back from the doctor

[gusl]

Just got back from doctor.

I wrote my history on this problem chronologically, filling half a page, and took it with me. Service was quick: I waited only about 10 minutes. I was seen by a doctor at about 11:15am, when the blockage was much better, something like 80%L / 50%R (about the same as now). When I woke up, it had been something like 50%L/0%R.

I told him that 2 hours before I could hardly breathe (1/4 capacity), and was afraid of going back to sleep.
His response: "You won't die from it. You can breathe through your mouth."

Making no attempt to determine what was causing my blockage, he promptly gave me xylometazoline hydrochloride nose drops. It turns out that this stuff is only meant for colds, which I show no signs of having.
Then I was told that if I wanted to see an ENT doctor, then I would have to go the normal route, through my huisarts (GP). I will do this ASAP.

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To fuel one's skepticism of doctors, Robin Hanson's "Fear of Death & Muddled Thinking: It Is So Much Worse than You Think" is brilliant. Hanson defends the idea that most medical care is a luxury, and is interested in phenomena of self-deception (and normal deception too).

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Survey:
(1) when was the last time you visited a doctor?
(2a) when was the last time a doctor was useful to you? how many visits ago was that?

Now consult the oracle of counterfactuals, and ask him "what if I hadn't gone to the doctor that time?"
and answer
(2b) when was the last time a doctor was useful to you? how many visits ago was that?

what kind of help did you get?
* education/prevention
* told you what you had
* got a prescription that made the difference (did you already know what you needed?)
* surgery
* other?

Comments

[jbouwens.livejournal.com]

BTW: A side-effect from being born with a cleft palate is that I have blocked nasal passages all the time. As with you, the blockage goes up and down, so this proves your doctor is right about one thing: You won't die from it :).

When I was younger I breathed through my mouth all the time. I actually had to consciously teach to breathe through my nose. I can do this most of the time now, but when I sleep my mouth is always open. I often wonder what, if any, effect this has on my life expectancy, as the nose acts as a dust filter for your lungs. I can imagine I will develop some sort of lung-ailment in the future because of this.

[gustavolacerda.livejournal.com]

I also had to teach myself to breathe through my nose, because I really long periods breathing through my mouth as a child.

But what if you're sleeping with your mouth closed? Do you open instinctively while sleeping?

Do people wake up if you close their nose and mouth?

[jbouwens.livejournal.com]

But what if you're sleeping with your mouth closed? Do you open instinctively while sleeping?

When my muscles relax, my mouth simply drops open.

Do people wake up if you close their nose and mouth?

Eh, yes, they do. No being able to breathe is a pretty immediate emergency, so the body reacts strongly.