41 Medical Secrets: If You Only Knew ...Reader's Digest

Interesting reading here on what Reader’s Digest came up with. One of my favorites, Dr. Doug who does Placebo Journal has his rebuttal here. As always he does a good video and is always entertaining. Read through and some of the comments made here for a few surprises and enlightenment. BD

If You Only Knew ... Reader's Digest offered two dozen doctors a chance to tell it like it really is, and general practitioners, surgeons, shrinks, pediatricians, and other specialists took the challenge. Some wanted to be anonymous; some didn't care. But all of them revealed funny, frightening, and downright shocking things that can help you be a better, smarter patient.

• Thank you for bringing in a sample of your (stool, urine, etc.) from home. I'll put it in my personal collection of things that really gross me out.
--Douglas Farrago, MD, editor, Placebo Journal

• Doctors often make patients wait while they listen to sales pitches from drug reps.
--Cardiologist, Bangor, Maine

• Most of us haven't been to see our own physicians in five years.
--Physical medicine specialist, Royal Oak, Michigan