BENGALURU: The other day, I was talking to a friend, and she told me how she always searches the net to know her health condition whenever she feels unwell. I admit I do the same.You have a headache at 10am. You think it is just a headache. At 10.10am, you google to know what is wrong with you. At 10.20am, you ‘know’ it is a brain tumour... a malignant one at that. At 10.30am, you are convinced you are going to die! That is because a net search always shows that we could be having an underlying serious medical condition... maybe it’s cancer... maybe it is Covid-19... probably it is fatal...!
And all the health sites list 30-odd symptoms... each more frightening than the other.
They also give you home remedies. Immediately you try one or all of them. Strange, how a simple headache turns into a deadly illness!System checkers are there, so we check! I have a hoarse voice... happens regularly every year during the cold and pollen season due to allergy.
Yet, I contacted ‘Dr Google’ first. To tell you the truth, I worked myself into unnecessary anxiety when all the sites said it could be a sign of something fatal. Worse, I was convinced they were 100 per cent right.
I then called my doctor, which I ought to have done first! I sheepishly told him about the symptoms I was supposed to have as per my internet search. He told me sarcastically I was not doing enough to diagnose my illness. When he told me I had nothing but allergy, I was disappointed, and told him that was not what the search engine told me.
And I added for good measure that most websites disagreed with his diagnosis. This was over the phone, and I could sense he was smiling when he reassured me that it was nothing but a seasonal allergy and a slight acid reflux. I had gone to him several times in the past 10 years with the same symptoms. I was convinced against my better judgement!
Sometimes I have believed I’ve had as many as five impossible health conditions, thanks to relying too much on the internet.This is what happens when patients want to play doctor. Googling our symptoms when we don’t feel well is the most sure way to convince ourselves we are dying. There are some who have already diagnosed themselves on the web and contact their doctor for a second opinion!
While the internet could be a good starting point, we should be aware that it does not have a medical degree. Not to flay the health sites.... at least they tell you to consult your doctor finally. And this of course after frightening you to death about your symptoms.Self-diagnosis? It is called ‘cyberchondria’. It is the tendency of self-diagnosing with medical conditions by searching for symptoms online, resulting in serious anxiety... this again, according to Google!Just stop DIY diagnosis via the internet whenever you are unwell. This has been the best prescription my doctor has ever given me. And he cautioned: There is no treatment for it.
No treatment? Wait, let me check with ‘Dr Google’!