Since the standpoint of a parent has already been elaborated upon, perhaps I can offer the standpoint of a friend!

Alyssa, you may feel that your friends are being a little patronising, and quite rightly so, since it's never nice to be made to feel inferior whether it's intentional or not. However, your friends are more than likely thinking about the implications should anything go wrong.

I have two friends with underlying conditions, which could potentially be quite serious should they act against the doctor's orders. If I'm concerned about them, I let them know. If they tell me that there's no need to worry, and honestly mean it, then the conversation stops there. But the reason that I ask in the first place is to be sure that my friend isn't being too blasé with respect to their condition.

This is because I would HATE for something to, firstly, happen at all, and secondly, to hear from their family post said incident: 'And you didn't say anything?' I think that's the worst of it. Call it self-preservation if you will, but I personally couldn't deal with that kind of guilt!