"Dr google will see you now!!!" [Archive]

nomorepanic

03-04-09, 19:52

Ubermod - interesting you wrote this post as I started writing something about Googling the other day and this is as far as I got:

To Google or not to Google

We all do it but why? What are you looking for?

I am betting that you are looking for the worst every scenario and that will usually be cancer, death, serious illness, horrid end to life, no hope, may as well give up now.

Sound familiar?

Well that is because you are looking for the worst ever possible diagnosis and never the usual, normal and easiest explanation.

Why? Because you don’t want to imagine it is something simple that is easily treatable – you want it to be serious and life threatening and of course you will die from it.

But will you?

The internet is a fantastic resource but if you abuse it then it becomes your worst enemy.

Use it wisely and do NOT believe all you read.

If you really really do have to Google then do it wisely and use choice words.

E.G. if you have a headache then DO NOT google for “headache brain tumour” as you will inevitably find that you have ALL the symptoms.

Instead Google for “headache causes” and you will find loads of other reasons including simple things such as dehydration!

Ok Cancer – this is going to be on every single post you look for so I wanted to test this and did some silly searches:

Cancer big toe – yup I have loads of those symptoms so I MUST have cancer ! ( I will not post what it said here but I could easily have them all)

Cancer swollen abdomen – Oh I have all of them too so I MUST have cancer

My point here is that whatever you Google for you can get and it will do you no good at all keep reading and searching more.

Use it wisely like I do.

I get a new medication and I Google the medication but want to see if it interacts with other meds or whether the occasional alcoholic drink is ok and I do not look for side effects or death or cancer as it serves no purpose.

Use Google wisely and Do NOT look for something that isn’t there. Look for the positives and NOT the negatives. Use the key search words wisely or you WILL freak out and have cancer and imminent death with every condition you have I assure you.

mick_uk

03-04-09, 19:57

Great answer nicola.
There's obviously going to be more google sites that throw up worse scenarios to your problem than one's that show you possitive answers. It's like the news on tele, there's hardly any good news on, yet it's happening out there it's just that it's hidden beneath all the bad news.

take care
mick

ubermod

03-04-09, 20:04

yes i totally agree nicola, i have friends who can google their symptoms and not freak out, these are the same people who can just easily see their illness for what they are and dont panic worrying the worst.

After attending a health anxiety workshop in 2007 i learned that people who suffer with anxiety have re-progammed their way of thinking and are constantly at a hightened level of anxiety, so i believe this is why its such a bad idea for a unhealthy anxious mind to ever search for their symptoms.

nomorepanic

03-04-09, 20:38

I will make this sticky so new members may read it as well lol.

Mudskipper

03-04-09, 21:25

I once heard someone describe a computer as a highly-sophisticated idiot, it does exactly what you tell it to do at lightning speed but with no ability to think through the ramifications of what it's doing. Google is pretty much the same: give it a list of symptoms and it'll search for the first and most obvious matches, without any of the doctor/patient interplay a real doctor would use to rule most of them out. That said, I've used Dr Google many a time and he's scared me witless, together with his friends Scientist Google, Journalist Google and Expert Google. Have nothing to do with them! Google has its' uses but diagnosing symptoms definitely isn't one of them.:mad:

enigmatique

03-04-09, 22:12

Dr Google is not my friend :wacko:

I try to keep in mind that if it was really a good idea to self-diagnose via the internet, then we wouldn't need doctors. But we do, so I try to trust my doctor instead :)

Stressed32

04-04-09, 00:37

Great post guys! I too am an X google junkie. I call it my google crack rock. When I 1st began to have physical symptoms of anxiety, I was scared b/c it was 7 months after my Dr. told me I had GAD and gave me Buspirone. In my mind, the anxiety and symptoms were in no way realated b/c of the time lapse.
I am a curious women by nature so what do I do...google my symptoms and that is where it all began....The 1st thing I read wad HIV. I stop and think..could I be at risk, is this something I could have....like most individuals on this planet, I have had sex, so I am at risk, who can really say they aren't???
AHHHHHHHHHH my mind begins to freak. I was obsessed to find a site...any site...that told me my risk was minimal having had a - test in 07 . I did find site after site that said the same thing...I had HIV according to my symptoms. Over time, I really did convince myself that I had HIV. I even pictured the Dr. telling me. I would lose my husband and never get to have kids...life was over for me.

My name is stressed, I am a googleholic and it has been 2 weeks since I have googled my symptoms.

I am feeling better without exposing myself to negative things that scare the s*** out of me. At this point ladies and gentleman, if I have HIV, I have it and there is no going back now. I'll find out eventually...and it will not be from google. Until then, I will live my life day by day and be thankful for the time I have....after all, reality says to me that my chances of dieing in a car crash going to work on Mon. are much higher than me actually having HIV. Take care and God bless u all.
Stressed

JavaJoy01

04-04-09, 03:59

My doctor has banned Me from webMD. Same reasons listed here. Basically told me to quit googling everything too. Sometimes you may not have a symptom but once you read it, you all of a sudden have it.

Nicola_lou

04-04-09, 06:08

I so agree. I had a good night down friends came home I've had swollen glands for ages. I felt tightness in my thoat look in mirror all swollen got panicky kept looking thinking my throat is closing googled it and I feel so weak with nerves now why do I do this to myself never again if I last the nt that is....

Norwich

04-04-09, 11:28

I have recently been diagnosed with Parkinson's Disease by Dr Google, before christmas I had MS. It is so tempting to just have a look to 'reassure' myself, but I'm slowly learning.

mick_uk

04-04-09, 11:54

I'm guilty of using Google for self diagnosing.
I'm just glad I didn't type in Pregnancy :scared15:

:D

mick

Rhian_78

04-04-09, 12:05

dr google is definitely not my friend

i googled my eye symptoms and ended up with MS, a temporal tumour, AND glaucoma.

i will NEVER ever google my symptoms again

enough is enough!!

xxx

snowdrop

04-04-09, 12:07

This is so true!! we have all done it but thanks to this place my addiction to googling my symptoms has stopped

Google cannot diagnose us, its like asking someone to fix your car without ever seeing it!

STOP, STOP going to Dr.Google!!!!

xx

Wee-Mee

04-04-09, 13:32

I am in a bad way because of alot of things but google is a main culprit definitely.

My right ankle is swollen and I said I wouldn't google but I did and low and bloody behold... cancer! I'm like what!?

Infact,there was also clotting,blockages,water retention linked ot digestion probs which could end in death..that was the turning freaking point..

I been having bowel problems and still am..so that plus swollen ankle now means that I am going to die.

Cause of death: WATER RETENTION

P*** off GOOGLE!

I posted somewhere else a few days ago that I said "If someone said the devil doesn't exist they were lying..it's Google."

I also mentioned somewhere that I actually think they should have some sort of medical block on it for us anxious mindscos it just harms us.

And I too have been sworn by my psychologist not to search symptoms on the internet but it's like telling a child not to push the button.

YOU PUSH!

To be honest,it's ruined my life recently.

And in turn has ruined me and I am ruining my relationships.

I am actually thinking about seeing about gettinga block on google or something.

sahara

04-04-09, 13:36

Well I have been really good for 3 years not googling and I did it the otherday and diagnosed myself with an early menopause.

Oh boy did I tell myself off!!

Its been a long standing joke with me and my Dr about my previous google exploits!!

Sarah

charlotte83

05-04-09, 19:42

I have done the "googling" as well and have vowed I will not do it again no matter how tempting! It is a BAD idea and never gives you the answers you want, just makes things worse.

viremarthius

06-04-09, 15:32

Dr. Google has given me every disease from Lupus to Cancer....Turns out I do have a disease....Health Anxiety....Die Dr. Google, die!!

marie.s

06-04-09, 17:01

people using this site should not look up things on google..all information is available on here..after all we are all in the same boat..lol...keep marching people.x:hugs:

stm93

06-04-09, 17:51

once when I had really bad palpitations I began reading about them on google, after an hour or so I was already reading about asystole. Thinking about it made me laugh actually, because by the time I finished reading about every possible heart disease, I was calm like a baby.

Kaybee

09-04-09, 02:19

You know what? I can go a few days without googling my symptoms. But then somedays I feel so bad that I can't wait for a doctor so I have to. Or worse... the NHS website. I'm sorry, but every time I click on an issue there, it flashes up "EMERGENCY - DIALL 999" and that really doesn't help.

I found a great book though, some people have said it would either make me worse or calm me down. It does neither... merely reassures me that I probably won't die just yet. It's Dr Apples Symptoms Dictionary... I think that's what it's called.

A lot of my symptoms are in there with probable, possible and rare causes. It's great. It just means I don't jump directly to cancer, stroke, HIV, Meningitis... you name it, I've probably thought I've had it.

Google just makes me go straight to the bad things.

I think my doctor hates me, because I'm in almost every week feeling anxious about one pain or another.. all because google tells me I am not a well person!!

Chrismascray

11-04-09, 11:21

Right, i've been a member a few weeks now but like all here i've fallen trap to looking up symptoms on google....... PEOPLE THIS MUST STOP!!! we are making ourselves worse, i know we are only trying to put our minds at ease but we all know what it makes us think, yep the "C" word. Post after post i'm reading about how you've all looked on google and how its made you freak and rush to the doctors thinking you're dying. Its a healthy thing to want to know whats wrong with us but all advice out there isn't from professional sources.

Its time us health anxiety sufferers got Dr Google struck off!!

Post for newbies how searching the web has made you feel worse and lets try and stop people doing it and learn from our mistakes.

Just to add my agreement, trouble is, I find, is time, if it is 2am and you need an answer, and I guess I am like almost everyone else, it is answers we seek, where else do you go? I have what I hope and am trying to convince myself is IBS at the moment, so I made an appointment to see my Doc, cant see her, so will see another Doc, 10 DAYS before I can get in!! OK so ring NHS Direct, all they really do, in my opinion, is take a few details and say " see your Doctor", Of course they cannot diagnose over the phone, so where to turn?.....................mmmmm.................I know lets Google it and see what it says, Bad thing to do, but sometimes it is the only thing, well apart from this excellent site I guess. So I agree whole heartedly what the point is and I admit I am a patient at Dr Googles surgery, but as I say what else to do when you need an answer?

june

11-04-09, 11:56

Just to add my agreement, trouble is, I find, is time, if it is 2am and you need an answer, and I guess I am like almost everyone else, it is answers we seek, where else do you go? I have what I hope and am trying to convince myself is IBS at the moment, so I made an appointment to see my Doc, cant see her, so will see another Doc, 10 DAYS before I can get in!! OK so ring NHS Direct, all they really do, in my opinion, is take a few details and say " see your Doctor", Of course they cannot diagnose over the phone, so where to turn?.....................mmmmm.................I know lets Google it and see what it says, Bad thing to do, but sometimes it is the only thing, well apart from this excellent site I guess. So I agree whole heartedly what the point is and I admit I am a patient at Dr Googles surgery, but as I say what else to do when you need an answer?
I have hilighted part of this quote because i think it is absolutely the reason we all "Google" we need an instant answer and there is no one to help us:weep:
and when NHS tell you to phone 999:ohmy: :ohmy: when we know in our hearts we are not that ill - we just wanted someone to say "no you are fine it is just ........... " and we say "Oh thank you, I was so afraid you have really put my mind at rest:yesyes: "
As Chrismascray says at 2am or even daytime if you have HA you need and INSTANT answer and that is not possible:ohmy: :ohmy: :ohmy: unless YOU GOOGLE:weep:
That said Nicola or your team would it be possible to make your "Problems and Issues" more prominent ???? you have a lot of answers to our questions in there...:yesyes: I just wonder how often people find it? or know what is in there???
Best wishes to you all
June

ubermod

11-04-09, 15:39

Ok Chrismascray and june do have a point,

When you suffer from health anxiety sometimes you do want fast answers to put your mind and rest, but really we all know Google isn't the place to turn to (even at 2 in the morning) all we are doing is feeding our anxiety by letting our minds think we are more ill than we actually are. We arn't medical professionals and for us self diagnosis is possibly the worst thing we can do and by using Google we will never be better off because it makes us panic more and this will cause us to worry until we finally see the doctor. So wouldn't it be better in the long run just to wait for the appointment anyway?

I've suffered on and off with heath anxiety for 16 years and i have many older family members who have also suffered, but one thing is true, before the ability to Google self diagnose, people were not worring themselves over things they would never of even thought they had and seeing the doctor was the only SAFE option, and i believe still is..... Stop Dr Googling people!

june

12-04-09, 10:15

"before the ability to Google "

Families were more close knit - we had friends and neighbours that we chatted to.
The art of friendly conversation where if there was a worry it was discussed in the family and / or with friends you trusted.
You saw the milk man or the baker - even the postman said "hello":ohmy:
And you shopped in a "proper shop":yesyes:
There was not the same type fear that we have today - the constant reminders of death and destruction every 24 hours. WE NEVER get a break from it.
Even when I was young and run ragged with caring for my family and my aunts and uncles - I always knew i could pop into xxxxx for a cup of tea and unwind for an hour.
Now the TV is on and conversation is about The news:weep: or 'soaps' etc
Even if you do voice your fears today you are thought of as a whinger so you suffer in silence and have a quiet chat with "Dr Google" who else will help?????
At least with "Dr Google" no one is going to call your fears stupid or laugh at you and tell you that you are exagerating - "get over it" Etc.etc.:mad: :mad: :weep:

Danny_dingle

12-04-09, 10:33

Hey all,

I have been avoiding Dr. Google for the past 3 weeks now and have found that it has made me much, much better with my health anxiety! I have found that, if you see a real doctor and explain to them that you suffer with health anxiety, 9 times out of 10 they will go out of their way to reassure you in every way possible that your symptoms are not life threatening.

I have recently had some terrible problems 'down below' and, after googling, decided it was something seriously wrong with my womb and that I was not going to be able to have kids and was going to die a slow and painful death...

I went to the doctors who, after ruling out a simple water infection, sent me to the hospital for an X-ray and an ultrasound, and found that it was nothing more than kidney stones! :D

(For those of you that don't know about kidney stones, they can be excrutiatingly painful but are completely harmless; mine were little ones and as such they hurt me but don't cause the slightest bit of damage! They go away by themselves and all you have to do is drink more water!)

