I really shouldn't google my medical symptoms

[listsandbudgets]

But while I was waiting to get through to the GPs this morning - for half an hour - I did just that.

I now know I could have anything from a pulled muscle to Huntingdons or Parkinsons disease...

Knew I should have stayed off google Still can talk to the GP in a few hours so hopefully they'll put my mind at rest though how they can diagnose me over the phone wihtout seeing the problem I do not know :(

And I reallly shouldn't put this in AIBU - so flipping tired with whatever this is (hopefully a pulled muscle ) I can not think strait

Oh, I've got all the tumours. They are everywhere, according to google. I have also self diagnosed with quizzes on munchaesuns and health anxiety, amongst many others. I basically have everything. Google can take any relatively normal symptom and associate it with a disease only 3 people have ever been diagnosed with ever and that was during the time of the Ancient Aztecs.

I’ve just done the exact same, pain down side of my breast, was shitting it but it turns out I have it because I have an ill fitting bra ... this will be due to me putting on weight in lockdown and my boobs have grown mahoosive ... cue the diet

Relief as I was thinking the worst

98% of symptoms fall into 2% of possible diagnoses. The odds are very high that your symptoms are something extremely common, treatable & benign.

Don't worry about the 'how they'll diagnose over the 'phone' most remote consultations work well and if physical examinations are required, COVID risks are being managed for face-to-face appointments. As a PP has alluded, the straightforward diagnosis is usually correct though some people lose confidence when diagnostic iterations are required.

Good luck.

Good luck.

Doctor Google is the worst!!

Guilty of this! I'm pregnant and Google everything! 🙈

I won't google again. GP thinks she knows what it is and thinks it can be treated quite easily with medication.

She asked if I'd done any reasearch on my symptoms and I had to admit I had. When I told her she sighed and said "that's exactly why we advise our patients not to google their symptoms."

Well I have to say if I hadnt googled my disease I wouldnt have seen the doc in the first place, and had a correct diagnosis (usually misdiagnosed as IBS similar)

I've managed to diagnose myself with multiple sclerosis, brain tumours, pcos, pernicious anemia, an under active thyroid amongst other things...

formerbabe Hope you're feeling better soon

thereisonlyoneofme yes I do think Google has its place especially when the medical profession seem unable to diagnose - however it can be a bit scary if not used with discretion

So what did your GP think it was?

I've got most of the symptoms of prostate cancer according to Dr Google. I'm a woman.

@iklboo

I've got most of the symptoms of prostate cancer according to Dr Google. I'm a woman.

I dared to Google a dent in my leg and was delighted to discover it was muscle definition from a new walking regime. Hurrah!

It wasn't. It was where I'd wrapped my leg round a chair leg.

I self diagnosed my own cancer thanks to Google but I think that was a one off. I was slightly smug that I was right but mostly gutted. Would never advise anyone to Google diagnose though as it is a slippery slope (and apart from that one time, has never been accurate!)

I managed to diagnose myself with a rare and fatal lung disease. I was convinced that this was the only possibility.

Reality: I was allergic to the air freshener they used at work

Here's your mate.

I go the hospital tomorrow for my results on my eye but I have googled and also wish I didn't as I am a worrier and tend to panic about worst case scenario so that anything else is a bonus.

I'm a hope for the best plan for the worst in everything which is a curse and a blessing.

@StCharlotte

See last year I goggled my symptoms (dripping clear fluid from nose) and one of the first hits was a news story about a man who had this and it was a csf leak. Rare especially if you haven’t had a head injury (I hadn’t) 11 months later (after a bout of meningitis) I was indeed diagnosed with a csf leak.

I like most posters don’t trust Dr Google as normal it’s wrong but there is always the exception that proves the rule 😃

God I fucking hope not I will be blind in one eye by the weekend

My ed googled some of her symptoms recently and the first thing that came up was non Hodgkin lymphoma. The other, more likely thing is lupus, which the gp thinks it might be. But, if she hadn't googled it, she wouldn't have read that she should see a dr soon as poss. I think for some things google is good, but you need to not dwell on the first results, as there are other factors to take into account. In my eds case, the fact it had been going on for so long suggested it wasn't a blood cancer.

If I Google any symptoms at all I tend to stick to the NHS site. They usually advise to see your GP.

Prognosis is the one you shouldn't Google...

NHS website can be helpful however going down the Google rabbit hole is never good. I stopped doing this when I diagnosed myself with something I physically could not have! Idiot lol.