Forum 'Rules'

[finetilthree]

Collegegirl,
The previous thread on the doctor's forum was closed b/c it was full so I thought I'd address you directly in this way.  I had asked Arthur how his comments got purged and you wondered the same thing.  I stumbled on something in archives while trying to research pvcs and read that he was "asked to leave the forum".  I found this so strange! I'm wondering if there are rules to posting that, if not followed, can getcha booted!

[arthur]

for sure...

The biggest sin is posting an opinion that sounds like a medical opinion.  The forum gets worried that folks that don't know any better will take that kind of advice seriously, even if it's prefixed with the usual warnings.  

I notice that even today many of the comments that readers make are actually quite strong and opinionated.  And that's fine with me, however, it sometimes gets under the skin of management.

There are times that comments are also simply removed; you can notice this when looking at the comment number (eg, c1, c2, c3...).  If there is a skip in the sequence, something inappropriate has bitten the dust.

-Arthur

[kitcurious]

Hi. The forums's rules are posted on the site. They have a few broad rules(and some specific ones) that could get a person "booted" if they felt it was necessary.

That PVC post by the one person today was outrageous, ill-informed and potentially destructive to people who are struggling with understanding that the only difference between most of them and other people is that they FEEL them.  I had never before witnessed something like that on such a high quality site.

Medhelp has the option of deleting it, or the doctor can choose to address it.

We shall soon see.

Where's Doctor House when you need him?  ;-D

[Barbarella]

Well, all I can tell you that about three yrs ago there was a question (don't remember if it was a headline)whether PVC's can be fatal during exercise.  I replied that lots of times I do have PVC's during exercise (and this for the last 45 yrs)and have not dropped dead yet.  Somebody on this board answered me with "you better watch out your next exercise might be your last".  NOTHING happened to that post or poster.  But again, I did not turn him/her in either.  His or her comments got me so upset that the next time I saw the Cardiologist I mentioned it to him and he said in my case "NO WAY" would I drop dead from PVC's during exercise.  He told me to stay away from the Internet and message boards because they sometimes upset people more than they comfort and support people.  He was disgusted that a lay person who is not a medical doctor makes a statement like that.  It depends on the individual person.  If you have a very bad heart exercise might harm you, but if you have a healthy heart PVC's cannot harm you in any way during exercise he said.  Well, he was the Cardiologist, he checked out my heart, he went to school all these yrs to study the heart so I do believe HIM over somebody who thinks he/she knows it better than a Cardiologist does.

[Sweetwaterguy]

I discovered this forum after I returned home from my ablation early in December.  I have found much of the information very helpful, and have posted a few times to offer support.  However, I have been concerned that some posters have offered very specific opinions that sound very much to me like a medical opinion from someone who has advanced professional knowledge.  That has been a concern and something I regard as very dangerous--especially for the person writing with problems.  One contributing factor is some people write essentially asking for medical advice.  Even though I am new to the forum and have not followed the ebb and flow of the conversations, I do believe the only medical advice we should give is to recommend the person asking medical questions should seek medical advice.   In that regard, it is very appropriate for the forum to be monitored and abusers kept from participating.  That is in our best interest and in the interest of our health.

[anacyde]

Moderation is good, yes.  Some opinions of users which are strong are such because it is repetition (i.e PACs and PVCs in a structurally normal heart aren't dangerous) and it's basically restating common knowledge and what has been said by the MedHelp doctors as well as the participant's doctors.

That said, in any forum, it is wise to consider that the information a non-medical person offers is based solely on experience and that which they may have read or been told by their own doctor - thus it may not apply universally.  That's why any internet site should be for (a) support and (b) learning how to ask the right questions of your doctor...but NEVER, EVER under ANY circumstances a substitute for actually having a face-to-face interaction with an actual medical professional.

[CollegeGirl143]

Yes the forum has rules, and really should be read over. Its a straight forward short list. Basically what should NEVER be done, is to give advice under the pretenses of being a physician, even if you ARE a physician.. I notice some people say "im in the medical field", and dont specify, and personally i think this too is just leading to trouble. Im personally positive there are other doctors than the forum doctors on this sight, watching, learning and even commenting. This is a GREAT sight to learn on,as alot of patients have found out. Its also a great outlet to give people comfort and help, but no one in the medical field should EVER announce that fact, under any circumstances, because it would leave oneself open to too many oppertunities for problems. It is too dangerous to give medical care over the internet, and if a doctor is not being protected by the medhelp agreement terms, he/she should certainly not  risk his/her career or a malpractice suit over it. Its best just to keep all commentary in the form of sharing life experience and knowledge. Other than that, just basic politeness rules apply...I dont see why anyone here would be getting purged, as i aslo have found arthurs comments to be warrented and helpful, let alone being asked to leave the forum. That seems abrupt to me.

[CollegeGirl143]

well, thankfully we live in a place where your beliefs are yours, and should not be grounds for being purged from a public forum... Unfortunatly what i think may be happening, is someone is interpreting you expressing your beliefs, as trying to state them as fact.. Not sure, but maybe thats the reasoning behind it

[Barbarella]

That is WHY people should see a Cardiologist to determine whether the PVC's are benign.  PVC's can have many causes i.e. stress, anxiety, hyper or hypothiroidism, LOW Potassim, or just there for no reason at all. That is why people need to have it checked out by a Cardiologist to find out what the cause is.  Once he/she tells you "don't worry, they are benign" you've to trust him/her.  I've been having PVC's for the last 45 yrs and I'm still alive and kicking.

