hold his head still.” ???????
My response…”Absolutely not. Do not stick ANYTHING in his mouth, and do not hold his head unless you want to break his neck. Get him a pillow and set it under his head, and move objects out of the way so he won’t hurt himself.”
Scary.
According to this article published on the Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMCV) website, ever-increasing stress and anxiety, and a growing distrust of institutions, literally drive people to believe various weird health recommendations. Hence the attempts to explain complex mechanisms with “simple things.”
“You want a simple story to explain why the world feels messed up, or an easy fix for a chronic health condition. A lot of it comes down to powerlessness,” the AAMC website quotes Abbie Richards, a research fellow at The Accelerationism Research Consortium (ARC). In fact, the more complex the world around us becomes, the more people, unfortunately, begin to believe all sorts of dubious theories…
I’ve got an ex whose parents believe that a trip to the chiropractor will fix EVERYTHING.
Sinus infection? Chiro. Yeast infection? Chiro. Depression? Chiro. Pneumonia? Chiro. Diabetes? Chiro. Asthma flare ups? Chiro. Iron deficiency? Chiro. Stomach flu? Chiro. Ear infection? Chiro.
Going to the doctor? Nothin. Can’t trust them.
Paediatric nurse here. Wrapping someone with a high fever up to let them “sweat it out” is not a good idea. Warming something that is too warm does not make it cooler. Rapid escalation i
n body temperature can leave to convulsions, especially in children.
Paramedic here.
This isn’t really a health tip I’ve heard, but rather witnessed. If I respond to a seizure call or an unresponsive party, about one in ten will have a bag of frozen vegetables in their pants. For some reason the people in the city I serve think frozen vegetables will fix anything.
Well, we offer you just over forty stories about different people here, but you should never take this “advice” at face value. Just read, appreciate the depth of human weirdness, and feel free to share your own stories in the comments, if you have some under your belt.
A lot of older women who were in their hayday during the 50s and 60s swear by douching with cleaning liquids such as hexol and Lysol. No amount of warnings, yeast infections, research, or logic will make them change their minds either.
The parents of a child with cerebral palsy who told me they stopped her anti seizure medications, but they justified that it was okay because they were giving her lots of MonaVie.
Nursing Student Here – I once heard a nurse from the Philippines say that this patient who had a stroke should be eating as much leafy greens as possible when they get home.
The reason why this is stupid is because we give people who have strokes [anticoagulant medication] for treatment at home because it’s easier then injecting themselves daily. Vitamin K (found very commonly in leafy greens) is the direct antidote for this medication & promotes blood clotting, leading to another stroke.
Lets just say that when the MRP found out this nurse was in deep s**t…
I had a woman come into the ER with very heavy post-partum bleeding. As I was setting up an IV for normal saline so freaked asking if it would affect her breast milk. I assured her it wouldn’t and she then asked if the IV pole could go outside. When I asked why she was asking she said she needed to go out for a smoke…
I once heard a diabetes educator tell a insulin dependent diabetic to drink fruit juice as a serving of fruit. Holy mother of god.
Not a Doctor or Nurse, but Paramedic.
Each month, I get a pregnant woman who has the worst case of indigestion and diarrhea of their life. Why? Someone told them to drink Castor Oil and eat spicy foods to bring on labor. In all reality, it just makes you s**t your brains out and your a*s feels like an inferno due to the spicy foods.
The Bayer commercials k**l me. The ones that say ‘take an Aspirin, save yourself from a heart attack.’ No…just no. An Aspirin alone will not save you. In conjunction with a CABG/Stent placement, strong anti-platelets, and other fun d***s, Aspirin helps. It is not the magic pill of life.
I was told to roll up a piece of paper into a funnel and then put the smaller end in my ear and light the larger end on fire to remove water from my ear.
Watched a Facebook pity-party morph into a “Curing cancer by bathing in hydrogen peroxide and quitting chemo” discussion.
This won’t be seen, but I really liked it.
I used to be a paramedic. When my team got to a car-crash victim with a broken leg, witnesses were very busy bringing him a glass of milk from a nearby restaurant “because milk is so good for your bones!”.
I had a mother put coffee grounds in her son’s scalp laceration. She said it helps stop the bleeding. It took some effort to scrub out the coffee so we could suture the wound.
“Put a spoon or your finger in a persons mouth if they start seizing or else they swallow their tongue.”
How stupid do you have to be to think of something like that?
Knew a guy who tried the finger thing and yeah..that didnt end well. Also, you cant swallow your tongue.
It can just fall back and block the airway if you’re limp.
Medical malpractice defense attorney here. I read through all the records and depositions of plaintiffs (patients) and doctors/nurses (defendants). One plaintiff, in sworn deposition testimony, said that a doctor told him to alleviate constipation by eating cheeseburgers.
No. That does not work. The doctor apparently broke out laughing when he learned of this testimony. Plaintiffs (and to an admittedly much lesser extent, caregivers) make s**t up all the time to win cases.
Not a main issue of the case, but funny made up medical advice anyway. If you’re having trouble pooing, eat all food groups but vegetables and fruits!
I’m not a med professional, but while I was living in Ecuador, the lady I was living with made me wear a potato necklace (like sliced, raw potatoes helped up to my neck with a towel tied in the back) to “suck out the infection” from my throat (I had a very slight cold, just a tiny scratchy throat, really).
I didn’t know enough spanish at the time to understand her logic and so I went with it. People are strange.
Paramedic here. Once heard a man suggest to his friend with third degree burns that he should put toothpaste on the burned area because “the mint will help cool it and then you can scrub it off.”.
I’m not in the health field, but my BFF has a degree in nutrition. She was telling me that one of her friends told her that if you drank water when you are scared you’ll get diabetes.
I’m not one but I heard some people say the hospitals keep the temperature so low so it’ll make you more sick.
If your hand is bigger than your face, you have cancer.
You do not contract pneumonia simply because you are cold.
Not a nurse yet, working my way through nursing school. But I used to work with a guy who would always say ” I drink nothing but Red Bulls and Coke and smoke two packs a day, but that’s okay, because if your blood pressure is zero that means you’re dead, so I’m trying to keep my blood pressure as far away from zero as possible, so I won’t die.”.
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