MEDICAL FLIP FLOPS

"NOT ALWAYS RIGHT, BUT NEVER IN DOUBT." The medical profession is very dogmatic. Just thinking back over my years in the field, I can think of some major 180 degree reversals.  Take for example the  dogma of how your baby should sleep.  When my children were infants 35 plus years ago, our pediatricians scared us to death with admonitions against letting our babies sleep on their backs.  We were told to roll them over instantly on their bellies so that if they spit up, they would not aspirate milk and food into their lungs and get pneumonia or worse yet, choke and be unable to breath.  in 2013, if you let your child sleep on his stomach, the Department of Children and Family Services will be called because the American Academy of Pediatrics says that babies have to sleep on their backs, NEVER on their bellies.

Older people can get a high blood pressure problem called systolic hypertension. This is different from  other types of high blood pressure disorders.  When you get your blood pressure checked with a sphygmomanometer cuff that is blown up on your arm, there are two numbers registered.  The upper one is the systolic pressure which is how much pressure is in your blood vessels when the heart contracts, and the diastolic number (lower one) is when the heart is between contractions (beats).  Isolated systolic hypertension is when the lower number is normal but the upper one is too high, over 140. It was medical dogma, undisputed truth, that as long as your lower number was below 90 you were OK and it was fine if the upper number were a little high all the time or occasionally even higher. in 2013, doctors now KNOW  that having a high upper number and a normal lower number can be even more serious, leading to heart attack, stroke, dementia, and kidney failure. The difference between the upper and lower number is called the pulse pressure and that can do a lot of damage if it is too great. We were certain 20 years ago that it was not important, and today that is it very important. Who knows what will be true in 10 years.

When I was training in surgery there were a lot of partial gastrectomy operations being done (stomach removals) for ulcer disease.  Today we believe that ulcers are caused by the presence of a bacteria, Helicobacter pylori, and we treat it with antibiotics and drugs like Zantac, and Prilosec.  Partial or complete stomach removals are rare.

Every other medical ad on TV is for either Erectile Dysfunction or low T (testosterone).  We have a "pill" solution for everything that ails you, except that most medications when studied, are not much more effective than PLACEBOs.  Placebos are sugar pills.  Medical trials for drugs always involve dividing patients into two groups, one that gets the real drug and the other that gets the sugar pill. It should come as no surprise  that sugar pills are effective a large percentage of the time, sometimes more than the real drug, and have no side effects. The FDA reports the sugar pill success rate and compares it to the real pill success.

This list is endless.  From the "remission" rate for chemotherapy, in which oncologists don't tell you that it is often not much better than alternative medicine , yet can kill you with side effects, to the promise that a pill can help you stop smoking but one of the minor side effects is that you might commit suicide.  The smart yet profit driven drug companies no longer go as often to doctors offices with armloads of samples like they used to, they market directly to patients on TV and the internet.  They want you to go to your doctor and demand their product.  Depressed? Fat? Smoke? Tired? We got you covered.  Just ask your doctor for XYZcillin, and you will feel better and live forever even if you continue to eat three meals a day at McDonald's.  Unless, you get one of the side effects like acne, itching, death, etc.  I just love it when they advertise antidepressants and one of the side effects is depression and suicide.  As for the sleeping pills (the one with the butterfly for example) you might get out of bed in the middle of the night, without knowing it, a go out and hold up a convenience store.  Now that's a side effect I can do without.  There are safe alternatives to most medical care.  There are some medical procedures and drugs that are absolutely life saving.  Knowing the difference and not just accepting medical dogma without doing your own research can cost you dearly.  If you are smart enough to shop online for a new computer or fashions, you are smart enough to learn about your health.  Pick wisely and go to websites that are government of famous universities like Mayo Clinic for example.  You will get the best information available today, but tomorrow the medical dogma may be a complete 180 degree reversal.  It's happened before.