Jezebel 
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New York, 2:57 AM
Thu Nov 12
67 posts in the last 24 hours
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10/16/09
The next morning, the bite was redder, and spreading a little. I called my doctor's office at 7:30 am to tell them that I had been bitten by a recluse spider and I wanted to be seen that day. I am very thankful that I had consulted WebMD, so that as the redness spread over the next few hours, and I did not hear back from my doctor, I didn't just minimize the situation. At lunch time I went to a walk-in clinic near my office. The doctor took one look at my leg and asked me which emergency room I wanted them to call, because I needed immediate antibiotics or I would be dead by evening. I went to the emergency room and was immediately put on IV antibiotics.
While I was in the ER, my doctor's office called back to say that there was nothing to worry about and that I should just put some cortisone cream on the bite and call her back in 3 days. I advised the receptionist that I didn't think that was a very good idea, since I was then in the ER with IV drugs in my arm, and that the two medical professionals who had actually seen me declared it a life-threatening emergency.
If I had not consulted WebMD, I would have followed my doctor's advice, and been dead. Instead, I am alive, and looking for a new doctor.
10/16/09
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They do the spectacularly helpful job of saying one of the following statements:
1. Wait it out, you'll be fine
2. Go to the doctor within 3-5 days
3. Get thee to the emergency room now.
Its so lovely to have a professional at your fingertips to make that judgment call, especially when wait times in ER can be crappy (8 hours when I had pneumonia!) #webmd
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I'm in America, we're on our own here. We don't all like it that way. #webmd
10/17/09
10/16/09
It made my life so much better. I hate yeast infection medicine so much, and tea tree oil works better than anything you can buy at the pharmacy. Also it's useful for many other things besides you vagina. So I'm a big fan of looking things up on the internet. #webmd
10/16/09
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10/16/09
I don't think there's anything wrong with people informing themselves, but there's an awful lot of misinformation out there...and medical terms and conditions are not the easiest things to parse out if you don't know the lingo. Your headache could be a headache, or a symptom of a thousand other things.
I think I worry most about women in mother's generation, who are particularly prone to, and are targeted by, the whole "alt" medicine thing. My mother is an otherwise sensible, reasonable, practical person...but was considering taking colloidal silver (the stuff that has turned some people blue) as a supplement for her health. And the list goes on. Rather than deal with her anxiety and complicates of altitude sickness/mild dysentery after a trip to Tibet...she thought it was just some minor mood issue she could fix with an aura cleansing. And was surprised that the benefits were only temporary.
That's the kind of stuff I worry about. #webmd
10/16/09
It's my dad who takes garlic and 10 fish oil tablets a day to stay healthy :) #webmd
10/16/09
10/16/09
And man, I know that feeling. My mom does that ALL the time. She mostly tells about things after the fact. Like when she collapsed and was in the hospital after her trip and I didn't find out until my brother finally called me. Not fun. #webmd
10/16/09
10/16/09
I also use it because my doctors for the past ten years have been more interested in listening to my top complaint and getting me the heck out of their office than actually trying to get to the bottom of the problem. I go in complaining of fatigue and they just tell me to sleep more (yes, because that's SO easy to do when you have insomnia regularly) and give me the same 10 "sleep hygiene" tips I've heard a million times. It wasn't until I looked up a checklist on the internet for thyroid disease and actually highlighted all the little things on the list (dry skin, muscle pains, feeling too hot or too cold when other people feel normal) that my doctor even started to get a better picture of my overall health and symptoms because he wasn't willing to ask me about those things unless I brought it up, and who necessarily thinks that mentioning your excessively dry skin is worth the scant 5 minutes you get with the man if you're there because you can barely get up in the morning because you're so exhausted?
These sites have uses, and doctors insistence that they're always bad and the degree to which they automatically ignore patients who have taken the time to educate themselves is disgusting. I don't go in there saying "I have thyroid disease, give me X medication that I've been told works." I go in saying "I have this set of symptoms and they're problematic. What do we need to look at to explore this problem?" And after I went to a specialist who explained to me some of the other similar causes and ran the proper tests, and helped me eliminate that possibility, then I felt better and I felt listened to for once.
I still don't have the answer to my health problems. But until I find a doctor who isn't going to basically try to get me out of his office so he can collect my co-pay on as little work as possible, I'll keep using the internet for information, because doctors aren't always willing to give it, or to listen, or to really talk to their patients. Don't get me started on the massive fail that was my dermatologist, a man who knowing that I had a family history of skin cancer (two members of my immediate family) couldn't be arsed to actually look at my skin for longer than thirty seconds during my yearly skin check after keeping me waiting almost an hour and a half after my appointment time. Since he can't be bothered to actually check my moles to see if they look proper, what else am I supposed to do but go to the internet to do it myself?
(Yes, I know, the answer is get a new dermatologist. I would, but my insurance is also an issue in this situation, in that I don't exactly have any. I do, but none that would cover enough expenses at a specialist that I could afford to go again). #webmd
10/16/09
[www.msnbc.msn.com]
I use Dr. Google, but it's this show is the one that makes me paranoid: "You're leg is twitching slightly? You could DIE!!"
I think it's great that people can feel more in control of their health, but when the topic of internet medical advice comes up, message boards usually turn into hate-fests directed at doctors. It is so, so difficult to be a primary care doctor these days - people expect super personalized care, when insurance/reimbursements do not always mean its reasonable to expect that. Web M.D. can spend longer than 15 minutes with you. #webmd
10/16/09
Doctors need to learn that the health insurance system is broken and the populace can't rely on going to the doctor for full care anymore. We need to do our own research to expedite our care. If you go to 5 different specialists and complain of frequent headaches you'll get 5 different diagnoses; you need to do your own research to know what else is going on with your body so you know who to spend your $40 copay or $4000 deductible on.
10/16/09
10/16/09
Journals publish everything online these days and it's much easier to access then trotting down to the hallowed medical library and pulling weighty tomes off of shelves.
Granted, I don't want a doc that uses WebMD... but a luddite? little worrisome. #webmd
10/16/09
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They were saying that now they have to tell people "No, you DON'T need that/drug/surgery/whatevs." and that it's far easier to just give in and keep the patient who'll just go to another doctor if they don't get what they want.
It made a lot of sense. I'm looking at you: coworkers who constantly down handfuls of pills they don't need! I think half the staff is on Adderal - and one of them is on antibiotics at least once a month - I keep expecting to hear she's in the hosp w/fleash eating bacteria... #webmd
10/16/09
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I for one would rather all consumers be educated - but I'd also like them to be reasonable. Pollyanna always and forever! ; ) #webmd
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10/16/09
WebMD told me I had a UTI, so I went to the doctor and gave her my symptoms. She never even said UTI, she just said "OK" and handed me a prescription. (I learned from the pill package that WebMD was right.)
Also when she wants to suggest a medication or something, she doesn't really say what it is or why she thinks I'd want it. She just writes down the spelling for me and tells me to look it up on the internet.
Hmm. Now that I read that, maybe I should try to find a new doctor. #webmd
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"Hmm, I've had this sore throat and cough for three days straight now, I'll see what WebMD says about when to go see a doctor... (logs on, enters symptoms)
OH GOD I HAVE NASOPHARYNGEAL CARCINOMA AND AND THEY'RE GOING TO HAVE TO SURGICALLY REMOVE MY CHIN (hyperventilation)."
Recently, however, I peed blood (sorry) and immediately assumed I was dying. A quick check of WebMD informed me that it was like just a UTI and that three days of antibiotics would set me right as rain. WebMD was right. #webmd