Like I said in another post.   A headache can be a sign of a brain tumor or can be just stress.  Dizziness can be a sign of an impending stroke or just from nerves/anxiety/low blood sugar etc etc, a persistent caugh can be a sign of lung cancer or just be caused by an allergy, or a prolonged cold that keeps on coming back, or from nerves, yes NERVES.  A doctor explained to my sister in law how that happens but I don't remember exactly, but all her tests came back negative yet she is frequently caughing. She is a very nervous person.  Something about her acid in her stomach coming up into her throat when she is under stress and causes her to caugh. Antacids have helped her caugh a lot.  But untill they got to the bottom of the caus, it would've been stupid and cruel to tell this person "I bet you lave lung cancer or something serious no caugh lasts THAT long"

I don't think its right for people to come on a heart forum board and instead of supporting people scare the hell out of them.  And last but not least I don't think a Cardiologist who works for a very well known hospital would put his reputation on the line, taking a chance of a malpractice suit should I check out due to PVC's because he told me that my PVC's are benign, and documented it in my medical records, I saw it with my own eyes.  I think he knows more than anybody on this board unless its a doctor/cardiologist.

If people can trust what their doctors/cardiologists tell them and rather believe a lay person then why do they even bother to go to a doctor/cardiologist if what he/she says they have doubts then don't waste their time and your insurance's money.

[Barbarella]

Sorry to hear about your condition.  Did your cardiologist tell you that your PVC's contribute to your heart failure?

A good friend of mine is in heart failure and to this day she never had PVC's, at least that is what she told me.  She had her first heart attack at age 40, second one at age 45 and she is now 68 and in heart failure.  She has/had diabetes for many yrs also high blood pressure and high cholesterol for which she took meds for all three conditions.  Refused any exercise whatsoever and never watched what she was eating despite her diabetes and high cholesterol, she has been overweighed all her life.  The only heart symptoms she had before her heart attack were chest pain and occasionally a fast racing heart and she claims she never felt PVC's she didn't even know what I was talking about when I said "skipped heart beats" she claims she never felt that.

[arthur]

It's soccer.. and yes, I'm still at it, playing competitively in both Over-40 and 0ver-48 leagues.  Not bad, considering I'll be 60 this year.  The PAF has crept back, as expected.  Hard and consistent exercise will eventually stretch those PV ostia and allow more channels to develop for focal signalling to leach through, and since not all the foci were ablated 5 years ago, the remaining ones are now breaking through.

I am considering a second ablation (they are fun, aren't they?), but will decide sometime in November.  It all depends on whether some other part of my body breaks before then. In fact, the only good reason for the ablation is to be able to continue playing soccer competitively.  Normal exercise is not a problem.

Sorry to hear about your situation.  I suspect that the PVC argument will go on for quite a while, as a cause and effect are difficult to establish using statistics.  My feeling, based on pure logic, is that any repeated abberation in a biological system is bound to cause a shift to that system which becomes permanent, leaving the system not as optimal as it could have been without the abberation.

Keep well.

-Arthur

[arthur]

Hey...for an unmoderated site, it's pretty weird that this morning I saw about a half-dozen postings dealing with vitamins, minerals and other supplements to ward off the evils of arrhythmia...and now they're gone.  How weird is that?

[CollegeGirl143]

theres no way to determine if your pvc's and heart failure are related. Many people have them together, and many people dont. Medicine unfortunatly, especially involving palpitations, is not an exact science.

[Nic2007]

Hi I'm new to the forum. I have actually read a lot of posts but never joined so I decided why not join. I read a lot of post about Heart Palpatations as this is something I too experience. I started noticing them when I was probably in sixth grade. My family doctor told my parents it was caffiene. So my parents stopped buying soda and I didn't have palpitations until highschool but I also started drinking caffiene again. When I would get the flutters I just stopped caffeine use.

Ok so that is when it all began. This on top of an aniexty problem I was thought to be just too anixous. So I asked my Family Doctor to do an Echo. The Echo came back normal in fact it was very good. So no worry but it still bothered me. So I switched complelty over to caffeine free beverages. I also drank a lot of diet soda.

About three years ago I experienced probably the worst bout of palpitations since I had ever had them. One right after another. I thought I was going to die and I was only 21 yrs old. So I went to the ER straight from work. In the ER I was rushed in and hooked up to the EKG machine. I layed there for about an hour or more and didn't feel one single palpitation. The test showed my heart was beating noraml no problem. I even had a chest X-ray which was normal. So what is going on I thought. Well I went to the my family doctor and he put me on a 24hr-monitor. When the results came in he said there were a few PVCS but nothing serious. So he told me to make sure to not have caffiene and try to reduce my stress. Well cutting out caffiene helped but I still got palpitations not nearly as much as the day I went to the ER but non the less scary. I would sometimes get them in runs of three or four. It really took me over. I had been an active person and I found myself afraid to do anything active.

I still have heart palpitations and I wonder how is this normal in a normal heart? So I decided to focus on my diet. I wanted to see if anything else in food besides caffiene might cause these palpitations.

As I started doing my research I thought I'd focus on something I consume almost on a daily basis and go from there. Well the only thing I could come up with is Aspartame which because I'm Diabetic was something I ate and drank often. I found on many sites that this Aspartame is really bad for you. I found a long list of health problems that indiviauls claim Aspartame causes and that after stopping the use of Aspartame all the symptoms go away. Well wouldn't you know our nasty little Palpitations are on that list. So I am cutting out the Aspartame to see what happens. Yesturday was my first day of not consumeing the stuff. I still had palpitations but like anything it will probably take some time if this is the cuase of my palpitations. So to make a long story short. I suggest that everyone in this forum if you drink or consume Aspartame in any way stop and see if it helps. I think it might. Here is the link to read the testimonies of other indivudals. www.holisticmed.com-aspartame and if you just go to askjeeves.com and type in Aspartame you can do your own search. I hope that this might help someone..Sorry so long next time will be shorter:)