Doctor google diagnosed me with everything under the sun that was untreatable, nasty and life threatening, and was 100% WRONG.

Don't google guys. Please. Don't google.

Danny xxx

sahara

12-04-09, 10:37

If I feel the need to 'google' I now come on here - everyone is so helpful and 9 times out of 10 someone has had your problem and can reassure you its not life threatening.

Giving you enough breathing space until you get to see the DR

BAN GOOGLE:bansign:

NoPoet

13-04-09, 23:57

I have been avoiding Dr. Google for the past 3 weeks now and have found that it has made me much, much better with my health anxiety!
Good on you Danny! I have been telling people for weeks not to visit Doctor Google and I put my money where my mouth is -- I haven't been researching anything health related for the last few weeks and it has made a huge difference! No more health paranoia, no more wondering if I'm dying of ummer-gummer disease!

mick_uk

14-04-09, 11:58

A much better alternative to Dr Google

http://www.harryzimmermanpodcast.org.uk/ (http://www.harryzimmermanpodcast.org.uk/)

:D

agent orange

19-04-09, 09:22

I won't google any more as in the past it freaked me out and confused me. So it is best for people like us not to do it..

willtheconk1998

21-04-09, 09:08

I waste so much time googling symptoms.
I have tried to stop myself so many times and it is fine until something happens and i head straight for the internet to see "what is wrong" even tho I have been told time and again nothing is wrong!!!
My GP has now instructed me to try as hard as i can to stop because he thinks that the constant googling is keeping me so stressed and keyed up and is keeping a lot of my symptoms alive.

Why do we google though?? I have asked myself this question many times.
I really don't know what I am looking for or what I expect to find.
If the first site I look at gives positive feedback and shows no down side to my symptoms i don't stop, happy that I am ok, I keep looking until I find something bad that it could be and then start worrying about it.
My 2 big worries are heart attacks and brain tumours.
I have ectopic beats and various other anxiety related heart things going on and regular headaches and head pains all of which I google to death almost daily.
Even tho I have had all the tests and all the reassurance in the world it is never enough.
So how do we stop ourselves from falling in to the google trap??
I have tried so many times but always go back "for ressurance"
GRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR I HATE GOOGLE!!!!
Even tho professional medical people say it is bad for people with health anxiety to do this all the time it is like an addiction..I have to get my google fix!!
Any tips on Google withdrawal techniques??

Allye

21-04-09, 10:09

I had a chat with my lovely new doctor last time who banned me from Google - she told me that if I did need to use the internet to use www.patient.co.uk (http://www.patient.co.uk) which gives a much more balanced view on things.

chasity

23-04-09, 23:30

I have recently been diagnosed with Parkinson's Disease by Dr Google, before christmas I had MS. It is so tempting to just have a look to 'reassure' myself, but I'm slowly learning.

I googled my chin burning and it told me I have MS. So of course I was crying earlier today, but feel alot better after reading all these posts, thanks!

mummyto4

23-04-09, 23:58

The thought of googling a symptom now makes me shudder. Since the very first time I came on this site and read about googling symptoms and how it has affected people, as well as putting the fear of god into me, I have never ever done it again. Actually, the very thought of googling a symptom petrifies me.

Amanda3266

24-04-09, 08:21

I no longer EVER google symptoms - even simple things will have the horrible word in there somewhere and then I convince myself that's what I've got.

At present I am having investigations for possible early menopause. Just one light period in the last year (am 43 - Mum went through at 45 and paternal grandmother at 38 so entirely possible). I also have polycystic ovarian syndrome as well but that does not stop me wondering about womb cancer and ovarian cancer even though ALL my symptoms suggest my PCOS is just being a bit more awkward now that I am in my forties. Stupid me! Although my lovely doctor says I am not stupid but a busy Mum with a stressful job to boot and it's all a reaction to that. I know she's right but still I sit there sometimes wondering........

Claire240380

24-04-09, 08:32

I totally agree. I have pins and needles in my hand this morning so instead of looking it up on a medical site and worrying about strokes or heart problems, I came on here to see if anyone else had had these symptoms and they have. It's comforting to know that it's just another anxiety symptom and not a serious health issue.

MaWi69

26-04-09, 20:26

It's a difficult one really, Dr Google has helped me before (and recently), but there always some 'horrible experiences' and ill-formed opinions which you can't help but read. Best idea it to take a balanced view! 3000 positive opinions should make you take comfort; don't focus on the 10 people with bad ones making you worry...

Oh and don't say to you Doctor "I read on the internet that I could have blah blah disease", just tell them all of your symptoms and let them do the diagnosis. If you don't feel the GP has helped you (i.e. you don't feel better or your treatment isn't working as desribed to you), then go back and share your concerns, or get a second opinion then; don't just assume when you've come back from the GP that he is wrong because someone on google had a different response or treatment.

IllegallyBlond

30-04-09, 06:39

LOL. OMG. That is totally me. Doctor Google. I never thought of it that way, but every symptom I get I type it into the google search box and hit send, and sure enough I always have a brain tumor. I just joined this site tonight, and I'm feeling so much better already just reading through theses posts. It almost feels as if a giant weight has been lifted off my shoulders knowing I'm not the only one with these problems. I just wanted to THANK YOU all so much. I'm so happy I found you, and I hope this helps me out tremendously. Maybe I can get back to my normal self. Thanks again.

phoenixashes

03-05-09, 10:28

This post made me laugh, I am completely guilty of running to Dr. Google with every problem I have. In fact, I found this site thanks to Dr. Google just tonight by doing that exact thing. I have done this many a time, either going to google on it's own, webmd, or any of those "ask someone else what they think" sites like Yahoo! answers. I have found I have so many rare diseases and conditions just by typing in my symptoms and hitting search... including things as simple as being dehydrated to one search actually telling me I had some rare African disease that was only seen in one tribe, killed the whole tribe off and was never seen again after that... and that disease was from well over a hundred years ago. I stopped taking everything at face value and typing in exclusions to things, in hopes of different results. Things like, "headache pain every day not brain tumor" and seeing what reasons that came up with. Sometimes it gave me the comfort I was looking for, sometimes it brought me back to a brain tumor and left me in tears thinking I was going to die from it. Rarely, but sometimes. I am putting a stop to Dr. Google... well, maybe one day at a time, we'll see how that goes. Thank you for your unrelenting support without even knowing the ways in which you're holding me up and keeping me strong in my fight against health anxiety, and learning new and better ways in which to combat the urges to simply break down and allow myself to think I'm dying... again.

girlrock

05-05-09, 20:48

I haven't been posting on here much recently because my HA is under control. Do you know why? Partly, because I quit Googling! :) It's almost like quitting smoking...when you get the urge you have to slap yourself on the wrist and say, "NO!" I have managed to not Google now for about 4 months :) Trust me, NOT Googling can really do wonders for your HA. If there was a 12-step program for HA, I think this should be #1!

daniellemarie

09-05-09, 20:14

Greg1983

13-05-09, 18:25

I have been using doctor google today and got myself all worked up into a panic - i'm starting to laugh about it now

Jay Chal

15-05-09, 10:30

http://www.nomorepanic.co.uk/images/icons/icon11.gif Re: "Dr google will see you now!!!"

LOL! I love it - and it so quickly put into perspective how daft it is to consult this 'doctor'. Thanks for that. x

nomorepanic

20-05-09, 13:51

This is quite funny ...

http://lmgtfy.com/?q=Do+Not+Google+illnesses

andypee

21-05-09, 02:29

hahaha, brilliant. surely the dr. will be barred from practising soon due to 10,000,000,000 wrong diagnosis

purplehaze

21-05-09, 07:37

I have never and never will google anything concerning my health. I dont even watch medical soaps (or any soaps for that matter)

Check list when you wake up:
1. can you see
2. can you breathe
3. can you walk
4. can you pee
5. can you drink a cup of coffee or tea

keep it simple

oh six and seven are

6. have I won the lotto wednesday
7. have I won the lotto saturday

ksludds

22-05-09, 14:59

oh my god, this is so true.Im a big worrier and always have been but ive got to admit that since I began looking up symptoms on google my anxiety seems to have gotten worse and Now I have a fear of getting cancer and I didnt have this worry before.I definetely believe that looking things up on google has made me worse but its so hard NOT to do it.I try to keep away from it but I cant, its almost as if im setting myself up for ultimate stress and panic.I have swollen glands in my neck atm and looked it up on google yeasterday, BIG MISTAKE!

nataliean1982

27-05-09, 21:22

google causes irreversible and progressive damage. once you read about something, it creeps into your sould and brain and grows, and you can never un-read it or un-learn it, the horrible information will be there with you forever and always.

LightShinesInTheDark

31-05-09, 21:57

I am new here and this is my first post (fanfare, please!) and I am not sure whether to laugh or cry (some more). Thanks to Dr Google, my child currently has either leukaemia, lymphoma or a brain tumour. Because she has a swollen gland in her jaw (which the GP says is nothing to worry about) and a runny nose (for which she has a steroid nasal spray).

I have been out of my mind with fear this past week. This site is already beginning to show me I should be tackling my anxiety.

daisy__0

04-06-09, 21:44

i agree, looking up symptoms, checking your body and reassurance all feed on anxiety, you should all try to avoid it no matter how difficult it is, it may get worse in the short time, but in the long term it will get so much better and you will eventually forget about it.:shades:

mdLc

05-06-09, 05:07

Hi...
I too have "OFTEN" diagnosed myself Via "Dr.Google" Too many times...a few months back I had a terrible pain in my leg and googled and googled and googled ..that I told my husband not to take me to my regular doctor but to take me straight to the hospital because I was so sure that what I had I needed to be hospitalized for...after major panic and anxiety that threw my blood pressure throught the roof I was actually diagnosed by a real MD with sciatica. Extreme relief..although painful but nothing comparted to what Dr Google told me I had.

I have googled EVERYTHING there is to google.. and swore I had every disease ever written about....

On a brighter note though, Google has brought me here to this site and I wouldnt switch that search for anything.

NevanandHaileesmom

07-06-09, 23:20

Im exactly like this but ive been doing it regarding my newborn son :( He has bony lump on the back of his skull that i think is just his skull, and im freaking out.

Francesca501

08-06-09, 01:46

You are so right about this. I was a Dr Google addict for months, and to be honest I've not completely given up, but instead of just googling the symptom im worrying about, i put 'anxiety' in the search term as well and its amazing how many of my 'symptoms' have come up alongside it on forums like this one! the internet is a good resource as long as you're looking for proof that it IS anxiety and you WILL believe it. googling your symptom alongside the C-word cannot have good results. Dr Google tells you what you expect to hear, nothing more or less.

helpmepleas99

08-06-09, 02:35

About three times now because of searching on google for my symptoms, I thought I had cancer (in three different areas). It caused me to be so glum and worry ten times more. ALL FOR NOTHING

Angelai

21-06-09, 20:41

At my doctor's surgery, you need to know AT LEAST 2 weeks in advance if you're going to be ill enough to need to see someone. So I MUST google...

rachel0909

25-06-09, 17:50

Yes no more doctor GOOGLE! for me, its a load of """""!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :)X

cassy1989

27-06-09, 11:37

I do this all the time.

I will look up my symptoms and I will look up an illness I think I might have and go through all the symptoms to see what ones I have! I have to admit it does make me feel so much worse and worry and panic even more!

Its hard to stop though!

quietqueen

27-06-09, 19:34

Dr Google is the worst lol. I have made the mistake (many times) and have now learned my lesson. Google isn't always right, Doctors are!! lol

I had cancer and made a HUGE mistake by looking in to my cancer (a bit too much) and it convinced me that I'd die. But, I am still here and am now cancer free! Statistics are also a bad thing to look at too, I think so anyway. There wasn't a very high chance of me surviving but I am here almost 18 months later and I plan to be here a hell of a lot longer :D

So, everyone...don't google symptoms...ask your Doctor. You'll feel so much more reassured that way anyway.

quietqueen

captainworry

02-07-09, 12:33

I'm trying to fire Dr Google,
however, it's kinda hard to give it up cold.
Trying though!

DCJuggler

02-07-09, 15:40

I actually blocked google on my PC for a while as i was so addicted to looking up symptoms and causing myself to over panic.

charlotte83

12-07-09, 16:56

I'm finding google is like some kind of addiction but it makes things worse! I don't just use it to google health stuff but will look up anything and everything I get worried about. The worst part is how you find one thing and then it just gives you a whole load of new concerns to look up and sort of seems never ending in that respect. I was getting concerned about swine flu so I looked it up and about the vaccine and then it was going on about side effects and how dangerous they could be so now I feel even worse!! sometimes its just better not knowing "ignorance is bliss" as they say.

charlotte83

12-07-09, 17:03

I have found I have so many rare diseases and conditions just by typing in my symptoms and hitting search... including things as simple as being dehydrated to one search actually telling me I had some rare African disease that was only seen in one tribe, killed the whole tribe off and was never seen again after that... and that disease was from well over a hundred years ago.

Lol, I'm sorry I don't mean to laugh but I found that quite funny about the 100 year old African Tribe disease!! I guess if you were alive 100 years ago in Africa and had health anxiety, that would have been a bugger!

Wee-Mee

15-07-09, 15:07

Hmm..I should have read this a few days ago again..

Googles ruining me again

marcc64

20-07-09, 03:08

Hi all, I'm new here lol. How is everyone?

Anyway yes google is very bad for people like us, so far i have had:

brain tumor
lung cancer
throat cancer
heart disease
MS
ALS
Pneumonia
TB

Well according to google, mad aint it?

Sok86

22-07-09, 20:26

I try my best not to do this I even get my s/o to check for side effects of any medication I am given
If I do not know the side effects I cannot trick myself into thinking I have them.

albdiag

23-07-09, 07:46

Dr Google might be bad but it is how we found this forum , so ....

