Re: self-diagnosis by search engine

[Guest guest]

Of course there was a story some time ago that physicians made better

a diagnosis when they fed patient symptoms into Google.

>

> Microsoft Examines Causes of `Cyberchondria' By JOHN MARKOFF

> A Microsoft study suggests that self-diagnosis by search engine leads

> Web searchers to conclude the worst about what ails them.

[Guest guest]

> Lay people who research their own symptoms online will invariably either

mis-diagnose

> themselves or believe they are about to die from whatever it is that's

ailing them.

I have counterexamples, so this is wrong.

> Doctors, on the other hand, know what they're looking for and generally

will follow up any

> preliminary diagnosis with confirmatory diagnostic tests.

Doctors have few time and less information than the internet.

They don't reply to email, rarely phone calls, so you have to schedule an

appointment,

(typically 1-2 weeks) drive to their place, hope they accept you, waiting

room, some chance that

the Doctor just disagrees on something is busy is a quack and it was all

invain.

Lots of information on the internet, Doctors just can't compete with that -

unless they

use the internet themselves for diagnosis. But then, they have fewer time

for research

than yourself.

[Guest guest]

Good evening, my friend, and happy Thanksgiving.

I am sure that you are right about this. Still, the search engines

know that people will try to do this so some search engine must gear

itself so that it can assist the layman in this regard without scaring

him to death with the results. As such, studies like this are well

worthwhile.

>

> Lay people who research their own symptoms online will invariably

either mis-diagnose themselves or believe they are about to die from

whatever it is that's ailing them. Doctors, on the other hand, know

what they're looking for and generally will follow up any preliminary

diagnosis with confirmatory diagnostic tests.

>

>

>

> Do one thing every day that scares you.

> Eleanor Roosevelt

[Guest guest]

I could not agree with you more, Sterten.

Sure, some people might misdiagnose themselves, but an individual who

is highly motivated to discover everything he can about his condition

is much better at turning up valuable information than almost any

doctor with hundreds of patients and thousands of diseases to be

informed about.

I have been able to very accurately self-diagnose by doing the online

research myself. I have also discovered that I could learn more

about the medications I have been prescribed than the doctors who have

prescribed them. It helps when you are highly motivated and have

flesh in the game, as they say.

Another very positive advance that the internet has brought to

medicine is group intelligence. Now that there are thousands of

people with common ailments or diseases sharing their stories and

experiences online, patterns appear that were never apparent before

because the afflicted didn't have the opportunity to share with one

another in any significant way. Related symptoms, side effects, drug

interactions, and successful treatments pop out.

I also think that more effective drug dosages could also be determined

by online sharing, though I don't know that it is happening. I figure

out my own blood pressure medication dosages by experimentation, but

it is easy because I can easily monitor the results of my experiments.

I was able to cut my doctor-prescribed dosage in half. Believe me,

doctors don't know all the answers.

>

> > Lay people who research their own symptoms online will invariably

either

> mis-diagnose

> > themselves or believe they are about to die from whatever it is

that's

> ailing them.

>

> I have counterexamples, so this is wrong.

>

> > Doctors, on the other hand, know what they're looking for and

generally

> will follow up any

> > preliminary diagnosis with confirmatory diagnostic tests.

>

> Doctors have few time and less information than the internet.

> They don't reply to email, rarely phone calls, so you have to

schedule an

> appointment,

> (typically 1-2 weeks) drive to their place, hope they accept you,

waiting

> room, some chance that

> the Doctor just disagrees on something is busy is a quack and it was

all

> invain.

>

> Lots of information on the internet, Doctors just can't compete with

that -

> unless they

> use the internet themselves for diagnosis. But then, they have fewer

time

> for research

> than yourself.

>

[Guest guest]

One instance of this is survivors of lightning strikes. Survivors got

on the web and surprised the medical community by discovering the

problems that they had in common and the large number of pills that

they must take daily.

> Another very positive advance that the internet has brought to

> medicine is group intelligence. Now that there are thousands of

> people with common ailments or diseases sharing their stories and

> experiences online, patterns appear that were never apparent before

> because the afflicted didn't have the opportunity to share with one

> another in any significant way. Related symptoms, side effects, drug

> interactions, and successful treatments pop out.