Doctors and nurses are noticing a range of concerning health trends, from anti-vaxxers to vaping and e-scooters, that are landing people in the hospital or worse. Some of these trends are more unexpected, such as kratom use, looks-maxing, and bone smashing.
some of the most concerning"trends" doctors and nurses are currently noticing, and plenty of the responses were what you might expect: anti-vaxxers, vaping, Ozempic, etc. Some were a little more unexpected — apparently, e-scooters are WAY worse than some of us realize.
A few BuzzFeed commenters chimed in with their own suggestions, so now we're back for more – here are 28 more concerning health trends that are landing people in the hospital, or worse.
"Kratom needs to be discussed. It is so easily accessible, incredibly addicting, and so fucking dangerous. Seen as an alternative to pain medication/treatment for mental health issues, etc. The withdrawals are deadly and have to be supervised medically, and that is just one of the many, many, MANY problems with it.
"is, it's a herbal stimulant that's recently been gaining in popularity. It can be used for symptoms of opiate withdrawal.
However, it has effects of its own, and abuse can lead to liver damage, seizures, and overdose. Use in the US has grown, which has led to an increase in kratom-related hospitalizations, especially since it is largely unregulated; you can get it at gas stations. The DEA is currently seeking to classify a few kratom-related substances in the same class as heroin and ban them.
"There's a demographic of people within an hour of the hospital I work at that do not believe in prenatal care. They are one of the largest demographics of patients at the hospital. The kids have all kinds of problems, from their bones to developmental delays.
" "Bone smashing. People hitting themselves with objects in order to 'improve' their jawline. They end up getting their jaws broken. It falls in the 'looks-maxing' category.
"by looksmaxxing influencers like Clavicular, it involves basically hitting your jaw bones with a hammer to attempt to increase bone mass. Its effects are far more likely to be dangerous, asymmetrical, and undesirable than actually chiseling your jawline, and doctors do NOT recommend it. Heart attacks in young people:"I had a heart attack at 62 and joined a survivor group. Two out of three of the members are guys under 40.
The youngest is 27. One guy said he never thought you could have high blood pressure until you're over 50. Most of the guys do not believe saturated fats contribute. Almost all of the under-40 guys play video games — like, hours of games every day — and drink energy drinks.
There are many who blame genetics because they either never smoked or quit, and they go to the gym or run…but they refuse to acknowledge that all that caffeine, red meat, and sitting from the time they get home from work until they go to bed could possibly be the problem.
" "Too many are non-compliant with meds and doctor’s advice, too many have had multiple heart attacks, stents, and surgeries. You’d think they'd learn after the first event, but no." "Not a doctor, but I work in women's health research — the demonization of birth control is scary, and fewer young women are taking birth control now.
Hormonal birth control is not perfect and doesn't work for everyone, but it is an incredibly important tool for many women, and there are influencers making money by spreading absolute lies about it.
" "My doctor has made it a routine to ask his patients if they're taking any form of erection medication. When he asked me, I laughed and said no. Then I asked him why he asked. He said his office gets at least one call a month with someone in their 20s wanting to come in and see him due to their dick not working like it used to.
Every time, it's because they started taking some sort of erection medication, usually ordered through Blue Chew. He said the worst part is that he's seen some people who are still in high school who started taking it.
"Speaking of Blue Chew — ordering drugs online:"Not yet a doctor, but I see a lot of patients who are taking mail-order hormones. Estrogen/progestin is the scary one – I've already seen multiple cases of women with a family history of cancer and/or high-risk BRCA mutations develop breast cancer after starting hormones. They're lucky we caught it because they're going in for regular mammograms.
A third of women in their 40s don't get regular mammograms, and they are also the prime target population for the estrogen ads. I worry that we're seeing the start of a new wave of breast cancer.
" "Psychiatrist here: one of my patients was able to get muscle relaxants from TELEHEALTH, in which no one actually examined them or recommended physical therapy or even plain exercise. Nope, here are your pills. Muscle relaxants are benzodiazepine-adjacent and can be addictive.
The patient also has a history of using opiates, but was not currently using, but felt 'cravings' and went to a methadone clinic, and they STARTED them on methadone without a toxicology to confirm opiate use, and now they're addicted to two medications. Seriously? And of course, the patient is refusing to go to rehab...and wants me to continue the benzos. SMH.
" "Protein everything everywhere. Even when I was a serious weightlifter, and still am to an extent, I never took additional protein. I get plenty in my diet. I know people that literally do zero physical activity of note and are buying protein chips, protein candy bars, protein drinks, it’s really, really dumb.
""In my college classes on diet and exercise, we were told that the body simply does not need more protein than most meat-eating or milk-drinking individuals get in one day, even if you're building muscle. I was a power lifter in my late 20s and never did anything special beyond training and had great results.
