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Comment by Rivosa | Hacker News Reader

> 24h sleep

I advise anyone reading this and experiencing similar sleep pattern or fatigue to visit their doctor. This could be anything from diabetes, iron difeciency, Vitamin D difeciancy, and whole other things that could be wrong. Please don't use someone's else experience as the whole truth.

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Edit: I want to preface this by saying that I'm not writing off modern medicine, nor post-modern medicine, nor saying that you should avoid doctors altogether. Just that it's a powerful and thus dangerous tool, and that you should ideally find a doctor you trust and then maintain contact with them, probably by visiting them regularly, now that I think about it, and maybe occasionally giving them a nice gift. :)

I advise the exact opposite, to visit doctors as little as possible, unless you experience pain which does not go away after a day or two.

In my experience, doctors will find something to do with you, and it will rarely work out to your advantage, unless it is emergency medicine.

My personal experiences: One doctor told me I need to get circumcised because I had minor irritation on my glans due to a scratch, which I told them about.

Another doctor insisted, without even looking at my X-rays, IIRC, that the cast on my broken hand was not sufficient, and that I needed him to take the cast off and perform surgery, or I would not be able to use my hand properly again.

If I had listened to these doctors instead of thinking for myself, I'd be without my precious foreskin and undergone unnecessary surgery, which would've delayed my getting better.

Multiple dentists found multiple "problems" with my teeths (without me ever complaining).

Fortunately for me, their diagnoses did not overlap with other dentists.

Several years later of me doing nothing (except regular dental cleaning) - I am still comfortable with my teeth.

It might have something to do with incentives. In my country most people would complain that the doctor doesn’t do anything to them, and based on my experience living with doctors all my life (parents, sisters and now wife), I see they are actually bothered by people taking their time without reason and not being able to pay proper attention to the ones who do need it.

I have the opposite experience. I had fears of having heart problems, or in my head, and at some point in my life I went to doctors and they all sent me away, they couldn't find anything wrong. The more incompetent ones might have more suspicious, because they were playing it safe. Better to order more tests and not find anything, than be confident and make a fatal mistake.

One of them even went as far as telling me "Man, there's so many people sick ou there and you're here wasting your time and money while you're damn healthy. Go enjoy life :)"

Maybe doctors think differently in the US or you were just unlucky?

It goes both ways. Sometimes they won't listen, and sometimes they'll tell you shit you don't need.

The important bit is, think and advocate for yourself, have healthy fear and respect for medical profession, and treasure the good doctors you come across.

And take good care of yourself so that you don't need them.

I think it’s good to recognize that medicine, like any field, is approximative and imperfect. Lots of people wing it or have different opinions. Doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t see a doctor if something happens to you, but indeed most medicine is reactive, and most preventive medicine you’ll receive automatically.

I believe the problem with doctors is, that they a) usually do not have much time for each patient to really do a whole body analysis and b) that the idea of viewing the body as a whole and not seperated parts like a machine still has not made their way fully into all of them yet

You're right on both counts.

Doctors are encouraged to systematize and commoditize their "care", and few are able to stand up to the pressure.

The few who are worth treasuring and showering with support.

I believe you should visit a doctor only if this happens at least with some pattern.

If you sleep 24 hours twice a year and all other time you sleep 7-9 - it is a reason to see a doctor?

I'd say yes. 24 hours sleep is just insane. Unless you had a long travel journey with several flights and a lot of stress. If however, you had a normal day before and you slept 24h several times, then yes go see a doctor. At least do a blood check to be sure.

You said it yourself, unless you're under a lot of stress.

Sometimes the stress is not obvious.

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