Should you give me medical advice? (A flowchart)

The answer isn't what you think.

Of the many struggles with chronic illness, unsolicited medical advice is one of the most universal. I hear my fellow sickies complain about it all of the time, and for good reason—it is really, really annoying to bulldozed by a barrage of potential solutions to a medical problem you’re already spending most of your life trying to solve. Especially when I’m agonizing over big health-related decisions, medical advice is overwhelming to the point of being anxiety-inducing.

Having said that, in my experience, about 1 in every 100 pieces of unsolicited advice I’ve received about my chronic migraine disorder has been helpful. Sometimes, I even benefit from advice given by friends who don’t have migraines. As for the ninety-nine pieces of relatively useless advice, most of those are at least good for a laugh! This is why I’m fairly tolerant of unrequested suggestions. After all, I’m always in need of material.

Also, whenever someone asks me if I’ve tried ice or peppermint oil or Magnesium or health coaching for the millioneth time, I try to remember that although most people haven’t been through the exact same situation as I’m going through, we’re all going through life. And life is a big mean bully to a lot of us, even though our bruises may look different. What I’m trying to say is that lots of people know a good deal about pain, even if they don’t know much about migraines. So I try to view every offer of advice as someone’s attempt to make my life a little better. Except for all the people who say I shouldn’t eat dairy, because those people are just plain evil.

Though if I could offer you a piece of advice: If you don’t know a person well enough to know how they’ll react to your unsolicited advice, put that cart right back behind the horse. Get to know them better first! 🧠