We should start a prank about a new "Restless Penis Syndrome" just to see how many new self-diagnosed cases of "RPS" you get.

It's a joke.

But figured it would be sexist of me to assume...

the clinical presentation doesn't support it, and his uric acid levels are normal.

I'm way out of the loop.

I told him there's no evidence for it, and showed him the uric acid level results. He still insisted that's what he had.

n/t

But, I can't help it. "He REALLY wanted it to be gout"

How odd.

He got very defensive when I told him it was very unlikely to be gout. I thought getting informed medical advice from a trained professional was the reason he came to the clinic in the first place...

I asked, isn't that an old f*** disease? I guess not.

“Great, something else to worry about!”

I don't need any new maladies!

I just won't do it; I've scared myself too often. There's a funny ad for a local clinic where patients tell the doctor they're sure they have something rare and awful like bubonic plague, or distemper ("That's a disease of dogs," the doctor says, and the patient says "I have a dog!" ). The point of the ad is to go to the clinic and not try to diagnose yourself.

But come to think of it, I never asked a proper doctor what they thought about my bottle of vodka a day habit, OR my (thankfully long past) multi-year bender doing 240-400mg of oxycodone a day!

You saying it's maybe it's actually nothing?!?

Sweet, thanks, Doc!

I live with someone who reads about something on the internet, gets scared, then nags the nonsense out of me to "do this!" and "don't do that!"

Dang it! If I want a carbonated soft drink once in a while, I will. I don't drink so much that all the calcium will be leached out of my bones. I've switched from half'n'half to skim milk in my coffee. I will NOT give up coffee. I've already switched to corn starch powder. Scroo anti-vaxxers, they're just wrong. I will not live my life according to what some nutjob on the internet said today.

When hubby had a kidney stone attack, I told the doctor in the ER his symptoms. Obviously, I already knew what was wrong, but I gave her the respect of her giving her professional diagnosis.

Minus the mosquito bite.

It's no wonder people trust Food Babe more than the medical profession.

If the evidence isn't there, the diagnosis isn't either.

Do we make mistakes? Sure. We're human, too. But our training conditions us to examine the evidence and use good clinical judgment. More often than not, this results in the appropriate diagnosis.

A provider exhibits poor judgment if he complies with a patient request because: "I've had this before. I know what it is and how to treat it."

If a female patient tells me she's having the kinds of symptoms associated with a UTI, I test for a UTI. If her urine leukocytes are elevated, I treat for UTI. If not, I order further testing to rule out a false-negative, and then treat whatever turns up. But if there's no scientific evidence for UTI, the answer lies elsewhere.

I doubt one gets that kind of diligence from FoodBabe.

Consider the "phantom-limb" phenomenon common among recent amputees. If the patient "feels' that the amputated limb is still there, there's no real reason to humor them that it is. Just because they sense its presence, doesn't make it true.

New research has shown that there likely are several different illnesses that lead to gluten-intolerance. (IIRC an autoimmune disorder when gluten enters the bloodstream and a digestive disorder when gluten enters the small intestine)

The symptoms range, depending on what the actual medical cause is, from simple diarrhea to a full-blown allergic reaction that sends you to hospital.

In any way, it's a real disease(s) and not a diet-fad and gluten is perfectly safe to eat for normal people.

unless they spend a lot of time on the Internet.

I want an internet disease! You guys have all the fun!

What do you think of Supertramp?

It just goes to prove that if you work hard, you can become more than the ordinary tramp.

"Dr. Google"
I must confess to being guilty. I admit my guilt with my docs and we laugh and tease about it. I feel your pain though. Ms.7wo7rees

Including chicken pox (at 26) and gout, amongst others.

Used the Merck Manual, though... not the internet!

Now that sounds REALLY cool.