Getting sick seems a lot more stressful now that we have the internet. You can research your symptoms, but inevitably you'll fall down a rabbit hole of illnesses that are so unlikely, every search will turn up a life-threatening disease. It is possible to get reliable, useful information, vet it properly, and even get an expert opinion, all online. Here's how.
Before we begin, a disclaimer: We're not doctors. We spoke to several for this story, but don't think you'll be able to walk away from this post able to diagnose your own symptoms. Our goal is to help you find reliable sources to turn to when you have minor aches and injuries, and give you an idea of what's up if you can't get an appointment right away. Keep in mind though, if diagnosis were easy, doctors wouldn't have to train so long to learn how to do it. If you have a serious condition or don't know what's going on, always consult a doctor as soon as possible.
Beware Dr. Google: Most Web Sites are Terrible at Diagnosis
We all know what it's like: you have an ache you're not familiar with, or a bruise suddenly appears and you have no idea where it came from. You fire up Google and type in the symptom, as specific as you can make it, and you're instantly overwhelmed by the dozens of possibilities, keywords, illnesses, and other scary terms. Unfortunately, no site can diagnose an illness based on symptoms that you type into a search box. Sure, you probably know if your stomachache just happened to set in a few hours after visiting the oyster bar, but keep in mind that a heart attack can have symptoms very similar to a bout of bad indigestion, and it can be difficult even for trained and experienced professionals to tell the difference without equipment or specific tests.
Every doctor I spoke to for this story warned against using Google for diagnoses, and noted that the world of medical information on the internet will just make you crazy with wonder if you search blindly. No one wants to sit in the dark at their computer at 2am wondering if the ache in your leg is a pulled muscle or a pulmonary embolism when one site says to rub some athletic cream on it and go to sleep while another says you need to go to the ER immediately. So what do you do instead?
Search Smart, and Use Interactive Doctor/Patient Services That Really Help
Scatter-shot symptom searches are almost always a bad idea, but there are some services and sites that are better than others. In most cases though, a cool head is much more valuable than a page full of scary search results. When you're struggling with symptoms, here are some important things to remember:
- How confident are you that this is minor/major? There's no foolproof way to tell a minor issue from a major one, but things like pain or discomfort level can help. Try to stay calm, especially if the symptoms are unfamiliar, and think things through. Is it getting better or worse? Have you experienced this before, and how does this time compare? If you think the issue is major or don't know what you're dealing with, seek professional help. If the issue is minor, remember that as you research, so you don't get carried away.
- Search with Occam's Razor in mind. Several of the doctors I spoke to mentioned that some patients wind up panicking because they dug up search results that aligned with their symptoms, but were so unlikely that they're almost never correct. This is one of the biggest issues with searching by symptom on the web: someone with a bad cold may come away thinking they've come down with dengue flu just because the symptoms may be similar. Remember, common conditions are the most likely ones (eg, a sprained ankle not a broken one, or a headache not an aneurysm.) Still, leave diagnosis to the pros: see a doctor so they can look you over and run tests if necessary—just be open to the fact that whatever you found online may not be the issue at hand.
Learn to tell good medical sources from questionable ones. This point comes up frequently in the Quora thread we mentioned earlier, but it's critical. Healthfinder.gov, The Mayo Clinic, Medpedia; they're all great sites, but those sites are good because their articles and other content written by, vetted, and reviewed by actual medical professionals before they're published. When you're reading about the symptoms you're experiencing, make sure the information was written or at least reviewed by a doctor, and you're not reading the comments of an otherwise informative article or some user forum where everyone's a self-proclaimed doctor.
Also, make sure the doctors you're reading are experienced in the areas you're researching—a nutritionist can tell you how to eat well, but they can't tell you if your twisted ankle needs heat or cool to get better. Stick to established, trusted sites with authoritative voices, and when in doubt, print out what you're reading and ask your own doctor for a final say. Remember, nothing you read on the internet is a substitute for real, in-person analysis by a physician. It can be informative and useful as a way to talk to your doctor, but never the final word.
