this post was submitted on 08 May 2026
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Science Memes

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[–] Kyle@lemmy.ca 112 points 4 days ago (3 children)

In the US, people don't go to the doctor when they have a problem, they go as a last resort because they have to ask themselves how much it would cost.

18% of Americans haven't ever seen a doctor and 40% of Americans haven't seen one for 5 years.

A number of studies in low income communities in the south show that over 60% of people in those communities have intestinal parasites. That's just the ones we know of.

One thing we know for sure is that ivermectin is about as magic as they say it is for parasites only. It's a fantastic drug for that.

Over 60% of low income citizens would likely feel much better after getting their parasites removed from ivermectin. So what they are seeing, seems true. They could be sick from something else but get rid of a long standing comorbidity of a pariste infection, you bet they are feeling good. They just think that relief from the varied symptoms from parasite is actually something else cured.

This ivermectin religion has real miracles, it's just not the ones they think they are. This belief is entirely created because Americans don't have healthcare. That's why this belief isn't found elsewhere.

[–] kandoh@reddthat.com 38 points 4 days ago

Doesn't even need to be eliminated parasites.

"I am solving the problem by taking the medicine, and I am smart because I'm using a secret medicine they don't want me to know about" causes the brain to release the good feelings chemicals which does make you feel better.

[–] boonhet@sopuli.xyz 21 points 4 days ago (1 children)

In the US, people don’t go to the doctor when they have a problem, they go as a last resort because they have to ask themselves how much it would cost.

In Estonia it's sorta the same except a visit costs nothing for the GP and 20 euros for the initial visit to a specialty doctor (subsequent visits are free).

We just don't go to the doctor because we're stubborn as fuck and "it'll heal on its own".

[–] StarryPhoenix97@lemmy.world 8 points 4 days ago

Not if you don't rub some dirt in it first it won't

[–] khannie@lemmy.world 14 points 4 days ago (2 children)

18% of Americans haven't ever seen a doctor and 40% of Americans haven't seen one for 5 years.

What the fuck? Have you a source for those numbers because they're shocking

[–] Kyle@lemmy.ca 46 points 4 days ago (2 children)

Hmm looks like some stats I pulled were from polls, and I fell victim to people paraphrasing that around 20% of rural people not having a primary care doctor in the last few years as "not even having seen a doctor" sorry about that.

40% of Americans haven't seen a doctor in 5 years: https://studyfinds.org/americans-avoiding-the-doctor/ https://www.aarp.org/pri/topics/health/coverage-access/health-care-rural-america/?

But the limited stats on primary care and a lot of self reporting is very bad.

62% parasites infection: https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2023.01.10.23284404v1.full

https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC7253135/#%3A%7E%3Atext=Overall%2C+67.4%25+of%2Ca+community+where

Typing in "southern united states rural primary care access" in Kagi has a lot of sad results.

[–] kunaltyagi@programming.dev 14 points 4 days ago

You got the fucking receipts

[–] khannie@lemmy.world 8 points 4 days ago

Thank you! They are some wild numbers.

[–] entwine@programming.dev 10 points 4 days ago (3 children)

I haven't seen a doctor in at least a decade and a half, when my parents took me to checkups as a child. I'm very lucky to be healthy, and am in the gym 3-5 days a week to keep my streak going as long as possible.

However, I'm calling bullshit on this:

A number of studies in low income communities in the south show that over 60% of people in those communities have intestinal parasites. That’s just the ones we know of.

That sounds insane to me. 60% is a motherfucking epidemic. Where's the source for these studies???

[–] whoisearth@lemmy.ca 9 points 4 days ago

It's extremely common in Africa. My ex who was Zulu hated that you couldn't get deworming here. Ignore the fact that in Ontario you aren't getting worms. She brought her misconceptions that KZN is like here.

[–] plyth@feddit.org 1 points 4 days ago (1 children)

I haven’t seen a doctor in at least a decade

How do you handle vaccines?

[–] entwine@programming.dev 2 points 4 days ago (1 children)

I don't get vaccinated regularly. Covid was an exception, and I got that at some medical place that was offering them for free (In hindsight idk what type of business they were, but the dude who injected me looked like a real doctor)

[–] plyth@feddit.org 2 points 4 days ago

After three doses, almost everyone is initially immune,[2] but additional doses every ten years are recommended to maintain immunity.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tetanus_vaccine