Diagnosis by Google

We live in a world saturated with information. We no longer have to consult encyclopedias to research a topic or check for spellings and meanings of words with dictionaries. Those treasured supplements to our libraries have mostly gone by the wayside. We have Google.

My family loves to check facts by Googling. We search for names we can’t recall and retrieve dates long absent from our brains. We frequently Google to expand our knowledge and seek new information about topics we’re discussing. Often, it’s for relatively insignificant reasons, such as what year a movie came out, or who the coach was when a certain team won the NCAA tournament.

We settle arguments we’re having about something that happened and when it happened, or we solve puzzles with information – all easily available on the internet.

Students do much of their research these days on the Internet. At first, it seemed like cheating, but today, nearly everyone understands the material available to students accessing the internet is superior to pouring over several volumes to glean small bits of information here and there. It may be a shortcut, but the result is more information for students to absorb.

For me, Google is an avenue for self-diagnosis of medical issues, and I suspect it is for many others. My doctor knows I’m going to look up the meaning of a medical term or peruse the symptoms of a certain condition I might be having. She’s tolerant of my need for checking out all the side effects of medicines she’s prescribing and of my skepticism of whether I’m matching the symptoms of the ailment she thinks I might have.

I am careful not to reject her diagnoses and decisions out of hand, but I do think it’s important to inform her of my relevant symptoms or how I am reacting to certain medications. I can do that better if I am somewhat knowledgeable about causes, treatment and future outlook of what I am experiencing.

There are many patients, however, who are limited in their understanding of illnesses and treatments.

It must be frustrating for physicians when their patients have no understanding of what is happening to them. Or when their patient fails to take their medication properly or fails to recognize an adverse reaction to medication or simply stops taking it - never informing their doctor about it.

Everyone benefits when patients are enlightened about their own health and their own physical condition. It’s better when patients can work with their healthcare providers, deciding together what is really happening to them, establishing together a treatment plan, understanding together how well a prescription is tolerated and meets their needs. Becoming knowledgeable and involved in one’s own health care can prevent a lot of problems.

Most of my family is interested in understanding what’s going on with our health. One of my daughters is a nurse. My oldest granddaughter is a licensed therapist. Another of my granddaughters is a student in the graduate physician assistant program at Des Moines University, and her sister, a Kinesiology senior at Iowa State, plans to enroll in the program as well.

My youngest granddaughter has a rare condition that will require lifelong attention. She and her mom are involved with numerous specialists and are learning a lot about how to navigate a path to managing her health. Thank goodness for the internet. When they learn new terms and conditions never before heard of, it’s wonderful to be able to google and read descriptions and explanations that help them to understand and to be able to explain it to the rest of us.

Since her diagnosis is complicated, the internet helps them learn as much as possible about what she is dealing with. They also learned about a national organization and a conference where she met other young girls around the country with similar experiences.

I remember what it was like before the information explosion came to us via the internet. My parents when they grew older were often in the dark about what was happening to them. It was frustrating because they didn’t understand what their doctors told them, and they couldn’t communicate to us what they’d been told. Eventually, it became necessary to accompany them to their appointments in order to understand how to help them.

We could have used Google in those days.