Posted on 01/31/2011 3:42:05 PM PST by Daffynition
DOCTORS have warned they are seeing too many "cyberchondriacs", those patients who misdiagnose their illnesses after Googling their symptoms.
The Australian Medical Association is concerned the plethora of online medical information is doing more harm than good, with patients increasingly referring to the internet for advice before consulting a trained GP.
(Excerpt) Read more at news.com.au ...
LOL!
My brother correctly diagnosed his wife’s kidney stones through the ‘net.
My sister diagnozed my gall bladder stones from her own experience...No ‘net required.
Exactly! Finally a ray of reason on this thread. :-)
There's an awful lot of quackery for sale out there to an ever-more gullible public. Me... I'll stick to good medical science. I happen to think that medical science and pharmaceutical advances over, say, the last hundred years have been of massive benefit to all of us, that should be obvious to anyone. I'm not ready to throw it all away because some quack with a store-bought degree in "alternative nutrition" or "homeopathy" has a bottle of snake-oil that he wants to sell.
I'll still choose the doctor that *doesn't* have a bone through his nose.
“You are starting from the wrong point.”
No....I’m starting from a “different point”.
I too was told by my GP that the bump in my neck was just a cyst.
When it became swollen and infected I said “BULL”, I want a referral to a specialist. (that was common sense, not the internet)
The specialist quickly set me on the correct path.
Don't knock it till ya try it LOL. Seriously I am diagnosed with General Anxiety Disorder since 1994. It was only through the internet and careful searches vs medical history & symptoms that I actually found out what was wrong and causing it. No doctor could tell me. Once I told them and explained it they looked it up and agreed. Understand the origin and how a disorder works increases your skills to adjust to it.
In my case it's multiple issues mainly caused by sensory processing disorders. IOW several Vestibular and sensory related problems which anxiety is a symptom or cause and effect from the other. A such I do not have General Anxiety Disorder as was first diagnosed.
This also makes a huge difference in medication approach. For example No antidepressants can help this but rather can trigger Serotonin Syndrome because of the neurologial damage involved. It only makes matters worse as it maxs out an already damaged sensory processing system. Believe me Shrinks do not know this.
My wife may have died had I not went on line with her meds +adverse reactions and told the doctor it was Serotonin Syndrome she had. Six doctors and two hospitals didn't catch it.
The internet is a valuable tool for learning about disorders. Care should be taken though to use reliable sources. Mayo is one of my favorites as is VEDA.org or Vestibular Disorders Association. I also in all this found out my sensory processing issue trigger a form of Epilepsy called Myoclonic seizures triggered by sound mainly and some visual circumstances. Again no answers were coming from my doctors. No cure for any of it but hey at least I know and have a basic understanding of what is wrong. That means a lot to some persons.
Cheers!
Cheers!
Cheers!
Cheers!
I especially love those pharmaceutical advances like acid pump inhibitors. They are linked to Alzheimers and they stop nutrients from being absorbed into the body. Plus, when the acid pumps are turned off by the meds and then turn back on when the meds stop, the pumps overreact since they haven’t been doing what they are supposed to be doing! My dad was on the purple pill for years. He started drinking a couple of teaspoons of real apple cider vinegar every morning and he is cured. He doesn’t even have to drink the vinegar anymore. And don’t get me started on Chantix. There is nothing like a stop-smoking drug that is actually less healthy for someone than smoking.
Well, it’s pretty obvious you didn’t listen to him about the politics thing. How’d you do on the other stuff?
Heh!
But not everyone appreciates your Henny Youngman-type humor.
“Take my wife...please!”
the AMA doesn't represent anybody but liberal academic physicians that either suck off the government nipple for grant money or are trying to land a sweet gig in an agency as a bureaucrat. Get your facts right before lumping doctors into some evil cabal. I like patients that are pro active in their health and there are several sites that are very helpful to patients and physicians..
This is a bogus poll that serves to divide a doctor from his patient. I love all the stories of self diagnosis that were made with simple Google searches. The patients that are obnoxious about how much they think they know by using Google just want certain tests to be done. I usually try to guide patients through my reasoning for tests and treatment plans but if they're convinced that they have an aneurysm then by all means get the CT and then the spinal tap..
If they're sure they need probiotics or a muscle biopsy or EMG studies , well heck , go for it. Doesn't cost me anything to let somebody get an MRI or other test. They're the ones getting the extra radiation , the needle into the vein or skin that could infect them or the false positive tests that can lead to other more dangerous or expensive workups. The reason you go to medical school is to learn the scientific method and to be versed in the interpretation of data and the structure and function of the human body as it relates to the art of medicine and the care of your fellow man. Without the ability to analyze both subjective observations and the information statistically it's very hard to diagnose a patient. If it was easy, then a computer could greet you at the door and put you on a conveyor belt. Then spit you out the back end of the clinic. Hahahahaha
That's right. But, it's hard to talk when you have 6 patients scheduled per hour.
It's not about your health, it's about their profits.
The doctors gets hit coming and going. The insures pay usually half thereabouts of a claim if they pay at all. One wrong coding number and it's thirty more days before he's paid while the claim is refiled and processed with insurer looking for another trivial reason for denial. He has to turn around pay another insurer to cover his practice. Half his staff is strictly for jumping through insurers and state & federal mandated red tape and hoops to get payment for services rendered. Then there is the equipment cost.
I can't think of any other business off the top of my head where you can bill for $125 for agreed services {a fee applied to all} and the payer decides $75 is all they will pay you. In many cases the doctor must legally accept the $75 or whatever sum and can not bill the remaining $75 to anyone including the patient. We call it insurance coverage and it consumes a good chunk of his overhead dealing with them.
My daughter is a dental assistant in a one dentist practice. That dentist has to have six employees. Two usually work as assistants with him. Another is a hygienist, two more do billing processing & answer the phone etc.
thanks decimon
I had a hairball once.
If your big toe is hurting, you have gout...google it..:O)
Seen the doc,lately?They all carry netbooks with wifi and spend half the time on them looking up symptoms themselves.
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