Cyberchondria
 

So, I had been listening to the radio this morning and for the first time heard this term - cyberchondria.

NOTE: This post is not directed at anyone, just something I have a strong opinion about :)

I have a long history of finding it annoying when people google symptoms.

In the case of MS it's very easy to put in certain symptoms and come up with MS. And, of course, some people then believe they have the disease and the doctors don't know what they are talking about when the patient is told they do not have MS.

If your interested about this subject here are a few links:


http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/articl...VGIU4R1OP1.DTL

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/25/te...5symptoms.html

http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post...les-lives.html

Back in the day, it was harder for people with that inclination. They had to go to libraries, or buy one of those big fat Mayo Clinic books.

I also think googling symptoms are a bad idea. All it does is give you every disease out there. Remember before the internet when they had those medical books? That was bad enough but the internet has opened a whole can of worms.

The only place Jim's doctor likes and will even consider as internet worthy is the New England Journal. He'll look things up in front of us if I ask a question. Or he simply calls his neuro friend in Cali who's a researcher. Sometimes he'll come to a site I suggest and has no problem letting me know if it's bs. lol I have invited him to come here on several occasions. I wonder if he lurks?

I remember when I was pregnant with my youngest and on bed rest. I
had very high bloodpressure and the baby was lying side to side and very,
very high up(I cant remember the term.) My obgyn made me promise
not to look this term on the internet. I didnt until after he was born
and was so glad, I would have been freaking out. lol

I guess....see a doc is what we should do.:)

I was a long term fully DXed MSer, before I knew who Google was..:D

I did go to the library, back in the 70s. You wouldn't believe some of the horrors that were written, in those old books, about MS.:eek: Much scarrier than google.:rolleyes:

"A little knowledge is a dangerous thing", but I think a lot depends on who is using the weapon, and how.

There is a vast difference between using the internet for research and reading something on quacks-r-us.com and buying into it.

You have to use common sense (there's the rub) about where you get your information. I've googled symptoms and general questions about things in life, and you have to be alert. Sometimes the "information" comes from another message board or somebody's personal blog.

I have a relative that tries my soul. She's always telling me about reading on some website that if I drank seventeen gallons of water facing east on Thursdays or something, my MS would go away, and I'd lose 40 pounds overnight to boot.

Maybe there should be more information about HOW to find reputable websites and do true research online, as opposed to simply googling a few words and saying "eureka!"

You also forgot to face east. :cool:

I will admit...I like webMd. :o

Same here. Jim was dx'd in 1988 and the internet wasn't even thought about in our circle. I have to admit I researched my eyes out at first. Thankfully, I went to reputable sites because the research I did for myself I also did for research papers in college. :D It also helped that we were in Germany when Jim was dx'd. They were way ahead of the US in research.

I actually like webmd.com! I use it all the time for pharmacy related stuff. :D

I also think that Googleing symptoms is a bad idea. I remember when I first fell ill, my mum would look on the internet but only when the doctors told us what they thought I might be suffering. If for example, a doctor told us he thought I had such and such a illness, we might go and look to see if I had any of the symptoms and what the treatment options were but we would never just type in my symptoms and try and diagnose myself ... we figured that was the doctors job and they should know what was wrong!!!

I agree with what some of you have already said, I think it is way too easy for people to go on the internet nowadays, type in their symptoms and convince themselves that they have such a terrible illness and that they might die when they probably wont and it might be something simple that can be easy treated!

One of my mums work collegues is one of those people that if she has a bruise, she thinks she has something really bad and is going to die! If she has any strange symptoms, she will just type them into Google and see what she could find. She would always convince herself that she had something really fatal and would book herself an emergency appointment to see her GP when most of the time, she had something really minor that could be very easily treated!! I think she is one of those people that actually craves attention from doctors as she is ALWAYS trying to tell them that she has something up with her and feels really ill!!

Thank you for bringing this up, I found it really interesting!

I liked what B2Y said so I quote "but I think a lot depends on who is using the weapon, and how"

I for one, am soooo thankful that I can look things up. If I had not had the Internet when I had a serious reaction to Topamax, I might be blind now. We found the info about my symptoms so I stopped taking the drug immediately and told the ER docs what I had found and low and behold - I recovered.

I read several stories of people who went to the ER and they didn't put it all together, they continued taking the drug and are permanently blind.

I have also watched "Medical Mysteries" where lots of people are sick for years and research for themselves and finally figure out what is wrong, get to the right doctor and get an official dx and get treatment.

I do understand the flip side of the coin - it could be very easy to scare yourself to death or talk yourself into a disease that you really don't have.

As for me though, I am THANKFUL that I have this tool. :)

LeeAnn -

I didn't read the responses as I'm short on time but yeah, same here. This bothers me immensely.

I was dx'ed pre www... Merck's handbook at the library. I think it was better then.

Tom