"Dr google will see you now!!!"

[Aileen33]

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]

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]

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]

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]

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]

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]

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]

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]

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]

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!