Disadvantages of Searching for Your Health Issues Online

[Jasz]

If you are worried about a health condition, it is best to get it checked out by a doctor. Although an online search can help give you a place to start in terms of learning more about a condition, the internet cannot diagnose you or tell you what treatment could be best for you.

There are also some risks to searching for your health issues online:

- You may read information that is outdated, not relevant to your condition, or even inaccurate. Not all websites go through a rigorous fact-checking process.

- You may end up scaring yourself by reading about symptoms that are worse than yours and thus thinking your situation is much more serious than it really is.

- Sharing your symptoms and concerns with others through social media sites may not be the best way to get the support you need.

- You may end up misdiagnosing yourself based on the information you find online and then not seek medical help when there might be something else wrong with you.

When you go to Google and type in "headache," your search results will return over 900 million items. How can you tell which ones provide accurate information? There are countless websites that provide information about different health issues, but not all of them are accurate. When trying to determine what's wrong with you, it's important to get your information from reliable sources.

 

[btaliat]

There are many people that have one way or the other worsen their situations. Most people are quick to believe whatever they see online and even embark on self medication which has made some people to delapidate their health the more.

Then what's the usefulness of online health forum? No one is discouraging searching of some information on the internet when it comes to our health especially DIY information. There are some sicknesses that may be treated at home but when it persists we should try as much as possible to consult the medical doctor.

It is not a fallacy that the poster have good reasons why we should not be quick to believe what we see online. Each of us has peculiar body system and whatever that works for someone may not be all the time for the other. The person that may be used as a prototype for the online example may not even share the same physiognomy and physiology nature with us.

In order to relieve ourselves from the anxiety they may likely follow the information that we may likely to get from the internet, we don't need to depend on on-line. Imagine someone that search for some symptoms and the search results showed HIV even when the person only has tuberculosis.

 

[Ajebo25]

Health and humans are two different things we are unique form each other we can't expect what worked for someone to work for us because our system is different some drugs works for some people but when you take them your body reacts to it simply because you're allergic or some other medical reasons that is why it is always advicable to everyone to only use drugs prescribed by the doctor faliur to do that you may end up harming or creating another medical problem for yourself which is really bad.

If I could remember very well I had a medical problem it was maleria then o could not go to hospital I started using paracetamol which I say as the solution to maleria form the results on google that was how I started using paracetamol my health worsen day by day as I could not walk around anymore I was at only one spit which was on the bed that was when my mum noticed and I was rushed to the hospital in no time I started to feel better till I was completely free of the disease since then I only take drugs recommend by the doctors because they will do some certain tests before telling you the type of drugs to use

 

[eldavis]

The internet has become doctors to so many persons these days, once they start having symptoms, the next thing they do is to search about it online. One thing most persons do not understand is that all they would succeed in doing is actually putting fear in themselves, cause there are certain times where the system you have might be something similar to a totally different causes. So many persons have become drug abusers due to taking wrong prescriptions from the internet.

 

[Jasz]

Thank you all for your contributions. From your point of views i realized we share same perspectives. I actually realized this sometimes ago when i hard strange migraines and some other symptoms. I was so bothered and impatient that i had to make personal findings online, my sources tagged my syptoms to possible ailments Iike hepatitis, cancer ...and other deadly diseases, i was wowed, i bet it took my situation from bad to worst. I couldn't sleep nor concentrate anymore. decided to visit a doctor when i realised it wasn't something as serious as what i had read. What if i had taken drastic measures before meeting a doctor?

Anyway, I'm not saying there are no concrete health tips or solutions online, but how do you find or realise one, when you do. We just have to be careful, reduce the way we search health tips online and relate more with our doctor, who we can see and express our feelings physically and still follow up afterwards.

 

[moonchild]

I've seen a video on YouTube, it was a funny video though, it emphasized on why you shouldn't check your symptoms online in an educative way, the video really resonates with me because I used to check any simple symptom I experience on Google and as you said it always returns a negative result about my symptoms being a chronic illness or a terminal illness, it was really crazy I ended up always anxious and I was actively in panic the moment I feel a new symptom I'd think it the disease that I read.

Going to hospital is boring except you're going to a private one, so many people finds it easier to just check Google which is never going to solve a problem, when one is sick is strictly advised to go and see a doctor immediately.

 

[Abigael]

This is very true. It is best to get information about health issues from reliable sources. Googling about them will just get you into so much anxiety and you may misdiagnose a lot of the diseases you Google about. So it is best to visit a doctor or go to a clinic for any symptoms you experience.

Someone once said that google will always have things that are the same with what you have searched for. Only that most of those things will not be accurate. They are just some people's opinions and a share of experiences that they probably went through in their own lives.

Therefore, the condition they went through may not be the same as yours. Moreover, many diseases and conditions present the same or almost similar physical symptoms. So you can never be really sure what your symptoms are about. Unless you visit a specialist and have your body checked out.

Another thing is that most google articles don't go through a serious fact check. People just write them to have content for their websites and rank higher in search engines. So they won't really give you what you want to know. Moreover, your body is slightly different from others and so your condition may not be the same with other people.

 

[Jasz]

So true @Abigael
Searching for health issues on google is not a good idea for several reasons. The information on most webpages is not written by medical professionals, and there may be many things that are incorrect or misleading. If you have a medical question, your best bet is to talk to your doctor. If you are worried about something you read online, you should schedule an appointment with your doctor immediately.

In today's world, with nearly everyone walking around with a smartphone in their pocket, we have become so used to instant access to information that it can be tempting to just Google your symptoms when you're feeling a little sick.

But here's the thing: searching for health issues online can be risky. You might not find what you're looking for. Or you could find something that sends you into a panic mode, only to discover that your symptoms are completely normal.

Here are another 5 disadvantages of searching your symptoms on Google:

1. You don't know what's reliable and what isn't.

2. It will put you into a panic mode (which can actually make symptoms feel worse).

3. It could be dangerous if you're prone to hypochondria.

4. Even doctors use Google—that doesn't mean they're using it well.

5. Doctors have more experience than Google does at spotting patterns in symptoms, which can help pinpoint the cause and treatment.