Diagnosing an illness correctly by using Internet

[MissCommando]

People say you shouldn't 'google' your symptoms but have you ever done so and correctly diagnosed yourself?

I've read about people who have diagnosed themselves, (particularly people who have rare illnesses that their GP has never heard of).

[Mosaic]

Yes. For decades I suffered occasional hypo's but because these were not occurring when I went to the doc's I could not be helped.
I happened on a website that described my symptoms exactly - and a range of solutions that included exercise, protein balance and sugar avoidance - these work perfectly for me and have enabled me to lose excess weight.

[Sqad]

I feel strongly about this topic.

If, IF the diagnosis is clear and has been confirmed by medical tests, then Googling the internet for further information is admirable and extremely helpful.

HOWEVER...Google can only provide answers to the information that you give it and if that information is incorrect. then the results may be totally misleading. One has seen this many times on AB when ABers have misconstrued the symptoms and produced a quite eroneous result.

ALSO even IF the symptoms are correctly interpreted and entered, Google often produces a list that would tax qualified doctors and doesn't give the list in order of occurance.

So...if your diagnosis is established.......that is the time to use Google.

[LazyGun]

You may find an occasional story suggesting that self-diagnosis was right where the GP was wrong or clueless, but I would imagine they would be the minority.

On the contrary, self-diagnosis can be a bad thing... see the attached links

http://www.independen...iagnosis-1623649.html
http://theweek.com/ar...illnesses-with-google

Incidentally, re your recent CKD post - There was an interesting programme on R4 recently that you might find interesting.....

http://www.theanswerb.../Question1159173.html

[Mosaic]

Sqad - my diagnosis was nonexistent despite practically passing out while driving at one point.
I'm fighting fit now.
And I've changed GP.

[gness]

Never by googling but by observation and common sense. Lacking in some doctors.
Gness.....I think my husband`s kidneys have failed.
Consultant... You`re anxious. He has malabsorbtion. (sp) Take him home and he`ll be fine.
Gness. You take him home. You`ll be more use when he dies.
Consultant to simpering minion...Oh for goodness sake. Do a 24 hour urine test so she can`t say we left any stone unturned.
Eleven years of dialysis and one transplant followed.
Trust your instinct.

[FredPuli43]

You may get Jerome K Jerome syndrome ! In Three Men in a Boat, he decides to take a boating holiday because he has been reading a medical encyclopedia, and has discovered, to his alarm, that he has symptoms of every disease and complaint in it. Medical students, he mused, could be brought to see him, who had everything,and so not have to study dozens of cases. He hadn't, I think, got 'housemaid's knee', and soon felt indignant, rather than relieved, that he hadn't.

Surely, googling symptoms is likely to produce false diagnosis because an anxious person will imagine that they have symptoms they haven't, or have only slightly,thus completing the picture of all symptoms for the illness, and in any case have not the medical knowledge to interpret symptoms, rate them in significance, or rate the likelihood of their having any particular illness or condition.

I have never self-diagnosed. I don't buy a guard dog and then bark myself. One of us is trained and equipped to do the job. I'm not. That's why we have doctors.

[Bambiagain]

Fred'S Three Men in a Boat story reminds me of my brother. He went on holiday with a group of doctors. He said he'd never seen so many hypochondriacs all together in one place. They were constantly measuring their own temperature and pule rates and discussing their bowel movements. Sounded like a fun holiday.

[Negomi]

I had pain in hand and forearm and from looking on internet think I have DeQuervains tendonitis, I have done the Finkelstein test and it is just what I have. However, tests can give false positives, so I will see GP and see what they say.

[pdq1]

To get an appointment with our local GP takes over 2 weeks. You could die if like the average person thought your symptons not to be life threatening. Therefore some self diagnosis may give clues to speeding up your appointment.

A case in point. Our son of 3 years developed an ear-ache with minor other symptoms. My wife who was very diligent with the child's health demanded to see the doctor. Its a good job she did because the child had meningitus which took hold quite quickly and was rushed to hospital. A little more knowledge would have been helpful.

[mrs_overall]

I had a problem with my eye one weekend and did a Google. The results showed that I had either a retinal tear or posterior vitreous detachment. I took myself off to A&E and luckily it turned out to be the latter which is far less serious.
If I hadn't checked on Google I would probably have not done anything, thinking it was that popular medical condition "just one of those things"

Mrs O
Graduate
Google School of Medicine

[Sqad]

Oi!


////If I hadn't checked on Google I would probably have not done anything, thinking it was that popular medical condition "just one of those things" //

Not the whole story if my memory serves me.....you came on AB first for advice.

[LoftyLottie]

I have had two of those Mrs O, one in each eye. The hospital said they are common amongst OLDER people! >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

[LoftyLottie]

You get AB by googling though Sqad ;o). Whatever I ask on Google almost always leads me to AB!! That's how I found AB in the first place.

[mrs_overall]

So I did Sqadlet....after checking on Google . I also rang your favourite organisation - NHS Direct.

I am convinced there IS a medical condition called "just one of those things" as I have heard it and of it several times over the years

[Sqad]

Lofty...good morning.......I didn't know that...;-)

[Sqad]

Mrs_O...LOL

The bloody Coalition are closing Remploy to save money..........why don't the close NHS Direct instead and save even more dosh.

[Robinia]

Same as Mrs O, I had an eye problem so I googled the symptoms rang the gp, they told me to go to the hospital, it was a pvd...without the internet I'd have put it down to a different kind of migraine.

I discovered I might be struggling with fibromyalgia by accidentally catching a tv article about a group of women with it. I told my gp who sent me to the rheumatologist for a diagnosis.

I really wish I'd had the internet many years ago when I was very seriously ill. Out of curiosity I've just googled the symptoms I had at the time...the results are spot on!

[LoftyLottie]

Are they really closing Remploy Sqad, that is awful.

[LoftyLottie]

Snap regarding Fibro Robby. And snap regarding my hypermobility syndrome. Research on the net helped me achieve a diagnosis after years of consulting GP's and Rheumatologists. Actually my GP has no problem with me telling him I researched on Google, neither did the Rheumatologist.

[Sqad]

Lofty...yes.....so I believe.