fymk,
I'm still not convinced by your explanations as to why you should
be labelling the other forummites with the rather derogatory label
of 'quacks'. Let's take it point by point:
Oxford definition : quack
noun 1 an unqualified person who dishonestly claims to have
medical knowledge
Pardon me, but I don't seem to see anyone here who 'dishonestly
claims to have medical knowledge'. Thinkdifferent herself said that
she's not a doctor, but an assistant to the two doctors. As far as
I can tell, there's no one here who's masquerading as a doctor or
the like. Heck, for all you know, I myself could be pretending to
be a combat medic. Touch my heart, I'm not pretending, but there's
no way for me to prove that either without revealing my identity
(which I won't). You're just going to have to take my word for
it.
Your mom is doing what mothers do - they relieve ur
symptoms from their own experience -. It is called maternal
instinct , not quackery . It pains most mothers to see their child
suffer . Sometimes decisions mother makes may not be right but they
never intend their own child harm because the children are own
flesh and blood . It is a protective instinct . That makes it so
different from quack .
I won't underestimate the power of maternal instinct, but you
shouldn't deny the power of a person's love for the common man,
either. What if a Tan Ah Kow with no medical experience advises his
friend to take clarinase for his runny nose? Is that quackery as
well?
This is called human instinct. Not as powerful as maternal
instinct, but nothing to be sneezed at, either (pardon the pun).
We're just trying to help others here.
However I will not take back the word I used to describe
thinkdifferent
I've read the posts you quoted from thinkdifferent, and I still
fail to see what's wrong with them. First of all, the post on BCG
vaccinations: it's true that she should have checked out her
sources first before posting. However, that's what these forums are
all about: to discuss, to advise, and to correct each other if
necessary.
Besides, from my sources she's not completely wrong: BCG has an
effective rate of between 50-80%, according to wikipedia. You see?
Different sources give different information. So we share the
information and decide what's the best route to take.
Second, nasal swelling. What's wrong with her saying 'I think'? If
anything, I ought to be applauding her for correctly qualifying her
statements at the very beginning. When she says 'I think', she's
just giving a possible opinion, and that what she thinks may not
necessarily be the case. I myself will always say 'I think' before
explaining to the casualties I've encountered about what
injuries/illness they might be having.
And since she thinks it's an allergy, of course she'll go more into
allergies.
Thirdly, dry cough. What's wrong with asking about other symptoms?
Surely you of all people should know about this. Whenever I'm doing
triage duty, I always ask for other symptoms before sending the
patients to the medical officer. If the patient says he has a
cough, I sure as heck would ask him if there were any other
symptoms of flu. That's the standard operational procedure.
If the forummites can't even ask about other possible symptoms,
then what do you expect them to say?
'Hey, visit the doctor.'
'Hey, visit the doctor.'
'Hey, visit the doctor.'
If that's the only thing they can say, then it kind of defeats the
purpose of having a health discussion forum, methinks. I think an
answering machine can say 'Hey, visit the doctor' more
efficiently.
