#you’re never gonna convince me that buying and putting yourself on O2 is a good idea

[mercurialsmile]

Ok so I don’t really see as much talk abt self-dx on tumblr anymore which is good but at the same time I still think about it a lot.

It is a very complicated topic that has a lot of nuance in it, but at the same time I am still so wary about those who just decide they have X and run with it.

When people think of self-dx they usually think of a mental health disorder or of being neurodivergent. And tbh I don’t really care if someone decides they’re autistic or have depression or what have you. You can’t really “steal” resources unless you have a dx. Where it becomes an issue is when people use their self-dx to justify being abusive to people. And that’s for a number of reasons. One, saying you’re a shitty person cause you have depression or anxiety or adhd or whatever is incredibly ableist and demeaning. Two, it’s just a shit thing to do. Having a disorder or being neurodivergent doesn’t make you an asshole. You’re an asshole because you’re an asshole or because you’re a teenager and lbh a lot of teens can be a bit of an asshole at times. Lord knows I was. But I also wasn’t justifying it. I just accepted it lol.

No, where self-dx gets dangerous is when people start saying they have medical problems that cannot be dx based on Google MD alone and decide to just treat themselves.

If I had a nickel for every patient who came in and told me that they got out of breath walking and decided to just go to Facebook marketplace or Craigslist and buy oxygen id have way more than 2 nickels. Or patients who are sent home on like. 1-2L of O2 deciding they need like. 5-6L and not telling the doctor.

That? That right there? That sort of self-dx? That can kill. You can die from oxygen toxicity. And being out of breath is such a general symptom of so many different dx that just deciding you need O2 is incredibly dangerous.

There is a market for machines and medications like this if someone decides they want to treat themselves for a dx they don’t have and is most likely wrong. It’s not hard to find at all. And the fact that so many patients I see just decide to get a treatment based on google and YouTube is absolutely terrifying

And that is precisely why I am against self-dx serious and complicated medical issues.