A reminder about our rules on asking for medical advice

[wypimom2]

Hello fellow moderately granola moms,

In light of some recent posts that had to be removed, this is a reminder about our sub rule banning asking for and giving medical advice. We have no way of verifying anyone’s credentials and particularly because many of the questions involve the health of children, we kindly ask that all medical questions are directed to qualified medical personnel and not this sub.

Examples of what is not allowed:
1. Asking whether or not your child (or you) should take or complete a course of prescribed antibiotics
2. Posting pictures of your child’s rash asking what it is
3. Asking whether prescription medications are safe to take during pregnancy (example: “I just found out I’m pregnant and I take Lyrcia for nerve pain, can I keep taking it?”)

Examples of what is allowed:
1. If your child has a diagnosed medical condition (e.g. eczema), asking what other parents have done in that situation
2. Sharing your experiences with healthcare and asking for advice about navigating the system
3. Asking for tips on managing general health that doesn’t necessarily fall under a medical condition (e.g. dry skin) or doesn’t require medical intervention under normal circumstances (e.g. the common cold)

The above examples of what is and isn’t allowed are just examples and not an exhaustive list. When in doubt, you are welcome to message the mods to ask whether something you’d like to post would violate the sub rules.

Thank you for your help.

 

[neostarwcc]

@wypimom2 Great rules. Thanks for the reminder!

 

[hmslife]

@wypimom2 Thank you so much mods for taking this seriously and making this reminder! As a mostly lurker to this sub, I think you are making a great call in deferring these questions to legit medical personnel to keep everybody safe.

 

[ukuladypdx]

@wypimom2 I think that this is too much moderation. I think a tagging system labelling the post as X would be a better option. Sometimes people just need to ask a question and vent in a space that shares some of their values. Even if the question appears to be “asking for medical advice” there’s likely a lot more in it than that. Removing the option for sharing in this community is not a good thing in my opinion and will not contribute to protecting children.

Furthermore, a parent weary of giving their child an antibiotic is a lot more likely to seek a second opinion or give their child that antibiotic when encouraged by others (who share some of their values) to do so as that post demonstrated if I remember correctly.

 

[wypimom2]

@ukuladypdx This post isn’t describing a change to the rules, it’s a reminder about a rule that already exists. Our goal is to invite discussion around a variety of topics, but we (the mod team) can’t verify credentials and don’t feel it’s safe for this sub to be a source of medical advice when the situation would warrant input from a medical provider. This input has been noted and things could certainly change in the future.

 

[strange1]

@wypimom2 It's really hard to define what is medical advice, but number 3 on your list is wrong. If someone doesn't provide any personal information then it cannot be medical advice.

 

[wypimom2]

@strange1 Are you referring to the example of asking whether a medication is safe to take during pregnancy?

Edit: I just added an example to make this one more clear. Asking about what medications people have taken during pregnancy (e.g. “has anyone taken Zofran for nausea during pregnancy, how did that work for you?”) or asking about OTC medicine (e.g. “what antihistamine have people used for allergies while pregnant?”) would be fine. What we want to avoid is there have been a few posts with people asking about continuing their prescriptions while pregnant, which is really something they should discuss with their doctor.

 

[strange1]

@wypimom2 Thanks for correcting it.

Doctors are really, really bad at that kind of advice though. Generalists (OBs, family medicine, GP) routinely tell moms on psychiatric medications to stop cold turkey when they test positive, just because they fall under Schedule B (no known risks but not proven to be safe). Maternal Fetal Medicine specialists are not readily accessible and they are the only ones that are qualified to analyze the affects of medications on fetuses. When moms ask these kinds of questions, they gain access to specialist information that their generalist doctors often gloss over inappropriately.

For example, I am in the ADHD community and this is common for ADHD moms. It happened to me, and I ultimately left my job because I could not function unmedicated while pregnant. However, once I got advice from a Maternal Fetal Medicine specialist, I learned it's not that simple.

 

[wypimom2]

@strange1 I understand the sentiment and agree about the systemic issues, but we can’t police the information that is being shared. It would be great if there was a way to ensure that only safe, relevant medical information was shared, but the rule on not giving medical advice prevents dangerous misinformation, as well as unintentionally unsafe information (e.g. without consideration of interactions with other medications), from making its way to someone and possibly causing harm. We do supporting the sharing of resources, like suggesting the MommyMeds app by the InfantRisk Center to review the safety of medications during pregnancy.