23-07-09, 16:43

It's a real nightmare... I know the information is there, and I COULD look at it, I always think it will make me feel better but it always makes me feel worse, like I think I'll look something up, probably not have any of the symptoms, and then it will be ok, but once I know what the symptoms are I can convince myself I've got them... I'm struggling to not start googling the pain I've got in my leg atm. I might have to go disconnect the internet lol.

brisaya

26-07-09, 19:11

Thank you sooo much for this thread, I like all of you am guilty of going to see Dr Google. I'm gonna stop it now. Love this thread, its made me laugh so hard xxx

purpleflurp

21-08-09, 04:21

Omg this thread is me in a nutshell. I always freak out that I will become pregnant even though I'm only 14 and never even kissed a boy. So, every time my stomach is irregular, or I get nauseous, I google the symtoms and they FREAK me out! I also use Yahoo/Wiki Answers too much, which is a complete waste. Thank you so much for posting this.

barbn

21-08-09, 20:34

I can't tell you how much better I feel to know I am not alone in this madness of health anxiety! I have to laugh as I am a "Googler" too and it has gotten me into trouble. I often call my mother (God bless her for putting up with me) who is an RN telling her my symptoms and that the internet says I have, uterine cancer, colon cancer, instestional blockage - what ever that paticular day. And she proceeds to ask me when I received my degree and when I was going to open my practice....it makes me smile and she is right.

Ragna

22-08-09, 09:00

Loving this thread - and it's great to see that I'm not alone. Can you imagine the faces of someone if they checked our 'history' on Google. I've think over the years I've searched for most things.

Wondering what the weirdest things you've put in. Think mine is probably

'Vibration like buzzing in my leg'

and NO, it wasn't my phone :):):)

barbn

24-08-09, 21:28

I googled today and I am NOT feeling good! Why oh why do I have to google? :lac: Its like an obession or addiction!

SharonDerby

25-08-09, 10:51

This is a great thread, one i'm sure could go on forever "to google or not to google that is the question".
I am 46 and know for sure when i first started panicing and suffering from anxiety that if i had had access (20 years my suffering started) to google then i'm certain my life would have turned out far worse than it has, i know this because i have recently returned to the very dark days when panic first began, but back then i can remember thinking oh my god i'm going crazy, i'm going to be locked away forever, i'm going to die whats wrong with me so in the end i turned to the doc who wasn't sympathetic at all infact told me to pull myself together, yeah that certainly helped NOT so i turned to the library a great source of information........exactly the same as Google except you had to be brave enough to go in there as you have probebly not reurned a book for 4 years and they are sure to recognise you lol, or you panic too much so couldn't possibly go there.
The truth is it's blatently obvious we don't all have these terrible things that we fear, we all have anxiety that's the only word you need to Google, you will find all your symptoms there.
Google my eyelashes have turned blonde when i have brown hair i'm sure there will be a terrible doom awaiting you.

Sharon :)

Cell block H fan

25-08-09, 17:16

This is true. When I stopped googling symptoms, my health anxiety didn't disappear in a puff of smoke, but it did get considerably better. I am currently 'worried' about something. But if I googled it, I would be proper freaking out by now. Google is good for finding a skip hire number, but thats about it! Ha! Apart from finding a song on youtube etc etc lololol
Back in the day before the internet it was health books, remember those? One of those my mother in law innocently gave us, set me off on a downward spiral lol

SharonDerby

26-08-09, 11:32

Ah Cell block H now there's a blast from the past, i am currently watching the whole series, 700 episodes lol i'm on CD 2 pmsl :) happy days x

stressgirl

26-08-09, 14:12

That's funny! - Dr Google ... I have always got aches and pains and funny sensations and I also relentlessly google them.
I guess this is a symptom of panic and anxiety, I can't have a headache without me turning it into a very serious condition - then I dwell on it - and panic - even more.
When you look at it like this, it seems funny even though at the time, we think we are just about to die of a very serious condition.

Why do we do it? I also find that being in a highly anxious state, makes me more aware of body sensations, that adds to the problem, wish I could just have an ear ache / headache / tummy ache without panic'ing about it.

Hope1

26-08-09, 15:21

Really good post! It has lifted my spirits. "Google V's Health professionals" and I believe Google everytime. Crazy! I know who I'll try and believe from now on, the Doctors, the professional people who have trained for years and years! I am going to keep away from googling symptons it makes me feel worse everytime.
Thanks again!
Jane x :)

Aileen33

28-08-09, 20:27

I will never forgive Dr Google for diagnosing me with a brain tumour when I had a dizzy spell... we have since fallen out but I always seem to go back for more, I also go looking for comfort and reassurance then I see something bad I had never read before and think OMG I AM DOOMED. I also blame 'casualty' and 'holby city' as I went in to hospital with appendicitis a few years back and having watched those programmes for years was convinced they'd find very advanced cancer when they operated... they didn't.

fallenidol1

30-08-09, 13:40

Dr Google is such a bad thing for people with anxiety/panic disorders. Only recently I had a blood test done and it came back with high ALTs, I checked in with Dr Google and guess what...... Cancer, HIV or Hepatitis! Fan-bloomin-tastic!!
What it turned out to be eventually was a build up of fatty deposits on my liver which should cure itself with a bit more exercise and healthy eating but for the month it took to get the diagnosis I was absolutely bricking it!
Google gives you the worse case scenarios every time when there are a whole load of other things it could be!
Dr Google, Dr Shipman...... I bet they went to medical school together!

barbn

31-08-09, 14:50

Dr. Google is like a bad abusive relationship you can't seem to get rid of....we know it is bad for us yet we keep going back for more. Stupid Dr. Google!!

anxious elephant999

02-09-09, 17:30

My docter said that he wishes i couldnt read then i wouldnt be able to go and tell him what i think i have coz ive googled it or read it in a medical book , i do it to convince myself i have nothing bad but always end up believing the opposite (that im going to die )

joshuaainsworth

06-09-09, 13:09

I was sure I had a pulmonary embolism last week thanks to WebMd, five days later I'm still very much alive.

The internet can be a terrible thing.

hugbear

11-09-09, 09:34

I totally agree with this, looking up symptoms just makes things so much worse for me. Sometimes I have gone to emergency room after using google and there is nothing wrong with me. I also have rocd and by me looking up this all the time it makes things so much worse. Guess what I have not looked up rocd for 8 weeks and have not had rocd for that amount of time. Its amazing what the mind can do to harm us

chelsie

11-09-09, 22:00

Wow that's me been doing it since May, had a coff, then mucus in a ball in my throat making me swollow all the time, then the Acid tuning in to a real bad pain between my ribs, dry troat because of the mucos went to Dr google and yes he said C so yes Peeps been having attacks since, even going to pay privet to get camera down hoping this will stop my attacks...what next :( Dr said its Cronic acid and Acid can move to your throat causing mucos, I am on pills but the attacks are making the discomfort worse

chel xxx

AleemRadunzel

16-09-09, 13:23

REMEMBER i forgot something that has really really helped me overcome dr google! it is a boolean (SP) search !

just remember

painfull lump on neck -cancer

and that will help you a little more

i mean i still fail.. but it helps =)

zoeystar

22-09-09, 05:14

OMG DONT EVEN GO THERE!!!
i am sure i have hiv even though it was low risk in a low risk country some women still get it here and i think i am going to be the women that gets it!!!
soon as i started looking symtoms i started freaking out, then BOOM!!! it started and i had never had there symtoms before soon as i freaked out that created alot of stress and with that came symptoms of stress and just went around and around since then i have stoped looking, i havent been tested as i am freaked out i have always spoke to people about hiv like i had a thing about it so im starting to think that its my own little strange phobia!!!
DONT GOOGLE IS I WENT TO DOCTOR GOOGLE I WOULD END UP KILLING MYSELF CAUSE OF THE FEELING OF ,OH THATS ME!! IM DOOMED!!!!!!!!!

hello_mrzebra

24-09-09, 18:14

I am so glad I found this forum and especially this thread. I seem to only start googling my symptoms when I'm subconsciously LOOKING for something to freak out about.

Latest example: I have had a small lump on my abdomen that's been there 2-3 years. It never gets any bigger, and I keep an eye (or a hand) on it, checking it regularly. Someone (not a doctor, have never had it examined) said once it was most likely a fatty tissue deposit, a lipoma, and I took that at face value.

Suddenly yesterday I decide I better be sure that's what it is, so I google "lipoma." Turns out my little lump doesn't really match up to the online description of a lipoma--it feels like its on my abdomen muscle and not right below the skin, and isn't circular or moveable under the skin. It's more like a slender oval or ridge on my abdominal muscle.

So further googling of course leads me to "sarcoma" with keywords that send me into full-on panic attack mode: irregularly shaped. Oh jeez, is an oval an irregular shape? This thing is kinda harder than it is soft, right? And clearly those stomach problems I was having a year ago, that were diagnosed as IBS and have since gotten much better with changes to my diet, were actually signs of stomach cancer! And that soreness in my armpits, with no swollen lymph nodes at all, must clearly also be a sign of the cancer ravaging my body, as must be the bouts of lightheaded-ness I've been having recently, which are not actually a combination of hypoglycemia and anxious hyperventilation, but surely means the cancer has spread to my brain.

Wow, just typing this out makes me realize how ridiculous it all sounds.

I have an appt. to see a doctor next week, for a full physical, and I'm going to ask about my little lump. I should have had it checked out as soon as I noticed it, and the fact that I didn't drives that ultimate, self-perpetuating health anxiety of mine, which is "what if something is really wrong with me and I'm just ignoring it b/c I know I get health anxiety and meanwhile it's getting worse and by the time I get it checked it will be too late and they'll say 'If only you'd had this checked out sooner.'"

Now of course my stomach is hurting again, from the anxiety and also probably from pushing and feeling that damn little lump compulsively all day (which clearly means it's attached to some larger tumor deeper inside my belly)

All thanks to Dr. Google. I was having a lovely day yesterday until I somehow decided it'd be a good idea to start diagnosing myself.

Darn you, Dr. Google.

Well the silver lining is I will get this little lump checked out and the doctor will most likely tell me it's scar tissue or some other innocuous muscle irregularity but I still can't get that worst-case scenario out of my head.

My Mr.Positive/Mr. Negative debate (as was so expertly articulated in another thread) is raging in my head, but I keep reminding myself that the lump has been there for 2+ years, it hasn't gotten any bigger, and I've had no real symptoms of anything else going wrong (until I start stressing about it of course) so it really shouldn't be anything to worry about.

Anyway, thanks for the chance to vent. I'm glad I found this forum!

blacksheep

02-10-09, 16:47

All good answers....really I would suggest avoiding internet "Doctors" as even the smallest symptom has the most glamorous diagnosis and horror stories...for example, I had a pain in my leg, I was convinced I had some rare thrombosis type disease. So, I limped to my Dr declaring this and he said "Are you of Jewish origin", I replied "no Dr" to which he replied "The illness only affects people of that background"...I felt very stupid, the internet never informed me of that!!!

westofengland

08-10-09, 09:56

The problem with the internet is also what's great about the internet - it gives you masses of information about everything under the sun. But it's not moderated or edited, anything can go on there. For people who worry about their health, it's a bit of a curse as it feeds our anxiety all the time. Bottom line, I think, is that if you have a symptom you are worried about, go to your doctor - a website can never diagnose you, only your doctor can. Still, thank goodness for the web too, or we wouldn't have sites like these!

natty27

02-11-09, 21:26

im just so glad ive found no more panic. i dont know any one else that thinks the way i do about my health. every one i know looks at me like im crazy when i tell them about my fears. for as long as i can remember ive assumed the worst about my health, but it has gotten alot worse over the last year. I think its a mixture of reasons, i have had a baby which i think has done all sorts of things to my body (any mum would probably agree) also my partners brother just died of cancer at a very young age, and left his wife and 4 little kids behind. witnessing my worst fear has certainly brought every thing to the surfass for me. on top of this ive had tonsilitis for a few months that just wont go away. im scared to go get blood tests cause i think its going to reveal something more serious in my blood. to read that other people worry just as much as me does make me feel better, not so alone. Also i completely agree dr google is not helping at all. i think i must google all sorts of cancer symptoms at least 10 times a day lately. Just to try to get reasurance when i know i just walk away from the computer as worried as before. from today on i am going to make a big effort to stop looking up illnesses on google, and to try to lead a healthy lifestyle. i owe it to my son.

Jac 2009

02-11-09, 21:35

How strange and how different people are!

I would NEVER EVER google a symptom in case I saw something which would make me panic - my imagination is fertile enough! I also avoid my doctor like the plague for the same reason. Whenever I am forced to go, I get put through a series of tests which have come out negative but they've stressed me out.

Does anyone else avoid google and doctors?

ladylilu

11-11-09, 19:38

im new and this made me laugh!!!! so thankyou
xxx

superjonboy

18-11-09, 22:57

Forgive me if this has been posted before but I didn't see it in any of the posts.

Something I have found really useful in the past is a program called K9 Web Protection by Blue Coat.

IT works like all internet filters/protection software but wth this you can filter out certain website categories. My wife puts a password in and then we go through and check off the stuff I don't want to see. Basically the Health category.

Some sites will still get through but you can also filter out key words such as disorder, tumor, brain e.t.c

You can then also allow certain websites like nomorepanic.com so you ca still get access to beneficial health sites.

Like I said this has really helped me in the past. It can up your anxiety initially but in the long run it is a must.

I've had a problem recently as we got a new laptop and because I'd been well for quite a while we never put the softwar on so until yesterday I had been looking at loads of things that could of been wrong with me.

John.

Joe D

23-11-09, 19:24

I agree, Google is so bad for us all.
1 thing I would suggest, if you cant help yourself, make sure you know everything instead of a little otherwise you will make assumptions on what you know!

mad4it

24-11-09, 10:21

I really did think i was the only person who googled my symptoms. lol. I googled the lump i have on my jaw. Deep down i knew it was an absess but because i have an extreme fear of the dentist i was hoping i could come up with an alternative illness. Bone cancer maybe or thyroid problems. Pure madness. All i got was dental absess this and go to the dentist that. Then i came across a list of complications which could arise from an absess. Since then i cannot count the amount of panic attacks i have had, convinced my throat was closing up. After having the absess confirmed by my dentist i actually got her to admit to me the risks with an absess and subsequent infection i have. Madness. Its almost as if i had to know the worst scenario in the hope that i could then control it somehow. Anyway the top and bottom of it is I am off to the dentist today for a wisdom tooth extraction and still have to try and combat my fear of the dentist. Definately no more googling symptoms for me.

Typer

28-11-09, 11:28

The google paradox for me is that, it's a gift and a curse!

I google and find all good reassuring stuff, like finding this site. But....why do I look at the more scary stuff too? Am I looking for trouble?

