Dr. You: Do You Self-diagnose With Google?
photo from guilhembertholet
That’s my kinda doctor
When it comes to my health, I’m a chronic googler. And maybe a bit of a worry wart. OK, more than a bit.
The first time I got a migraine, google suggested I was having a stroke. It nearly gave me a heart attack. (Thanks a lot for that one.) My left nostril’s constantly stuffed up. When it gets really bad, I search Google for something my ENT and allergist have missed. Just in case. And then last week, I had a consultation after a freaky thing happened to me.
I was sitting at my desk, minding my own business when I felt a sting and a deep throb on my big toe. I took it out of my shoe and noticed there was a big, blue vein at the base of the toe I had never seen before. Hmm, weird, I thought. Fast forward to 6 p.m. I look at my foot to put my socks and shoes on and there’s a big bruise right where the vein was.
My first thought was that the vein burst. My second thought was that it was a test run for a bigger aneurism. So, of course, I sat down with Google the minute I got home. In case you were wondering, I found absolutely nothing about spontaneous vein swelling, pain, and bruising except for a forum of people saying “Hey, I have that! My doctor doesn’t know what it is.”
Well, the next day, Reuters reported on a study that found that more than half of Americans looked up health information on the Internet. And only a teensy 5 percent of those were people e-mailing their docs.
photo by cameron maddux
Is that surprising? Not to me. These days, we have better luck enacting prohibition in Vegas than getting a next-day appointment with a doctor. And even if you did get a quick appointment, the chances of spending enough time with the doctor to get a real answer—the kind Google gives—is rare. In fact, after a diagnosis, I head home and research more on the condition.
I don’t think all of this googling is a bad thing. I know, medical experts say civilians like us can’t understand the finer points of a diagnosis. I’ll give ’em that. I didn’t go through eons of medical school, internship, and residency to learn what makes a headache a migraine and not a brain tumor. And it’s easy to mistake one illness for another.
Still, if it’s between waiting a week and a half for a doctor to tell you that fluttering heartbeat is just too much caffeine and not a ticking time bomb, I choose to google. It can at least tide me over until I meet my doctor.
Of course, you need to exercise common sense. Some guy on a random Yahoo forum probably isn’t the best person to trust when it comes to the heart attack vs. heartburn quandary. I stick with medical center Web sites—the University of Maryland Medical Center has a lot of comprehensive info as does the Mayo Clinic. The WebMD supported MedicineNet.com is also a great resource.
As for my toe, I didn’t find much on reputable sites, though I was reassured by others who were living after experiencing the same phenomenon. I had an appointment with my doctor today, but because of the snow, the office is closed. I’m hoping I can reschedule and figure out the problem.
What are your thoughts on playing doctor on Google? Do you do it often? Has it ever been very helpful?
16 comments
I am so lame at going to the doctors, even for my kids. I remember 2 months ago eventually taking my miserable 2 year old in to see the Doc to be shamed into finding out he has pnuemonia!! Bad Mother!! But I do google things all the time about health – who needs Med School ha ha. Love Hugh Laurie, don’t know why but he is a bit of a hottie for me
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I’m definitely a Googler, although my mom always warns me against this. Google will come up with a million ailments that most often you don’t have…It is convenient though for common questions, like what you should do for mild illnesses. But often self diagnosis will just put a further strain on yourself and decrease the severity of illness rather than help you!
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I NEVER go to the doctor…only once a year for my annual! That’s it! But I also don’t self diagnose either. I tend to be one those people who just ignores it! Bad…I know. I prefer the ignorance is bliss mind set!
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Not only did I stop looking up medical conditions on Google but also I will no longer ask anyone besides a doctor about any medical problem. Half the people on Google and in person don’t know what their talking about. You wind up getting upset over the wrong information.
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Tracey Reply:
February 8th, 2010 at 1:24 pm
Fitness Contrarian: So true! I usually end up getting worked up over nothing! Thanks for visiting my blog!
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I had to stop googling… there’s too much info out there and frankly, it’s pretty scary! Instead of finding a solution, I often end up more freaked out!
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If something kinda unusual happenings, like a funny bump or something, I’ll Google it to see if there’s any info out there. Generally I’ll find a picture of something similar to what I’ve got and it will just be some kind of mild irritation so it’s nothing to worry about. If it were something SERIOUS, though, then I’d go to my doctor. But I don’t know, maybe I don’t quite take myself seriously enough to think that many possible illnesses/injuries could become a big deal, heh.
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Guilty! I gave my husband a Google heart attack. My kid had Google-MRSA, and I’ve had a least 5 Googled-conditions, like that time I was going Google-deaf. It was all very serious.
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Tracey Reply:
February 10th, 2010 at 12:31 am
Yum Yucky–Hilarious!!
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I’m about to self diagnose my knee issue right now as a matter of fact!
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LMAO! I just wrote a blog the other day about how I went to WebMD to self-diagnose (read: misdiagnose) a belly ache– it told me I could have anything from gas to peptic ulcers to cancer! I agree that it can be a great tool for research — but usually it just confuses me even more. When my gut tells me the issue is serious, I’ll always see an actual doctor.
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Tracey Reply:
February 10th, 2010 at 5:13 pm
Marie, I do love when you have a generic illness and Google tells you you’re either perfectly fine or about to die.
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Oh yes, I’m a total googler, but only because I rarely have issues and when I do, I’m not usually concerned that they’re anything serious. For example, with Runner’s Knee, the doc is clearly going to just tell me to take a break from hard training.
But I’d like to think if I had sudden, chronic chest pain (for example), I would be straight on the phone to 911.
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hey!
i just came across your blog and i can’t wait to keep reading!
i would love it if you could check out mine and follow
jenna
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Tracey Reply:
February 14th, 2010 at 1:23 pm
Hi Jenna–So glad you found my blog!
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[...] us we too often consult Dr. Google when we’re feeling sick. (Remember our discussion about that here?) Turn to the Internet, experts say, and you risk freaking yourself out bigtime. And diagnosing [...]
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