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Use a service run by doctors that connects you with doctors. A number of new services and apps have appeared recently to combat this issue. One of the leading services is HealthTap, a service we've mentioned before that even has mobile apps to connect you with doctors on the go. One of the doctors I spoke to uses HealthTap himself to connect with people looking for help and offer guidance based on the information they provide—and of course to suggest they see a professional when necessary. The app has a database of questions asked by patients and answered by doctors who have signed up to help, and if you find a doctor you like, you can follow them to see more questions they answer, or communicate with them directly. The app even helps you find a doctor in your area and make an appointment.
HealthTap really shines when you have symptoms you want to know about though. Before you ask Dr. Google, the apps "virtual private consultations" allow you to pose your question to a live, on-call doctor, ready to offer their best opinion based on the symptoms, photos, video, or other information you provide. They still cost money ($10 per conversation), but it's still cheaper than many co-pays, and gets a real professional opinion in a short period of time. If you're experiencing something unfamiliar and don't want to go to the ER, or between health insurance providers, it's a useful way to talk to a doctor about what you're going through. HealthTap isn't the only service that puts real doctors on your computer screen or on your smartphone, but it's the best we've seen.
Call an Employee Assistance Program (EAP) instead. Instead of taking to the internet with your symptoms, check your health insurance plan (if you have insurance, that is) and see if an EAP is available to you. Many EAPs have 24-hour hotlines you can call with both physical and mental health issues in case you're on the fence about whether you should go back to bed or head to the ER. Usually it's an on-call nurse that'll answer, or an operator who'll hand you off to a doctor or nurse, but it's better than symptom searching. Like HealthTap and similar services, an EAP puts you in touch with a live person who can help. Keep in mind though, all of these services say up front that if your condition is urgent or life-threatening, call 911 or get professional help immediately, don't delay. Photo by Kelvin_Kevin Gan.
Several years ago I fell for the marketing lingo in a commercial for an allergy pill I was interested in. I went to the doctor and explained that I had seasonal allergies, and would love something to help alleviate the symptoms. They wrote me a prescription, but it wasn't for the drug I was thinking about. I asked about that specific drug, parroting their marketing line and asking "are you sure I don't need something for indoor allergies and outdoor allergies?"
My doctor tilted her head and said "You watch too much television," before explaining that allergies are caused by a histamine reaction, and that the source of that reaction—whether it's "indoor" (like pet dander) or "outdoor" (like pollen or mold spores)—is the same, and can be treated with the same class of medications. I felt like an idiot—even more so looking back on it with what I know now—but let my embarrassment be a lesson: you don't want to be an "internet patient," so caught up in marketing language and far-fetched diagnoses that you can't tell a sniffle from internal bleeding, or worse, won't listen to the doctor when they explain it.
After the Diagnosis: Do Your Homework and Ask Questions
With luck, your searches will turn up useful data that you can apply immediately, as opposed to vague diagnoses that leave you rattled and afraid. If the issue is minor and you can treat it at home, great—if you see a professional, let them know what you turned up in your searches, and ask for their opinion. Once you have a real diagnosis, you can Google a bit more freely. Photo by wavebreakmedia (Shutterstock).
Many of the sites we've mentioned, like Healthfinder.gov and Medpedia are great for looking up conditions and prescriptions after you've been to the doctor. For example, if your doctor says you have gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD) because you've been waking up with heartburn every other night for the past three weeks, you can read all about it, what you can do to adjust to it, and more. Before the diagnosis though, searching for those symptoms would have led you everywhere from the right diagnosis to some rare form of stomach cancer. Similarly, if the doctor prescribes medication, you can read all about it and its side effects as well.
The web's wealth of medical information is really only useful to individuals with health conditions after you've talked to a doctor, but any doctor will tell you that an educated and engaged patient is a good one. Don't hesitate to do your homework, but go in to conversations with your doctor with an open mind. If you're looking for medical information before seeing a doctor, make sure you take what you find with a grain of salt, and if you're really concerned, make an appointment, visit the ER, or use a service that connects you with a doctor right away.
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