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An illness had struck me down for more than a week. What would have been described as "hitting a moderately rough patch" by my grandma kept me up at night. With my eardrums flapping like a dying sparrow, I tossed and turned sleeplessly in bed until I finally tumbled into the living room. Instead of letting the TV drown out everything I made a grave mistake: I entered my symptoms into Google and started looking. One hour later, I thought myself on the verge of death.
Once I got to about the twentieth search result, I felt perfectly capable of writing a book on 1000 faint signs of deathly diseases. While it kept on whizzing and roaring inside my middle ear, the discovered afflictions kept getting more fatal by the minute. You tend to cast common diagnoses aside because it might be something more serious. And this thought quickly turns into a plethora of gloomy beliefs - even if you're no hypochondriac or alarmist, this is enough to turn you into one.
Because, when you're overfatigued and ill, you tend to see things more dramatically and Google provides enough devastating details to worry even the healthiest of us sick. What was bothering me might have very well been precursors to my untimely demise or so it read at 4 in the morning. Illustrated with unsavory tissue sections, I found enough tales of doom to keep me up at night, even if I had been in perfect health. To curb the drama, I decided to flip to page 2 of the search results.
Things take a more whimsical and mystical turn once you happen to stumble upon a site for alternative medicine. Whether it's the healing powers of the Appalachians Mountains, in the form of dried lichens that would certainly save my ears, or Hopi ear candles (a kind of funnel that is inserted into your ears and then lightened), the selection is vast. A quick test revealed that I was missing various vital substances and just about every element the periodic table could list. It's a true miracle that I was able to write these lines as I should have been lying on the floor, dead! If you suspect commercial interest behind many (not all, of course) of these sites, you may be right. Disguised as holistic approaches to health, various companies are using these sites to advertise their products. A tad nasty when you're cowering in front of your computer, filled with worries.
The otolaryngologist' forums seem more delightful, almost lovable and obviously help its members form strong bonds between each other. Chronic patients warmly welcome every newcomer, those that are healed say their wistful farewells and promise to return as soon as the next ear infection strikes. Here, dissecting every twitch in your auditory canal becomes a true team effort. "Nosy Norman*" dishes out anecdote after anecdote about his olfactory organ and really makes you feel at home. Thanks to community solidarity, sinuses become the site of epic battles and there's no shortage of must-have bargains and insider tips on medication. Who'd ever want to be healthy again? When "Eery Ernest*" adds a heartfelt smiley to his farewell speech you can't help but shed a tear.
With continued research, I noticed a strange phenomenon - I honestly started thinking I knew my way around the matter. All the initially confusing technical terms, symptoms and diseases started to make sense and I was beginning to feel competent enough to diagnose myself. With a sense of euphoria, I believed, I would only have to consult a trained physician to obtain my medication. Maybe, I had finally found my true calling as an - internationally acclaimed - otolaryngologist?
A physician of flesh and blood - the better alternative
One of my friends, a physician, knows this phenomenon all too well: "I get patients who firmly believe they are suffering from a disease that has befallen a total of 11 since its discovery some 100 years ago. All because it's listed on the Internet. If you're unfamiliar with it because it never occurs or doubt the validity of their self-diagnoses you'll be called a bad physician. Surely, we're not omnipotent but 2 hours of Internet research can't replace a master's degree in medicine." So all the nightly hours spent in front of my computer were - I'll openly admit it - wasted. The diagnosis I had come up with couldn't have been further from the truth and I was happy I had kept it to myself.
All the information the Internet can provide to us won't instantly turn us into experts. The next time my health is starting to deteriorate I'll leave the computer off, hopefully...
What I would like to know: How do you handle illnesses? Do you rely on online medical resources or do you just wait and see what your physicians come up with?
*Names were altered, minimally.
Valid points overall, but it might have been a good idea to also mention that sites like the Mayo Clinic and Johns Hopkins can generally be trusted, along with those of other well-established, trusted institutions. Closer to home, I'm pretty sure outfits like the relevant Max Planck institutes won't lead you astray either.
Those were the common diagnoses. :)
Y'all remember that old doctor joke?
Doc calls his patient and says, " I've got some good news and some bad news."
Patient asks for the good news first.
Doc says, "You only have 24 hours to live."
Patient wails, "My God! What's the bad news?"
Doc says, " I forgot to call you yesterday."
I am a bit dour sometimes ......so I thought I would lighten up the scenery...
A good 'un
A bloke feels very ill and goes to the doctor. The doctor checks him over and says, “I'm sorry, I have some bad news, you have Yellow 24, a really nasty virus. It's called Yellow 24, because it turns your blood yellow and you usually only have 24 hours to live. There’s no known cure, so just go home and enjoy your final precious moments on earth.”
So he trudges home to his wife and breaks the bad news. Distraught, she asks him to go to the bingo with her that evening as he's never been there with her before.
They arrive at the bingo and with his first card he gets four corners and wins £50. Then, with the same card, he gets a line and wins £350. Then he gets the full house and wins £1000. Then the National Game comes up and he wins that as well - winning £400,000!
The bingo caller gets him up on stage and says, “Son, I've been here 20 years and I've never seen anyone win four corners, a line, the full house and the National Game on the same card. You must be the luckiest man on Earth!”
“Lucky?” the bloke screams, “Lucky? I'll have you know I've got Yellow 24.”
