In recent years, it has become increasingly popular to use the Internet to diagnose everything from a simple headache to congestive heart failure. People seem to think that they have an honorary medical degree just because they can search for symptoms or conditions on the Internet. The bad thing about this is that self-diagnosis can be dangerous to your future health.
For one thing, most symptoms are associated with more than one disease or disorder. For example, if you have a headache, the chills, a sore throat and congestion, you could be dealing with any number of viral or bacterial infections. The same goes for physical pains, such as pain in the lower back, or neurological symptoms, such as a loss of balance. You can’t rely on a website for self-diagnosis because it is going to spit out the most common reason for your symptoms, which may not be accurate.
You also can’t use the Internet to determine health problems because not all diseases and disorders are going to be cataloged on websites. Even a seemingly thorough site like WebMD.com is going to miss something, and you don’t want to rely on incomplete information. Furthermore, you have no way of guaranteeing that the health information found on the Internet is accurate. I can start a website that says just about anything; I don’t have to have a medical degree to give faulty advice.
Another problem that you might encounter with using the Internet for self-diagnosis is panic. Many people look up their symptoms on the Internet and discover that they could have any number of terminal or serious illnesses when they really have nothing to worry about at all. Why put those types of thoughts in your head? Health-related websites often contain information that is presented very clinically, which can be difficult to take.
In addition to everything mentioned above, you also have to remember that the administrators of health websites have an agenda. They use their web presence to make money in addition to advising the public, and while they might have the best intentions about providing accurate or up-to-date information, they are also going to do what they can to push products or services that aren’t necessarily beneficial to the public.
For example, many health websites offer to help people self-diagnose health problems, and will recommend certain drugs or treatment plans in the process. Pharmaceuticals is a business, plain and simple, and just because they have nothing but good things to say about a specific drug doesn’t mean that it’s right for you. They rely on the assumption that you’ll visit your doctor and ask to take that drug because it comes so recommended, but this isn’t always a good idea.
If you’re going to try for self-diagnosis, your best bet is to use the Internet to determine possible explanations for health problems while you wait for a doctor’s appointment. Just because the information you find may be incomplete doesn’t mean that you can’t prepare yourself or find reliable advice. It’s just that the Internet should be used in conjunction with a doctor’s advice, rather than in place of it.
