HealthWith information right at the end of your fingers, you might opt to visit the internet to diagnose yourself if you feel something strange in your body. But, it will not help you in anyway. Here’s why.

Anxiety

You have had persistent hiccups for 3 days now and you feel like going to the clinic to ask an expert’s advice will take too much of your time. You have to wait in line, plus the heavy traffic. You then opt to pull up your browser and look for “hiccups”. Boom! Cancer! Now, you are paranoid.

See, that’s how self-diagnosis works. You don’t consider other symptoms you just look for the craziest condition related to what you are feeling, and that’s it. One symptom is not enough to assume that you have a disease but with the help of the internet, you tend to do just that.

Doctor-patient relationship

If you then go to the doctor after your thorough research on the internet, it undermines the role of the doctor. If you don’t feel confident about your doctor’s diagnosis, tell them why or better yet seek a second opinion. Also, doctors can see simple things that we might have missed. Trust them; they spent years of study to help you with your situation.

Overreacting

Self-diagnosing can cause you to overreact. You might think that your condition is also worse than what it really is. Especially if you have a possible psychological problem. Worrying will not help you in anyway, it will only make it worse.

When you are in self-denial, you should also not diagnose yourself. For example, you just think that what you are feeling is a general ache in your body that attacks when you are in an extreme mood, but your doctor might request an EKG to test if you have a coronary heart disease.

Wrong medication

Of course, if you self-diagnose, you will most likely pick the wrong medication. There is a higher chance that you will consume a drug that can worsen your condition. Worst case scenario, you might be allergic to a drug and you don’t know it.

To avoid these issues, it is better to consult a doctor right away. Get some perspective! Just because you have one symptom does not mean that you have a disease. It will be best if you write down all the symptoms and take them to your doctor, so they can conduct tests and later on provide you with a diagnosis that is based on results and not some internet research. You can also consider using the internet to check the GP at Hand symptom list before arranging a doctor’s appointment.

Act on your symptoms, but that does not mean that you should diagnose yourself. Worrying will not do you any good. But consulting a doctor will. If you are still anxious about finding out what your condition might be, allow about 10 minutes but don’t spend too much time on it. The more you read on the internet, the more anxious you will become.