""Many diets that focus on protein intake neglect the need for fiber. Some even brag online that they go once a week. Not getting enough fiber puts you at a higher risk for colon cancer.
""Too much consumption of proteins, while not eating enough sugars — if sugar consumption is low, then consequently, lipid consumption is higher, and it leads to so many health problems such as atherosclerosis and heart attack. " "Orthorexia. Normal food is fine. Eat plants, mostly.
Fresh things if you can. Your body will even things out over time. It evolved to do that, and has been quite successful at it for a few 100,000 years at least. It is NOT necessary to bombard it with daily supplements, high-dose micro-super-whatevers, and huge amounts of protein.
Seriously, people eat as if they were in some extreme sports competition when they're just getting ready for a day at the office. Wasting so much mental effort on eating perfectly every day is an eating disorder.
"an eating disorder where the person is hyper-focused on eating the"right" food — usually healthy food — to the point of obsession, or cutting out any foods that aren't"pure. " This can lead to malnutrition or other issues. "My tech job in the US was literally killing me; the stress got to the point where my hair was falling out in clumps.
Thankfully, I was lucky enough to be able to move to Sweden. They treat burnout and stress leave as real medical conditions here, with full support from the healthcare system and provisions for long-term leave. Looking back, I can't believe I lived in that state for so long, but it's the reality for so many people in the US.
" "There have been studies linking social media to inflammation due to the impact on our nervous systems. Honestly, I felt this myself. Other impacts include shorter attention spans and increased anxiety. I also believe, though I have not seen research on this, that social media fosters black and white thinking and catastrophizing.
""There are studies, too, that show it causes gray matter to shrink in developing brains as well as adult brains. This impacts emotional regulation, attention span, etc. I’m noticing a huge prevalence of these symptoms in teens and adolescents.
""I was seeing a couple of therapy clients whose mental well-being skyrocketed when they stopped or cut back on social media. Because the time they spent scrolling was instead spent reading, going for walks, seeing friends, etc., the emptiness, anxiety, and whatever else social media leaves us with were replaced by nourishing and fulfilling pastimes instead. It was almost funny because everything we did in therapy really paled in comparison to their decision to cut back on social media.
It was almost like many of their issues were due to social media.
""Social isolation used to only be a common thing amongst older adults. Now everyone walks around with AirPods/giant headphones on, and they only communicate with other humans via text. You are more connected with some distant server or follower/bot than those surrounding you. No social skills.
No community.
" "Everyone is self-diagnosing themselves with autism and ADHD off TikTok, and it's so irritating, especially when they deny psychological testing referrals. ""As a psychologist, I get about 3-4 inquiries a week for testing for ASD/ADHD. When I do them, I will say what the tests shake out to be is…depression. Like 80% of the time.
I would have to go back and count how many I have done, but I have actually only had one so far that shook out to be ASD. The remaining cases typically turn out to be PTSD or Anxiety. It makes people really angry, usually that they don't get the diagnosis they want and argue that they paid me.
These assessments in particular are NOT cheap, and I really wish that they would stop circulating on social media because they’re expensive.
""I feel like the increase in people thinking ADHD is definitely based on social media. Not even because of what they necessarily see as diagnostic criteria, but quite literally, I think people are overstimulating their brains all the time with technology and forgetting to allow pockets of peace; therefore, they never can learn to focus or have peace when they need it. If that makes sense.
" Particularly autism:"Self-diagnosed autism. And then when you point out that they don't meet even one of the criteria, they condescendingly explain to you howcriteria don't define ASD. Per TikTok, anyone who refuses to accept that simply 'liking to nap' or 'not enjoying small talk' is diagnostically sufficient is just part of the big Psychology Industry Conspiracy to limit the definition of autism.
"reasons, which has become a big enough issue that individual states are starting to crack down on it. People think they can just walk in anywhere and get power-washed from the inside out to solve whatever is wrong with them. Some studies have found that colon cleansing may actually create or exacerbate some patients' health issues. Also, for the love of all that is decent, don't go to a beautician for a colon cleansing.
Go somewhere that is more medically responsible if you are going to do it anyway.
""As an American in healthcare, our food. We are NOT concerned enough about it. There has been an extremely high number of patients compared to even 2013 that have hormonal issues from their diets/environment. I have seen more breast cancer in women under 45 and more ED in men under 40.
The men are usually in their mid-20s. The trend is just eating whatever is easy/fast. I don't blame people for not eating healthy and consciously, as it requires more money and time that most of us have, but it's really scary to look at young people's labs/imaging and see extreme health issues just from our average grocery store.
" Though, of course, there's a dark side to trying to eat more"naturally" —"The raw milk and dairy have to be the grossest thing. I don't understand with all we know about pathogens, food-borne illness, parasites, etc., that people would still want to eat unsafe food or drinks.
