Things you're amazed aren't more widely known/ common misconceptions perpetuated by popular culture etc

[wangernum]

This isn't about how the young people at work don't know what the capital of Spain is, or that the petrol indicator on the car dashboard tells you what side your petrol cap is on, etc. More things that you didn't know at one point, but having learned about it (or more likely - experienced it yourself) can't see why it isn't more widely known.

My examples:
Diagnosing of gallstones. My GP failed to diagnose my dreadful gallstone pain, in the end (after suffering for years) I asked a forum like this about my symptoms and loads of people said it's probably gallstones. I went to a different GP and said 'I think it could be gallstones' and it was - got the gallbladder removed and not had a problem since.
Anyway, since then I realise the symptoms are fairly obvious (I know it's hard to describe pain but from my own experience I know what sort of questions to ask) yet there are always threads on here about how gallstones didn't get suggested by a doctor/got missed, a friend of mine also had similar experience just not knowing what this indescribable pain was. How on earth do doctors not know to suggest/check for gallstones? It seems really common?

Other misconceptions:
Waters going just before you're about to give birth (most people who've had children probably know this isn't accurate! My waters had to be broken when I was in labour!) This still happens on TV all the time!

Schizophrenia = multiple personality disorder. It's not.

Breastfeeding - so much I had no idea about! How painful it can be to start with. That babies need feeding all the time! I did an NCT breastfeeding class and I still felt that it was based on a lot of assumed knowledge (that I didn't have!). Even calling formula feeding 'bottle-feeding' but it not actually being about feeding from a bottle but the fact it's formula not breastmilk.

Colic - that it's a medical problem or indigestion, reflux etc. It's hard to tell from a lot of the stuff that's written about it but it just means lots of unexplained crying (usually at certain times etc, well it was in my experience). I actually found that 'purple crying' was a better explanation: purplecrying.info/what-is-the-period-of-purple-crying.php

Bit more obscure but d-mer.org/ - D-MER - very specific feeling of sadness when breastfeeding. I wish I'd known about this with my first baby!

Another example might be anyone that still thinks 'common-law wife' is a thing. Although I don't see many people using that phrase apart from to point out it's not a thing (legally etc)!

Cochlear Implants don’t cure deafness. They also don’t always work. The sounds through them aren’t natural sounds as they are processed electronically. They can be useful but there’s too much reliance on them being a cure.

When I worked at Asda I had a teenage boy ask if we had pigeon milk. I said no, but I'm still not sure if he was joking!

That you can "give away" your house to your adult children to prevent it being sold to pay for care fees. My MIL in particular seems to think all her friends have done this.
Also, that if you have given away property or cash, councils can only go back seven years when looking at your accounts for evidence of deliberate deprivation of assets. This is not true, they can go further back if necessary.

That you can "give away" your house to your adult children to prevent it being sold to pay for care fees. My MIL in particular seems to think all her friends have done this

Yes my mum is always talking about a friend of hers who has apparently given half her house to her daughter to avoid care fees. I said that if shes not paying half a market rent to her daughter, it won't work. I don't think my mum is entirely convinced.

Anyway, since then I realise the symptoms are fairly obvious (I know it's hard to describe pain but from my own experience I know what sort of questions to ask) yet there are always threads on here about how gallstones didn't get suggested by a doctor/got missed, a friend of mine also had similar experience just not knowing what this indescribable pain was. How on earth do doctors not know to suggest/check for gallstones? It seems really common?

I've had gallbladder pain, I've also had an ovarian cyst the size of a grapefruit. I thought the cyst was gallstones. Very similar pain in a very similar area.

This thread is about things you learned through life experience so I don't know why people who haven't done this keep arguing with me...

Because you are wrong, my deed poll cost £0, it was accepted by the passport office and then I used my passports, new and old to change my name on everything else.

Actually I was using my 'new' name for most things and I only did the FREE deed poll for the passport office. I printed the deed and two friends signed it, it took about 15 mins.

Here's a link to the government advice

www.gov.uk/change-name-deed-poll

And another to one to a site that will create it for free

freedeedpoll.org.uk/

That a difficult tooth extraction involves the dentist putting a knee on the patients chest to get at the tooth. Rubbish! It's about technique not brute force and as a dental nurse for 30 plus years I've never seen it once!

Some people write "that....", referring to the myth.
And other peole write "that....", referring to the truth.

It is incredibly confusing.

It was me who said about chemo = cancer treatment.

I said upthread, I've rather confusingly flipped back and forth between posting the myth and the fact. Alexa said something about chemo in relation to cancer and it reminded me of the idea that some have that chemo is only cancer treatment, rather than drug treatment in general. Alexa didn't say that it was only cancer treatment mind, it just reminded me of it :)

It's a figure of speech. You don't really think all these people believe Coke is full of fat do you?

I have seen a can of food as part of a display about health eating, saying you should cut down on fatty foods.

@Iklboo- you don't defibrillate someone in Atrial fibrillation - VT or VF are the shockable rhythms!

Not quite true, I've used a defib to cardiovert a number of people.

Also VF may not be asystole but the heart is not pumping anything out so it is, sort of stopped.

Also you can have a completely normal ECG and have no output from the heart, which is why you should always take a pulse, not use the numbers on the monitor.

