I must like to play doctor because whenever a family member gets ill, I rush to the internet to see what it could possibly be. While I have found sites such as WebMD.com to be a plethora of information about the symptoms, I am no doctor, I don’t play one on television and I did not stay at a Holiday Inn Express last night. So, as you can imagine the dreaded diseases that rear their ugly heads on my innocent searching can scare the living daylights out of me!
WebMD.com lets you check your symptoms by simply clicking on an image of a body and answering a few questions. On www.healthline.com you enter your symptom or build and adjust a list of symptoms. Then you can browse articles that match the symptoms you have entered. There are dozens of such sites that will entice you to provide your own medical advice which is never a good diagnosis. Sure, these sites will help you consider some illnesses you never would have imagined and encourage you to visit your physician for a true diagnosis. But like the car wreck on the side of the road, the temptation to look up your symptoms is just too easy to turn away from.
The biggest problem I have found with these sites is the amount of time I spend on my computer. I could have been to the emergency room, diagnosed, picked up any prescriptions and been back home in bed before I have found anything that is for certain.
Indeed, these sites are entertaining and informational, they simply are not meant to be a substitute for a proper diagnosis by your family doctor. Once your doctor has given you a diagnosis, these sites are extremely useful for further tips and advice for taking care of yourself.
So, go ahead and get the proper medical attention you need and only use these sites to enhance your doctor’s recommendations. Besides, if you are over five years of age, you are simply too old to play Doctor!
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The most dangerous temptation comes from not knowing pathology (that what makes up the profile of a disease). A disease is not a word, people, it is a manifestation of chain reactions that either shows the corrective measures the body takes to heal itself or it is a show of “shut-down”. If one cannot determine the difference because of lacking the information (knowledge) you get tangled-up in a serious “Russian roulette”.
Besides, you can never trust your own “diagnosed” symptoms. Living in denial is human's primary reaction. Get professional help if anything beyond a reasonable self inflicted symptom persists any longer than a couple of days (especially when it gets worse).