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View Full Version : PSA from personal experience, there is no such thing as "safe" googling



lofwyr
20-08-19, 22:57
It is like being a junkie or an addict. I am a recovering alcoholic, so I sort of have the same feeling.

I have an issue regarding potential Basal Cell on my nose, and it covers a lot of real estate, maybe 1.4 by 2 to 3 cm visible. It is more than a pimple like lesion, for sure. I am in a holding pattern waiting on appointments, and was doing pretty good with it. I mean Basal Cell mets .03% to .55%. There are 5.4 million cases a year. If you have to have cancer, it is as good as it gets, statistically speaking.

But even before official diagnosis, I have pretty much established which sub-type I have, determined how I would like to have it treated, and made various assumptions about how aggressive the BCC I have is, looked up local Mohs' surgeons, wondered if it got into the bone of my nose, and managed to be egotistical enough to assume I may well be one of the roughly 1700 to 10,000 people a year who get mets, out of the 5.4 million. I may as well fire my dermatologist now, because I have it all figured out.

If you wonder how I have all this glorious information, you guessed it. Doctor Google and I had a long meeting with this morning and I feel very much the same now as if I had just turned in an AA chip and had a beer for the first time in 21 years.

With many recovering alcoholics, there is an arrogance that lets you wonder if you can get away with drinking. It is very dangerous to recovery. You always have to fight it, at least I do.

Well, it turns out, the same thing very much applies to Dr. Google and HA as well, and I didn't even see it coming. I made assumptions because all of this was happening through the knowledge given to me by a health care professional, that I probably have BCC, so that made it safe to learn more about the condition, to arm myself with information I can take to appointments. And perhaps it is good to be armed with information, but the way I went about it sent me down a rabbit hole of scientific papers, worst case scenarios, photos of surgeries that I probably would have been better off not seeing, and pages about facial reconstruction to rebuild a nose that will likely have to be removed in its entirety, all when I don't even have an official diagnosis yet.

This is what just happened to me. I went from what I thought was a pretty solid place, anxiety-wise--even with the looming BCC appointment--to a very familiar cycle I have really worked hard at putting behind me.

So here I am, feeling like I am working towards my first Google Anonymous chip again.

Be well, everyone, and absolutely stay away from google.

Fishmanpa
20-08-19, 23:03
Google is an amazing tool. Recipes (made a killer meatloaf the other day!), directions, shopping etc. For health related issues? Nope.... For almost everything else...sure...

Positive thoughts

lofwyr
20-08-19, 23:07
I absolutely love it, generally speaking. But short of trying to self treat from a remote outpost in Antarctica or die alone, there isn't much good that can come from googling health issues. As an aside, wanna share that meatloaf recipe? I am dying for a new one, love it generally speaking, but like variations too. =)

Fishmanpa
20-08-19, 23:28
wanna share that meatloaf recipe?

Pretty straight forward....

For 2-4 servings.... (depending on your appetite ;))

1/2lb of ground beef, one egg, 1/2 cup of Italian bread crumbs, seasonings (Italian, salt, pepper, garlic and onion powder to taste etc.), one small can of tomato sauce. Mix all together the (half can of tomato sauce) and place in a small baking dish. Here's the key.... Push down the middle and stuff with mushrooms and Provolone cheese and fold over to seal it. Pour the remainder of the tomato sauce on top. Bake at 350 for 40-45 minutes. Simple, easy and quite tasty :) Serve with rice and avocado....

Positive thoughts

Shadowhawk
20-08-19, 23:32
You aren't kidding - I noticed before how even a fringe, mundane search seems to return crazy articles and "studies", which are great for going down a rabbit hole.

Not to mention, there are other places (I wont mention where, lest I lead someone there), where you can post your medical questions, and see what others have asked... even that can be a real trip down the wrong way if you are not careful.

Google is not friendly to catastrophic thinking..

lofwyr
21-08-19, 00:06
Gonna try that tomorrow, sounds delicious! And isn't it crazy the stuff we read at the height of this mental illness? I have read medical studies I had no business reading. I should never have been reading about "prognostic indicators for micronodular basal cell carcinoma," yet there I was, deep in my studies. Should have just gone to med school :)

AntsyVee
21-08-19, 00:35
Great post!

bin tenn
21-08-19, 02:08
It took me a while - way too long - to understand that Google is only harmful when it comes to searching symptoms and health conditions. I still get the urge from time to time, but I catch myself before I do it and instead I'll divert to something entirely unrelated. Several times in the past few months I've caught myself typing something like "causes of ...something... pain / numbness / etc". But I'll delete all the terms before I actually search, and replace them with something that interests me - typically something about history or science. Before long, I forget what I was ever going to Google initially. I can certainly say it feels much better, and my anxiety has improved a great deal (especially with the help of professional therapy).

MyNameIsTerry
21-08-19, 02:17
I think this is more for HAers really. Google can be a good tool for health issues it's just that HAers zoom in on one result that says "cancer" when the other 19 million all say headache or cold.

It's not just health either. The media do a lot of scaremongering about other issues that cause problems for anxiety sufferers e.g. the endless "the world is going to end" nonsense.

There is a lot of spurious information out there just like there would be if the whole world's population wrote their thoughts on a big wall and you started searching through it but the point is it is mostly how you choose to use it.

There is plenty of good health information on there. The NHS publish on it so they see the benefits compared to a small number of mental health patients who choose to misuse information or, due to their mental health issues, can't see the mistakes they are making.

Of course, Google does carry some blame for how it conducts it's searches and the whole tracking thing is problematic as you end up being constantly reminded about the potentially horrible things you have been searching for. Even on NMP you will get adds for cancer diagnosis companies.

Take the internet away and you would only end up with the old health bibles and trips to the library. The problem lies within and if you treat that the internet won't bother you anymore. This is one reason why it's not the same as physiological addiction, you can change your views on Google and use it for anything whereas with the booze & drugs you can't keep using them as & when. One of the needs in therapy is going to be beating triggers and if you avoid Google out of fear, you are just leaving the foundations of unfounded fears in your subconscious and we know where that can lead back to.