medical advice ???

PolishBigSpender

CHRISSYG wrote: »

do you believe advice + an account of someones experience of a drug is the same thing ?

Yes. It is. If you can't understand the post made by Glad concerning the scenario where someone talks about the bald patch on their head, then you more than likely cannot understand why in this case, giving an account of drug use is same as giving advice.

Particularly so if the account of drug use includes times used per day/dosage/etc.

LittleTinker

Hmmm....but it is said 100's of times all over these boards what people do for a headache....what to do about stings/burns/rashes.....what are the best vitamins to buy......is it safe to take a when doing b.

Why are some posts removed for sometimes valid questions and others arent?

Also, asking someone "How did you find Tramadol when you were taking it?" is not asking medical advice.

gazza975526570

LittleTinker wrote: »

Hmmm....but it is said 100's of times all over these boards what people do for a headache....what to do about stings/burns/rashes.....what are the best vitamins to buy......is it safe to take a when doing b.

Why are some posts removed for sometimes valid questions and others arent?

Also, asking someone "How did you find Tramadol when you were taking it?" is not asking medical advice.

You may not think it advice but if someone responds to the positive do you not think the person asking would take this as a recommendation and potentially use it?

LittleTinker

gazza975526570 wrote: »

You may not think it advice but if someone responds to the positive do you not think the person asking would take this as a recommendation and potentially use it?

If they want to use it they would need to ask their doctor for it and a doctor isnt going to prescribe anything that they dont need.
That is NOT medical advice.

It seems to me that people get confused and fail to see the difference between discussions of a medical nature and medical advice.

gazza975526570

LittleTinker wrote: »

If they want to use it they would need to ask their doctor for it and a doctor isnt going to prescribe anything that they dont need.

What like you cant buy it online without seeing your Doctor?!

Savvy_Sue

Some threads aren't removed because BGs aren't expected to read every post, so maybe it hasn't been seen.

Also, it doesn't matter whether some random person on MSE found a particular drug useful or horrendous. What matters is whether you and your GP feel the benefits outweigh the possible drawbacks.

There are other sites where you can discuss particular medical conditions and the possible treatments. netdoctor is informative, and patient.co.uk usually gives links to relevant support groups.

sillyvixen

Savvy_Sue wrote: »

There are other sites where you can discuss particular medical conditions and the possible treatments. netdoctor is informative, and patient.co.uk usually gives links to relevant support groups.

i agree patient.co.uk is my next fave site from MSE!! if you have a med problem try there!!

PolishBigSpender

LittleTinker wrote: »

Also, asking someone "How did you find Tramadol when you were taking it?" is not asking medical advice.

Put yourself in the shoes of the people who administrate the forum.

You have the discussion - "How did you find Tramadol when you were taking it?".

Now - poster 1, 2 and 3 all say "Oh, I was fine" or "I was sick".

Poster 4 then says "Well, if you take it at 2pm, it won't made you sick"

The administrators then have to keep an eye on the thread and remove anything that constitutes advice - poster 4 in this case is giving advice, so it has to go. Meanwhile, other parts of the forum go neglected. It's much, much easier on their part to simply ban medical discussions like this in order to improve the experience for everyone. As has been said, there are other forums to go to - why not simply go there rather than argue about the interpretation of forum rules?

As for getting hold of drugs - someone with a determined mind can easily get access to many drugs. If someone reads on here that Tramadol (for instance) is a guaranteed cure for their broken left ear, then they may stop at nothing to get it.

Edit : It's occured to me that someone may reply in the hypothetical thread "It's the best cure for a broken ear" - then that is advice. Even saying that "I was fine" is still advice - you are advising that the drug didn't make you sick.

Quasar

I agree that any information regarding a medication can so easily be interpreted as advice, simply because people tend to take other people experiences as a reliable guide for self-administering. They are nothing of the kind.

Personally, I think that the health board is a hard one to look after because the potential for INADVERTENT medical advice is high. Even an innocent "oh I took an aspirin for that" could cause someone to use that remedy when instead immediate medical attention is required.

I don't think there is an easy answer to this, except that forum members need to be alert and self-moderate.

kaya

How utterly ridiculous, so we can take advice on how to repair microwaves(extremely dangerous) and offer advice on how to perform repairs on Gas appliances,(!!!!!! you even have a section how to gamble all your money away) but you all believe that stating how you got on with a particular drug is more dangerous and likely to injure someone? I don't think this board has been very well thought out really has it?