Diagnosing Yourself With Dr. Google? Get A Second Opinion
Robyn Gee on Friday, May. 11th
Women are twice as likely to consult Google for a health diagnosis as opposed to a real doctor — but apparently one in four women end up misdiagnosing themselves from the information they get on the Internet.
Citing a recent study in Britain, an article in Week Magazine explains that women are consulting “Dr. Google” about their health symptoms. Perhaps women are simply plugging their symptoms into a Google search engine to see what pops up. But it’s possible that women are actually going to the following site: http://fffff.at/dr-google/ for E-diagnoses.
It looks just like the Google homepage with a couple of differences.
To try and figure out how this works, we typed in “sore throat” to the above site and received a diagnosis for Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) — a “progressive, FATAL, neurodegenerative disease,” often called Lou Gherig’s disease.
When we typed in “Headache” — the diagnosis was Alzheimer’s Disease.
Thankfully, clicking on “Second Opinions” directs you to WebMD and a list of other resources where one can research the stated symptoms. Yet it’s not so surprising that people looking to play doctor often miss the mark.
According to experts in the article, women are using the Internet over live doctors because the information is free and immediate. Women also tend to be embarrassed about talking about their symptoms, according to the article.
