Medical and health things we'll be horrified by in the future

[Leavesofautumn]

This is inspired by a recent thread about sunbeds.

What things happen now, that in fifty years time we'll be horrified by in the same way that we're horrified by certain things from Victorian times now, or even things from the 1960s? I'm talking about both medical treatments, and products that are harmful to health. In fact asbestos is still a problem now if certain buildings are being demolished.

Smoking indoors is an obvious one - even now I'm amazed we ever went into a restaurant and specifically had to ask for a non-smoking table.

Sunbeds are already banned in Australia and Brazil.

Prednisolone is a nasty drug and I'd like to see it eventually fall out of use once something better has been invented.

@Leavesofautumn would you mind explaining about the predisnolone? I'm on it fairly regularly for my asthma but didn't realise it was bad. I'd like to know more

*prednisolone

Flame retardants. They're the next asbestos. The UK is behind the rest of the world on legislation around them.

Yes I also wondered about prednisone as it has so many benefits

I also want to hear why smear tests are problematic...

CBT is fabulous and like another poster, gave me my life back. Prednisolone is also fabulous for short term use. Just because 'you' have had a bad experience doesn't mean it's bad surely? All medicines will have long term side effects, surely everyone realises this. I'd rather take steroids long term than suffer the pain that can't be cured without it.

ECT .

Mum has early onset dementia - front-temporal.

She had ECT in 1988 as treatment for unspecified mental health issues (best guess is EUPD or a form of PTSD) . The shocks she was given she was told caused permanent damage to her temporal lobe .

The week she was diagnosed, her GP said to me she privately believed it was the ECT.

The sad thing is we are 99% certain if she had been ill 10-20 years later she would never have been given it .

(I am aware it does work for some - my chum is a GP and has said she's seen direct benefits - but agreed it should be absolute last option and only in the most severe of illness) .

Artificial sweeteners. And they are so hard to avoid now 😔

That is so true! I have been on quetiapine for 15 years for persistent depression, not for any psychotic condition. To come off it is awful, I have tried so many times ( with medical help) but it's a nightmare.

I agree/hope that future medical students will look on chemotherapy as we now look on 19th century battlefield amputations. Doing their best, and saving lives, but with crude, primitive and damaging techniques.

Perhaps cancer itself, as scientists working on a vaccine are confident one will become available in the next few years. Which, imo, is nothing short of miraculous

They are often traumatic and/painful. There's also some evidence that they dont actually improve survival rates but cause a disproportional amount of unnecessary concerns.

But it's hard to discuss it because the NHS' attitude on this is better safe than sorry even if it isn't necessarily evidence based.

Prednisolone has a high incidence of side effects, not just weight gain but also hideous mental health side effects. Just because you're fine with it, it's not a reason to ignore the countless people who've wanted to scream while taking it. Maybe it's different at lower doses, but go on any online community for different autoimmune conditions and there will always be people talking about it. There are other corticosteroids around that have lower side effects, but also a lower success rate and they can take longer to work. I hope one day we get a better treatment that works faster but also doesn't cause these atrocious side effects. There are people literally wanting to kill themselves while taking it, and they can't suddenly stop because that's dangerous and you have to reduce the dose gradually.

@ohnoohnoo What dose do you take? People with Crohn's, for example, get given 30mg or more if they're very unwell.

There are also countless mental health drugs that have been discontinued over the years whenever newer ones are invented.

That was in response to @RandomMusings7 regarding smears

Because you go through the whole thing then your sample is only tested for hpv, if you dont at that time have hpv the whole lot gets tossed.
There is a much simpler test for hpv involving a swab rather than speculum.

Granted if you do have hpv the sample is tested, but I think quite a lot of women would prefer the swab then if needed the speculum rather than the way it is now.
That and the whole undignified mess that is the smear.

Phones. Early hunchback syndrome.

Smear tests should be a thing of the past in a few decades anyway - cervical cancer should be sufficiently rare once everyone's vaccinated for HPV or that it's not worth universal screening.

That it's not illegal to not pay child maintenance.

If this is about smear test - They catch precancerous cells before they turn into cancer. That's the whole point. They reduce incidence of cancer altogether.They probably don't improve survival rates for women whose tests find cancerous tumors, but those women have simply left testing too late. That's not a fault of the screening.

As for false positives, that's just the price you pay for prevention. Y
You're free to opt out. But to say they do more harm than good and should be eliminated is simply deluded and preposterous!

100% They are really nasty chemicals.

That's really interesting, I wasn't aware of any of that. I take it usually up to 8 times per year depending on how my asthma is. I'm normally given 6 tablets to take every day for 5 days (not sure what actual dose that is, although I think each tablet is 5mg?)
I'm on them this week due to having covid, chest infection and asthma flare up, it's the first time I've taken them since coming off my anti depressants a few months ago and I've felt really low the last few days so maybe that could be the cause?

Botox.
I know that there's ongoing research into how the toxin is broken down.

*Because you go through the whole thing then your sample is only tested for hpv, if you dont at that time have hpv the whole lot gets tossed.
There is a much simpler test for hpv involving a swab rather than speculum.

Granted if you do have hpv the sample is tested, but I think quite a lot of women would prefer the swab then if needed the speculum rather than the way it is now.
That and the whole undignified mess that is the smear.*

I agree that it should be optional for the new HPV test. You should be able to request only a swab method if that is what you prefer.

Personally I gain reassurance from the fact that my cervix has at least been visualised by an HCP during a smear as most cervical cancers above grade I are visible at this stage without a colposcope.

I also had a card come through in the post that I've been told I have to carry with me at all times incase I need emergency medical treatment. It states that I take regular doses of steroids for asthma. I honestly (very naively) didn't realise how bad steroids were until then!

Yep this