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  1. #21
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    Quote Originally Posted by jefals View Post
    . . .There were 4 boys and 20 girls in my biology class, and it was junior high. I was distracted! . . .
    I recommend graduate classes in biology where there are still girls that are both smart and of age, AND the classes are smaller and thus more intimate in nature. I remember studying many long hours with a very lovely girl for tests in a mycology class. She helped me learn that there are some fungi that have 16 different sexes!! Biologically, we humans only have two. How boring is that?!
    I'm not lost. I'm exploring.

  2. #22

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    Are you employed in one of the biological sciences...microbiologist, pathologist...?

  3. #23
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    Quote Originally Posted by nsherry61 View Post
    Quote Originally Posted by jefals View Post
    . . .There were 4 boys and 20 girls in my biology class, and it was junior high. I was distracted! . . .
    I recommend graduate classes in biology where there are still girls that are both smart and of age, AND the classes are smaller and thus more intimate in nature. I remember studying many long hours with a very lovely girl for tests in a mycology class. She helped me learn that there are some fungi that have 16 different sexes!! Biologically, we humans only have two. How boring is that?!
    Well, at my age, anybody that I would refer to as a "girl" would probably refer to me as a creepy old geezer! They would likely think I had enrolled as a pretext to be near to them, and have doubts about my genuine interest in the sex life of fungi!

  4. #24
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    Quote Originally Posted by BuckeyeBill View Post
    Jefals

    I wasn't and did not mean to make light of your ear problem, but many times in this forum people come in asking for medical advice. I have yet to meet a medical doctor in here or see one post answer. I do have my MBA but that don't mean di*k squat on the trail.

    I making light of what DW was saying about mushrooms. Sorry if you thought is was directed towards yourself.
    Thanks. I didn't mind your comment - don't give it another thought. Just curious, tho; does my question sound like I'm asking for medical advice? I didn't mean for it to sound that way. I'm asking how common ear infections are on the AT. (Apparently, not very)

  5. #25
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    Quote Originally Posted by jefals View Post
    Thanks. I didn't mind your comment - don't give it another thought. Just curious, tho; does my question sound like I'm asking for medical advice? I didn't mean for it to sound that way. I'm asking how common ear infections are on the AT. (Apparently, not very)
    Lets just say the coin landed on its edge. When something is wrong with me, which could be one or two of many things, I don't look for answers on the internet. I go see one of the various doctors I have in my collection. Even something as mundane as an ear problem or infection could be serious. Glad to hear you went to the doctor to get it checked though and hope it has cleared up.
    Blackheart

  6. #26
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    Quote Originally Posted by BuckeyeBill View Post
    . . . I don't look for answers on the internet. I go see one of the various doctors I have in my collection. . .
    I actually do both. And, more often than not, my doctors ask me what I've found on the internet and/or direct me to look into whatever my condition is on the internet, sometimes with specific recommended links and sometime just general. There is no doubt that backpacking forums are not a robust medical information source, BUT, there is lots of good material on the internet and a carefully sourced combination of both doctors and internet/library is often by far and away the best strategy to a good medical outcome.

    On another tangent, for what it's worth, several years ago, the internet saved my child's life when I was given a combination of incomplete information and an overly aggressive treatment from our doctor for my son's diabetes when he was newly diagnosed. The pendulum swings both ways and I wise person will critically evaluate and use all the resources available.
    I'm not lost. I'm exploring.

  7. #27
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    Default are ear infections common on the at?

    I've never had a doctor ask me what I found on the internet.
    I guess - it depends. I didn't consider my question - is ear fungus common among you at hikers - to be "medical advice ". But at least some of you do. I have no problem asking that kind of medical advice on the internet. I would NOT ask you guys how to treat an ear infection, tho.
    On the other hand, I would feel comfortable looking up treatment options on an internet site like Web Md. Or if places like Mayo Clinic have websites with treatment or diagnosis information, I might look there. Depending on whatever the malady is, I may still go to the doctor.
    ~~~
    Great news about your son, Nsherry. Too bad about the diabetes.

