Seven Medical Myths & Seven Myths About Couples & Illness

7 medical myths. How many did you believe to be true? (I would swear that at least 3 are)

• People should drink at least eight glasses of water a day
  
• We use only 10% of our brains
  
• Hair and fingernails continue to grow after death
  
• Shaving hair causes it to grow back faster, darker, or coarser
  
• Reading in dim light ruins your eyesight
  
• Eating turkey makes people especially drowsy
  
• Mobile phones create considerable electromagnetic interference in hospitals.

For the research behind this, check out Medical Myths on BMJ. I originally saw this list on Dr. Val's excellent web site.

Here are 7 myths about couples & illness:

• Love is all you need (sorry, not true John Lennon)

• It's better to keep busy and not dwell on the illness (sometimes yes and sometimes no. Partners need to cue each other when they need distraction and when they need to talk about illness)
  

• Talking about suicide only makes the possibility of doing it stronger (if your partner alludes to suicide and you ignore it, those self destructive feelings won't go away; they'll only go underground)

• It's better to face the harsh truth rather than sustain fading hope (no one has the inside track on truth or hope)

• If you cater to your ill partner's needs, you'll be fostering an unhealthy dependency (the dance of couples and illness is about perpetually seeking a balance between meeting each others' needs and supporting each others' strengths and autonomy)

• Illness trumps intimacy. If one of you is sick and in discomfort, sex drops off the list (intimacy does not de facto equal intercourse. You and your partner need to talk about what is comfortable and what is not)

• If your partner is sick it's your obligation, your vow, to stay by his/her side, no matter what (this is a very painful issue, and there is no one size fits all answer. Some couples stay together through illness and find new dimensions of loving; some couples stay together and make each other sicker, or at least miserable; some couples who separate find that the physical distance permits greater emotional closeness).