Real Examples Why You Shouldn't Google Symptoms

When you experience an unusual health symptom, chances are that you’ll Google what it means before you visit the doctor. When asked where they get their health information, 26% of the public favored Google’s top results. Sure, this might be more convenient than scheduling a doctor’s appointment. Sometimes we do this because we’re looking for peace of mind that our symptoms aren't serious.

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But unfortunately, the results are usually more serious than we’d like to see. There’s a reason that there’s an ongoing joke that WebMD always lists the worst scenario. Any time you Google your symptoms, odds are that cancer is one of the results. These kinds of diagnoses cause so much stress that it can lead to negative consequences. Because of this, it’s better to see a doctor first instead of turning to the internet.

The first example happened when a woman was experiencing fatigue and decided to look up a remedy. The internet convinced her that she had a brain tumor, but her doctor wasn’t available for another week for an appointment. In that time, she became so worried that she couldn’t eat or sleep. When she went in for her visit, she provided a list of all the scans and blood tests she wanted. The doctor advised her against these since they were hasty and expensive decisions. But she was so convinced that she needed them. As it turns out, the patient didn’t have a brain tumor. Her blood work showed that she was slightly anemic which could have been detected without so many tests. The woman stressed so much over something that could be resolved with a simple iron supplement.

Another woman, Debbie, visited her doctor for a strange feeling in her stomach. She had an MRI test which showed unexplained spots on her liver. The doctor said they could be benign or malignant, and Debbie would need to see a specialist for further diagnosis. But between visits, she made the mistake of Googling what could be happening to her. The results showed that liver cancer could only be bad. This led to her believing that she was going to die and she had to do things while she still had time. She dedicated special days to spend with each of her children one-on-one. Thankfully, the findings from the specialist showed that the spots weren’t cancerous. Debbie’s constant worry over the online misdiagnosis had wasted so much of her energy. She now admits that she’ll stop Googling symptoms and instead see the doctors first.

The final scenario is from a 32-year-old named Mark. He started having lung pain which he immediately assumed was lung cancer. He said it became an obsession and he couldn’t think about anything else. He expected that he only had three months left to live. Mark went to his general practitioner who was positive that it wasn’t cancer. But this wasn’t enough to convince Mark. He returned several times, convincing the doctor that he needed hospital scans. Despite these expensive procedures, the doctor gave in. Sure enough, the scans showed that it wasn’t cancer. It became clear to Mark that he was suffering from health anxiety, not lung cancer.

Even though Googling symptoms can be more convenient than visiting a doctor, there are almost always serious results. Unfortunately, these cause patients to stress and convince themselves that they have a major disease. If they worry too much, they’ll start convincing themselves that they need expensive and invasive tests to confirm if they have the health condition. Looking up symptoms leads to health anxiety, which causes people to need excessive reassurance from doctors. But even then, they may still think they’re suffering from the condition. This can make them alter their daily habits, and the stress will only worsen their health. Because of this, it’s best to steer clear of Googling symptoms and instead see a doctor first.

#GoogleSymptoms #DrGoogle

[MrWoody]

After reading this my anxiety went from 10 to 1.

[MrJigarercivil]

I believe there should be banned from Google to show results from.any symptoms.

[ABFBiGMotion]

Google ruined my life for years just go to the doctors.

[codygillard]

Google has told me I've had brain cancer, oral cancer, stomach cancer, lymphoma, skin cancer, and liver cancer. That's like almost all the cancers, gotta catch em all. Why is it always f***ing cancer with Google?

[jerryzam]

Gogle told me i had heart failure lung cancer and a brain tumer and covid mix

[bluesky]

Dr. Google is a very bad doctor and I have experience of it. 🙂🙂🙂

[geraltofrivia]

they can't even predict environment temperature

[ajabalikorai]

Google said i have a brain tumor. Plus temporal arteritis and when i feel gas pain Google said heart attack. One month ago i feel pain in my testicle Google said testicular torsion and may be testicle cancer. Every time google give more anxiety.

[Roso-vu]

I searched google for last one month and now I am depressed and developed health anxiety and depression. Today I have an appointment with my doctor please pray for me.

[julietten]

I felt unwell for almost 3 weeks, googled told me I have chronic fatigue syndrome or hypoglycemia. Went to see my doctor, she said I had covid and my tiredness and diziness were due to low grade fever and low BP.
Run the tests and sent me to do some scans. The results showed I had covid with pneumonia on the right side.

[borelol]

Me having a red spot:

Google: yeah u got cancer brother
Doctor: a normal rash

[MO-godi]

The internet convince me that I have insulin resistance I have been stressing for 3 weeks and in Sunday I’m going finally to the doctor I’m praying I don’t have it I have Faith in God 🙏

[Necrodude]

ive been having tonsillitis my doctor said that it is just tonsillitis but google insists that its tonsil cancer

[MysteryMicheri]

Man Google Is the worst after 6 months of worrying leukemia and colon cancer

[Divergence]

Can confirm, never google symptoms. I was worrying about throat cancer (according to google), when I went to get a scan, was nothing to worry about.

[blimely]

i am experiencing restless leg syndrome so i contacted my doctor she said it could be iron deficiency anemia so she got my blood work tested i get results back on wednesday so while i’m waiting i decided to google causes of RLS and it said could be diet or could be colon cancer, parkinson’s and other life threatening illnesses now i’m sitting here worried that my results are going to be bad, please don’t do what i do and google stuff (i’m only 19)

[reechan_]

Google ruined 8 months of my life i had so much chest pain shortness of breathe because of panic attacks and google told me i have a hole in my heart or maybe my end is near i went to doctors done a whole body tests but in the end it was all because of mf panic attacks cz of my messed up sleep schedule and also gas pain because i used to eat bunch of snacks 😑 now i will never ever google something like this my mind went completely blank because of this

[umidkurbanov]

googling symptoms leads to Hypochondriasis or Nosophobia

[Oobservatory_X]

I had little cough, cold and digestive problem, little bit dizziness, weakness I searched it on google it says I hve 4 stage cancer I cried and rushed to hospital doctor got x ray, uss, blood test nothing came up just iron deficiency

[yellowfrog]

wowie man I googled small bumps on my neck that roll under skin and it says "tumor aaa" but they were just those small cysts that rarely ever need to be removed