Love this thread and it's nice to know it's not just me who searches for answers via google and even nicer to know that it's not just me who scares the living daylights out of myself.:D

Gaza

28-11-09, 12:20

Do not use any form of internet/ websites to self diagnose, you will only cause psychological harm, leave all the diagnoses to the professionals. Looking up ailments and attempting to find cures will only confuse you on what treatments you ought to be seeking. It is very damaging to your self-wellbeing by exposing yourself to these sites as they are more as a guidance on meds and treatments than a website to diagnose ailments etc. Please stay clear, seek medical advice in the event of any uncertainty about your health or wellbeing.

Andy84

29-12-09, 00:40

This made me crack up. I'm so bad for this - I will have to remember that though. Dr Google - a classic. Trying to wein myself off it now.

carli

30-12-09, 23:12

Oh dear.....i do this all the time, no matter what it is i run straight 2 the laptop and google it for reasurrance and often come away form the laptop in tears :ohmy: i should have learned by now. I was diagnoised with optic disk drusan, eye dr said it would not cause any problems but that was not good enough for me....got in and asked dr google and got one horror story after another and was intears and a state of panic for nearly 2 months. Still am anxious about it but i try not to think about it:shrug: Not that that works,lol xx

Nomoreworry

12-01-10, 19:52

Thank you everyone for your replies - you have helped me to see sense! Next time I feel tempted to look something up I will read these comments first.

Ella_Jayne

21-01-10, 02:00

Doctor Google has diagnosed me with everything from a brain tumor to heart disease. It's ridiculous, and has had me in floods of tears more times than I care to remember. Avoid Dr Google with all costs. Anxiety will not be healed if constant symptom checking still happens.

SleeplessFog

21-01-10, 02:55

I try to tell myself...if Dr. google were really true...we wouldn't have real doctors...because google would have all the answers.

Ella_Jayne

22-01-10, 00:26

^ Exactly

It can be helpful sometimes, but i avoid it now.
If I'm worried about something, I usually get my boyfriend to look it up, it saves me from seeing something and making a big deal out of it!

mikhail1028

27-01-10, 03:05

google made me sick upon searching the symptoms i kept on checkin it on my body,,

Corinne

27-01-10, 05:37

Well, Dr. Google just diagnosed me with ALS (MND). I have to have an EMG test on Thursday which is one of the tests to diagnose it. I'm scared to death.

christinez

27-01-10, 14:38

Yes, Dr Google has diagnosed my rather thin, brittle nails as being caused by severe iron deficiency anaemia, probably due to blood loss from somewhere within my body. Good to know, isn't it?!!

f4Gg0t_43

28-01-10, 05:47

The best thing to do is google whatever you think you might have, and check the statistics. If it is below 2% chance or something, ignore it.

Starscream

28-01-10, 21:16

This "Dr Google" started my anxiety in December 2008. Hate it.

hadenoughofmyhead

06-02-10, 10:40

Doctor Google has made me scared to death too many times and actually caused my health anxiety.

I once googled something I knew I had and was fine to see what came up. Apparently I had something only 6 human beings had ever had making it EXTREMELY rare. Well, I'm still breathing! It's all bull shine, I can't stand Doctor Google.

kirstielu

08-02-10, 11:56

haha this is so true , i do this everysingle time and according to google i have had every single cancer under the sun ,ive had a brain tumour countless times ,and anuerysms as well , i wonder if the net is the reason we have far more people who suffer with anxiety because of the extra worry it can cause .

Cico

14-02-10, 21:02

Ok, I thought I would add a little bit to this.

I recently found a smallish lump in my neck which is concerning me. Although I have had what feels like a very mild cold, I googled it to see what it might be. (Knowing full well what the results may be).

First site I came across was an ENT site which stated that 80% of neck lumps in adults are malignant.

Second site I came across was patient.co.uk which said that neck lumps are common and usually benign.

Two different messages within the space of a few minutes. What chance have you got when mixed messages like this are so freely available?

dizzib

22-02-10, 23:10

Omg....this is so me! Think about this people....when has Dr Google ever made you feel better?....and if he has for a fraction of a second....we immediately just do another search.....it's as if we want to find the worst case scenario! I have banned myself from any sort of symptom checking in books/on google/ I've even stopped asking Jeeves! We have to be all or nothing here....it's hard but be brave YOU CAN ALL DO IT! :D

tinycritter

05-03-10, 08:44

I agree wholeheartedly! Thanks to Dr Google, this week alone I have diagnosed myself with three different cancers. One of them as a result of Googling "acne", which is completely ridiculous (although try telling me that at 4AM when I'm crying and shaking in front of my computer). Google's front page should come with a warning for people with health anxiety. :wacko:

oneofus

14-03-10, 18:14

I work as a computer scientist in text analysis, systems akin to Google or similar, and I have had cause to call upon Dr Google in one very anxious period.

The latter first; my daughter developed a very large (golf ball sized) lump on her neck when very young. Our local doctor referred her to Addenbrookes in Cambridge within days. Needless to say we were very worried. Google was in its infancy then (late 1990's) but all the same when I Googled the symptoms the suggested diagnosis was most likely inflamed lymph glands, which turned out to exactly right. But it did not remove the worry!

Now for the technicals. Google is not an exact tool for diagnosis. Most of the information a search will return will not have any scientific provenance. If Google says it has found 30000 pages of x y and c then that does not mean there are 30000 pages where x y & c occur together in any meaningful way. It will include pages that include x y or c but not all three as well as pages including words similar to any of x y & c eg snow will find snowing. If you must Google then I'd suggest using well attested sites such as PubMed or Medline but beware they are technical medical databases. The Wikipdeia is probably the best fallback http://en.wikipedia.org for the layperson, but treat with care.

Finally, there has been a lot of work in searching text collections to discover new medical knowledge. Don Swanson is probably the best known person in the field for developing systems to semi-automate the discovery of linkages between different medical fields http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Don_R._Swanson, including links between magnesium and migraines and between fish oil and Raynaud's disease

Nick

Starscream

16-03-10, 10:35

marley

16-03-10, 12:59

Agreed. Wikipedia is a terrible source for medical information - it's totally unverified, and as a bonus, it's set out so that you can click through from one illness to another. You go in there looking for dermatitis, and come out with lung cancer. With health anxiety, the last thing we need is the ability to access that type of information.

tinycritter

24-03-10, 13:39

Well said Marley, Wikipedia is a nightmare. :scared15:

Alan80

27-03-10, 16:30

Hi everyone first post. The reason I go see doctor google is to try to find some re-assurance that I am actually ok. Today I woke up feeling a little anxious around lunch I started getting the tingled in my hands and feet. This is new and I went to see my doc a week ago. I have been stresses and extremely worried this last 2 months and my doctor says the tingling is a result of this. Of course I wouldn't believe him and had to look into it myself. I won't even type here some of the things I have diagnosed myself with. Googling did however lead me here, I have read other peoples experiences which have been similar to mine and now I feel much much better. So for once it turned out alright but generally it turns out to be a disaster think I am going to quit while I am ahead go spend some time with my son and stop sitting here worrying about nothing.

muzicdejay

15-04-10, 11:28

O Man, im so bad for "googling" anything ive got wrong with me! Goin through some tests at mo, ie, blood, ultrasound, Doc thinks i might have Gallstones" Or Ulcer, but i cant help but look up my symptoms on google & some of the stories you read about Arrrrr, then i cant get them out of my head all day & are convinced im dying!
I AGREE, No More Dr Google!:yesyes:

Ronny

15-04-10, 12:00

Dr Google Sucks:mad:

oneofus

15-04-10, 14:47

Are you serious regarding WIkipedia ???

That's often the worst link to click for information as anyone can edit that !!

Posted this a while ago I know, but I'd best reply. ANY source should be verified before you act on the information. The Wikipedia standards says that any claim should be cited with it original source. If it isn't then you're free to ignore it.

While it is the case that the Wikipedia is publicly editable the pages are watched over by subject experts, and dodgy edits are soon removed.

Most of the bad reports about Wiki pages have come from subjective areas, eg political biographies, which have been altered to gloss over points they wish to be less prominent. The huge majority of science articles are accurate. A study in Nature compared the Wikipedia to Ency. Brittanica and it came out on a par, and with a much wider coverage.

Besides the Wikipedia, an recent article showed that Government run sites were relaibale and accurate, at least for childhood illness http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/8611045.stm

one of us

Peter_Scott

23-04-10, 14:44

I think it is how we as health anxiety people intemperate the information. We are often initially reassured yet we crave even more, and if we keep looking and clicking on links before long we find what we dreaded!

I have seen doctors use Google when they don't recognise something, one doctor I visited had never heard of NASH, so Googled it, Google is a good reference tool if used as it is intended. Happy Googling !

Adzcriz

03-05-10, 18:21

Ive found the NHS site to be a useful tool, its government run full of advice and the health a-z is jam packed. http://www.nhsdirect.nhs.uk/

lots of info on depression and mental health and self help topics than most people should find useful

bellalew

04-05-10, 14:47

google is FREDDY CRUGER in my opinion,very nasty,specially for sufferers like us,i did it the other week having what i know now,pulled a muscle in my side near my right lung ,google,well FREDDY, said it was lung cancer!!!!!,boy was i freaked out i didnt sleep for unessasary 3 nights,ill never do that 1 again i can tell you:ohmy:.google should have a warning KEEP OF sighn.stay well away from it guys,if you dont suffer with anything,you will reading googles diagnosis.xxx

AnniePlacebo

13-06-10, 20:01

JUST DON'T DO IT.
You'll end up with a google PHD of terror

forwells

14-06-10, 05:36

Neen

14-06-10, 08:25

Dr Google

IS NOT the problem . The problem is what you search

The choose is ours

You can search headaches , shakes , twitches etc

Or you can search things like stress managment , anxiety treatments , over coming anxiety .

When it all boils down to it google can be your best friend or your worst . the choose is ours.

Accepting it is anxiety first will help with what you search . If you cant accept its anxiety then dont search .

I for one got past the bulk of my anxiety , got myself removed from a benzo nightmare and addiction by googling . If i had not search the imformation myself i dear say that i would still be stuck in that nightmare

cheers kev :)

You're so right! I did this to myself, I caused the anxiety/panic attacks in first place - abusing Dr. google! Now in through the door Globus has walked and what does Nina do....you guessed it! googled it! So now I have throat cancer, tongue cancer, tonsil cancer and every other oral cancer there is.............. I'm still not convinced it is Globus but we'll see from the ENT appointment in July. In the mean time I'll try not to abuse this search engine.

God bless

Nina x

KittyR

15-06-10, 12:48

I think there is some very good points here. Also, can i point out that it makes boring reading to read that a headache is "just one of those things" or a nose bleed can happen for no reason....
I also found that reading the Daily Mail made things 10 time worse, nearly every day they have some random factor that gives you cancer.
As a HA sufferer, i would love to hear about all the people who have back ache, leg ache, fatigue etc and are absolutely medically fine. Sadly it doesnt work like that :(

janni

26-06-10, 01:19

HELLO EVERYONE MY NAME IS JANNI AND I AM A CYBERCHONDRIAC. I HAVE DESTROYED MYSELF THROUGH INDULGING IN RELATIONSHIPS WITH DR GOOGLE FOR TOO LONG AND ONLY THROUGH NOTICING OTHER PEOPLE STARTING TO GO THE SAME WAY I HERE STATE : I WILL NOT GOOGLE ONE GOOGLE IS TOO MANY. HERE IS TO A GOOGLE FREE DAY AND A GOOGLE FREE TOMORROW SORRY FOR THE CAPS LOL WHY COULDNT I HAVE FOUND THIS THREAD (BLIND PANIC) POSSIBLY GREAT POST LETS KEEP IT GOING :yesyes:

snuggles1972

28-06-10, 05:28

This is how my panic attack started tonight. WebMD. I know I should not but I did. Why do I do this to myself? argh!

blueangel

28-06-10, 08:52

I've managed to do mostly avoid Googling now, which I think has probably helped. The only time I tend to do it now is about information on medications (I used to work in a hospital pharmacy so know the pitfalls about reading up too much on side effects, as they have to report EVERYTHING which skews what you're reading), or if my GP says "you have x" (whatever "x" may be), go and look it up.

HelenLouise

04-08-10, 16:35

Haha! This post has cheered me up!
I am a regular patient of Dr Google and really shouldn't be!
I get this urge to get immediate answers and always end up typing in my symptoms to google.

In the past 3 months I have convinced myself I have diabetes, MS, a brain tumor, a blood clot and that I was going to bleed to death.
This weeks diagnosis - Leukaemia.

I am going to try and stop googling everything - I truly believe its making me worse.

Problem is when you look up symptoms and you see some life threatening condition, the first thing you do is look for other symptoms of that condition. Then gradually believe you have them!
It always feels so real!!

Damn google!!! xxx

pammie00

05-08-10, 13:00

oh i was googling all the time
i did stop for bit but since convincin myself it not anxiety at all it must be something else i went on google again
after reading this i will restraint my self from going on there

i have ad many things wrong webmd i have been on that and diagnose me there are loads

my gp said we have to remember if i was a dr i would know which sites is good but i can be reading anyone idea of what is happening
these things should be removed from net but course they wont and ppl with anxiety issues it does make worse
x

Sookie

11-08-10, 03:46

I have had to go to the hospital in full blown panic attack that xanax won't touch thanks to you Dr. Google! In fact I gave you a couple hours of my life again today! Why do I do this to myself? I am going to go cold turkey from Dr. Google!

charly

18-08-10, 15:35

I am surrounded by some really sick people, my boss, moy mother, my friends. Death seems too real and I am trying to pre-empt a nasty surprise by guessing that I have something wrong with me. Last few days I have been having panic attacks brought on by my thinking i have DVT in my legs, before that it wa breast Cancer before that a hear attack and now I think Ihave the onset of MS, there is no rationality to it I am driving myself mad. I am hoping CBT will help. on an NHS waiting list hoping Mr Cameron doesnt axe that as well. I am grateful for the good times, the genuine laughs and the snuggles with my man and the simple pleasures from picking some tomatoes in the garden to feeding the cat but then around the corner lurking is "you should worry about this NOW you're going to die" why do I do it? xx

nrowe2

19-08-10, 18:26

Dr Google is not good... I've woken up in the middle of the night and thanks to the Mobile Internet have found myself typing in "Key words" to find I should have been dead years ago!!

