Quote:
I didn't say she should use it in place of a doctor--obviously you missed that part. Sometimes it's helpful though and, yes, it does have flaws, but you needn't be rude. I simply meant that it was a good place to start.
Originally posted by
PussyGalore
I'm sorry, please forgive me as I would not usually so blantantly say that someone's advice is a bad idea but this is a really bad idea. Every doctor, nurse, practitioner of any kind in America will tell you that going to WebMD for symptom
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I'm sorry, please forgive me as I would not usually so blantantly say that someone's advice is a bad idea but this is a really bad idea. Every doctor, nurse, practitioner of any kind in America will tell you that going to WebMD for symptom analysis is ineffective and in some cases harmful.
A patient may only enter "headache, abdominal pain, rectal bleeding" and be told it's an ulcer, hemmorhoid, or fissures and in the same line be told it is stomach, colon or anal cancer.
A live human being needs to hear her medical history to determine the correct course of action and that response is always going to be "go see a doctor" if it's something other than "I have the sniffles, my chest hurts and I feel like my eyes are about to explode". That's a "try an over the counter med and call me in the morning" situation.
You also don't know her propensity to worry or overexaggerate symptoms, nor do I. My doctor told me if I didn't stop going to WebMD before going to see him he was going to refer me to another doctor. He was the one with the PhD not me and if I wanted his help I had to tell him what the symptoms were and how I had been eating and living instead of parroting what WebMD had to offer as an explanation. less
A patient may only enter "headache, abdominal pain, rectal bleeding" and be told it's an ulcer, hemmorhoid, or fissures and in the same line be told it is stomach, colon or anal cancer.
A live human being needs to hear her medical history to determine the correct course of action and that response is always going to be "go see a doctor" if it's something other than "I have the sniffles, my chest hurts and I feel like my eyes are about to explode". That's a "try an over the counter med and call me in the morning" situation.
You also don't know her propensity to worry or overexaggerate symptoms, nor do I. My doctor told me if I didn't stop going to WebMD before going to see him he was going to refer me to another doctor. He was the one with the PhD not me and if I wanted his help I had to tell him what the symptoms were and how I had been eating and living instead of parroting what WebMD had to offer as an explanation. less
