Cyberchondria; I didn't know there was such a word. The NYT has an article on it. (I'll include a link a little further down.)
When I got sick five years ago (is it that long ago? I'm losing track of the years) my cyberdiagnosis was either MS or Chronic Fatigue Syndrome.
My test results churned up a hint of Epstein Barr Virus - so my doctor said no, not CFS - EBV. But everything I read online said that EBV and CFS are way similar symptomatically. In fact, the online research said that when EBV does not go away it BECOMES CFS.
In hindsight, in my mind - CFS is the garbage can of all diagnoses; that's what doctors say when they DON'T KNOW.
My symptoms were life-altering. I joked that I had Roseanne Barr Virus and that's why I was swearing so much.
After being desperately ill for two years, my symptoms started morphing. My face got lopsided when I was especially ill, and my fingers were starting to go numb. My doctor went from using the term "chronic EBV" to "diagnosis unknown."
He had given up on me.
My online support board was my lifeline and home base in my search for answers. I told my friends about the new symptoms and two told me I definitely had Lyme Disease. Those people were experts. They were all smart and sick with nothing but time on their hands.
I was like "WTF is Lyme Disease?"
So I went back online to Michigan's Department of Natural Resources site to see what a deer tick looks like. Well, it looks exactly like the wriggling critter I clawed out of my leg three months before I got sick.
Mine was second from the left in the photo lineup. I remember screaming when I realized the thing "on" my leg was IN my leg. I clawed him out - he was so full of my blood he was the size of a pea and nearly IMPOSSIBLE to kill. I slammed a 4" phone book on him and jumped on it.
I was not walking in the woods. I was sitting in a LaZBoy watching Sex and the City at my ex BF's house. He has five acres with deer out back. My Bouvier must have brought the critter in on her fur. We're not talking wilderness, we're talking a suburban setting where you could walk to Barnes & Noble.
All a sick person really needs is the internet - and THEN a doctor to find solutions to your self-diagnosis. Because that's EXACTLY how my illness went down.
I printed out a photo of deer ticks, circled the culprit and handed it to my MD. He immediately put me on IV antibiotics. Just a few years too late, of course. But late is better than never.
The article in the NYT is pretty funny. It's like "get a headache - go online and decide you have a brain tumor."
But I have to tell you - in my experience, a smart person with time and internet can meet or exceed whatever a halfhearted MD's got in his magic bag. Sick people MUST get involved in what's wrong with them or they may never find real answers.
Anyway, enough ranting. Here's part of the article:
"Mr. Horvitz said that in addition to his interest in creating a Web search tool that would give more reliable answers, the research was driven by clear memories from his medical school education of what was often referred to as “second-year syndrome” or “medical schoolitis.”
He said he remembered “sitting on a cold seat with my legs dangling off the examination table,” convinced that he was suffering from a rare and incurable skin disease.
While the doctor was out of the room, Mr. Horvitz said, he took a look at his medical chart and saw that the doctor’s notes read, “Eric is in medical school, and he has been reading a lot.”
The researchers said that Web searchers’ propensity to jump to awful conclusions was basic human behavior that has been noted by research scientists for decades. "
Click to read the full article.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/25/technology/internet/25symptoms.html?th&emc=th
When I got sick five years ago (is it that long ago? I'm losing track of the years) my cyberdiagnosis was either MS or Chronic Fatigue Syndrome.
My test results churned up a hint of Epstein Barr Virus - so my doctor said no, not CFS - EBV. But everything I read online said that EBV and CFS are way similar symptomatically. In fact, the online research said that when EBV does not go away it BECOMES CFS.
In hindsight, in my mind - CFS is the garbage can of all diagnoses; that's what doctors say when they DON'T KNOW.
My symptoms were life-altering. I joked that I had Roseanne Barr Virus and that's why I was swearing so much.
After being desperately ill for two years, my symptoms started morphing. My face got lopsided when I was especially ill, and my fingers were starting to go numb. My doctor went from using the term "chronic EBV" to "diagnosis unknown."
He had given up on me.
My online support board was my lifeline and home base in my search for answers. I told my friends about the new symptoms and two told me I definitely had Lyme Disease. Those people were experts. They were all smart and sick with nothing but time on their hands.
I was like "WTF is Lyme Disease?"
So I went back online to Michigan's Department of Natural Resources site to see what a deer tick looks like. Well, it looks exactly like the wriggling critter I clawed out of my leg three months before I got sick.
Mine was second from the left in the photo lineup. I remember screaming when I realized the thing "on" my leg was IN my leg. I clawed him out - he was so full of my blood he was the size of a pea and nearly IMPOSSIBLE to kill. I slammed a 4" phone book on him and jumped on it.
I was not walking in the woods. I was sitting in a LaZBoy watching Sex and the City at my ex BF's house. He has five acres with deer out back. My Bouvier must have brought the critter in on her fur. We're not talking wilderness, we're talking a suburban setting where you could walk to Barnes & Noble.
All a sick person really needs is the internet - and THEN a doctor to find solutions to your self-diagnosis. Because that's EXACTLY how my illness went down.
I printed out a photo of deer ticks, circled the culprit and handed it to my MD. He immediately put me on IV antibiotics. Just a few years too late, of course. But late is better than never.
The article in the NYT is pretty funny. It's like "get a headache - go online and decide you have a brain tumor."
But I have to tell you - in my experience, a smart person with time and internet can meet or exceed whatever a halfhearted MD's got in his magic bag. Sick people MUST get involved in what's wrong with them or they may never find real answers.
Anyway, enough ranting. Here's part of the article:
"Mr. Horvitz said that in addition to his interest in creating a Web search tool that would give more reliable answers, the research was driven by clear memories from his medical school education of what was often referred to as “second-year syndrome” or “medical schoolitis.”
He said he remembered “sitting on a cold seat with my legs dangling off the examination table,” convinced that he was suffering from a rare and incurable skin disease.
While the doctor was out of the room, Mr. Horvitz said, he took a look at his medical chart and saw that the doctor’s notes read, “Eric is in medical school, and he has been reading a lot.”
The researchers said that Web searchers’ propensity to jump to awful conclusions was basic human behavior that has been noted by research scientists for decades. "
Click to read the full article.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/25/technology/internet/25symptoms.html?th&emc=th
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