In the age of the internet, many feel a great relief in having access to any information they want anytime and anywhere. People’s confidence in the internet has become so great that it sometimes causes more harm than good. When it comes to symptoms, many consult the internet before a doctor, and if the case is vice versa, many would still take Mr. Google’s advice over the doctor’s prescription. While researching on the internet for references is practiced even by doctors, patients should always keep in mind that doctors do not take the internet as a tool to diagnose an illness – and neither should you!
Diagnosis is complex. Different symptoms such as headaches, cough, fever, bleeding, etc. come in a variety of combinations that would take a lot of tests before being pointed out. While most of the time symptoms are waved as common sicknesses such as the flu, the danger comes in the minority of the symptoms that are not detected by simple online research. For example, a child can have fever and muscle pain, searching online for these symptoms would lead to something as common as the flu when this can also be symptoms for more serious medical conditions such as Dengue fever.
For those who are confident that the online diagnosis is correct, they would also naturally consult further for a cure. Even if the correct medicine comes up for the correct disease, one would still need a doctor to advice on the dose. This is a more dangerous habit as ingesting medicine that is not advised by a doctor can lead to serious damage!
A common sore throat will be detected by a doctor in a minute; this can be done online too. The difference is the doctor can point out if the sore-throat is a bacterial or a viral infection. The proper cure relies on this diagnosis. If anti-biotic is taken to cure a sore throat caused by a viral infection, the medicine will do harm as it would tend to kill good intestinal bacteria in the absence of the bacterial infection!
Also people tend to take medicine only until the symptoms are cured, so in the case of anti-biotic which should be taken for a fixed number of days given by the doctor to ensure that the infection is gone, self-diagnosing will prove to be harmful. Taking too much anti-biotic without a doctor’s approval would cause even more danger as the body is susceptible to develop immunity from the medicine after exceeding a certain limit.
Most importantly for developing countries where self-medication is prevalent, finding the right medicine also includes the challenge of making sure it is not a “copy” of the real medicine which the doctors can tell apart. Doctors in general, know their scope and their knowledge is way more than the references in the internet.
Access to medical information does not ensure that one will fully understand the implications, let alone take the right actions without considering a million other variables that doctors would consider before making a diagnosis. Without a doubt, when it comes to health, a doctor should always be the main reference material.
