The Waterbury Democrat., 1933-03-31
WHAT AILMENT IS SELF EVIDENT?

Another fallacy we reluct to relinquish Is that certain ailments are so self eVoent they reauire no physicians diagnosis.
 This belief is very common among even the more intelligent portion of the population Ill re- spect to a putative malady Whlch III my "p ion doesn't exist, namely ;he common toiu If ia a familiar dodge of our federal, stale ol
 nroyincial and municipal health authorltles to
 issue bulletins warning the public or aavisihs
 how to deal with the common cold' put
 leave it to the victim of the illness 10 decloc
 for himself whether he has it. Never, to my
 tnowledge. has any public health authority
 anywhere in America told the public how to
 know when one is dealing With the connoi .
 cold" or how to tell it isn't really serious
 illness at once. These prolific publishers or
 pamphlets, bulletins. and news about lhe
 common cold" would hardly know what to say
 about it if anybody knew what the common
 cold is, You see, as long nobody knows
 whether or what it is, the boys can turn out
 stuff about it by the ream and say what they
 like and who can question It, as long as taA
 payers are willing to stand the expense!
 on the next lower grade of intelligence are
 a great many persons who regard piles as
 self evident condition which requires no proper diagnosis This fallacy has led to an enormous amount of needless suffering ana not ieW nremature deaths Besides there is a large fac tor of waste involved-waste of money paid out for nostrums or treatments which, even II they were good for hemorrholds' are or no benefit for what really ails the sunerer; ana waste of time on such bunglng treatment. No one can reasonably safely assume rectal trouble is piles until physician has made a proper examination and determined precisely what the trouble is Even if there IS obviously an external hemorrhodal mass, still if is unsaf to assume that is the whole extent of the trouble
 But people of all degrees of intelligence rather resent being told such truth as this. One individual took alarm at something l said in this column about this very thing, rushed off to q physician for examination. learned that his trouble was d minor one and not the very serious condition he feared and promptly took steps to punish me for the scare had given him. Another asks what my rakeoT IS, when he needs my suggestion, goes for exam ination, finds the trouble is just plain old pies as he had always believed, and gets nicked $15 by the specialist. Certainly didn't advise him to go to q specialist If any plain ordinary family doctor isn't competent to make such an examination and diagnosis, then the doctor isn't worth having your medical adviser. one odd chap did thank me for having prompt ed him to seek an examination, as his piles proved to be a far more serious condition and by this chance the mans condition was dag noseu before irreparabc damage had been done.
 Perhaps the fear of surgery keeps some Vic- tims of rectal trouble from consulting the phy-
 sician for the necessary examination and ad-
 vice. This is unwarranted, for nowadays pro-
 gressive doctors in every community are treat
 ing hemorrhoids and other rectal troubles with
 perfect success by methods which neither de-
 tain from ordinary occupation nor give the
 patient more discomfort than the ailment itself does.