Self-diagnosis: Is turning to ‘Dr. Google’ for medical advice a good idea?

April 01--Linda White is known as "Dr. Mom." When she's not feeling well, the Las Cruces resident and retired medical transcriptionist frequently turns to the internet to research ailments, symptoms and possible treatments.

"Probably every other day, I'm looking at something (online) regarding medicine or the body or medical problems," said White, whose career in the medical field prompted a "natural interest" in such research and earned her the nickname of "Dr. Mom" in her family. "I'm just really curious about medicine, people and how different foods and herbs interact with the body," she added.

White is also an advocate of what she calls "natural remedies." To help alleviate chest congestion, she's had success with honey and red onion. And to relieve joint aches and inflammation, she opts for warm milk with turmeric, black pepper, honey and ginger.

For White, it's all about finding ways to treat symptoms -- not finding a cure -- and being proactive in her own care. She explained that her remedies and research habits aren't meant to spurn doctors or their advice, it's to better educate herself on medical conditions and keep abreast of the latest treatment options and advancements.

"I do it to supplement doctor visits," she said. "It's not instead of going to the doctor, it's to know when to go to the doctor...You have to be interactive in your own care. And the way for me to do that is to educate myself on new methods, new techniques and new medications."

Research shows there's a growing number of people who turn to the internet for medical advice.

According to the National Institutes of Health, more than a third of adults in the U.S. turn to the internet to self-diagnose ailments by using online tools and resources like digital symptom checkers and health information sites like WebMD.

A report released earlier this year suggests that New Mexicans are increasingly turning to the internet to assess and monitor their health, with about 50 percent of New Mexico residents surveyed admitting that they consult Google or other search engines rather than a medical professional.

The results were based on a national survey of 3,000 adults conducted by the Seattle-based Tinker Law Firm.

The report also found that 30 percent of Americans surveyed use home remedies to deal with health issues, perhaps to avoid medical costs or because of busy lifestyles.

But White and a Las Cruces doctor urged others to use caution when seeking medical information on the internet.

"I don't think it's necessarily bad to use the internet, but I think we really have to be cautious with using things like symptom checkers," said Dr. John Tucker, a physician at Memorial Medical Center's Family HealthCare Center, 4672 Sonoma Ranch Blvd., Ste. B.

Tucker pointed to a Harvard Medical School study that evaluated the performance of symptom checkers -- applications that generate "diagnoses" at the click of a mouse, or tap on a mobile device, based on users' symptoms -- and found that they were accurate about 34 percent of the time.

"There's potential for harm there," Tucker said, adding that such applications can spur unnecessary anxiety.

About 15 percent of people surveyed by the Tinker Law Firm reported suffering from what health-care professionals have dubbed "cyberchondria" -- excess anxiety caused by researching symptoms online.

In one such case, Tucker said he had a patient whose routine blood work showed abnormal calcium levels. The patient then went online to do some research and became convinced that he had cancer, Tucker said. But that wasn't the case.

"We did some subsequent testing and found out that wasn't necessarily the diagnosis," Tucker said, "but there was a good period of like a week or two where I know this patient didn't get good sleep...They had an underlying medical condition that all that anxiety and worry actually made worse."

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In general, Tucker said people who are experiencing severe symptoms (like chest pain) should seek medical attention immediately, whereas people suffering from minor symptoms (like a cold) may benefit from doing online research before going to a medical professional.

"But my general philosophy with patients is to tell them that if they're at all concerned, they should come talk to me," he said.

People seeking medical information on the internet should use reputable websites from government agencies, universities and insurance companies, Tucker said. These websites, he said, "tend to have some degree of oversight."

Tucker described WebMD as "nebulous" and said it doesn't "have a lot of information scrutiny" and could potentially have inaccurate information.

Tucker also pointed out that patients who have a regular primary care provider and get early treatment tend to have lower overall health care costs.

"When they come in, not only can they save money, but it saves insurance companies money," he said. "In general, when we intervene and treat somebody, if they are less progressed in their course, treatment is usually easier and less expensive."

Carlos Andres López can be reached 575-541-5453, carlopez@lcsun-news.com or @carlopez_los on Twitter.

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