Quack

By Anonymous - 25/03/2016 03:14 - New Zealand - Takanini

Today, I went to the doctor's after over a week of feeling extremely tired and having headaches. His advice? "When I'm tired I drink coffee. You should drink coffee." Somehow, I don't think that was worth $60. FML
I agree, your life sucks 20 692
You deserved it 1 587

Same thing different taste

Top comments

Coffee actually will help cure both. Caffeine is used to help both being tired and headaches.

Yes, but doesn't coffee help you keep yourself awake? If you're feeling tired and he is in fact a doctor as he claims (which it doesn't seem like he is) shouldn't he have told you to get more sleep or maybe prescribe something to help you sleep

Comments

Coffee actually will help cure both. Caffeine is used to help both being tired and headaches.

Gaernem 17

It can. But it can also have the opposite effect. I drink coffee at night to get tired, caffeine never gives me energy for some reason.

Also so many people have caffeine addictions that when they say they cute their headaches, they actually mean that their withdrawal effects are going away.

That's true, but OP's doctor should have at least asked a few more questions. Being extremely tired and having headaches could be a number of medical problems like anemia, hypothyroidism, even depression. Not saying that's OP's problem or that I know how good/bad the situation is, but it's possible.

That is a misconception caffeine is the main ingredient because its to accelerate the medicine through your body its not used to cure you

What's a misconception; that caffeine helps with headaches? Then why is it one of the main ingredients in Excedrin (which I take for migraines) I wonder.

ChristianH39 30

I work full time at a café, drink 5-6 cups of coffee a day almost every day, and this STILL seems like terrible advice to me.

andrewduncan 16

You could've spent the $60 on coffee??? Damn waste

MikaykayUnicorn 36

If anyone spends 60$ on coffee (I know I'm gonna get shit for putting the $ behind the money amount but shut the **** up, you don't say "dollar sixty" you say "sixty dollars" so I prefer to put the sign behind the number) they need to get a mental health check done.

#41 I think you only got shit for it because you pointed it out. Sometimes people only want explanations after the question has been asked, not before.

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I'm sorry 10's advice wasn't good either, OP. Just try not to think about it, and you'll get better eventually. Wait…

Yes, but doesn't coffee help you keep yourself awake? If you're feeling tired and he is in fact a doctor as he claims (which it doesn't seem like he is) shouldn't he have told you to get more sleep or maybe prescribe something to help you sleep

Meds that put you to sleep have the same effect as drugs such as alcohol for a night cap. It's not REM sleep so it's not healthy sleep so it won't actually help you. You'll still be tired and you'll still have headaches.

That is not true and misinformation. It depends on the kind of sleeping medication, and some are better than others. Whether it suppresses and affects REM sleep is often greatly reliant on the dosage as well. Also, some of them have a side effect of headaches caused from the drug itself, not from the drug not giving you proper sleep. No one should take sleeping medication for an extended amount of time, that is true, but that is because it can effect your ability to sleep naturally, since you're relying on a drug all the time. It's sort of like how caffeine or alcohol works as well, if you're always using it to cope, your body is going to feel like it needs it to function properly. Sleeping medication is usually meant to get your body back on a normal cycle because sometimes your natural sleep can get thrown off for some reason and needs help to correct it.

Sleeping medication should really be a last resort because of those associated risks. Your first step should be having a look at your sleep hygiene, is your bedroom used for more than sleep and sex? Do you go on your phone directly before bed, or whilst in your bed? In regards to the headaches, drink more water. It's an obvious piece of advice but it's commonly ignored

I have to chime in here. I feel like I have some real world experience here both as someone who has trouble sleeping and as a medical professional. There's a lot of misinformation here and I'm not going to break it all down. Don't take medical advice on FML, find another doc if you don't like yours.

Excellent conservative advice. I'd much rather be told to have a delicious cup of coffee every day, and it solve my problems, than a daily/life-long tablet with all its side effects. I'm glad your doctor didn't take the easy route and get rid of you with a prescription.

It sounds more like the coffee was to get rid of him, rather than find out what the root of the problem is. Plus advice like that is not worth $60.

What if OP doesn't like coffee? Most people that say that it cures their problems are are addicted to caffeine and suffer from withdrawal.

He should have at least run a blood or urine test to check OP's vitamin levels. When I visited my doctor because I was always feeling tired, my test came back showing low levels Vitamin B12. So my "prescription" was to go the store and start a vitamin. Had he told me to just drink coffee, it wouldn't have solved my problem. So maybe the doctor should do a bit more than just telling OP to drink more coffee.

As someone with a sleep disorder, I feel your pain. Regular doctors often just don't help a lot when the issue is sleep related. The advice your doctor gave you is terrible. Coffee is a stimulant that can wake you up, yes, but it causes you to crash and fall harder later. Also, your body can become addicted and reliant on it, so you need to have it everyday or you'll be even more exhausted and it'll be harder to function without it. Maybe go see another doctor who will actually give you real advice and care, if the sleep and tiredness is that bad, maybe even look into a specialist.

Try increasing your water and vitamin D intake.

TabooSushi 24

Is there another doctor you can go to? That one sounds like a quack.

Make sure you drink enough water, take a water bottle to work with you or something. Helped me when I used to have a lot of headaches