Problem with most of these health symptom sites...

[JCRyanDenton]

The symptoms they describe are too vague. They don't give any detail as to how these symptoms are supposed to be like as in the order or when they occur (along with other symptoms), so when people read and see one symptom they may have, they instantly think they have it.

The symptoms i'm experiencing right now are some occasional pain around the base of the right of my neck, some back and shoulder pain (joint, since when i move it the pain feels different), some occasional chest pain that goes when i rub it, minor muscle twitches, some mild thigh pain (again, goes when i rub it) which i am most worried about tbh...and those are really all the symptoms there are. But its easy to assume from some of them that its something serious...its really hard to tell and thats why people like us get health anxiety.

[AuntieMoosie]

Yes I completely understand what you're saying. :)

But this is why it is such a bad idea to go looking for symptoms on the web. They only give you half the story and it is very easy to then convince yourself that you have something dreadful.

Really, I just can't say this enough, but the best course of action for anyone who feels unwell, has lumps or bumps, pains or anything else, is to go and see a doctor. Doctors don't scare you with stuff that you don't need to know and they can easily put your mind at rest. If only folks would do this, it would save an awful lot of suffering, because it's no fun at all when you're frightened.

Good post and interesting, I hope others come along with their opinions and experience :)

[sarahsarah]

Very good post and one all of us with HA could do to take note of.

I am not one for going to the doctors on internet search related pretexts (I prefer to sit at home and fret about them) but I once went to my GP thinking I had something wrong with my kidneys. I had googled my symptoms and this is what the Internet told me I had. When I got to the surgery and explained everything to the doctor, he told me that I was describing end-stage symptoms of kidney disease which only occur when dialysis has started to fail, that my (frankly mild) symptoms couldn't be caused by kidney disease unless I had reached the stage where I was hospitalised ad gravely ill. I quite rightly felt an idiot.

[joelhall]

They only list symptoms not pathology as it's pretty complicated. Kind of a useless resource in my humble opinion.

[*Fallen Angel*]

I agree. A list of symptoms on their own is not massively helpful. It's totally out of context and doesn't take into account many other things a person cant present with. I guess it's like taking a few jigsaw pieces from one puzzle and trying to fit them into a similar puzzle anyway you can.

Having said that, I am guilty of doing what most of us do, googling, reading scare stories, convincing myself I have these illnesses.