Healthcare Workers Warn 28 Health Trends Are Driving More Hospitalizations

1 articles · Updated · BuzzFeed · Jul 15

Healthcare workers and commenters flagged 28 behaviors and products they say are increasingly sending people to hospitals, from kratom, raw dairy and online hormones to bone-smashing, colon cleanses and supplement-drug interactions.
Several warnings centered on loosely regulated or easily accessed products: kratom sold at gas stations, mail-order hormones, telehealth prescribing, erectile-dysfunction drugs and supplements that can trigger addiction, overdose, cancer risks or dangerous interactions.
Clinicians also pointed to social-media-driven habits, including self-diagnosis of autism or ADHD, orthorexia, extreme protein intake, anti-birth-control messaging and "natural" remedies such as urine drinking or raw milk.
Beyond products and fads, workers described broader strains on health systems, citing burnout, screen-linked myopia, social isolation, rising youth mental-health emergencies and parents using ambulances or ERs for minor issues.
The follow-up BuzzFeed report expands an earlier roundup of alarming trends, portraying a wider mix of misinformation, poor preventive care and weak oversight that clinicians say is worsening patient outcomes.