To get annoyed when parents ask for medical advice on the internet?

[BoopTheSnoot]

I'm not talking about minor stuff where people are asking more out of curiosity than fear.
I'm talking about stuff like asking people on forums to identify rashes in case of meningitis; wondering if bones are broken; asking if their kids need to go to A&E etc.
I just think if you're concerned enough to be asking online, you really should take your child to see a doctor. I think asking laypeople for their opinions on potentially serious medical stuff is extremely dangerous, and a waste of valuable time. Get off the bloody internet and help your child! It properly boils my piss.
AIBU to think this is dangerous, and to be so irritated by it?

YANBU it winds me up too.

Well you might "just think" all kinds but that won't stop people turning to an online community.

Some people lack confidence and feel nervous or overwhelmed by medical professional. That's why they ask here...they're trying to avoid the trip.

Others find it hard to get to medical centres due to low incomes and no car. I know...I've been there.

I've asked on here in years gone by....mainly because when faced with a three mile walk to the medical centre in the rain with a crotchety 3 year old who is unwell...I wanted another answer.

you can be irritated by it. But that won't stop people posting on the internet. They are insecure and unconfident, and looking for confirmation that they are 'doing the right thing'.

Hopefully, someone sensible will post quickly and they will then take the child to get checked out properly.

Winds me up as well!

I have posted medical threads on the internet when one of my child was scheduled for a tonsillectomy but that wasn't an emergency and I didn't think it could be a life or death situation. I'm also guilty of having posted "At A&E with another split head" statuses on Facebook, but wouldn't post a picture of child's head pouring with blood on Mumsnet for others' opinions.

yabu
sometimes it is good to have the reassurance of others to just go and also not to be fobbed off by others.

It doesn't bother me. I think it's only the very over protective parents who do this, and they know deep down they are over protective and doctors have taken the mick before, so they just want someone to say, there's no way that can be meningitis if your dc has a temp of 38 and is happily eating crisps and watching TV.

Health anxiety and years of being told you are a hypochondriac when you were ill all along takes its toll.

It doesn't bother me and I often respond. Even if to say "stop fannying around and get to A+E"

It bothers me when their question could quite easily be answered by ringing a Pharmacist.

I would rather do that than trust random internet strangers.

I also roll my eyes when someone asks, "Are there any Doctors/medically trained people here"?

Seriously? You're going to trust they are who they say they are, when the internet is full of liars, trolls and Walter Mitty type characters?

Or a quick google. That one does irritate me (about many things, not just health stuff). When i reply on a health thread, its usually all i have done.

It does depend.
Ds fractured his wrist playing football last year. He was using the hand mostly, with an occasional wince. It wasn't swollen, he had been checked by a first aider who'd done various tests and he'd passed them all. He said it only occasionally twinged, wasn't really painful.
But I wasn't comfortable when he was still slightly wincing-only occasionally-a few days later.
I thought it couldn't possibly be broken though as he was doing everything he usually did, however, whereas I'm quite experienced medically in a lot of things, none of my dc have broken a bone (nor my siblings) before so I wasn't sure.
So I took him (protesting all the way) to A&E and it was fractured, to my surprise.
He'd been seen by a couple of first aiders and a GP (friend) who'd again run the tests through on him and said he thought it was probably sprained but it should be x-rayed. (that was when I took him to A&E)

Now I didn't post on mn at the time, but it wouldn't have been unreasonable for me to do, because I genuinely didn't know whether he was slightly playing it up to get out of things (which he does) or slightly playing it down because he hates fuss being made.

I wouldn't have expected anyone to diagnose, but if I'd posted that he'd passed all the moving fingers/pressure etc tests but I was still worried and someone had said that their ds was the same and it was fractured, then I might well have ignored him saying it was fine and taken him sooner.

AS a new Mum I worried about spots - which turned out to be jam. A hurt hand accompanied by crying from DD, the crying only stopped as we pulled into the hospital car park (I then went home). Oh and insect bites that swollen massively.
The last I'd take to a pharmacist but not if it was evening/late at night - so a quick posting of a picture on the internet could be helpful.

I have also known people have broken bones from trivial accidents (walking across the Garden) or not been diagnosed for a while (DH one rib from cycling, and a wrist from Badminton).
Then there are the things where it is interpreting blood test results. My Thyroid might have been diagnosed earlier if I'd be pushed by MN to get re-tested.
And I know my low blood pressure in Germany would have been treated - which is reassuring.

I can see your point OP with things that are clearly needing immediate medical attention but I do think you are being a little unreasonable.

Some people like reassurance that they are not over reacting by going to A&E or an out of hours service. Or might have a partner who disagrees with something being a medical emergency. As said previously, for some of us without a car it can be akward to get to a hospital late at night and would require a long walk or a taxi so we tend to consider it a little longer than we would if we could just jump in the car and drive there.

I have posted stuff before. The latest was when DD had a rash (I was confident wasn't meningitis). It was evening and not an emergency so obviously had to wait until the next day to phone the DR. My concern was because it was in quick succession to a particularly nasty bout of scarlet fever she had just gotten over. I had a few responses say it looked like an allergy rash and that's exactly what it turned out to be.

I think I was a bit panicked after googling and I got a result that suggested her previous scarlet fever might actually have been Kawasaki do needed a bit of reassurance that evening before I could get her to the DR the next day. DH also thought I was over reacting and she didn't need a Dr at all (but again he said that with the scarlet fever and that required 20 days worth of antibiotics in the end)