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)!

Speaking of which Alexa, "chemotherapy" means cancer treatment.

Oh yes.

would have preferred a heads up from my midwife that BF isn't always a walk in the park.
My friend who found it a breeze really couldn't understand why I was struggling.

I think the general rule of thumb is that it takes at least a bit of getting to grips with, if not extremely difficult. I was just lucky.

I can 100% understand why someone would struggle because not everyone gets the same experience. It's all down to luck I think, and if baby doesn't naturally latch well and you're fine, getting issues resolved such as tongue tie and a good latch guide helps too

Oh well good for you, Goady McSmug pants. 

I'm not smug, just pleased and count my lucky stars. Not everyone has a negative breastfeeding experience, or a difficult one to begin with. It is genuinely easy for some people because it just came naturally

@Thekindyoufindinasecondhand @2monstermash

I had the same thought... all you need in the UK is a marriage cert to be able to use the new name.
But you will need to change it on all accounts, licences, passports separately - but all you need to do that is your marriage cert. you don’t need to do it by deed poll..

Eyelids do not shut automatically and instantly when an animal or person dies. This is why in classical mythology etc the dead have coins on their eyelids. Yet in films this is the usual way that death is portrayed.

An Autism diagnosis does not automatically get you benefits, respite or any form of funded support (or special consideration at admissions) in school.

It’s hard on this thread to work out if people are writing the truth or the misconception!

The moon is something to do with night time.
How can anyone over the age of 5 have not realised this isn’t true?

You can't revive a dead person just by pumping their chest and/or giving them mouth to mouth - the purpose of doing this is to keep oxygen moving around their body and brain until a paramedic arrives with a defibrillator.

So why in movies do we always see that cliched scene of someone receiving mouth to mouth and immediately spluttering back to life?!

That you can bring someone back from the dead on an operating table and they’ll be in perfect health, and skip out of the hospital in a day or two.

I’ve seen families fall apart over Do Not Resuscitate decisions when people don’t understand what they could potentially be putting their vulnerable elderly relatives through - broken ribs, collapsed lungs, brain damage.

Doctors seem to assume that people know what they’re being asked to authorise.

I had my waters broken with dd

With ds, the midwife thought he would be born in caul.

But no, my waters went, literally just before he came out.

Breastfeeding was a no go as it was so painful with dd (who had tongue tie and still does) and ds was too small to stay latched.

He was then diagnosed with CMPA

My dh has onset schizophrenia. He isn’t crazy. He just has massive meltdowns is it’s triggered

Also I’m deaf. Or rather severely hearing impaired

People are always surprised when they realise I don’t have perfect hearing

I wear a hearing aid and rely a lot on lip reading

@Queenoftheashes
When my first grandchild was being born in L.A. there was a huge group waiting expectantly in the same room as me. The father came rushing in, paused and you could have heard a pin drop. They all stood up and he blurted out "its a girl". Even I was in tears it was such a wondrous moment.

I agree about the awful after labour pains - if I had been warned I would have brought my own painkillers as the hospital wouldn't give me anything as they were considered "natural".

Marrying a foreigner doesn't automatically mean you acquire their citizenship! (At least not where I live and not in the UK). I am amazed at how many people have told me that Brexit won't affect me because I am married to an EU national.

I’m another one who had a waters breaking and instant painful contractions! It was my 3rd baby and she was in my arms less than 3 hours after my waiters went.

That Casualty and Holby City are set in the same hospital. MIL had been watching both for years before she realised!

Although DH once convinced her that Coronation Street was filmed at Granada services so.....!

the purpose of doing this is to keep oxygen moving around their body and brain until a paramedic arrives with a defibrillator.

You can only use a defibrillator if the heart is in atrial fibrillation - they don't restart a stopped heart.

Schools aren't cleaned properly.

Swimming pools are rarely drained and refilled!

A lot of people think that if you are assessed as dyslexic then you will automatically get extra time in exams, which you won't.

@AlexaAmbidextra that's what I meant. Just read the thread title again, I got it the wrong way around.

So many people think they are the same thing. (Worked in a bank for many years and wish I had had £1 for every time I had to explain it.)

Schools aren't cleaned properly.

So true! Ours is filthy, teachers and TA's recently did a lot of cleaning when there was a bad vomiting bug

People thinking that defibrillators cause a stopped heart to start again. They don't. They only work if the heart rhythm has gone haywire, and work by momentarily stopping the heart, so that hopefully it will restart with the correct rhythm.

If someone's heart stops, then drugs can be used to try to jump start it. Otherwise, the person is dead.

I didn't know that about cats and cows milk .
I wish it was more widely known that a bad cold does not equal flu. That you can't have a " touch " of flu.

Some of these aren't so obvious though.

Why would anyone have any knowledge of breastfeeding for example or myths surrounding it, or indeed need to know about it, until you need to do it?

With the thing about bread and ducks, it’s now ok to give them bread.

People have stopped feeding them bread which means they aren’t getting fed as much

Bread is better than nothing