“Well, bugger me!” says the bingo caller, “You've won the raffle as well!”
Thanks! It was a good laugh. :)
I was put on a certain drug as chronic medication to control my high cholesterol. Sometime later I developed a numbness in the upper part of my shoulder, which I discovered was as a result of the medication. The doctor, at my request and without any argument, changed the medication. The numbness went away, Much later, I learned from the internet that what was prescribed initially. had caused a lot more damage to many others. I am now off the medication and have continued with an alternative herbal medicine, which has brought my cholesterol from over 6 down to 4. By the way, my problem is not caused through a questionable diet, but a dysfunctional gene in the liver.
As a physician, and specialist, with 40 years of practice experience, I can assure you that your experience is pretty typical, and your physician friend is exactly right. The internet is a wonderful source of information, if you have the background to properly filter and assess it. Unfortunately, there are all too many quacks and snake oil peddlers out there ready to dupe us.
Doctors are not omnipotent, nor failure proof, but your family physician knows you , is your best resource, and will happily point you to reliable information sources. Even then, if one reads the monographs on a condition or medication, it takes years of training to be able to weigh the probabilities of a differential diagnosis and risk/benefits of a given treatment.
I go to my family doctor- so should you!
Hope you are feeling better by now!
Thanks for asking, I’m well again!
Hello Mr Krumrey,
Being a creaking gate all my life healthwise I am certain that there is a lot to be said for a well couched computer program which did a Sherlock Holmes healthcheck on the recipient - for the recipient! Or are we still ....dancing with the devil...since we have no privacy anymore
I am sure that I would now be far more mobile if I had been granted more than the seven minute interview The Health Services hereabouts grant to us as sufficient for a doctors diagnosis. Seven minutes is a totally inadequate length of time to arrive at any reliable diagnostic conclusion. It's taken me a lifetime to find out about the extent of my childhood injuries... I went to a very rough school
This transient rite of visitation to The Health Services own GP is more of a placebo than a real health check but who cares about the common man anymore s/he's redundant s/he's become supernumary to society because he or she are no longer actually needed on the factory floor...they barely arm us with an education now. Are the powers that be going to continue to feed us and maintain us as though we really contributed to the maintenance of .....their private civilisation anymore?
The standing joke hereabouts is that the modern factory only needs one man and his dog, the man feeds the dog and the dog prevents the man from touching anything sensitive ...Perhaps all we really are now is a genetic bank account for the influential rich and famous..the new Capital City based aristocracy.
It follows that the less you see a doctor the more your genes will be valued...perhaps we would all be well advised to stay away from this all too powerful profession....that holds us to a sum of ransom we can never ever hope to satify.
Did you have a friend who said do not come to close I am just getting over it
After a long operation to put my broken elbow back together again, I wondered why the surgeon took 6 hours as I was away with the fairies at the time.
So I asked Dr Google's friend, Mr YouTube and got many fascinating graphic videos of elbow repair surgery. I had no idea that my arm had been disassembled to such a degree.
I'm surprised that it was ever put back together again!
Andrew
Sometimes, not knowing what the doctor did is a blessing.:)
You are what you THINK, not what other people think YOU are. I have my 88th next month and in 2010 a team of cancer specialists in formed me that my kidneys were down to 12%. When they hit 10% they said we will put you in a box. Oh, you also have Multiple Myeloma and you have 3 weeks to get your affairs in order.
"Three weeks in no bl..dy good to me, I have too much work booked in, I will beat the damned thing" Every day I told myself the mind controls the body, and I control my mind. Two years ago they informed me " We cant find it, but cant say you are cured as there is no cure."
Think happy and you are happy, think sad and you are sad.
Pain is a signal to tell you something is wrong so find out what is causing the pain and turn the signal off.
That is easier said than done you say but as long as you truly believe what you think, it works. I used to teach self mind control in the 50s and have continued to 'Practice what I preach'.
Len Elliott,
Melbourne Aust.
The comments here are true and accurate. However I have found Dr Google helpful in another respect with regards to our health.
I personally do not put full trust in Drs. I am blind in one eye because of a Dr, my mother was assured by a leading Dr when I was 13. he guaranteed I would be blind by 18.
Wrong. I had cataracts removed and contact like lens place in my eyes but the Dr put them in the wrong way round.
Where Dr Google helps me is warning me of side effects of some medications prescribed by some Drs. And these Drs seldom agree. One medication I have been on, 1 Dr said half of 1.25 MG tablet, the hospital Dr upped it to 2.5 Mg and the next Dr said I definitely should not take that pill as it was dangerous to my health.
Could Dr Google be worse, hardly. And I have only scratched the surface re my dealings with Drs.
Dr Google has warned me of nasty side effects of some medications which has been a great help to me.
Thank you
BobD
I guess you need to have a good grounding in basic medical knowledge first and foremost to get advantage of the unlimited info the web offers.
Who would allow a (say) greengrocer do brain surgery on you?
Perhaps you should try a shot of scotch, a good cigar, and an early bed time. Works for me and I'm 85.
Just living the dream. :)
Time helps. If you are still alive next week, then it was not fatal, besides the symptoms may have changed over the week. Also look to see if those closest to you have the same symptoms to verify that it is not contagious, then lastly try to feel well, that in itself may be contagious. Now I feel good. Just do not get caught up in the web of google intrigue cause it will getya.