Jul 21
Have you ever wondered if you can get better health information on the Internet than you can from your own physician? Many people rely on the Internet to attempt to diagnose problems that they are having prior to seeing a doctor, and surprisingly, many doctors actually condone this practice. Why? Because some doctors believe that with the limited time they have with patients now, it is tedious to have to sit and go over symptoms, and it is simply too time consuming. They believe that if a patient comes in prepared, after having done their own research online, the patient is more aware of what is ailing them. Doctors can then get right to making a diagnosis based upon the information about the exact symptoms that the patient is experiencing. Of course there are many doctors who believe just the opposite is true. These physicians believe that often times when people do their own research to try and “self diagnose” they can actually make it more difficult on the doctors who are treating them, by complicating the matter. But what do you think? The Gorilla knows that if something is ailing him, he can do his own “pre-diagnosis” to narrow it down. That way, you have a precise idea of what is wrong with you prior to seeing the doctor, and you can even make suggestions of what you think it could be based on your online diagnosis. The Internet is a great tool to research medical problems and one woman in the UK found out exactly how good it really is when she used it to diagnose her daughter’s illness when doctors could not find one. For 6 months, the 16-year-old girl suffered with severe headaches and fatigue. When doctors could not find a diagnosis, the girl’s mother turned to the Internet and found a disease with all of the symptoms her daughter was suffering from- Lymes disease. And when she told the doctor to run the test, they found that it was, in fact, Lymes disease. Without this important information, the girl could have died. Thank God this mother did her “homework!! So do you think you could do the same thing? Sure you could! There are several websites dedicated to helping patients pinpoint certain illnesses based upon their symptoms and they can be extremely helpful when patients are faced with a medical problem. WebMD and Healthline, for instance, are sites that let you target the exact area of the body based on whether you are male or female, and along with its “symptom checker,”, helps you narrow down your symptoms. It then gives you all of the possible illnesses based on those symptoms. The result is an idea or several ideas of the direction in which you want your doctor to go. These sites may also be helpful in making you aware of certain treatment options that your doctor may have overlooked or failed to mention. Many patients look to the Internet for alternative treatments to illnesses, such as cancer, diabetes, and heart problems. Certain search engines can also give patients access to treatment centers and their locations. And don’t think patients are the only ones using the Internet to help research and diagnose medical conditions; physicians often rely on the power of the Internet to help them find valuable information and resources as well. So should you be doing your own “self-diagnosis,” as well using the Internet? Well, that is entirely up to you, but doctors warn that too much “self-diagnosis” can be dangerous and they say that no matter what the concern is, you should always seek help from a medical professional even if you think you know what is wrong. Yes, online medical help cannot replace actual tests and getting professional help and treatments, but it certainly can be helpful, and that is the whole point of the Internet!
Leave a Reply