Doctor, Doctor

So the other day, I was flipping through channels, looking for something to watch. It paused briefly on the Dr.Oz show and I heard him ask: "So have they come up with a vaccine for the bubonic plague?" (okay, my memory is a bit hazy so it might have either been vaccine or cure, whatever). You have no idea how tempted I was to stay there and see how that conversation continued!

My first thought was: why are they looking for a vaccine for the bubonic plague? Are we that close to another outbreak? I understand the need to be prepared and everything, it just seemed like an odd choice to be worrying about. But chances are, if I were a doctor, I would probably want to study the bubonic plague so I do understand.

Secondly, I started thinking about why we don't have shows like this in Canada. I mean, why don't we have Canadian doctors on there everyday discussing the threat of Bubonic plague? If there were an outbreak, then I would feel very unprepared since I can't watch the Dr. Oz show. I mean, the Americans have both the Doctors and the Dr. Oz show. They technically should be the healthiest people ever. But I'm always weary of these shows. I mean, it's good to know about your health but do you literally need to watch 5 hours a week about what health problems you should be aware of? I'm sure it's all very interesting but I'm tend to be afraid of the more you know about illness, the more you'll think you have it. One of my best friends thought she was schizophrenic when she was taking a psychology course in school. And since we as a species always seem to jump to the worst case scenario, shows like this seem kinda dangerous. Combined with all the medication commercials on TV these days too, it'll give you both the disease and the cure (quite handy indeed).

But really, the people that watch these shows and care about their health are already the ones who would probably go to the doctors anyways, if something were wrong. And I know I fall into the category of those who like to diagnose their own problems before even seeing a doctor, and I know I am what's wrong with society. And assume the worst ("what?! my left arm hurts. I must be having a stroke!").

But people should be informed because it could save their life one day. I just wish people took more things with a grain of salt (but not too much salt since too much sodium can raise your blood pressure).

ps I was reading the other day on the CTV website that one of the most viewed shows was the Dr.Oz episode where he talked about the best orgasm after 40.