What’s the dumbest thing your doctor has said to you? That’s what someone recently asked a popular internet forum. Several people have surprising stories, and some are not so surprising at all.
I’ll Go First
After being involved in two car accidents in six weeks (neither my fault), my doctor had the audacity to tell me that the Percoset he prescribed me for pain was “not addictive.” I’ll never forget volunteering that I have an addictive personality and him assuring and reassuring me that they were not addicting.
Five years later, I was taking a legal 180 Percoset each month—translation, six a day. Eventually, I spiraled out of control, leading to heroin use, homelessness, and a trip to a “rehab” that turned out to be a Scientology front group.
Fortunately, God protected me from falling into that cult, and I have close to ten years of being opioid-free. After someone asked an internet forum what the stupidest things doctors told them were, here is how they responded.
1. “You Can’t Get Addicted That Quickly.”
While technically an ER nurse practitioner, this story is still infuriating and all too common. Someone shares, “I was withdrawing from Benzos after having binged them constantly for a month, and she told me it was impossible to get addicted to them that fast and then sent me home. The next day I had a seizure, and I saw the doctor at the same emergency room who was irate that the nurse told me that.” Fortunately, this user has five years of sobriety.
2. “Hey, Google, How Do I Remove Warts?”
Another former patient shares a terrifying scenario. However, it wasn’t what his doctor said. It’s what his doctor did that instead was pretty stupid. “I went in to get a wart on my thumb removed because it was bothering me for a while. He Googled wart removal on his phone right in front of me in the exam room. I fired him on the spot.”
3. “The FDA Wouldn’t Have Approved the Drug if It Wasn’t Safe.”
Oh, boy, who’s gonna tell them? One user explains, “I had a serious reaction to an antibiotic and went to urgent care and was given a steroid shot. I told my doctor about it when I saw her, and she said, ‘The FDA wouldn’t have approved the drug if it wasn’t safe.’ Really? Remember Vioxx? There have been lots of unapproved drugs. Alarm bells went off, and I knew that was a deal breaker. Never saw her again.”
4. “Your Wife Is Not Even Close.”
Countless individuals share similar experiences of doctors and midwives expressing that their wives or themselves were not ready, mere minutes from delivering their babies. One elaborates, “They suggested we leave and walk around the mall for a few hours. The baby was born within a half hour. Good thing we insisted they admit us.”
5. “You’re Just Being Hormonal.”
This is awful! One woman says that she was experiencing excessive bleeding and cramping and visited a male doctor. “Got told I was being hormonal, and it will go away on its own.” Instead, she suffered two more weeks of horrible symptoms and pain before staying hunched over her work desk.
Finally, her boss insisted she go to the hospital when she appeared green. “Found out I had an ectopic pregnancy, and had I had left it much longer, it would have ruptured, and I could have died due to internal bleeding.”
6. “You Don’t Know What You’re Talking About.”
Imagine this: a new doctor sneered at a man stating, “I went to a conference on this disease! You don’t know what you’re talking about. It’s not like they put this kind of medical information on a website.”
However, the patient explains that he headed up the board for the advocacy group for the disease. “I know exactly what was on the website because I wrote it. I had worked with endocrinologists and researchers for years to create the continuing education materials for the very conference he was talking about.”
7. “It’s All in Your Head.”
Numerous people relate to being told that something was all in their heads. Several people with migraines complain of this statement. I’ve also been told, “It’s all in your head. I recommend seeing a psychiatrist.” Mind you. This was my childhood doctor into early adulthood. It wasn’t all in my head, and the second (and my new) doctor confirmed it was, in fact, not in my head.
8. “No, You’re Not.”
Can you imagine going to the doctor, explaining the symptoms you’re experiencing, and then having them look you dead in the eye and state, “No, you’re not?” Apparently, it’s not uncommon for younger, healthy-looking people to have this experience, as several people share similar stories.
9. “You Need To Be Using Contraception.”
Haha, this story has me cackling. However, if I were the woman, I would indeed be annoyed. She explains that she is a lesbian, and every time she sees her doctor of eight years, they ask her if she is using contraceptives. When she says no, they remind her that if she doesn’t want to get pregnant, she should use them.
10. “This Shouldn’t Hurt at All.”
Speaking of contraception, one woman says her doctor said, “This shouldn’t hurt at all” before inserting her IUD. Multiple women express having similar experiences before one says, “My IUD implantation was one of the most painful experiences. I cried from the pain, and the nurse assisting said she did too when she got hers. Your doctor could have just said nothing.”
11. “It’s Because You’re Fat.”
An unfortunate number of people confess to having problems diagnosed as “being fat.” For example, one lady explains that she returned from Hawaii with a painful ear infection.
She and her husband had been snorkeling and scuba diving for two weeks. They swam a lot and enjoyed the island life while on vacation. “The doctor told me my ear infection was due to me being fat. No possible way that it was from swimming in the ocean at all. Nope. I’m just fat.”
12. “Well, You Needed Some Extra Weight Anyway.”
Can you imagine? One person explains that they had a doctor who stated, “Well, you needed some extra weight anyway,” after they had gained 30 pounds in 30 days on new medications.
13. “You’re Too Young.”
One woman was accused of “faking cataracts” because the symptoms she reported were precisely what you’d find if you looked up cataracts online, but they were too “young to have cataracts.” She clarifies, “It turns out I was reporting those symptoms due to me having cataracts.” Others share experiences of being told they were too young to have arthritis despite having it.
14. “You’re Healthy and a Hypochondriac.”
A man admits, “I had a doctor tell me that I was a healthy young man and just a hypochondriac taking up time slots he needed for people who were really sick, and he didn’t want to see me till my next annual. Three months later, I was rushed to ER with a 106 fever and sepsis and had a 50-50 chance of survival. I had a massive prostate infection and ended up needing surgery.”
15. “Was It a Baby Tooth.”
OK, this one is hilarious. A mother explains that her daughter got a tooth knocked out when she was three. “The doctor asked if it was a baby tooth.”
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Source: Reddit.
Elizabeth Ervin is the owner of Sober Healing. She is a freelance writer passionate about opioid recovery and has celebrated breaking free since 09-27-2013. She advocates for mental health awareness and encourages others to embrace healing, recovery, and Jesus.