When you browse sites like WebMd, you’ll find that your slight throat tickle, sweaty palms, or minor headache are only a couple of clicks away from turning into a terminal brain tumor or incurable cancer.
Even though it is incredibly unlikely that your minor symptoms are a sign of a major health issue, when you Google your symptoms online, you are going to find results that suggest the worst.
While we’ve all had times when we were guilty of looking up our symptoms, whether out of fear, convenience, or curiosity, this is a habit that should be avoided because it can exacerbate feelings of anxiety and actually make health symptoms worse.
Roughly 70% of people search online for health information regarding symptoms they are facing or recent diagnoses. Although doing a quick online search is a lot faster and more cost-effective than seeing a doctor, ultimately, the best option to make sure that you are mentally and physically healthy is to seek out information from a professional.
Here are a few reasons why Googling your symptoms instead of visiting a health professional is not a good idea:
Misinformation is everywhere
There is a lot of health information that is available online, but not all of it is accurate. Within seconds of searching, you can find dozens if not hundreds of conflicting ideas about how you should treat and manage symptoms you are facing. It can be difficult to determine what information can be trusted.
This means that you can Google symptoms and receive false information about the severity of the health issue you may be facing.
If your Google search leads you to believe that your symptoms are insignificant, you may put off treatment until your symptoms spiral out of control and your health issues worsen. If your Google search falsely suggests that you have a severe health issue, you may experience greater levels of fear, anxiety, and grief that will take a toll on your mental and physical health for no reason.
The best way to make sure that you aren’t allowing misinformation to influence your emotions and your actions is to talk to professionals who will have a better idea of what your symptoms might entail.
Online symptom checkers lack accuracy
There is a reason why physicians have to complete so many years of school before they are able to practice. Pinpointing a specific diagnosis involves far more than simply going through a checklist of symptoms.
Unlike online symptom checkers, medical professionals can consider information like your previous medical history, your family medical history, your lab work, and knowledge they have gained from years of studying to help provide an accurate diagnosis.
While a symptom checker might say that your headache is a sign of a brain tumor, a physician might recognize that you are simply experiencing a headache due to low blood sugar or stress-related issues that run in your family.
When you use an online symptom checker, you are simply sharing a list of symptoms without context, meaning that your results will reflect a wide range of potential issues. A bloody nose could be the result of accidentally banging your face against a wall, or it could be a sign of cancer.
This lack of accuracy can cause people to feel stressed when they receive diagnoses online that blow their symptoms out of proportion, often leading to worse symptoms due to added anxiety and stress.
Frequently searching symptoms keeps illness on your mind
If you are frequently researching different symptoms, eventually your focus will turn toward trying to identify and combat symptoms you are facing regardless of their severity.
When online searches make you feel like you are always seconds away from a health crisis, it can cause you to alter your diet, medications, and routine to alleviate your symptoms. This can prove to be more harmful than good, causing harmless symptoms to spiral out of control in your mind and your body.
Obsessively worrying about experiencing a serious health issue will only bring high levels of anxiety and even cyberchondria, which can actually lead to severe health issues.
Because online symptom checkers are frequently inaccurate and don’t provide a full picture of potential health issues, you are a lot better off consulting with a physician if you start to feel like you may be experiencing negative health symptoms.