freewillie
Contributor
Sort of my point. Vertigo is vertigo. There is an underlying abnormality of the inner ear. The actual cause is somewhat irrelevant since the actual symptoms are still the same and the actual treatment is still the same. A layperson might want to make the distinction of diving barotrauma or maybe viral or actually even motion sickness. But if you understand inner ear physiology it is still vertigo and the therapy is still the same regardless of the cause.IME, a knowledgable SCUBA diver often knows more about diving-related medical issues - at least the more common ones - than a run-of-the-mill GP medical doctor. As an example, I doubt if my doctor has ever heard about hyperbaric vertigo...
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A scuba diver might have more experience in seeing a person with some minor medical issues and might have seen more ways to treat certain conditions. But to my point the actual understanding of what is happening and what should be done is not there. In my experience when a patient has a certain symptom then they tend to attribute any other person's similar symptoms to their own experiences. They may or may not be the same situations medically.
For example, if person A experiences "chest pain" and then gets diagnosed as having heartburn, then when somebody says "I'm having chest pain" person A may respond, "oh, that's heartburn. My doctor gave me Prilosec so you should try some too." Person B has "chest pain" goes to the doctor and gets diagnosed with heart disease and gets an angiogram and stent. Person B has somebody say, "I'm having chest pain" to which Person B says, " that's heart disease. You have to call your doctor tomorrow because you'll have a heart attack if you don't."
That's kinda what I see here on Scubaboard when some people answer medical questions. At least from my perspective actually having a medical degree as an MD.