  8. #28
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    I think the only time I use the internet for health problems was when I was diagnosed with Crohn's Disease and that was only because my wife and I had never heard of it. I used the knowledge I reaped when meeting a new gastroenterologist. If they told me they were going to "cure me". Well they don't know what causes it and there is no cure. I now have the best gastro doctor I have ever been to.
    Blackheart

  9. #29

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    Medical advice on the internet is worth what it costs.

  10. #30
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    Major thread drift, but what the heck, it seems somewhat constructive still.

    Couple thoughts:
    1) I don't think the OP was necessarily asking for medical advice, but as with many if not most threads, there was a medical component connected to the question and thus all tangents and tangents of those tangent seem to become fair game, including this one. . .

    2) I find it interesting how caustic some people seem to be toward others shared prospective diagnoses and/or solutions to medical problems that have worked for them in an internet forum.

    3) The internet is a vast and powerful tool, especially for medical insight and education. Like ALL internet advice and insights, medical advice on the internet should be questioned and evaluated for its voracity as much of it is rumor, quackery, or just plain stupidity. BUT, it also provides a portal to vast amounts of knowledge that can help direct further research and questions.

    4) As for doctors bringing internet research into their patient relationships, I think it is a fairly new thing. I think it is part of encouraging patients to become full participants in their medical care and decision making instead of passive consumers. And, for what it's worth, given that the three doctors that have directly questioned and encouraged my use of the internet during examinations in the last month are my GP and two of the most highly regarded specialists in their fields, one at Tufts Medical Center and the other at Brigham and Women's I'd expect that doctors bringing internet research into their patient conversations is not so much an anomaly as the future of medicine.
    I'm not lost. I'm exploring.

  11. #31
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    Default are ear infections common on the at?

    Nsherry -
    advive: Guidance or recommendations concerning prudent future actions....
    I just asked you guys if you get ear infections walking the AT.
    So yes, Nsherry is right, I was not asking for advice - medical or otherwise.
    ~~~
    As to one of your points: Medical research online. Sounds ok to me.
    HOWEVER: I wouldn't go to a Mayo Clinic forum and ask, seriously, for help finding a good tarp, ya know?
    Although, I can imagine this scenario could play out there....
    DOC-1: "I had a patient with an ear infection. Says he got it while out hiking the AT"
    DOC-2: "Oh yeah? I'm a hiker too! Did he say what kind of tent he was using"?
    DOC-1: "I dunno. Said it was a Henry Spires or Shires or somethin. Said they make dang good tents"!
    DOC-2: "Really? Wow! I think I'll buy one. Thanks"!
    Yeah. that could happen. Still, while you might sometimes get good backpacking advice on a medical site - and you might sometimes get good medical advice on a backpacking site - it's just good sense to consider the source of any advice you get.

  12. #32

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    There are medical conditions correlated to environmental conditions, so wondering if there might be some correlation there is not unusual.

    Regarding internet investigation of medical issues. I had atrial fibrillation (afib). My doctors and I decided on pulmonary vein ablation. This was unsuccessful the first time. My cardiologist recommended a pacemaker. My doctor was the head of electrocardiology at a top ten hospital for cardiology. I searched the internet read everything I could on afib and outcomes for ablation patients. I went to the number one heart hospital in the U.S., armed with what I learned and discussed my case. The doctor took my case, the doctor agreed with me that perhaps one of the veins wasn't fully ablated, he switched ablation methods, and I came out with my afib corrected and without a pacemaker. YMMV.
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  13. #33
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    Quote Originally Posted by jefals View Post
    .................HOWEVER: I wouldn't go to a Mayo Clinic forum and ask, seriously, for help finding a good tarp, ya know? .................
    That's good. My laugh for the day.
    If you don't stand for something, you will fall for anything.

  14. #34
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    Default are ear infections common on the at?

    Great news, Alligator!

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