I also tell my doctor what DR GOOGLE has said... I reckon by the time i'm 40 if I carry on this way the NHS will be out of money due to me.

Is there any reason why though we all get SO many symptoms? Is it a reaction from our mind or just the stress we put on ourselves...I'm finding it very hard to deal with all the variety of symptoms!!

I am no longer going to google my symptoms!

:-) xxx

Delaney

02-09-10, 17:58

You make a very good point concerning Dr. Google. I am to a victim of falling into Dr. Google's trap of mis-diagnosis.

Dupe09

03-09-10, 14:28

Since having the 3 most stressful years of my life...including moving house, planning my wedding and my sisters, walking 125 miles for charity (on my own), family divorce, looking after my 2 cousins as a result of their parents divorce, my sister in a car crash...the list goes on...I'm a control freak and I thrive off day to day stresses and prior to my wedding I could take on anything!!! Now with hours to spare and no one coming to me with problems etc etc I have decided that anxiety and panic are my two 'best' friends and a few weeks ago I was introduced to Dr Google and thanks to a combination of these events I have created this worrying, panicing mess! Not long ago I would have worked through cold symptoms and tummy bugs, but now it means I have something terrible! I am psychology mad and have trained in it which makes me even more frustrated that I have let myself get like it!!! I am improving as I wanted to fight it before it got too bad but today is a slight slip up!!! My husband is an IT geek and keeps reminding me that I am one of the many people who search terrible symptoms day in day out which helps to keep these wonderful scary website at the top of our search list!!! I'm never happy with just NHS website etc I don't want to find the big 'C' word but I wont stop until I do which feeds my anxiety and allows me to panic for the rest of the day in the comfort of 'knowing' what I have!!! Looking forward to meeting people going through similar feelings! Don't let Dr Google win this war! x

Lauren_T

19-09-10, 17:58

I try to keep in mind that if it was really a good idea to self-diagnose via the internet, then we wouldn't need doctors.

I had this bump on the back of my head for ages and I convinced myself that it was a brain tumour so much that I made several appoitments with my doc to make sure that she'd got it right and it wasn't :/
But this is a good way to put it and hopefully I'll remember that, thank you :)

miniholly

12-10-10, 15:31

guilty as charged for doing this :whistles:
Dr Google has "diagnoised" me with every type of cancer going, heart attack, shingles, meningitis, cat scratch fever you name it dr google's diagnoised me with it!
it's not very reassuring at all.

Groundhog

19-10-10, 13:39

Ahh yes good old doctor Google. I recon what one of the posters says is just about right if we have a headache we don’t type in ‘tension headache’ which may give us some good reassuring advice, no we type in brain tumour so we really should not be surprised by the results that come up. So I think if you really cannot help yourself goggling then be very precise with what you are asking before hitting ‘enter’.

The other angle of course is if this ‘Dr Goggle’ has got it wrong so many times he would have been struck of years ago, would you trust a doctor with such a bad track record? No you would not you would dismiss his diagnosis out of hand and seek the help of a true professional.

noahsark209

08-11-10, 02:18

I am new to this forum,but I to have daily appointments with Dr.
Google. I have been a nurse for 20 years and worked several years in hospice.. My dad died in 2003 with laryngeal cancer and my sister died in 2007 with lung cancer. Since the death of these family members my life has changed. I am totally obessed with my health. I am currently convinced that I have liver or pancreatic cancer. I have lost some weight but I was diagnosed in March 2010 with hypothyroidism. I am taking the levothyroxine and feel better (energy) than I have felt in years. I had started exercising and walking and once I started to lose a FEW pounds I immediately stopped. I am now obsessed with all this major weight loss
(3 pounds-since July). I weigh at least 15 times a day. A couple of months ago it was oral cancer I was fixated on, and was scoped by the ENT with a laryngoscope. It started with feeling like something was hung in my throat so I started sticking my fingers down my throat to try and find "IT". The scope was negative.. It can never be just a belly ache or gas pains with me it always has to be cancer.. I am just wandering if anyone else feels this way.
So far I have had throat cancer,cancer of the roof of the mouth,lung,colon,ovarian,bone,liver,stomach,pancre as,brain,sinus and cancer of the spine or at least thats what I thought and Dr.Google said..
Thanks...

shaggyowen

09-11-10, 02:20

yeh google is terrible i useto google EVERYTHING lmfao stoped doing it alot now though:yesyes:

Mishapxx

18-11-10, 06:02

Haha I never really realized how many people use google to find out if they have cancer or not lol. I must admit, I do it all the time. Although I assume I'm dying if I get a headache or a tickle in my throat soooo...

Starscream

19-11-10, 21:11

I NEED NEED NEED to stop looking at this.

But I can't

I go on to see if it will help me, and it takes me to some obscure website, one that looks completely off the radar, and right away shows you a picture of what you think you have.

It is extremely hard to handle

Kitten1990

23-11-10, 22:01

This is my biggest failing. Then I read all the scare stories, scare myself silly and then when I go to a doctor for reassurance I still feel like I'm going to die! Any small thing that's out of the ordinary I google, then I get scared, then I'm on the phone to NHS Direct then I go to my doctor!

I agree, this must stop!

Thank you for posting this!

Plus can I also say that Wikipedia is the same! And that we should ban that as well :)

Tinker28

29-11-10, 01:54

Googling is soooo not good for your health aniexty, it has always left me feeling even more wrose then when I started, and everytime I tell myself don't ever google again, so what do I do I google thinking to myself I'm just going to do this to reasure myself so I don't freak out, then 5 mins later here I am freaken out. Googling never is good for your health especialy if u have aniexty! Best luck to everyone :hugs:

Pcdaft

04-12-10, 22:37

Sugar Baby

09-01-11, 10:39

Cancer, lupus, heart problem... I'm now obsessed with the thought I have Lyme disease! Thanks Google :(

FitnessLady02

09-01-11, 15:37

You are right, nowadays, many people depend on internet. If they feel unwell, some of them instead consulting on a professional, they go through the web. :lac:

sillygirl

11-01-11, 17:06

Reading these responses helps so much! A few even made me laugh...awesome! I try to filter through things that I read, and focus on the most likely cause, but there's always the "what if?" question hanging over my head. I always start to focus on the negative, and imagine the horrible outcomes and how my life is ruined. I'm trying really really hard not to google my symptoms and come on here and read instead, or just get away from the computer completely, which is always the best option. No more dr google, until I see my dr first!

Greenman50

17-01-11, 22:22

This has got to be the best info/post on the internet . WISH I HAD FOUND THIS SITE FIRST BEFORE I FOUND DR GOOGLE .

ElectricAlice

20-01-11, 19:13

My anxiety decreased from 100% severity to about 70% when my boyfriend simply made me promise to him I wouldn't google my symptoms. Because id never want to break a promise I just stopped. Sometimes I get extremely tempted, especially with a new symptom. But I instead of googling the symptom I google anxiety. That helps. But google is a horrible thing! Good luck everyone Xxx

kah

31-01-11, 20:01

OMG, I am the worst for visiting Dr Google. In the past 6 months I've been diagnosed with a brain tumour, ovarian cancer, stomach cancer, lung cancer, breast cancer ...... there seems to be a pattern here!!!!

I've desperately tried not to look but I have no control over it!!
After reading this though I have now made a promise to myself - I have googled for the last time, I'm going cold turkey - wish me luck :wacko:

K xxx

hazy

17-02-11, 16:01

This is excellent and me to a T, however I don't look for the worst case scenario but quite the opposite, I imagine that my ailment is serious and I start getting a panic attack and google to see whether it can put my mind at ease and tell me its nothing. I wish I didn't I put off going to the Doctor in case he tells me its serious, oh to be normal!!

Jefthros

21-02-11, 20:33

I agree with everything said on the thread, the amount of times I've looked on google cuz i wasnt feeling well and ended up freaking out cuz of what Dr google said i might have.

panicpixie

26-02-11, 13:04

Dr Google made me think I had 3 diffierent types of cancer and meningitis all in one HORRIBLE day.

The More symtoms I read the more I felt like I could feel them, I Was (and Sill am I little bit) convinced I had mouth cancer, I looked it up on Google and sure enough I had alot of symtoms that were listed. This made everything 100x worst! Now all I can think about is my mouth, face and neck.
I Grind and clench my teeth almost all the time when I am panicing and this does make my face feels Hott, odd and a little numb, somtimes a bit tight even a bit achey sometimes. I Keep prodding and pokeing at my face and this does it NO good. I'm not a smoker, I very rarely drink and I am only 19, So I know deep down I know that mouth cancer is very unlikely. Still doesn't stop the panicing!

D: Sometimes I regret ever getting the internet! Too much imformation makes us crazy. And too much of the wronge information makes us CRAZIER.

Em.ma

26-02-11, 19:50

the only thing good about dr google is coming across this site lol.

Kristopher :)

01-03-11, 19:49

Dr. Google diagnosed me with MS then ALS

jaybops

24-03-11, 23:18

the only thing good about dr google is coming across this site lol.

Surprisingly enough i found this site while searching for reasons behind having swolen lymph glands in my neck....... I'm someone that operates in two minds and this is the outlook of both:

On the one hand i know i have had a runny nose for the past few days, had a sore throat a few days ago and i've felt a bit "bunged up" around the head/temples area, so the natural thought process from that is "well i have cold/general infection, that's why my lymph nodes have swollen"

But that's not all, every morning lately i've had a really sore neck, now i know the way this neck pain feels is muscular and as it's when i wake up it's obvious to me my pillows aren't right.

.....but wait a minute, the other, far less intelligent half of me comes out and says "lets just make sure these aren't linked, lets look for possible causes of swollen lymph glands" low and behind the C word pops up all over the shop.

My biggest problem is that i've known a couple of people who have been diagnosed with cancer (one with thyroid and one with breast, as well as my friends mum who is dieing of lung cancer - though i never met her) and my mind works simply like this: How do you know? How do you know when you need to be checked out? How to do you know what lump is right and what lump is wrong? Should i wait until i collapse or find a lump the size of a wallnut before i go to a doctor?

I could honestly spend about 2 days a month at a doctors if i went in about everything that worried me, but i've been so much in the past 2 years that i'm worried that even the doctors aren't going to take any future problems seriously because i'm starting to become thought of as a hypocondriact. I guess the simple answer to the above questions is you can't and that you just have to wait and see when something really obvious comes along, but not knowing what obvious is.....we resort to Dr Google.

EDIT: What's even more stupid in my pittifull mind is that i have social anxiety, i panic and feel dizzy and sick in unfamiliar/crowded places and so on (though i've managed in the past year to overcome the fight or flight situations and 99% of the time fight it out)......yet i can drop my trousers for a doctor, which is the more panic inducing of those two to a regular person?

Liliana83

29-04-11, 15:13

Lol, this thread is hillarious...I am guilty of checking Dr. Google out..

namkong

18-05-11, 06:50

Glad I found this thread. The times ( including this morning) I've googled " symptoms of ....... " and got into a constant state of panic convinced I was dying.

Previous examples.
Got a lump of skin on my back which grew bigger. Got to the size of a coin. Googled and got back the Bic C. Terrified to go to the doc. 2 years later eventually got up the courage to go. Result? Harmless skin tag which he removed under a local anesthetic in 5 minutes.

At the moment I've got a real heavy feeling in my stomach plus belching and bloating. Came on overnight. Dr Google gave me every cancer under the sun. Spent the days and nights in a panic. Nearly couldn't function in sheer terror. Went to the doc. I haven't been eating properly lately ( skipping meals etc) and am under stress because my wifes working away and I have absolutely nothing to do all day apart from run things through my mind. I insisted he prod around my stomach feeling for lumps. Nothing there but massive gurgling of acid from my crap lifestyle. He laughingly reassured me that it wasn't cancer and to eat properly at proper times and proper food. Gave me some meds for bloating and stomach pain.

24 hours later and still got the feeling. Googling " How long should stomach gas last "

Had mine for about 5 days before seeing the doc ( and still eating wrong ) so panicking that people's seem to last only a couple of days. ( Of course completely ignoring the fact that I only saw the doc yesterday afternoon and it's now the next morning and he's given me about 4 days worth of pills!)

Asked him about 2 tone faeces. Dark brown and light brown. Is it cancer? No. It's normal digestion with different foods and being digested at different times.

Damn google!

I'm going to try and stop looking but it's like a compulsion.

filigree

24-05-11, 09:41

Here's a funny story -

I've had HA for over twenty years now but before I realised I had HA, I had an episode where I had hives which was very alarming... so what did I type into Google?

"hives death"

But it was at this time I was starting to realise that I worried about my health a lot more than other people and I started to wonder whether I was a hypochondriac. So I googled hypochondriac and there was a list of psychological symptoms that people with HA have.

I was sooooo happy to be ticking every single one of these symptoms and diagnosing myself with health anxiety! :)

Now I'm a regular user of Dr. No More Panic and if I succumb to Dr. Google, I do a counter search of my symptoms in No More Panic for some balancing reassurance.

Calley

05-06-11, 22:30

Dr. Google has taken over my life, and my mind.. I spent the first few months of my beautiful sons life sat on google looking up my symptoms - I had a long term, pesky kidney infection- and I still randomly get pains either side (shooting and lasting minimal amounts of time) - I take 6 cranberry pills a day to keep it away now my 3 month course of trimepothrim has finished.

I would sit there for hours and hours, and in the end (whilst my MIL was dying of Liver, Lung, Gallbladder & Kidney Cancer which eventually spread to her lungs and brain- you can only IMAGINE my horror when she told me it started off as what they thought was a UTI!!) I diagnosed myself with Kidney cancer!! EVENTHOUGH the pain isnt always there, my urine is now clear of infection and I have no other symptoms, I still have it and it is out to get me!!

I get tingly shoulder blades daily- why? because I have Health Anxiety and poor posture, I expect- but in my mind this week- its because I have lung cancer- thats right I caught a cold off of my two year old, got a chesty cough and google says- it could be lung cancer!! so now, its spread from my kidneys to my lungs, my brain is waiting now!! wait for the headaches, eh?

My point is, that nothing good has ever come of me searching my symptoms, I have had gallbladder disease, pancreatic cancer, lung cancer, kidney cancer, apendicitis, ovarian cancer, ovarian cysts and MS recently!!

