"Dr google will see you now!!!"

[Starscream]

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

[hadenoughofmyhead]

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]

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]

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]

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!

[tinycritter]

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.

[oneofus]

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]

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

Are you serious regarding WIkipedia ???

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

[marley]

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]

Well said Marley, Wikipedia is a nightmare.