Doctors don’t know what to do about wellness influencers but we dismiss them at our peril |
“And so, of course, I have completely stopped eating red meat.”
The “of course” is galling, especially since we have been using precious bags of blood to top up my patient’s haemoglobin.
“Why have you stopped eating red meat?’
‘Because it dilutes my chemo.”
My malnourished, anaemic patient can ill afford to ditch important nutrients or lose weight. Our worried nurse has exhorted me to “please educate” and I am trying.
“You are right to avoid excessive red meat but, say, once-a-week intake would boost your haemoglobin.”
The next patient has forsaken all dairy and the one after that wonders why his sugars are uncontrolled on a “hand-squeezed juice only” regimen.
Quirky diets are concerning enough but life-threatening issues can arise when patients heed influencers over qualified professionals. A case in point is the “ivermectin cures cancer” patient whom every oncologist is coming across.
When I entered medicine, the term “wellness influencer” did not exist. If it did, I would have innocently considered myself one. After all, I was committing 15 years to learning how to keep patients well. And what did a good doctor do if not influence her patients towards a healthy outcome?
But today’s most influential wellness influencers are certainly not doctors or nurses with legitimate qualifications.
Previously, wellness advice came from Facebook.........