""Microbiologist here: people are fucking dumb. They won't consume foods with ingredients they can't pronounce, but will drink raw milk with pathogens in that can kill them .
""I worked with a guy who only ate raw beef and drank, no exaggeration, a gallon of raw milk every day . He was hospitalized multiple times for like food poisoning/e coli type shit and routinely missed days due to stomach issues, which he blamed on antidepressants in tap water and his parents putting him on Ritalin as a child.
This shit isn't a cheap way to live either; he had to buy the milk from a local farm that charges a premium for raw dairy, and eating steak three times a day doesn't come cheap.
""I know people who do this, it's fucking bat shit. They also do watermelon diets, parasite cleanses, and take Kambo . I was going down the woo-woo path myself for a while, but I think the drinking pee and only eating a raw vegan diet is what got me out of that circle of people.
", bacon, etc.) are preserved with nitrates that cause cancer. So some companies 'replaced' it with celery powder, so the label shows celery powder instead. Turns out celery powder is just a natural source of those same nitrates lol. It’s pure marketing.
""Chiropractics. Plenty of people believe in it. A lot of others mistakenly think it's normal, above-board medical or therapeutic practice because it has achieved mainstream acceptance. I wince every time someone casually mentions going to a chiropractor.
You can't help but come off as some iamverysmart asshole when you try to tell people.
""As a nurse, I would never go to a chiropractor. I took care of a couple of stroke patients whose strokes were caused by a vertebral artery dissection from 'adjustments.
'"been known to help with back pain, and can be a good option before subjecting yourself to the risks of surgery and opiates, many medical doctors are wary of the practice, not in the least because it's not always clear why chiropractic works. The risk of injury —It's also important to be wary of some"natural" medicine:"Remember that herbal medicine and natural medicine are still medicine, and if you take it in large enough amounts to do something, it CAN cause side effects or dangerous drug interactions.
Do NOT start taking an herb just recommended by a random employee at a Whole Foods-type store. There are herbal medicines that are abortifacients, that can cause a heart attack, etc." "Yes, it's true that people in China have taken herbal medicine for thousands of years, but today they take herbs that are prescribed by a doctor who went to a normal medical school and specialized in herbal medicine.
They know how herbal medicines interact with Western medicines, what conditions they make worse, which ones they DON'T work for, etc. Always tell your doctor if you are taking any herbal or natural medicines to avoid dangerous interactions, and be very careful about herbal medicine. It's not the same as taking a vitamin.
" On that note — doctors are seeing overdoses caused by interactions between"natural" supplements — and even some foods — and people's prescription medications. "I'm only a nurse, but I think there's not enough public education on interactions for medicines. St John’s Wort, for example, is just a flower but interacts with so many medicines. Same with grapefruit.
So sometimes I think the public genuinely doesn’t know/understand that it's important to disclose all of this stuff.
""The supplement industry is really unregulated and some can cause serious harm, especially to people that have pre-existing conditions.
"a bunch of interactions — especially with SSRIs. Basically, it blocks an enzyme that inhibits drug absorption, causing a higher amount of the drug in your bloodstream. Some of the more common drugs affected"I'm in EMS. The number of young kids in the system for mental health issues is wild.
Some parents just default to calling 911 when their kids won't listen and get them sent to the ER.
""The other night, I had a young teenage girl who got hit in the head by her cousin, who was wearing a cast, while they were arguing. No obvious trauma, no bleeding, no loss of consciousness. A bonk, honestly. I ask mom if she wanted her transported, and mom is all exasperated like 'she insisted on calling, and if she wants to go, then she should go.
' Lady, you're the adult. Just say, 'No, you don't need an ambulance. No, you're not going to the ER.
' Why are you letting your kid dictate what happens? ""Future doctor here, and also working in the emergency service. People who don't want to take responsibility for their/their children's health have increased significantly. Had parents call an ambulance because the kid put a little pebble into its nose.
The kid was walking around just fine, no distress breathing, nothing besides the stone in the nose. You could see the stone by simply looking into the nose with a light. And yes, a medical professional had to take the stone out, but when asked why they weren't driving to the hospital by themself, it's always the same answer: what if something happens? Something can always happen.
But you can't be responsible for that, can you?
" And finally, there are issues on the other side, too:"I've been a practicing physician for over 10 years, and the biggest trend that I'm seeing is that other healthcare providers are becoming more and more lazy. Patients present to me after they've already been seen by one or two other providers who listened to the patient's complaint and prescribed medication or treatment without doing any physical exam or any further investigation, so the patients are getting the wrong treatment and are not improving or are becoming worse.
"Are you a healthcare worker? What are you seeing more and more of? Let us know in the comments below!
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