Several years ago, I was hospitalized and while waiting on test results I was provided a possible diagnosis. In the hospital (pre-widespread Internet), there was a phone line in the room where patients could call and push a button for detailed information on specific diseases. Call it curiosity or the drive to learn more, of course I pushed that button that I thought at the time was to be my fate. When Mom came back from her short trip to the cafeteria, I was in tears. Come to find out, that horrible diagnosis wasn’t what was wrong with me anyway.
Now… we have it even easier. Doing research on health issues takes only a few minutes and can be done from just about anywhere using a computer or smart phone. With all the sites out there that provide tons of health information (all with a disclaimer that no one really pays much attention to), we are ALL experts.
While I knew ‘something wasn’t quite right’ with a loved one, a real diagnosis was delivered yesterday. So what do I do today? I start that tap, tap, tapping away like an idiot and end up with all this depressing data that I can’t use to “fix” one thing. Oh, and since this problem can be hereditary – I’ve convinced myself I probably have it too (or will really, really soon). Oh my! Take my advice, you guys. Leave the deeper knowledge to the experts when it comes to “what happens next” with diagnosed illnesses. It’s never the exact same with any two people.
Please note — I’m not saying that we shouldn’t try to learn more about health issues or even seek support of others online. I’m just saying that pouring through information found on the Internet and acting accordingly (like making decisions based on what we read, losing hope for a recovery, or self-diagnosing problems) is not healthy in itself.
