Are online health sites responsible for a hypochondria epidemic? Linda Jones reports...
Why are online health sites such a pain to use? I'd avoid those pesky harbingers of doom at all costs, if I were you. I recently made a bit of a boob after seeking medical advice at the click of a mouse. Okay so it's good to play it safe, but how much must hard-pressed GPs be ruing the day these mines of mis-information stole some of their thunder?
They have so much to answer for. If I hadn't logged on before a recent breast check up, I suspect I wouldn't have given it a second thought. Gullible I may be, but I’ve already warned my partner of possible impending tragedy, worried my mum and alerted work to the fact that they were going to be ‘one down – possibly for some time.’ And all because I’d typed the words ‘breast lump’ into a computer.
Apologies to anyone who considers this admission in terribly poor taste - but I really did think I was a goner. I'd spent too much time 'surfing' when I really should have waited to speak to a living and breathing doctor, even if she couldn't face the enormity of my swinging great bazookas.
Yes I know the warnings are there and every step imaginable is made to make sure these sites are as responsible as possible - so why do they succeed in awakening my hypochondriac tendencies?
Sucked in, I've spent too many hours checking that my symptoms really aren't terminal. Over the last 12 months they’ve persuaded me I may have Irritable bowel syndrome, salmonella (it was ‘only’ something called campylobacter) and eczema. And don’t get me started on the kids.
Today, I also have toothache. I won’t sleep tonight – not just because of the throbbing pain but thanks to the recurring vision of the terrifyingly graphic pictures I’ve been able to access of an abscess. Doomed, I tell you, we're all doomed.
Linda Jones is a director of features and PR agency Passionate Media. She also blogs at You've Got Your Hands Full and finds herself bending her doctor's ear far more often than she'd like.