Cyberchondria , New word for today

[janni]

Cyberchondria (or cyberchondriasis) describes the behavior of hypochondriacs who use the Internet to gather information on health or healthcare. Hypochondria is "a distressing condition where uncontrollable anxiety about the seriousness of physiological symptoms leads to the persistent seeking of reassurance and medical investigation.

Well, seems us googlers have a name I wasn't aware of until now. That's why we all google right, to reassure ourselves yet Dr Google is not a human nor is he a fully trained doctor who can run tests on us so I am going to try my best from here on out not to google, I will fall at first fence haha but I know that googling has had me hysterical recently so that says it all, it feeds my anxiety and drives me nuts. So like any other habit I'm going to have to break the pattern but hey I found this through googling too.

[Qix]

Lmao. Good find janni. I use google for LOLcats and funny things ! Best to stay clear of the whole self diagnosis .

[Cell block H fan]

Yes, I heard this years ago, & I was one of them. Its a great word. I am no longer one. I refuse to read anything health related in regards to searching for answers to an ailment these days, apart from this site lol

[Panic33]

damn - I better add this to my CV lol.

[pd]

This is interesting! How many people think that without the internet their problem would be less severe? I think (at least in my case) that I would have health anxiety google or no google, but I don't google symptoms anymore and I'm no longer permanently convinced that I'm facing imminent death, though I couldn't say which is the cause and which is the effect. Stopping googling could have improved the health anxiety, or the health anxiety improving could have reduced the perceived need to check every little thing on the internet.

Saying that I've used other sources of information when either I had no internet access or I couldn't find what I was looking for. One occasion that springs to mind when I was living in halls and routine maintenance on the university network meant that there was no internet in halls or the library for two days, so I ended up in the library with a medical textbook looking up symptoms. Aargh!

Still if googling symptoms is all it takes to give a diagnosis, we could all be earning a GPs salary, without even the five years at medical school!

[Cell block H fan]

My problems wouldn't of been less severe years ago, because before the internet came along I used to have a medical book! And that was when I was at my worst! lol But anyone that thinks it doesn't make it worse, is definately in denial

[jabeebabee]

I actually manage to self diagnose myself with a totally benign condition which my GP had missed so had total confidence in "Googling" symptoms. However, I have managed to scare myself to death since imagining that I have all the symptoms of life threatening illnesses on a daily basis. The two edged sword of the Internet! A little knowledge is a dangerous thing.

[marley]

Can you imagine an actual doctor using Google to diagnose a patient?

No professional, medical or otherwise, uses Google as an information source. Or Wikipedia for that matter. It is unreliable, unverifiable information. It is not academically or scientifically moderated, meaning it has not been discussed or disseminated by academic or scientific peers.

This is important in any kind of research. Information must be verifiable, proven and able to be moderated.

It is natural to seek information on that which scares you, or is unknown. Google is not the answer. A doctor is your best bet, at which point you can ask the doctor if they can GIVE you more information.

Leave the heavy medical research to the MEDICAL students of the world.

Marley (in research student mode)