It.NEVER.Ends!

Shanny63

14-06-11, 23:45

Totally agree with you all I feel great few twitches yep it's my fibromyalgia, then I google oh no mnd, ms I'm done for I hate google....:mad:

christos

17-06-11, 02:08

I'm also have Hypothyroidism, currently on 50mg of Levothyroxine :hugs:

Diagnosed by a real doctor, in real life, and not doctor google who I suspect to be a false doctor in cyberspace.

I am new to this forum,but I to have daily appointments with Dr.
Google. I have been a nurse for 20 years and worked several years in hospice.. My dad died in 2003 with laryngeal cancer and my sister died in 2007 with lung cancer. Since the death of these family members my life has changed. I am totally obessed with my health. I am currently convinced that I have liver or pancreatic cancer. I have lost some weight but I was diagnosed in March 2010 with hypothyroidism. I am taking the levothyroxine and feel better (energy) than I have felt in years. I had started exercising and walking and once I started to lose a FEW pounds I immediately stopped. I am now obsessed with all this major weight loss
(3 pounds-since July). I weigh at least 15 times a day. A couple of months ago it was oral cancer I was fixated on, and was scoped by the ENT with a laryngoscope. It started with feeling like something was hung in my throat so I started sticking my fingers down my throat to try and find "IT". The scope was negative.. It can never be just a belly ache or gas pains with me it always has to be cancer.. I am just wandering if anyone else feels this way.
So far I have had throat cancer,cancer of the roof of the mouth,lung,colon,ovarian,bone,liver,stomach,pancre as,brain,sinus and cancer of the spine or at least thats what I thought and Dr.Google said..
Thanks...

Reena

17-06-11, 04:46

When I Google a disorder (a new one everyday) its like im wishing/wanting to desperately confirm what I believe to be true......A heart attack, a brain tumour, cancer Whats with this? And then as a student midwife I hear many stories of people that are actually living with these things and I dont stop for a second and think 'Jesus how selfish'. Does anyone else feel selfish for being so consumed within their own anxiety (Sorry to go off on a tangent)

jessicalittler79

17-06-11, 05:06

dr.google sent me to hospital loads of times ..its no fun ans i have stopped googleing as much it will just make u worse..good luck

Toffeeapple

19-06-11, 21:07

I have stopped googling ages ago, it's bad for me, if in doubt I come to you lovely people, or at the worst I ask my husband to look up for me (but he is very selective with what he tells me I'm sure and I never ever look at the screen unless it's safe to do so, funny isn't it!!).
I don't trust Dr Google anymore (or any other doctor for that matter :blush:).

skyisblue

14-07-11, 10:47

Dr. Google made me go to the ER a couple of times! Ack, I hate this.

Just wanna ask, has any of you been VERY VERY (and I mean 1000%) sure that you had something as serious as the "C" because of Dr. Google? I mean it's the type that you have at least 9 out of 10 of the symptoms listed then after medical tests and medical assurance, it turned out to be nothing or at least something benign?

Pipcat

17-07-11, 03:52

I agree it makes anxiety worse. Have had a throat infection for over 5 weeks and it is still getting worse,looked on google and wish i hadn't as straight away it came up with mouth and throat cancer >_< I think it could be glandular fever as have all the symptoms and fits the time scale so going to my doctor to ask what he thinks and if he thinks it is worth doing blood test or not. Yes google can be helpful if you want to find simple things out like the name of the body part that hurts or like me looking up something you think you may have but only looking at time scale and symptoms then GO TO YOU'R DOCTOR and ask them if they think it is worth doing the necessary tests or not.
Tonight i had random abdominal pain and had read on google that it could be ruptured spleen and that i'm bleeding internally which of course has made me panic but i called nhs direct instead of 999 and two hours later pain is gone and had 3 medical staff tell me they don't think i'm in danger and even said to ignore google as it does not have the right answers

classy69

29-07-11, 13:17

Dr Google should be struck off!!

It's helpful for minor things, but for anxiety sufferers it's no use at all! I mean, recently I noticed a few red spots under my foreskin (after unprotected sex with the long term girlfriend). Now, me being anxious, straight away thought STD/HIV etc you name it. Went straight to Dr Google for diagnosis which did not help in the slightest, only made my anxiety worse!!
Made doctors appointment for next day, diagnosed it as mild thrush / yeast infection and was given some Canesten. Mind now at ease, still didn't stop me googling! Then became convinced I'm going to die of Candida and there is a major overgrowth of yeast inside my body!!

You have to laugh otherwise you will cry!!

Ignore Dr Google!!

KayleighJane

03-08-11, 14:10

I dr googled for the first time yesterday and really wish I hadnt :weep:

I have never done this before and don't consider myself to have HA but for some reason yesterday I did it.

I will never do it again though thats a promise!

egreen

07-08-11, 14:01

First post for me...saw this thread at the top of the forums and registered so I could write something here.
I'm also a regular pasient of good old Dr Google...the worst doctor EVER! The good doctor has made my life hell for several years...i don't know why I'm doing this to myself. I have been diagnosed with every type of cancer you can ever imagine, even the most obscure and rare types, along with neuro diseases like MS and ALS. At the moment i'm pretty sure I have Parkinsons. Or so does the diagnose from the good doctor say.
I wish I never read all the things I have, it will never be un-read, and for a guy like me with severe health anxiety, Google is just a really bad idea. I try to stop but it is so hard...just want some reassuring, but instead I end up with fear and panic every time. :weep:
I can really relate to most of the posts in this thread, and some of them made me laugh out loud, very funny :roflmao: I will try my best to cancel all my future appointments with Google, I am sure life will be a lot easier to cope with then...
Thank you!

Gemma T

07-08-11, 14:12

Im a naturally inquisitive person and studying to be a solicitors has trained me to be analytical and full of questions. I am a serial googler. At the moment im convinced i have oral cancer. in my defense i do look at causes unrelated to cancer but always settle on an impending doom. the more i read the more symptoms i get.

my docotr also said that if google was accurate she would be out of a job.

a small tip for those who cant stop themselves googling is to clear the cache and history from the internet. things like google recognise your common searches. so if you have a history of reading about cancer it will be the first things you see. if you really have to clear it and then search x

Abc12

12-08-11, 15:25

So happy that I found this site!

I visited the dentist's office and he discovered a small bump on my tongue which will have to be biopsied if it doesn't go away. I have another appointment in 2 weeks to have it checked again. Of course, I googled bump on tongue and tongue cancer....What's worse is I looked at the images of tongue cancer...Scary! It never occurred to me that googling could make things worse. I turn to Google in hopes that I will find that I have nothing to worry about and the information I find makes me worry even more....No more Googling!

I just read every response on all 18 pages of this thread....Some indication of how thoroughly I research Google.!

MaJestic

18-08-11, 10:31

Dr. Google is my nemesis!!

I absolutely know what sort of things it is going to bring up when I self diagnose but still do it anyway. It really freaks me out and i am convinced i have the majority of brain tumour symptoms e.g. I have regular dull headache, muscle twitching, feeling drowsy sometimes, i don't get blurred vision but get floaters and my eyes feel tired. I've noticed myself getting stuck for words when i talk sometimes as well.

I know that these can also be caused by anxiety but things like speech? I went to the doctor who prescribed some tablets but the symptoms like muscle twitching still persist and this worries me even more.

I hope its just my anxiety i really do!

Ruby Slippers

18-08-11, 12:51

And to think I thought I was the only one who looked up symptoms on the internet!
I had an allergic reaction to some mouth ointment, so went to Dr who prescribed me hydrocortison and which I took and improve symptoms 100%. However in a moment of weakness I hit Google. Low and behold in the last three days I have gone from having ulcers and an allergic reaction to herpes and oral cancer. I have seen two Drs and a Nurse and not one of them thinks it's any other than the reaction or has taken swabs or bloods to test for anything else. And two of them asked me if I'd been looking at the internet.
However, just at the back of my mind is a niggling that won't quote go away. But today at least I am aware that I chew the inside of my cheek, suck the roof of my mouth and bite my lip when worried. Hmmm, maybe that has something to do with the little red spots in my mouth!!!
Sorry for rambling. Sometimes Ijust have to have to blurt it all out for it to make sense in my head.
Bad Dr Google!!!!!

swgrl09

31-08-11, 15:14

I have a huge problem with googling. Google has convinced me over the years that I have:
head and neck cancer (really a sebaceous cyst),
oral cancer (mucocele),
tooth abscess that spread to my eye socket (sinus infection),
chronic sinusitis (allergies),
sinus/nasal tumor (again allergies)
diabetes (thread veins),
MS (shin splints from wearing bad high heels),
skin cancer (for various moles, birth marks, etc.),
STD which would mean my bf cheated - really freaked me out! (really too low a dose of birth control causing spotting)
among many other things.

I still do it though! I really have to stop. I am glad I found this site as hopefully I can go to it first and keep from googling. I will try to go as long as I can without googling and see how I do. I don't think google has been right ONCE about my health. I think I just google because I am hoping that one time it will tell me I have nothing to worry about. The only good thing google did was bring me here.

Abc12

01-09-11, 22:01

Just a note about my previous message concerning a bump on my tongue....After Googling tongue cancer, guess what I found? Page after page of articles on tongue cancer...Not smart to diagnose oneself and then check the diagnosis on Google!

In any event, I went to the oral surgeon today who removed the bump and assured me that it almost certainly wasn't cancer, but she would have a biopsy done anyway.....I feel so relieved! Thought maybe it would be nice to share some good news with others.

misspanic

12-09-11, 20:48

i am exactly the same, my husband goes mad at me. I have had chest pains for 4 years, still here. I worry about the slightest medical issue, I cant help it. Think my doctor is getting sick of me. I have read all about health anxiety on here, I am really hoping that this site will help me. Already feel better for finding it x:)

hyg

18-09-11, 22:44

I know health anxiety is not funny but reading these posts made me lol-as Im just the same ! Ive had an outer ear infection this week and was given ear drops by GP. Well I just HAD TO read up otits externa on google which said in RARE cases an infection of the ear can spread to the brain and be fatal. So Ive spent most of the weekend pressing the bone behind my ear to see if it hurts and because I still have some earache I even considered going to the out of hours ( the only reason I held off was because Ive just moved to the area and not sure where it is !!!! Iam of course typing this so still alive ! Im laughing now but when you read these things It scares the s*** out of you. Over the years Ive had MS, numerous heart attacks a brain tumour, throat cancer ovarian cancer -to name a few. My long suffering hubby has stopped being sympathetic-God help me if IM really ILL XXXXXX

hartleysjam

03-10-11, 14:01

Dr Google needs a punch in the face :D I thought I was the only person that did that and I have to say until I found no panic, purely by accident I didn't realise there was such a thing called Health Anxiety, I just thought I was a wierdo Hypochodriac and NO-ONE in the world could possibly think the way I think!

feasible

16-10-11, 00:08

tingling in my legs(later i learnt that it was my omeprazole) google say could be ms
That nasty pain in my chest (had it for years trappedwind anxiety) google say could be ms...

so dr google has me concerned so ill ask the google doc for further symptoms of ms and low and behold...anxiety depression are there..why? not because anxiety is a symptom...after further reading its the ms diagnosis that causes a patient to get depressed.....

what im saying is that the majority of us take meds and they have side effects,,if your feeling a need to ask the robot at google for a diagnosis first look again at your side effects to see if its there.

hope it helps someone

hazy

16-10-11, 17:31

Definately true, at my height of panic and anxiety I always google it and I also google my children's ailments. It is horrendous and if we could all avoid this we would all be so much mre relaxed, easier said than done I know!! However, google did identify panic attacks and anxiety for me 4 years ago. I had no idea what was happening to me, other than I thought I was going to die. I now realise that I had a nervous breakdown due to the amount of stress I was under at the time and this triggered panic attacks and health anxiety. However, I did google depression and that was what lead me to anxiety so you decide.....

Renee

20-10-11, 20:52

Oh gosh, google has ruined me! I found a tiny bump on the back of my neck, googled it and found I either had a cyst or swollen lymph node. Google swollen lymph node and you know what comes up! Any way, it turns out it is a swollen lymph node. My doctor said it is very small, soft, and very movable and that cancerous ones tend to be hard and fixed in place. Since my allergies and sinuses have been on overdrive he said these can cause the nodes to swell. I go back in a month to see if it is still there, and if so it will be biopsied. I have in the past diagnosed myself and my kids with every dreaded disease using google, and I just can't stop. Of course this time I am convinced I have cancer and keep googling the prognosis for lymphoma and trying to diagnose which kind i have. Everything I google leans towards lymphoma. I am a 35 year old married woman with two small children, otherwise a normal lady. Help!

PinkRoxy

31-10-11, 08:51

I always self diagnose though :)
I find it more reassuring finding out what could be wrong with me.
I have self diagnosed with many conditions and I believe I have them too.
Its never cancer though.

I find reassurance out of it really if its not cancer and I always usually find reassurance out of my gp too.

---------- Post added at 21:51 ---------- Previous post was at 21:44 ----------

I'm a self diagnosed:

social anxiety
ADHD PI
Sluggish cognitive tempo
Overactive bladder/ still undecided with interstitial cystits though
candida
I diagnosed myself with strep throat one time and got rid of it through gargling salt water
endometriosis
heart murmur? maybe
PMDD - pre menstrual dysphoric disorder
Irritable bowel syndrome
Tinnitus
Glandular fever
swine flu

My gp's diagnosis so far are:
Irritable bowel syndrome
irritable bladder/ on oxybutynin
going for tests on endometriosis
Glandular fever

I use google all the time and self diagnose I do fear cancer the worst but I drink so much green tea that I tell myself I wont get it because of that lol.

selphie

31-10-11, 16:43

god i think that they should call me mrs google thats all i ever do its terrible.
i even google for friends and family its sooo bad for me now its so addictive when my husbend asks me something i say hold on i will just google it for you.

im really trying to stop it now coz its getting to bad:noangel:

cb2k

06-11-11, 23:07

I know this post has been open for awhile, but as I am new to the forum, I could not resist but comment that I do this all the time. I try not too, but the urge becomes too strong and I always look at the worst case scenario, drives me mental

scottishxlass

10-11-11, 13:21

lol ahh this is me i live in a wee town so i no the ambulence drivers haha they call me google now because i end up having an anxiety attack after being on google researching all the possibilites of me having so extreme life threating illness..i once came to the conclusion my tremors meant i was going to self combust !! MADNESS i laugh at it now because i no its silly but back then this was real for me

katielou80

10-11-11, 13:32

i always google. my gp laughs at me and tells me to stop, and when i ask him something...at the moment its heart anxiety, im sure i have a heart block, im only 31, ive been to the drs 8 times about my silly ectopic beats, and i still think im dying. i never listern to my dr i just google things over and over again, i even keep reading the same things ive read before! its totally nuts!!! i should listern to my dr?? right? x

elveypotter

16-11-11, 09:31

This is exactly the forum I needed to read!

