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This post isn't targeted towards anyone in particular, it's for everyone. Also, I apologize in advance if I end up preaching.
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I wouldn't take anyone's "medical advice" on Gaia....
This site is targeted towards people around the age of 14 or so, and many of our guild members are young. I don't want anyone giving out "medical advice" on here until they are a trained and qualified medical professional. You don't want to be wrong about something and influence an impressionable youngster into harm. Also, if you are one of those younger people; you don't know everything yet, chances are you shouldn't be giving out medical advice to people based on your "educated opinion." You don't know everything yet, there's still lots to learn, and don't be so quick to judge.
Now...
I don't care if you're a 16 year old who suffers from bouts of depression and have been through mild therapy sessions for 6 months, that does not make you an expert in psychology. I don't care if you read up online for 3 hours about pharmaceuticals, you are not an expert on them. You go through your own issues, they aren't the same for everyone, so what happened to you or affects you will not be true for everyone. I don't care if you saw some episode of a TV show or saw a video on Youtube about how Drug X rots your brain and how you shouldn't eat foods if you can't pronounce their ingredients. I don't care if your neighbor's grandfather was a doctor back in '39, I don't care that you took a biology class in high school, it doesn't matter to me. None of this makes you an expert. Knowing that drugs have side affects and having taken high school chemistry does not make you a chemist. Watching the nature channel all day does not make you a biologist. It would be incredibly arrogant and presumptuous to assume that you are.
You do not know everything. There are many people online and in the "real world" who think they do, or they have half the story, and the spread around bits of information that are dangerous and incomplete because of their lack of the understanding they "think" they have.
Do we remember the fable of the blind men and the elephant? Each touched a different part of the elephant, and based on that, decided that the entire elephant was like that, when in reality it was not. Then they started arguing, and each believed the other was wrong about the nature of the elephant. They just lacked the whole picture and only had part of the answer. If those men walked around giving out advice on elephants and telling people about them based on that one feature and if they believed that to be the whole truth, just imagine what could happen.... Nothing good.
Sure, we can speculate about the elephant and what the rest of it may look like, but we can't say we know for sure. You have to know and acknowledge the fact that you just don't know everything, and no matter how much we think we know, there's always something new to be learned and understood. (At least that's how I see it so far...)
Therefore, I'd like to ask everyone to please not give out "advice" on what people should do in medical situations. Everyone is different, and what works/doesn't work for you may work/not work for someone else. You don't know everything, and I know that a lot of you are most likely not trained medical professionals. You can talk about it, sure, just don't give out medical advice to people. If they have a headache or their stomach hurts, or they need help falling asleep, it's fine. Just please don't pretend to be an expert, remember you don't know everything, remember that everyone is different, and that there are some problems and issues in this world that are too deep to be solved through an hour of reading Wikipedia and what you learned in high school chemistry. Please try and use your judgment.
Thanks if you read all that, I just don't want anyone making the wrong decisions that might harm them/others.
smile
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