Be careful looking up your symptoms online

Thanks to the internet it’s now a relatively common scenario for a patient to walk in to my surgery and say to me something like:  “I looked up my rash on the internet, and I think I’ve got necrolytic migratory erythema” with a very worried expression on their face. After taking a history and examining them, I calmly and confidently reassure them they just have sunburn, and send them away relieved.  This is the pitfall of internet self-diagnosis or “cyberchondria”.

The  disadvantage of the wealth of knowledge available on the internet, has been the evolution of “cyberchondria” – looking up your symptoms on the internet and self diagnosing weird and wonderful illnesses.  This is because on a variety of sites if you type in symptoms, you get an exhaustive list of diseases which most doctors will never see in their whole career.

Diagnosis is a holistic process taking into account more than just a list of symptoms, so whilst a symptom checker can give some information, it is not the whole story. For that reason, thankfully computers will never replace doctors.

I am really keen for my patients to be empowered by understanding more about their health but you have to be discerning in where you find your knowledge.

There are a lot of sites with inaccurate information and inappropriate advice, and that leads to anxiety and disappointment: for example, many American health websites suggest expensive experimental treatments that would not be available here on the NHS and that leads to frustrating consultations.

Many sites appear to be written or endorsed by healthcare professionals, but a closer look reveals the information is not bona fide. It is also important to check always, when the information was written – we saw from last year’s swine flu outbreak how important up-to-date facts are, particularly when it comes to health guidelines.

But it’s certainly not all bad: there are some fabulous resources on the internet I encourage my patients to use – one of them of course being Yell Health.

My patients with chronic diseases or slightly more unusual diseases find the community available through online support groups exceedingly valuable: charities such as The Eczema Society and Asthma UK provide fantastic information and support online that is readily available to everyone.

So before you log on here are my top tips for all you budding cyberchondriacs:

1. Make a list of the symptoms that are worrying you and take that to the doctor
2. Once your doctor has told you what they think is the problem, then have a look online
3. Always check whose advice you are reading –stick to trusted medical websites such as NHS choices.
4. Remember “what’s common, is common” – if you have sudden onset diarrhoea, it is more likely to be food poisoning than Ebola virus. 

For more empowering health advice follow me on twitter @Dr_Ellie

www.DrEllie.co.uk

Tags: doctors (medical practitioners), GP, GP advice, Hospitals, pharmacists