Whenever I have something wrong with me I Google it and get panic attacks, I realise how stupid it is but has become a need that I need to see how sick I could be and what to watch out for.

I currently have really achey arms and am annoying my parents with my complaints (I'm 19 and on a holiday from uni for the summer). I have come to the conclusion that it is either caused by a brain tumour, lung cancer and bone cancer - not one but all of them. I told my mum and she said to stop Googling, which I know I should do but it is so difficult. And I do what a lot of people do, Google "arm ache cancer" rather than general causes.

I know now that it could be a whole lot of things but the cancer idea is still weighing on my mind.

Ugh, I am so bad that after reading this forum and saw people Googling about their medication I Googled "prozac and cancer" and had another panic attack as it had been linked to cancer. My mother then told me off and pointed out they were all older articles and there were more recent ones stating that it has also been linked to preventing cancer growth.

Also, I cough once a day and it seems phlegm-y so I have put this down to lung cancer after Googling. I know it is pointless and ridiculous I have done this thousands of times before and not once has my symptom turned out to be the worst case scenario.

Thanks for letting me share :) This is something I really do need to work on.

katielou80

19-11-11, 07:27

elvey, you so sound like me. But if you put any two words into google, it would tell you somehing. i do the same, with things like i will put in skipped heart beats - heart attack!(even though ive been to the dr about then 8 times and he said its not heart related!!).......left side stomach pains - bowel cancer!...its ridiculous i have severe health anxiety and i think its maily since ive had a computer. when i went to the dr years ago because i had aching legs that lasted like......6 months i thought i had cervical cancer, as my periods were irregular too, and every website said it could be a symptom of cervical cancer, he basically looked at me and laughed......where the hell have you heard that aching legs is a sign of cancer he said....i said....google, he laughed and said please for your own sanity never look on there again, go to a dr and just listen to them! ok!...but i still google...and then read peoples horror stories about cancer too, and there symptoms, and i feel worse and worse......my partner has tried to put a band on the siets cos he thinks its making me mentally ill.......i think even sites like this one....can feed anxiety and keep your thoughts going, thats why were are here, right!!!!!!!!?????. my partner had bad restless legs and aching legs, and he said to me just for fun,,,thets google it.................HIV DIABETES, BOWEL CANCER, DVT...the list was endless....he laughed and said i wouldnt think for 1 minute that i had any of these!! and it really made him chuckle!!.......keep off the sites they are like an addiction, and its a slippery slope. YOU ONLY HAVE 1 LIFE LIVE IT xxxx

Matthewg

20-11-11, 21:09

I had to join today, to say a big thank you!! for this forum & this thread. As i have been having painful bad spells of indigestion & gas for the past three weeks.

At first the heartburn would wake me up during the night and i would sit with my mobile and 'google' my symptoms! which would always end up with the 'c......' word. I wouldnt be able to sleep and go into mini panic attacks.

I think so far i have been diagnosed with:
Angina, Liver Cancer, Stomach Cancer, Colon Cancer the list goes on.

I woke up this morning at 02.00 feeling nauseous and i google'd my symptoms and stumpled across this thread i then read all 20 pages and felt really good and managed to get back to sleep, safe in knowing im just a twonk that should not google :) im looking for re-assurance when i google but as you all know this rarely ends there.

Anyway thank you and i intend to try and become an active member contributing as this has helped me so much.

elveypotter

21-11-11, 11:38

Thanks katielou80 :)
Makes me feel less weird and make me realise how much it can really take out of your life.

I have now started on this website when I have symptoms. I search them and see that a lot of people have had similar symptoms with similar mindsets yet they have been completely wrong. It is really comforting :)

and Matthewg :welcome:

Tashytash

01-12-11, 03:26

I am a new member. I have health anxiety and panic attacks. This has been almost 4 years now. But I read this heading and sorry to say cause anxiety isnt funny, but it made me instantly chuckle. I wonder how I found this forum ;) lol

Oh Google I am guilty so much of this, but try my hardest not too so much anymore. :)

Keith

08-12-11, 22:16

I need to stop using Google when I'm ill. I ended up getting a mole removed because of me Googling about them despite 5 doctors saying it was fine and it was!

Never Googling anything health related again or reading health sections of news sites.

cuppycake

10-12-11, 21:34

I'm a chronic googler, just some of my storys, according to google:

I convinced my self that a mild virus was meningitis.
I have most types of cancer including, breast cancer, bowel cancer and ovian cancer according to google.
I'm pregnant? (but I guess this could be true idk yet...)
I've had many strokes

hats just a few. I don't know why I do it :/

Keith

10-12-11, 22:46

I've been banned from Googling stuff now.

HeadInAJar

11-12-11, 11:03

Id add that if people struggle to not google stuff, try searching for an answer to something that doesnt bother you, and notice how varied the replies can be. I often use google for searching/diagnosing computer problems, and even in something as "sciency" as computers, you get horrendous advice from people saying "oh, that happens when your power supply is on the way out" or something similar, when in fact they are way off and are showing thier ignorance. Even something like yahoo answers, people ask how to do something in a computer game and I guarantee at least one person posts that you cant do it and you can. Yahoo answers and itunes app store reviews are the two things that I feel shows humanity is getting dumber lmao.

If that type of misinformation can happen over something inconsequential like that, apply the same ignorance to health issues and its a disaster for anyone like us with health anxiety.

JazPBS

19-12-11, 12:43

I used to google my symptoms for reassurance that they were just linked to my anxiety but after a while it justed ended up making me a lot worse. Everytime my heart rate is slightly elevated or anything like that I'm googling it on my ipod, and I'll just sit there reading through for hours, which really annoys my boyfriend. Whenever he asks me what I'm googling now I'll get really embarrassed because I know that it's stupid!

Just recently I've convinced myself that I was having a heart attack, heart failure, a brain tumour etc, I even dragged my boyfriend down to A&E at 2 in the morning because I'd managed to convince myself (and him) that he had meningitis when in fact it was just a virus.

TheObjection

27-12-11, 20:09

OMG I DO THIS TOO!! I didn't think others did this a lot! It's terrible! Lately I haven't been feeling good and my hearts feeling weird but I'm 16, pretty overweight (6'0 210 pounds) but I drink a lot of coffee so I think it's that now but maybe it isn't. I'm a paranoid person so I checked my symptoms and the problem is that there are so many possibilities I think of the worst one possible. Thankfully I can go to the doctor tomorrow to see what's going on but this reminds me of the people here (including me :D)
http://memegenerator.net/cache/instances/400x/9/9284/9507482.jpg

quickman

05-01-12, 18:29

Right, i've been a member a few weeks now but like all here i've fallen trap to looking up symptoms on google....... PEOPLE THIS MUST STOP!!! we are making ourselves worse, i know we are only trying to put our minds at ease but we all know what it makes us think, yep the "C" word. Post after post i'm reading about how you've all looked on google and how its made you freak and rush to the doctors thinking you're dying. Its a healthy thing to want to know whats wrong with us but all advice out there isn't from professional sources.

Its time us health anxiety sufferers got Dr Google struck off!!

Post for newbies how searching the web has made you feel worse and lets try and stop people doing it and learn from our mistakes.

Quoted for fscking truth. :blush:

Simply because half the time when we are in a 'state', we cannot quite rationalise as we would when calm and the information we find becomes a spectre that haunts us in a 'could it be? maybe it is?' sort of way.

I personally learnt not to 'Google up' anything medical/symptom-check related so that it doesn't find its way into my head for future "reference".

Sparkle_

09-01-12, 01:32

Dr Google is a menace to our society!

LizeeeH

10-01-12, 13:52

OMG how true is this!!!!!

As soon as I think "something is wrong" OR I read an article in the paper about an illness (usually cancer:ohmy:) I immediately go to Dr google and wham bam I've got it!!!!:mad: I then proceed to worry until I think Im going NUTS:shrug:

robocop192

25-02-12, 18:44

Googling drove me almost to the point of suicide. t really isn't worth it but it is so hard to resist the temptation. I did a video about it as my experiences of googling were so bad I needed to talk about it! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7DCjtvi0VyY

CelticWorrier

29-02-12, 12:15

I am in the interesting situation of suffering from regular health anxiety, finding myself almost OCD when it comes to googling symptoms AND having a pathalogical fear of doctors, hospitals, injections, operations etc.

This leaves me in the interesting space of being terrified about the prospect of going to the doctors (and only doing so if I am in significant pain), but filling the gaps with stuff learnt from the internet which is invariably scary stuff.

My pet anxiety is usually HIV, although Cancer and conditions ultimately requiring significant life impacting procedures (breathing through tubes, colostomy bags etc) are also regular guest stars.

I find that once I get into a cycle of googling furiously it becomes all consuming. Especially nowadays when you can migrate from the computer to your smart-phone allowing additional googling in front of the TV, in the loo, in bed, on waking etc. I find myself not eating, smoking more, cutting myself off from interactions with family/friends where possible. Even when I am doing something else, I appear distracted and 'can't wait' to get back to google.

But it has set me off thinking about the mechanism of google :
- Most mundane ailments are on there, but are generally covered superficially. In contrast, more serious conditions have full studies (often with graphic and extensive symptoms lists), case studies of people with seemingly innoccous symptoms becoming critical and articles tend to be filled with a good deal of scary-sounding vocabulary. Therefore, there is a lot more 'meat' to digest with the scarier conditions, by default.
- Many people are worried about certain conditions, which means there are 1000's of search results concerning them, skewing results
- Statistics can be confusing. Just because 90% of people with a condition exhibit certain symptoms doesn't mean that 90% of people with those symptoms have the condition, although this latter point is rarely quantified.
- One listed symptom in a medical study can get repeated in 100's of other articles, meaning an observed symptom in one clinic suddenly becomes one of the most common symptoms observed everywhere.

So it is hard to really see a true picture, when the more serious conditions outweigh the far more common conditions in search results and everything gets skewed so eassily.

An example from the other week.....I had flu type symptoms (mild) with a facial rash. I wasn't too bothered about the flu stuff, but the rash sent me into a spin. Googling for the rash just brought lots of stuff about babies, so I coupled the search with the word 'fever' (even though I only had a very slight temp). Boom.....lots of stuff I couldn't possibly have for geographic reasons, stuff that I didn't have because the rashes are 'obvious' (shingles etc) and.....HIV. So the search term became 'hiv fever rash' and of course there are hundreds of pages talking about it. Although the rash is described differently in many articles, so I figure I'll do an image search. Cue lots of gruesome pics, but a handful (literally, about 5) which not only looked a bit like my rash but actually looked LESS severe than mine! Back to standard search and there are references to how more severe symptoms can result in a worse prognosis! I was spiralling and spiralling, both convincing myself I had it and being desparate to find an image of someone with something mundane which looked like my rash.

After a while I thought about it. If a 40yr old bloke goes to the doctors with a slight temp and a short-lived face rash it will probably be dismissed as a viral rash and the guy will go home with paracetamol. Most 40yr olds won't be taking photos of themselves to put on the web, nor would the doctor. On the other hand, if someone presents themselves at the hospital with high fever and rash and it turns out that the particular patient has HIV, they may be an increased chance that the patient will be photographed (esp if a teaching hospital), and an increased chance that not only will the image appear online but a detailed case report will be written. So googling - especially images - really doesn't provide a balanced picture.

Its now a couple of weeks beyond the bug, and I'm feeling a lot better but woke up this morning feeling anxious again (I often find this just after waking), and had a bit of a headache above my right eye. Reached for my i-phone - 'headache one side'....first search result....Cancer. Lovely.

Ultimately, if you had a doctor who every time you visited suggested you had a life threatening illness, you would never go to see him. The ironic thing with me is that due to my medical-phobia, I wouldn't routinely go and see my actual GP, but I do put my trust in a search engine which does exactly that!

ali3

01-03-12, 21:17

ive been a regular googler aswell

mumtotwogirls

16-03-12, 19:58

Me too, I know I shouldn't but I can't help it. It's the worst thing I could do.

hannahd9

19-03-12, 12:40

iv been a regular patient at dr googles surgery, and by far hes the most scariest, unreliable dr i know! from now on i think il stick to my normal dr, dr google you are officially sacked from your job in this house!

teez

19-03-12, 14:24

i did this for a while when i first discovered it,,i ended up with every disease and illness going and some im sure theres not,,so im proud to say dr googles been without this patient for 18months now :D

PinkRoxy

20-03-12, 07:51

The nurse at the health centre at the Uni I study ate told me that google is usually always wrong anyway because they only go on by one symptom as doctors take other symptoms into account and that is why they trained for so many years so they can often always give patients the accurate diagnosis :)

princess & the pea

07-04-12, 00:58

Oh yes I have a terrible habbit of searching google for my symptoms made worse by the fact that it's so easy these days with an IPhone, the moment I start to feel a different symptom that's it out comes the phone! I really must stop this coz it really doesn't help, I realised how bad it was one time when I clicked on my safari app to see 5 pages open all with different terminal illnesses that I thought I may have!!

violet33

08-04-12, 18:49

See, personally I've found that google or any other diet can scare u , BUT MANY times it's helped me too

---------- Post added at 13:49 ---------- Previous post was at 13:48 ----------

I meant site, not diet. LOL

AnxiousAva

09-04-12, 00:36

I love this thread, I think the thing to remember is that Dr Google's JOB is to find pages that include ALL THE WORDS YOU TYPED IN... therefore typing in 'lymph nodes cancer' will find all the pages with all three of those words in!

