That so interesting! Good for you for taking it upon yourself to learn so much and questioning things!

I agree about surgeries. A few years ago my husband starting experiencing severe chronic back pain and upon digging into it, it seems like most of the quickly recommended surgeries offered for bulging discs and other chronic back pain issues don’t help a significant number of people cure their pain in the long run. And it’s especially sad because when someone is in that much constant pain they’re basically willing to try anything that might help them with less regard for risk because they just want a little hope their life isn’t effectively over.

A friend of ours is an x ray tech and she said a similar thing as you about the surgeons she worked with. I couldn’t say how true this is but she said a lot of the surgeons would casually talk about accepting patients for back surgeries knowing they’d be back in in six months with the same or worse pain. It’s sickening to think about.

Also, I had my wisdom teeth removed at the urging of my dentist (I did get several opinions and they all said it was necessary, but I guess I’ll never really know for sure) and I ended up with an infection that came back twice even though I’m very healthy and followed the guidelines exactly.

It was a terrible situation to be in. I ended up being in almost two moths of problems over it. Before this surgery I hadn’t taken antibiotics since I was a young child because I believe in the importance of the gut and our microbiome and have been able to keep myself healthy without antibiotics for all of my teen years and adult life. But obviously I had to take several very strong courses of antibiotics because of this situation. It was a nightmare and it makes me want to do a lot of research ahead of time if I ever have the option of surgery in the future.

It’s funny because the book isn’t even specifically about health. It’s more about risk management and “black swan” occurances in life and in financial markets but the author has really informed perspectives on a lot of things because he’s so logical and good at breaking down data. He uses many interesting illustrations like the iatrogenics one. I definitely recommend it!