Posted By: OingeBoinge
But there are many ideas that many doctors hold dear that have serious holes in them.
I won't quibble with this at all! A surprising amount of medical practices are not based on evidence at all, but are done because that's they way they've always been done, and that's why the movement to evidence based practices is a positive thing -- as long as there is some discretion to allow for individual circumstances (that's an important caveat). Also, whenever a drug under patent is involved, you can bet a pharma rep has been whispering sweet nothings into the MD's ear; the sales reps are amazingly effective, especially when many MDs don't have the time to study up themselves because they are rushing from appointment to appointment. Although I just criticized MDs, some MDs are great; they either try to keep up or realize they can't and look things up with you/for you, depending on your needs.
In the research world, however, the overwhelming majority are cautious about over interpreting data and try to keep in mind the limitations of a study's design and statistics. Most are extremely conscientious and even try to be aware any biases they may have (they may want, or even need, a certain result). There are exceptions, of course; sometimes people succumb to greed/ambition, and some are too excited about a result, but they are usually squashed by colleagues or the next study that fails to replicate.
In addition to looking into the evidence for healthcare decisions for yourself/family, much of what people read on the web about health has even less credibility than some of the unsubstantiated medical practices, so I encourage everyone I know in my personal life to have a little skepticism and ask questions (although I don't think a lot of us are really wired to be skeptics).
Obviously, I can go on ad nauseam, too... I have to prevent posts from becoming novels!
But for OP - I will go on record saying the only douching she needs is to douche that guy from her contacts list - he's very presumptuous to want to control her time when he's not with her. I limit the number of people I see each week, but that's because of my preferences/schedule, not because someone tells me to!