Addicted to Dr Google

[natalie yog]

You'd think after all these years I'd learn my lesson. I even write on here to avoid visiting Dr (Evil) Google but no here I am again with another illness that I probably only had one symptom for only to end up with every single one of them. So my slight eye pain which I only had every other day has suddenly turned into a constant eye pain, constant headache, floaters, neck pain......the list goes on.
Why do I do this to myself ?
I know that the number 1 rule in every health anxiety sufferers book is to NEVER GOOGLE YOUR SYMPTOMS.
Why do I keep going back for more ?
My only solution is to stand up and confess I am addicted to Dr Google (Oh and a complete idiot) :wacko:

[Hypo84]

You have to make decision and stick to it. Googling is form of OCD.

I have stopped Googling a week ago or so. Said no more and even though I still have new symptoma I didn't Google but I asked question on this board.

It's not easy but until you stop Googling you want get better. If you want to live all your life feeling miserable then Google all the time. If you can't stop it on your own, seek therapy, take meds whatever it takes to fix the issue.

[unsure_about_this]

I used to be addict to Dr Google a few years ago when I was worried I had one of the big c, ended up have a few scans, number of trips to the gps,
but all what was found was a possibly small pouch in my adominal area which may have needed keyhole but in the end did not.

The last few months I done a lot better and don't find the need to Google about health, I had to use Google about one of my conditions but it was only to get the correct spelling and print of some of the information to help the place I am currently attending to better the chance of finding employment.

Block the sites, don't google, don't read those daily mail articles I used to get told off by reading them on this site.

[sial72]

Omg yes, Google and Daily Mail...
My therapist said to me, google if you want but be very aware when you are doing it of the consequences and then don't complain about health anxiety. I only come on here now...xx

[MyNameIsTerry]

You have to make decision and stick to it. Googling is form of OCD.



Its not a form of OCD. In OCD a compulsion is normally aimed at anxiety reduction. Googling in HA has the opposite effect that in OCD could come close to "testing".

There is nothing wrong with Google though, it's the Cognitive Distortions of the person using it. If I search for something I don't have the skewed negative thinking that steers me towards the bad things and that's because I don't have HA.

[Hypo84]

Googling in HA ppl is aimed at anxiety reduction. We are Googling to find out that our symptoms are nothing and to calm down but most often we get more concerned since we find out sone rare disease.

So Googling in HA ppl is form of OCD like rechecking symptoms is. Ppl are looking at their mole or rash or lumo hoping it wont be there and they do it every minute to reduce anxiety but it only raises it so yes, it's OCD ;)

And I am talking here about Googling HA stuff...I am not talking about Googling for best place to travel, how to install some program or whatever...

[MyNameIsTerry]

Googling in HA ppl is aimed at anxiety reduction. We are Googling to find out that our symptoms are nothing and to calm down but most often we get more concerned since we find out sone rare disease.

So Googling in HA ppl is form of OCD like rechecking symptoms is. Ppl are looking at their mole or rash or lumo hoping it wont be there and they do it every minute to reduce anxiety but it only raises it so yes, it's OCD ;)

And I am talking here about Googling HA stuff...I am not talking about Googling for best place to travel, how to install some program or whatever...

Both major diagnostic manuals disagree. In the WHO ICD-10 HA is most notibly a Somatoform Disorder, although it can also be GAD or OCD as well. Where it is OCD, it is more concerned with things like psychological illness, HIV/AIDS, etc.

I agree that there are elements that appear similiar or the same as OCD, but not that it is a form of OCD as thats not the medical view.

There is some debate over the US classification and how it could be classed as OCD spectrum so who knows it may change in the future. But the people who share the more common ground with HA people on here are those with contamination fears, HIV/AIDS, fear of psychological illness, etc but not necessarily the rest of us.

I've often thought the Pure O forms are quite similiar to HA (not that HA is a medical term) as they can do a lot of mental checking as opposed to physical compulsions.

When you perform compulsions in OCD it is to take away anxiety from the obsession that drives it. I know with mine, I did find the frustration of performing compulsions would increase anxiety too but ultimately at some point that chain of compulsions "completes" when things feel "just right" in many forms as opposed to just further increasing the anxiety which you seem to be saying. The resulting distress from performing them just makes you more anxious or depressed.

So, similiar traits but there are reasons why the medical community seperate GAD, OCD and the Somatoform Disorders.

[Oosh]

When you're really anxious about a symptom you have you're desperate for evidence to reassure you that it's not what you fear. Google gives you answers so is an obvious thing to use.

I think it's important what you're searching for though. Are you searching for evidence that it IS what you fear or evidence that it is NOT. If it's the former then it's certain disaster. But if you can come up with alternative , non-health threatening, theories for your symptoms you can then search for evidence linking THAT with your symptoms instead and finding anxiety relief. Ie "Its not that, it's only this !"

That's also useful for health anxiety in general too because it's far more beneficial in general to have a default where you believe/hope it's something harmless and look for evidence supporting that as opposed to have a default where you believe it's THE worst possible outcome.

Google helped me recently but I searched for evidence to back up my theory that it WASNT serious.

So many complicated health fears though. I know how difficult it is.

[MyNameIsTerry]

I agree Oosh. In psychology there is something called Confirmation Bias. This explains how we naturally seek to confirm something we already believe. When we do this we can also discount things that don't fit to the brief (Schema Bias explains how we do this too) and it's not like we are going to search for evidence against as that is a massively wide field.

Add in Cognitive Distortions due to anxiety/depression as you have a tunnel vision.

If I have a health concern, I do Google. But like you, I know I can do so without bias. If I find a lump, it's a lump, a bruise is a bruise and so on. I had bruxism when I started my current med and I discounted TMJ until I spoke to my dentist who agreed it was just bruxism but if I had HA I could have been pulling up all sorts of nasties off Google.