In today’s world, internet access is easily accessible so much so that self-diagnosing has become a common, if maybe a life-threatening practice. You just type in a symptom and websites pop up showing various diagnoses, and one chooses the one that best describes their situation.
Statistics of Self-Diagnosing
According to a recent survey1 conducted among 3,000 adults across the U.S., 44% of Americans are self-diagnosing their illness online, and 30% are using home remedies for their health problems.
When searching for health solutions, many patients perform targeted searches of their symptoms hoping to find a name to their condition. In a study conducted by Microsoft, the search for the keyword “headache” would generate a probability of 26% that it is caused by brain tumor, which is the same probability as “caffeine withdrawal”. The remaining 48% is “tension”.2 So now you ask yourself, “Do I have brain tumor, caffeine withdrawal, or is this tension? Wait, I don’t take caffeine, so this is a toss-up between brain tumor and tension.”
And of course, there’s a ton of other causes of headaches. Did we mention blood clots, diabetes, poor posture, high blood pressure, and many, many others?
The Dangers of Self-Diagnosing
What happens is that people will tend to tune in into one or two resources and pick up a few lines that they think match their symptoms, which will then (mis)lead them into a diagnoses that may actually have nothing to do with their condition. And viola, the internet says there are home remedies to your situation, too!
The problem with self-diagnosing is that internet resources do not reveal everything and all that is to know about things—especially health issues. It takes probably at least 50 medical textbooks, 1 year of internship and 2-6 years of residency at a hospital before one truly becomes a doctor. What makes us think we can become one in three pages of internet resource?
So people have stopped going to the doctor’s office thinking they got it covered. While this method seems very expedient and will give the patient a feeling of empowerment, it can be seriously dangerous.
Subtleties of Symptoms, Nuances of Diagnoses
The difference between self-diagnoses, and the diagnoses of a doctor with which you’ve had an actual visit, is that the latter is trained to ask the right questions in order to determine the root of the problem. They probe and are more pointed and specific with asking about symptoms. Some symptoms are so subtle they are not always easily identifiable, and some symptoms may be more important than others. A headache is a classic example of what seems to be a common symptom but may be the result of a more serious and life-threatening illness such as blood clots.
“When you self-diagnose, you are essentially assuming that you know the subtleties that diagnosis constitutes. This can be very dangerous, as people who assume that they can surmise what is going on with themselves may miss the nuances of diagnosis.3” Diagnosis does not just include identifying the symptoms. It also involves the use of medical tools to get a complete picture of your health situation; and in many situations, it involves the conduct of tests and screenings.
Right Diagnoses = Right Treatment Plan
A correct diagnosis leads to a correct treatment plan. In fact, in the case of serious illnesses, patients may need to see two or three different doctors with different specialties because some illnesses may require different or multiple treatment methods.
If self-diagnosing, once people decide what they have and put a name to it, they will then look for home remedies, take to over-the-counter medications, or attempt to change their lifestyle. Anything but go to the doctor. But they don’t realize that reading a few pages of internet resource does not make for a correct diagnosis, and they may be trying to treat themselves for something they don’t have, and are still uninformed about the root cause of their health condition.
While the internet helps in getting you information the quickest way, and helps you be more aware about health issues than you usually wouldn’t be, it is still necessary to validate this information with the people who have studied diseases and the practice of healing for years and years—the doctors. Not doing so may cause you your life or your family’s.
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Are you a cyberchondriac? Click here (takes you to an external link) to find out how your state compares with the others in terms of self-diagnosing online.
Footnotes:
1. Survey: 44% of Americans self-diagnose online instead of visiting medical professional by Brian Zimmerman, Becker’s Clinical Leadership and Infection Control; last accessed 12/13/20191.
2. Issues and Dangers of Self-Diagnosis, Foundations Recovery Network; last accessed 12/13/2019
3. The Dangers of Self-Diagnosis by Srini Pillay, M.D., Pschology Today; last accessed 12/13/2019
References:
1. The Dangers of Self-Diagnosis by Srini Pillay, M.D., Pschology Today; last accessed 12/13/2019
2. Issues and Dangers of Self-Diagnosis, Foundations Recovery Network; last accessed 12/13/2019
3. Survey: 44% of Americans self-diagnose online instead of visiting medical professional by Brian Zimmerman, Becker’s Clinical Leadership and Infection Control; last accessed 12/13/2019
Long Van, D.C. joined the team at Absolute Injury and Pain Physicians in 2008. He has experience in helping the human body function properly through the natural approach, and enjoys reading up on new information concerning medical conditions and associated treatments available.