"doctor" means teacher

[miriam_e]

I just looked online for some information for a friend who had a brain scan in an attempt to find an explanation for her terrible headaches. Apparently she has a lesion in her right basal ganglia. Now that area is a fairly large and complex part of the brain so it could have many possible effects. I was trying to learn more about it and found a site called Medcyclopedia. It had some tiny thumbnail images that looked like they might be of use, but unfortunately I would have to register in order to view the full-size images. I always find this compulsory narrowing of audience annoying, but annoyance turned to disgust when I found that in order to register I had to "prove" I was a professional by clicking the aortic lumen in the image presented, only to find that the page was so incompetently designed that it didn't work on any web browser other than Microsoft's awful and dangerous InternetExplorer, which fewer and fewer people use these days.

What is with medical groups that they are so loathe to disseminate information to the public at large? Don't they know that the word "doctor" originally meant "teacher"? Everywhere around the world there is a shortage of medical doctors. And the doctors themselves generally would like to be able to spend more time with their patients and less time on trivial things. They also bemoan the rise of nutty strains of "alternative" medicine, such as chiropracty or homeopathy, but they seem utterly opposed to disseminating the very knowledge which would drive back such superstitious beliefs.

Sometimes I think the medical profession is its own worst enemy.

Comments

[xxclovergrrlxx.livejournal.com]

do you have any references for the ineffectiveness of chiropractors? i know some people feel the way you do, but i don't think the majority does in america. actually, chiropractors seem to be a pretty rapidly expanding business these days.

i didn't know if you knew this or not, but i am actually a massage therapist. this is mainly the reason i know as much as i do about my problem. i didn't tell you this in case it altered your response to me (although you don't seem much to be the type to alter anything, heh).

but anyways, i found your response humorous because while i don't get chiropractic treatments (although i have in the past) i have worked for a few chiropractic offices as the on staff massage therapist. my experience is that they're mostly crooked douche-bags aside from the few good ones who incorporate other things such as nutritional counseling and exercises into their work. the last chiropractor i worked for ended up firing me because too many of my clients wanted to see just me and not him. i know this sounds like an obvious ego-preserving lie when you get fired, but if you had tons of patients who kept telling you that they thought you were helping them more than the doctor and wondering if they could only get massage treatments w/o chiropractic... and the next thing you know, you're scheduled less and less... and eventually not at all... what would you think? *shrugs*

[miriam-e.livejournal.com]

heheheh :) that had me chuckling aloud.

Actually, yes, I knew you did massage. One of my most favorite things in the world is massage -- receiving it, that is. :) Bliss bombs go off in my head.

Unfortunately I seem to sometimes be a little brash in my comments and have offended people a lot of times by speaking without thinking of the toes I'd be treading on. So I'm embarrassed to admit that even if I knew a chiropractor was reading this I'd probably still shoot my mouth off, then later kick myself and try to soften it.

It is weird, but USA seems to stand alone in the developed world as having extraordinarily high third-world-level rates of religion and other kinds of nutty faith-based systems like chiropracty. I have no idea why this is, but it seems to cause you guys over there all kinds of problems.

The articles I mentioned above give some idea of the ineffectiveness of chiropractors (you probably haven't seen it because I've been so blabbery in this topic). :)
http://miriam-e.livejournal.com/257793.html?thread=1072641#t1072641

[xxclovergrrlxx.livejournal.com]

oh! i'm sorry! yeah, i totally missed that... and yeah, i'm going to blame it on your blabberness haha.

i wouldn't have been upset, per se, if you talked crap about massage. i would firstly, assume you never had a good one and secondly, probably argue with you for a while... but honestly, yes, they are amazing. my massage therapist is also my best friend and we trade frequently. i secretly think he's working on me so much because he wants me to get better so i can treat him again, lol. but he has really bad scoliosis so he is in pain most of the time/always has trouble sleeping. he swears that, to him, massages are better than sex because they relieve so much pain.

mmm yes... the USA is pretty backwards, no? i have no explanation either. especially since the entire reason we were founded was to escape religious persecution, hahaha. wth.
you know, just a passing thought, but it might have something to do with the fact that we are made up of so many different kinds of cultures/religions/people. to get along in america, you frequently have to be super open to everything...no matter how weird it sounds to you. you can be a conservative and hate/disbelieve everything or you can be super open and liberal. these tend to be the two options frequently offered.
but regarding christianity, ehhh, they're pretty nutty all over the world. they usually ask you to believe in things that are just... crazy.

i got in trouble not too long ago when i wrote an entry about how i thought christianity was just a happy pipe dream, lol. but i write my lj for ME... so i frequently forget that i can offend people as well.