Thread by @Mangan150

The Risks of Excess Medical Treatment

A short-thread about why your relationship with the medical profession and Big Pharma is not risk-free...

And may even be a net negative

(continued on the next tweet)

1) Medical treatment is not risk-free.

In an ideal world, medical diagnosis would be perfect. And treatment would be appropriate for your condition. Meaning, no adverse side effects.

2) In the real world... the risks of excess medical treatment arise

From the fallibility of the healthcare system both to properly diagnose illnesses and to provide appropriate care.

3) Let's start with health screenings

Imperfect diagnosis can lead to treatment that carries risks

4) False negatives – a failure to find a real disease – and false positives – “detecting” a disease that isn’t really there

Make the screening of healthy people much less safe and effective than most people realize.

5) In the 1970s, Stanford psychologist, David Rosenhan, sent 8 volunteers to a number of different mental hospitals around the country

All of the volunteers were completely normal.

6) They made appointments at these hospitals and claimed that they had been hearing voices which said “empty”, “hollow”, and “thud”. All were diagnosed as schizophrenic and admitted to hospital.

This became well-known as the Rosenhan experiment.

7) Now a 100% false-positive is a lot more than in reality, but here's what you have to keep in mind

People diagnosed with a mental illness can get lots of mind-altering and toxic drugs, including antipsychotics, antidepressants, tranquilizers, which may do more harm than good

8) Economists sent a patient with healthy teeth to 180 dentists in Switzerland.

The result?

50 recommended one or more treatments.

If you can’t trust a Swiss dentist, who can you trust?

9) Back to the conventional medical world

Imagine what happens when you go to a doctor

You could end up with toxic meds, surgery, even chemo

Most physicians, through no fault of their own, don’t know how much of what they practice is not based on high-quality evidence

10) Unnecessary surgery

In another study, patients consulted a neurosurgeon for a second opinion on whether they should have spinal surgery

The surgeon determined that 17.2% of them had been scheduled for unnecessary spinal surgery.

11) From the physician perspective, over treatment is common.

In a survey 20.6% of overall medical care was unnecessary, including 22.0% of prescription medications, 24.9% of tests, and 11.1% of procedures.

12) The most commonly cited reasons for over treatment?

- Fear of malpractice (84.7%)
- Patient pressure/request (59.0%),
- Difficulty accessing medical records (38.2%).

13) Polypharmacy

This means taking too many prescription drugs, and when those drugs are inappropriately prescribed.

In one study at a Veterans Administration hospital, 65% of patients were taking at least one drug that was inappropriate

14) Virtually all drugs have adverse side effects

Some of them serious...

15) Medicine is as much art as science.

Doctors are not infallible, and medical treatment, whether surgery or drugs, carries risk.
Solving this problem isn’t easy, but one of the main things patients can do is to educate themselves.

16) Fear of malpractice may drive many of a physician’s decisions, which means your best interests may not always be in mind.

This is why my approach is based on optimizing lifestyle factors first and foremost

17) If you enjoyed this thread, you can join my email list for a lot more content like this

Plus, you get a free book:

"Meal-Timing For Fat Loss & High Performance: A Guide To Intermittent Fasting"

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