Worst advice given to you by a "professional"

Gotta face it. We all make mistakes. In order to avoid the really big ones... sometimes fatal... question the things that seem wrong and double check the critical things, even if the first answer sounds good to you.

Many other professions have people who say things just as misleading as doctors, trainers, etc.

Several lawn care "professionals" have assured me that their treatment included "no chemicals" and was "safe" -- but they had no clue what was in it. One told me it was "60%" filler, but had no idea what was in the filler... but it was "safe". Another specialist told me that without expensive treatments two trees in my yard would die in about a year... two years later after I didn't do the treatments and quit using that company, the trees are in much better.

A lot of financial advisors told people not to buy Apple stock when it was $30 a share, about 5 years later it was over $600 a share. (Several of the "big" finance companies had it rated as "don't buy".) Other financial advisors, paid a lot of money, advised people to buy weird financial "instruments" recently.

One furnace inspector gave me the opposite advice than someone else from the same company. The head of maintenance in some apartments said a drip wasn't anything to worry about, about a month later my friend's picture and part of the wall came down because the wall behind was soggy and moldy.

A writer tried to see what would happen if he submitted a copy of a few chapters from Pride and Prejudice to 18 publishers. Only one recognized the resemblance and told him, "told him not to mimic ' Pride and Prejudice ' so closely". The other 17 rejected the classic, which has inspired over 40 authors to write sequels and parodies, and numerous movies.

Hair care professional who said that cutting my hair shorter would make it look longer.

A tax professional who filled in forms that had a client living full time in multiple states (and so paying full state taxes) at the same time.

"Demand clarity.
If someone tells you, “You wouldn’t understand,” tell them,
“Oh, yes I would, if you would speak plainly.”
- I like the advice for dealing with professionals that came with this at http://engineeringthinking.wordpress.com/2009/10/19/advice-from-professionals-who-do-you-trust-part-2/

Not weight loss related, but when I had raging bad TMJD and couldn't open my mouth more than 9mm without intense pain and my jaw making all kinds of horrible cracking noises, a tmj specialist oral surgeon told me, "That's just the way god made you."

Dude... I'm an atheist. In my mind, god didn't make me. And I wasn't "made" this way two years ago, so fix my damn jaw already!

My regular dentist got me all straightened out. And now I can open my mouth like a frickin' Pez dispenser. :happy:

I'd be walking out of that office and not paying the bill. I don't go to the doctor for a sermon. Dang.

How dare someone speak a common, innocuous phrase mentioning God in the presence of an ATHIEST. Grow up. You SHOULD be pissed that he was gonna let you stay that way, not offended at his choice of phrase.

LMAO!

I went to the ER the day before my bachelorette party in intense pain. I was practically writhing. I knew I had a family history of kidney stones, and due to the intense localized pain, I figured that's what it was. Upon arrival the nurse informed me that I couldn't have any pain medication until I took a pregnancy test. I was NOT pregnant, I was on birth control. Yet they demanded I take a test. I couldn't pee, so instead of letting me drink water because I was VERY thirsty, the gave me an IV. I was finally able to pee and obviously the test came back negative. So finally after nearly 4 hours of excrutiating pain, They gave me morphine. At some point before the morphine my "Doctor" came in and said that I wasn't writhing and flailing enough for it to be a kidney stone and it was probably an infection. One CT scan later, it happened to be TWO kidney stones and I am just very tough. Still owe nearly $7,000 for that.

I also had a 400 pound doctor (who couldn't be bothered to rise off of her wheeled stool to examine me, literally wheeled all over the room!) tell me that I needed to lose weight when I was 16! The hypocrisy!

Not weight loss related, but when I had raging bad TMJD and couldn't open my mouth more than 9mm without intense pain and my jaw making all kinds of horrible cracking noises, a tmj specialist oral surgeon told me, "That's just the way god made you."

Dude... I'm an atheist. In my mind, god didn't make me. And I wasn't "made" this way two years ago, so fix my damn jaw already!

My regular dentist got me all straightened out. And now I can open my mouth like a frickin' Pez dispenser. :happy:

I'd be walking out of that office and not paying the bill. I don't go to the doctor for a sermon. Dang.

How dare someone speak a common, innocuous phrase mentioning God in the presence of an ATHIEST. Grow up. You SHOULD be pissed that he was gonna let you stay that way, not offended at his choice of phrase.

I'm not an Atheist (I was raised Roman Catholic) but I get really pissed off whenever I hear God's name especially in non-religious activity such as this :grumble:

Not weight loss related, but when I had raging bad TMJD and couldn't open my mouth more than 9mm without intense pain and my jaw making all kinds of horrible cracking noises, a tmj specialist oral surgeon told me, "That's just the way god made you."

Dude... I'm an atheist. In my mind, god didn't make me. And I wasn't "made" this way two years ago, so fix my damn jaw already!

My regular dentist got me all straightened out. And now I can open my mouth like a frickin' Pez dispenser. :happy:

I'd be walking out of that office and not paying the bill. I don't go to the doctor for a sermon. Dang.

How dare someone speak a common, innocuous phrase mentioning God in the presence of an ATHIEST. Grow up. You SHOULD be pissed that he was gonna let you stay that way, not offended at his choice of phrase.

I'm not an Atheist (I was raised Roman Catholic) but I get really pissed off whenever I hear God's name especially in non-religious activity such as this :grumble:

Agreed. Others might want god in their doctor's appointments, but I would prefer solid science and for the doctor to be doing what I am paying the doctor to do. If I wanted an opinion about how god made me, I'd go to a preacher. Grow up? I did grow up, I started questioning mainstream religion and decided that it has no place in medicine, politics, schools or any other place that is NOT A CHURCH. But pardon me if you interpret that as immaturity. Would you feel the same if a Muslim person who went to a non-Muslim doctor was upset because the doctor said hey, don't worry, this is how god wanted you to be! Give me a break.

