Anyone have experience with Merit users?

Hey everyone, I’ve been dealing with some intense blood pressure issues for a few days now, so I actually jumped on this health forum yesterday hoping to run into a medical professional who could help me out! I ended up getting some advice from a user named Merit, and since I didn't really question them and just laid out everything they asked for, I took them for being incredibly knowledgeable and professional, but now I see they've been banned from the site entirely! I’m honestly dying to know what happened there—was this person actually a doctor, or did they do something wrong? I went back and checked their history, and it looks like their most recent posts were just direct responses to me and one other person providing what looked like legitimate medical guidance.

I'm really trying to figure out if I should actually follow the advice I was given or if I should just toss it in the trash! If this person was just some internet troll playing games with people's health, then obviously I'm not going to listen to a word they said, but if they truly are a doctor and just got banned for some totally unrelated reason, then I'll definitely be taking that advice to heart.

From what my colleagues and I have gathered, the guy is a doctor.

Just like it says in the Health section rules, you take any advice here at your own risk because you never truly know who’s sitting on the other side of the screen. 🙂 Regarding Merit, he didn't get banned because of his posts in the health threads; he got hit because he jumped into the smoking discussion and started trolling. He racked up enough reports, and that's what pushed him over the edge into a ban.

I can't tell you whether you should follow someone's advice or not, nor can I vouch for anyone I don't personally know to be a 100% legitimate doctor—the only way I could guarantee that is if I knew them in real life. But look, among the moderators there are doctors, and among the regular forum users, there are doctors and other professionals too, so most people would probably sniff out if someone was faking their credentials. 🙂

Thanks so much! Honestly, he didn't really say anything harmful, just gave me this super surface-level diagnosis and told me to skip the workouts and check back in with my doctor, but I completely ignored him and headed straight into work today, and let me tell you, my chest was feeling so heavy and pressured all day long, and even though I’m planning on heading back into the office tomorrow, I just absolutely cannot deal with the hassle of sitting in a doctor's waiting room just to get handed another four or seven days of sick leave.
I did take my supplements today, though I skipped the workout.
I'm going to hold off on exercising for just a few more days, but honestly, my patience is wearing thin because I know I really need to get moving since that's the whole point of this.

Thanks for the reply!

Look, I’m definitely on the same page as him regarding one thing: you absolutely have to see a doctor. 😛 Beyond that, I don't really follow what he's getting at, so I won't bother weighing in on the rest.