I have to say I was gobsmacked when I heard a junior Dr ask another what the difference was between AF and VF - I may have mentioned the life jelly test.

And a heart attack IS NOT a cardiac arrest.

Sorry I seem to be channelling my previous life.

If you actually genuinely think that non Diet Coke has fat in it then that's on you really.

I always thought people said 'full fat coke' a bit tongue in cheek and jokey, they don't mean there's fat in it.
It always annoys me when Frys Turkish Delight says 99% fat free; of course it is, it's practically pure sugar!

Re. the changing of one's name via deed poll.
The gov.uk site has been suggested plenty of times and yes, the initial deed poll is free. However, the gov.uk site then points people in the direction of enrolling the deed poll at court for the grand sum of £36 (which I suspect is what other posters who've done this are referring to when they mention having paid for their deed poll).

I am embarking on this process right now and it has certainly been recommended to me to enroll my deed poll at court as the certificate the court then grants you lends more weight and chance of being accepted by the various institutions that you then notify of your name change.

If anyone knows differently, i'd love to know more!

Yes, but you do not need to enroll your deed poll.

I definitely do recommend it. It was an absolute pain doing it without and I wish I'd done it. But, you don't have to.

FWIW, I found the whole process absolutely absurd. I needed to change my name because (for complicated reasons), I'd been made a job offer under the name I use for work, and my prospective employer was very insistent this needed to be my legal name, the name on my passport. They sent me a conditional offer letter but wouldn't sign it or finalise the contract until I could show a passport with the correct name.

So, time being short, I did the quickie version of the deed poll and spoke to the passport office about what proof they'd need that this was, indeed, the name I was known by (you need to bring some supplementary proof, and they have a list of various documents you could bring). They suggested that a valid proof document would be a job offer letter.

So ... I brought my job offer letter to the passport office, who accepted it and issued me a passport, and then I sent my passport to my prospective employer, who accepted it and issued me a contract!

Absolutely nuts, right?

There were various other documents you could bring to show you use a name (I could have brought a bill if I'd had the sense to tell the electric company it was my legal name, for example, and that would have been much easier - but for me time was really tight so I worked with what I had).

the court then grants you lends more weight and chance of being accepted by the various institutions

My friend's bank said it didn't, 'look official' but he pointed out that it was good enough for the passport office.

Yep, you definitely want to go to the passport office first - they require the lowest standard of proof.

That coeliac disease is just a more serious version of wheat/gluten intollerance, and that the only symptom/problem this will cause is sickness/loose poo/tummy ache. I have a friend who was recently diagnosed but never had any stomach problems- but did have loads of other symptoms for years and I was amazed at the long term impact she has been told she could have from years of not knowing.

That every pregnant woman gets morning sickness, which is the first sign of pregnancy and only happens first thing in the morning and for the first few weeks. I never had any sickness (and so was convinced that my first scan would show no baby) and most people I know who did had it all day, some having to be hospitalised.

@WhereTheCowsGoBong At the training I attended many years ago we were taught that everyone is on the autistic spectrum, including everyone there at the training. That is what they literally said. So I assume other people were also being taught that since it was a well respected charity teaching this.
Ideas can change so much over the space of 35 years, and not everyone keeps up with newer ideas.

@Thekindyoufindinasecondhand unless you've gone through the process of changing your name, just 'getting married' has no effect on your name

It always surprises me that people don't realise that just because you would react to an event in a particular way, it does not mean others are wrong to react to that event in a different way from you.

I don't think it's a newer idea, @karen, I would think the charity just got a bit mixed up. Lots of people have argued that autism is a condition that includes traits you find elsewhere. Lorna Wing's 'triad of impairments' theory basically argues that autism is about the intersection of several issues, so you'd be able to find each those issues singly in some non-autistic people.

I don't think there's ever been an argument everyone is on the autistic spectrum.

@sarahandquack I don't know. As I said it is what I was taught in a training course 35 years ago. Even if the charity were wrong. others were taught this as well.
I have just looked at The Autistic Societies history of autism research, so 35 years ago really was in the dark ages in terms of research.
www.autism.org.uk/about/what-is/myths-facts-stats.aspx

Oh, sure. I've heard it put about much more recently than this, by people who should know better. I can totally believe it was said.

My sister said it to me just after my diagnosis, and she's a recent psych postgrad. I pointed out that she probably was (we're very similar), but the rest of the world aren't.

The idea that if something is a risk that's advised against it will DEFINITELY ABSOLUTELY happen the moment you take that risk.

Also that just because someone you sort of know did it once and was fine, probably the statistics/experts are wrong and it's definitely not a risk at all then.

For example a baby sleeping on their front is at immediate and highly likely risk of death. Oh except for my friend's cousin's baby who always slept on their front and was fine.

Or a bit of chicken that is slightly undercooked or was out of date but you didn't notice the date on the packet is definitely going to make you all greviously ill.

People don't seem to understand the definition of increased risk.

YY, @bertiebotts.

But also, people getting confused about this logic and its inverse.

People hear you say you can't use just one example to prove something, because it's anecdote (and this is true). But then, people also think you can't use one example to disprove something, and often, of course, you can!