The 2000 calorie a day myth , told to me by more trainers than I care to recall... if you are a female, at or under 5 foot, trying to lose weight, and you don't hit the gym like an animal, you probably should not be eating this many calories.

At 18 I was diagnosed with hashi,motos hypothyroid, along with goiters in my neck. My doc told me I could deal with them for up to 20 years and be ok, or until I couldn't button the top button on my dress shirts. Um what 18 year old wears shirts that high, and two, I wasn't going to be miserable for that long. So I had my thyroid removed. Good thing I insisted on it, because it was 4x it's normal size and cancerous.

I felt so much better when the doc told me I was right for trusting my instincts!

I am 6' tall.
My doctor told me to

1) eat 1200 cals a day or less to lose weight
2) do ONLY cardio like running or biking (despite her giving me a series of knee injections for horrible chondromalacia)
3) to not strength train anymore
4) to take phentermine
5) to take an antidepressant that is the #1 CONTRAINDICATED antidepressant for bipolar disorder, which I have (her response: "well, I guess that's why I'm not a psychiatrist!")

She got fired.

By you or the practice?!

I went to the ER the day before my bachelorette party in intense pain. I was practically writhing. I knew I had a family history of kidney stones, and due to the intense localized pain, I figured that's what it was. Upon arrival the nurse informed me that I couldn't have any pain medication until I took a pregnancy test. I was NOT pregnant, I was on birth control. Yet they demanded I take a test. I couldn't pee, so instead of letting me drink water because I was VERY thirsty, the gave me an IV. I was finally able to pee and obviously the test came back negative. So finally after nearly 4 hours of excrutiating pain, They gave me morphine. At some point before the morphine my "Doctor" came in and said that I wasn't writhing and flailing enough for it to be a kidney stone and it was probably an infection. One CT scan later, it happened to be TWO kidney stones and I am just very tough. Still owe nearly $7,000 for that.

I also had a 400 pound doctor (who couldn't be bothered to rise off of her wheeled stool to examine me, literally wheeled all over the room!) tell me that I needed to lose weight when I was 16! The hypocrisy!

ER's always do pregnancy tests. Even if a woman is on birth control she can still be pregnant. It's better to be safe than sorry, since many medications can cause serious complications for pregnancies, birth defects, etc.

I went to the ER the day before my bachelorette party in intense pain. I was practically writhing. I knew I had a family history of kidney stones, and due to the intense localized pain, I figured that's what it was. Upon arrival the nurse informed me that I couldn't have any pain medication until I took a pregnancy test. I was NOT pregnant, I was on birth control. Yet they demanded I take a test. I couldn't pee, so instead of letting me drink water because I was VERY thirsty, the gave me an IV. I was finally able to pee and obviously the test came back negative. So finally after nearly 4 hours of excrutiating pain, They gave me morphine. At some point before the morphine my "Doctor" came in and said that I wasn't writhing and flailing enough for it to be a kidney stone and it was probably an infection. One CT scan later, it happened to be TWO kidney stones and I am just very tough. Still owe nearly $7,000 for that.

I also had a 400 pound doctor (who couldn't be bothered to rise off of her wheeled stool to examine me, literally wheeled all over the room!) tell me that I needed to lose weight when I was 16! The hypocrisy!

ER's always do pregnancy tests. Even if a woman is on birth control she can still be pregnant. It's better to be safe than sorry, since many medications can cause serious complications for pregnancies, birth defects, etc.

This is very true - it's a precaution. I had my gall bladder out when my oldest was like a month old...and yes, I had a pg test. I had CT scan when #2 was about a week old - and yes, I had a pg test (which, of course, was positive...)

My mom had gained about 30 pounds in a week and a half. Her doctor told her to stop snacking so much.

A few months later she went to the ER with respiratory problems. They said her fat was crushing her windpipe and gave her a tracheotomy.

One month later she died of a heart attack.

Thats awful! :frown:

I think I have just talked myself into finding a new OB/GYN.

Now that sounds like good (self-)advice! Good luck!

i feel awkward sharing this but after reading most of your stories i feel like this fits..

not advice but comment made to me by an aide..

i was burned in a fire many years ago and after six and a half months in hospitals, i was finally able to go home. i needed a nurse and a home health care aide to help out with wound care and showers etc..this one older woman, the health care aide, says to me, as she's taking off my bandages..[my hands were burned and parts of my fingers are missing]..she says to me..

"they will grow back though, right?"


what. i couldn't even..11 years later and i am still speechless..



[it does make me laugh sometimes though.]

Tis didn't happen to me, but to two people I love:

My Aunt went to the doc for lumps in her side. He told her they were "fat" lumps and not to worry. She died of the cancer a few months later.

When we were 19, one of my best friends had a mole removed from her leg. It was tested and found to be benign. A few years later, she developed weird skin problems (after getting married and having two young children.) The medical "professionals" went and retested the mole (by law they had to keep a sample of it.) Turns out, the mole from six years previous was cancerous and wasn't tested in the proper part of the mole, so a false result came out. She died at 26 after enduring cancer treatments from hell. Her children were 2 and 5. I was a bridesmaid at her wedding and 2 years later, pallbearer at her funeral.

Both cancers were treatable and preventable.

That's too bad. I'm so sorry for both of them