There was some advice on another page I read, I think on the main NMP website, about searching for things you know you DON'T have to show how easy it is to find misinformation.

katielou80

09-04-12, 07:34

your SO right anxiousava. If you were to tap in.........catdog. Think how much crap would come up! ha xx

---------- Post added at 07:34 ---------- Previous post was at 07:28 ----------

i stressed about having cervical canver for like a year, i was convinced as i google the symptoms EVERY DAIL SOMETIMES 3/4 TIMES A DAY!! MAD HUH! i think i was looking for reassurance, but each time i felt worse, i would keep looking and looking until i say my symptoms! So eventually i went to the drs and told him that my symptoms were the same as the ones on the net!.........DONT BE SO RIDICULOUS HE SAID, IVE NEVER EVER HEAR OF THOSE SYMPTOMS BEING ASSOCIATED WITH CERVICAL CANCER.!! He said NEVER look on there!! But i still do....at the moment i think i have ovarian cancer as ive had gas, and my period is a week late, even though a late period is not linked, i wrote it in ........missed period ovarian cancer!!,.........and that scared me!! i will never learn. I think googling medical issuses is just the SILLIEST thing ever to do. My friends laugh and say, why the hell would you do that!!! ha ha xx

AnxiousAva

09-04-12, 11:13

Aww katie yes it is so tempting to go to Google and look for reassurance! This forum is the best thing I've found though because searching for my symptoms here showed me just how many people are worrying about the same things as I am.

If it helps, I have terrible gas and a late period both due to anxiety, but I'm absolutely fine, so I think you most probably are too. <hugs>

katielou80

09-04-12, 18:49

what are we like!! huh? its crazy and completely controls my life. health anxiety is the worst! i have pelvic pain today and am worrying like crazy. no normal person would, they defo wouldnt think the worst. no websites even say a missed peiod is bad! crazy stuff! and i know im doing it, thats the strange part! i love this site too, its the reassurance that we need! lol............its only when i wrote down all that i have thought ive had over the last 10 years, its even crazier!!! i think ive thought ive had EVERY cancer going! im only 31 and so want to enjoy my lie with my hubby and kids. my hubby is COMPLETELY the other way and worries about NOWT!! he thinks im a nutter and im waisting my life worrying! and hes right! xxxx much love!

sarahblonde32

15-04-12, 18:58

I am exactly this, i ALWAYS look things up on google and always regret it after, i am now convinced i have a tumour. well, you read about these things all the time don't you,
off to the gp tomorrow to see what's what, god i have worried myself sick this weekend thanks to GOOGLE!!

Han_Xander25

19-04-12, 11:49

This may not be helpful to this thread but I feel I have to share it; It may help though as most of my 'symptoms' are actually caused by anxiety, which makes me feel better funnily enough!

I've only in the last 6 months been fully diagnosed with GAD...but the more I googled the more I found this amusing.

I've been going to the doctors almost once every couple of months for years stressing about weight, being tired and other health issues. Not once did any doctors mention that perhaps I was suffering with Anxiety. The more I've googled this, the more I've found (very easily) that many of the problems I worried about were actually caused by my worrying!

I've always had cold hands & feet (to the point of blue fingernails!)
I've always been extremely tired.
I get aches & pains all the time and often unexplained bruises on my legs.

It is quite irritating that for years (probably since I were around 10 - I'm 25 now!) These symptoms have been brought to the doctors attention, yet no one ever thought to check if I was actually suffering from Anxiety till it got to the point when I had to drop out of university. Maybe this could've been avoided. Grr NHS.

Anyway, I've now had IAPT and they've referred me to CBT so hopefully it'll start to get sorted (after the 6 month waiting list!! Yay)

Just thought maybe next time people google, check if your symptoms also relate to anxiety...I'm sure most of the time they will!

xx

Carmeld14

22-04-12, 13:18

Dr Google makes me sick - literally ! Instead of receiving the reassurance we seek when looking up symptoms, we are fed the worst case scenario as part of the information. Unfortunately our anxiety causes us to latch onto only the worst case diagnosis. Are we trying to prepare ourselves for the worst? Do we actually condition ourselves to think this way because of the buzz or the immense relief we feel when a real doctor gives us the reassurance we are actually seeking? Unfortunately I've acted out this scenario so many times that I've found the buzz doesn't last and that the heightened anxiety state I was in doesn't drop as easily as it used to and within days I latch onto another symptom. YOU'D THINK I WOULD HAVE LEARNT MY LESSON BY NOW !!! :blush:

Sparkled

23-04-12, 13:04

I don't have health anxiety but my partner does, because of that i have used Dr Google myself, firstly to try and persuade him that a) there is no serious illness that matches his symptoms and he almost definitely suffers from IBS, secondly it was to be able to tell him that if his symptoms were of something serious that as he's had them so long he'd already be dead.

I've also used Dr Google in the past for myself and the family just to check things out, ie. My son had what I thought was Chicken Pox the other week, Dr Google told me the rash was not a Chicken Pox rash, 'he' was right - via the NHS website.

My partner suffers from OCD, depression & anxiety but he wont entertain the idea that he may have health anxiety. On the other hand he will ask me to check his medications for potential side effects because he says that if he reads them, he'll get them. Whilst doing the check on the medications I scared myself quite frankly s**tless. By not putting in the right keywords I managed to convince myself that he wasn't telling me things, or just lying to me and what he said was happening wasn't the whole truth. I ended up in such a state that I rang the CMHT myself to try and check. They couldn't tell me anything as he hadn't given permission but when i explained what I'd done she simply told me not to go to Dr Google and that he isn't very accurate. Basically she told me (without telling me) that I was way off the mark and getting myself into a state for no reason.

Doing the search again with a clearer mind and the right keywords I found that she was right and my partner wasn't keeping things from me after all. As I said, I don't suffer from health anxiety but I can really see that Dr Google would not be helpful for people who do suffer from it.
Dr Google is a charlatan and his best use is to direct people to helpful sites like this one. xx

Craigg

27-04-12, 18:02

I used to do this all the time, never again!

imissnotworrying

11-05-12, 14:28

I used to do this all the time, never again!

ditto that! i'm coming straight here now with my worries :yesyes:

Em84

14-05-12, 12:55

imissnotworrying

16-05-12, 16:30

I recently looked up how to sort out a pulled muscle under the right should blade which I've had for weeks....thinking I would find exercises to do....

OH NO....Dr Google popped up and was talking about Lung Cancer, Liver Cancer and Gallbladder.....Nice!

So now I'm convinced it's gotta be Cancer......
It's a really bad thing....

this is the thing about google, i've tested it by looking up symptoms i already know the cause of, and it's nothing major, and it still brings up brain tumour and cancer etc

Trypp

30-05-12, 05:23

My doctor swore he was going to take my computer away for all my "over googling" I have to agree, too much information is not always a good thing

arsenalfun

25-06-12, 09:13

Some people trust more to google rather than to real doctor.

Seanydee

27-06-12, 23:41

I fall for doctor google everyday,I've had every illness u can possibly think of due to searching my symptoms on google and if I haven't got one of the symptoms for let's say prostate cancer within afew days I will divelope that last symptom lol but I can't help doing it its just so scary not being able to admit that it's all down to health anxiety :(

JustBreathe

07-07-12, 03:31

Used WebMD to try and self-diagnose myself recently with a couple of things. 1st thing was testicular pain...type that into google, first thing that pops up is testicular cancer (turns out it was a pulled groin ligament that I had almost torn) 2nd thing was right abdominal pain that was really intense (turns out it was a little tiny bout of colitis and I had poked and prodded it so much that I had made it much more worse than what it would've been). When I checked WebMD for that i came up with anything and everything from colon cancer to appendicitis.... Lastly and finally I have post nasal drip now and swollen neck lymph nodes...turns out the Cipro that the docs gave me at the e.r. for the colitis is not supposed to be split up or chewed up. I even asked if I could chew it up and they said "sure, no problem." Come to find out my throat is severely angry at me for doing this, and it has swollen in response. At the hospital, I had CT scans, blood work done twice, and x rays of my whole body, along with a total physical. If 3 doctors missed something major in all of those tests, then I'd say that would be the equivalent of lightning striking me twice and me surviving. So I guess the point is essentially...Google can and will be the devil for those of us suffering from hypochondria. All it does is plant more doubt and worry in our minds. Who needs that?

cerridwen

07-07-12, 09:55

What's missing when we diagnose from the internet is CONTEXT and a failure to understand probabilities. A doctor can SEE and TOUCH his patient, get TESTS run, Dr Google cannot. A doctor can weigh up the balance of probabilities - is that stomach pain a symptom of IBS or bowel cancer? Based on physical examinations, symptoms, age, physical appearance, scans, tests etc - it is more likely to be IBS than bowel cancer..........

Dr Google convinces us of certainty of doom where there is none. Only observation of the person and the results from the whole medical investigation can give the answers.

Doesn't make it easy though......my compulsion to consult Dr Google still resulted in me diagnosing myself with a tumour of the ear when I had, in fact, got a middle ear infection........! Hey-ho.

Cerridwen:D

sjp91

07-07-12, 11:01

I think what we sometimes fail to understand is that it is sooooooo many different things before it's cancer / whatever crazy disease we're worrying about. We feel something, we run to Google, and the first result is the absolute worst case scenario. Awesome. That's great for confidence.

So many people go to the doctor every day thinking something is seriously wrong with them because they have a few symptoms of a disease, and then they leave saying to themselves, "are you kidding me? I put myself through all of that stress for THAT?"

Google makes us think it's impossible for it to be something else.

Louise36

10-07-12, 16:29

Dr google has ruined my life too... I don't want to look, but do anyway. I think it's to try and get reassurance that I haven't got cancer, but of course it never makes me feel any better. The only place I look now when I'm worried about cancer is the cancer research website and the American cancer society website.

Nessie91

17-07-12, 04:26

I can't help Googling my symptoms, I know I shouldn't do it and I'll just make myself worse but it's kinda like a 'high' I get. Dunno if anyone else feels the same lol

It's just a vicious circle and I could spend hours clicking onto various pages.

nervousmummytobe

17-07-12, 16:55

my doctor tells me the 'G' word is banned from his office and that if I would rather listen to Dr G than him then he no longer wants to entertain me! ha!
firm but true

James29

21-07-12, 20:48

Fantastic posts on this thread and very helpful. I think google has probably caused a rise in the number of people suffering from health anxiety.

mrsfay

25-07-12, 14:17

I hate doctor google! I've always suffered with anxiety since 2008 but have had it under control. Since giving birth to my daughter last year its developed into a completely irrational fear that I am going to die and she will not have a mummy! I suppose if I look deeper into it I never had a mum around yada yada so can relate it to that but it is driving me bonkers! Remembered sunday night that when I was in hospital they told me to go to the doctors because I have a high bilirubin count, obviously being a new mummy I was totally too engrossed and completely forgot!

So in crept no sleep and dr google, who kept telling me i have cirrohsis. It worked me up so much that I had my first ever panic attack and I am now on beta blockers with a liver function test in the pipeline. Sigh! I know I am being completely irrational (considering I have had high bilirubin before and my doctor was saying she suspects it's just the way I am, that I make more then others) but there is no barrier right now between a negative thought and it blowing way out of proportion :( Thinking of getting my husband to change passwords on computer JUST so I don't self diagnose anymore!

willous1

28-07-12, 10:10

If there was no google, I don't think I would gave ruined my life for god knows how long. My doctors have never said a thing is wrong with me yet I have been convinced I have had so much. I have been of it a couple of weeks now which is a lot for me.

---------- Post added at 10:10 ---------- Previous post was at 10:09 ----------

my doctor tells me the 'G' word is banned from his office and that if I would rather listen to Dr G than him then he no longer wants to entertain me! ha!
firm but true

Your Doctor sounds like one I want. Great firm advice.

ScottyP

31-07-12, 20:51

I recently started getting pain in my left leg & the old cogs started working, Before i knew it my calf muscle was twitching all by itself. Pain got worse & I started googling Pain in leg symptoms. Up untill last week I had convinced myself that I had a DVT even though there was no swelling or redness & my own doctor said it wasnt DVT. When the pain went away, in my mind the DVT had now broken free & floating around my body just waiting to lodge itself somewhere nasty. Then I looked at where the clot could lodge itself. OMG big mistake I am now waiting for a big pain in my chest PE!!! One symptom of a smaller PT is a cough, Guess what, I now have a cold & cough which hasnt helped :wacko:

katielou80

01-08-12, 07:42

i think its time for my hubby to put some kinda block on the computer too. i have to stop this. its kind of a addiction x

violet33

01-08-12, 18:20

Truthfully, I'd have to disagree. There are times when looking things up on web has freaked me out & then there are times it relieved my fears. What I've found is that as I do more queries I get negative AND positive info, not ALL NEGATIVE.

Tilly Flop

02-08-12, 17:24

I swear I've got worse with HA since I got an iPhone - I can google stuff immediately now whereas before I'd have forgotten about I half the time before I next switched on the computer!!

chrisduff

03-08-12, 14:40

I have to say that I'm the complete opposite. Im terrified to google anything coz I think it will confirm my suspicions. Anyone else like this? X

Worriedabouthealth

07-08-12, 20:31

I suffer from health anxiety, have done for years but I agree, Google definitely does not help things.

uk23

10-08-12, 22:38

I'm in two minds over Google. I read things on here and agree then I read something about a Dr missing something and the person getting an answer from Google then tests to confirm. It also doesn't help that one time at A&E I saw the doctor check something on Wikipedia and I've also seen a few GPs at my surgery use Dr G :( these are doctors who are very well qualified and 45+.

I think a big trigger of my HA is a senile GP, who I used to trust, misdiagnosing a painful foot as a mosquito bite....where in actual fact it was Celulitus.

SheilaH921

10-08-12, 23:52

Yep im the same, I google every symptom I have. Ive just joined this site today and I find it very helpful as ive never spoke to another person like me who suffers from this. I know alot of people think im being silly when I worry about everything and I should just stop. But its not that simple and I dont know hopw to stop being the way I am.
Just a few weeks ago I got a bad headache. I drove myself mad with worry that it MUST be a brain tumour. I googled it for hours and convinced myself that it was one. The doctor said its tension headaches. I had a massage and went on a break for a few days and relaxed and after 2 weeks the headaches eventually went away.
So for now I feel okay. That is until the next symptom, then the whole cycle of worrying, googling, not trusting my doctor, crying at night convinced im seriously ill, getting anxiety related chest pains and wondering if it is infact a heart attack.
I HATE being like this :mad: