Katherine - posted on 04/20/2012 ( 11 moms have responded )
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Be honest: How many times have you turned to Google to get to the bottom of some random, perhaps very minor, physical ailment -- a funny red bump on your toe or a weird ringing in one ear or a stinging pain in your left elbow -- and ended up staring at your laptop in horror while mentally drawing up a will?
Yeah, that's what I figured ... been there myself quite a few times. Don't worry, we're not alone. But we're not necessarily doing ourselves any good, either.
According to a recent study, women are more likely to consult the internet than their actual doctor when they're not feeling well -- and the internet is more likely than their actual doctor to give them a false diagnosis (at which point they feel worse).
Ladies, ladies, ladies. What's our problem? Why don't we just go to the doctor?!
Oh. Yeah, I don't have any time, either. And that's true, if I didn't have health insurance there's no way I'd be able to afford it.
More from The Stir: How to Make Sure Your Next Doctor's Visit Isn't a Total Bust
But no matter how legit our excuses, we really should go to the doctor, apparently, because we're not just freaking ourselves out by doing our own medical research: By wasting all that time worrying about potential exotic diseases and incurable forms of terminal terror we probably don't have, we're actually missing more common (less dramatic) problems we probably do have!
Talk about cutting off your nose to spite your face!
Oh my god, DON'T Google "cutting off your nose." Please, promise me. My kids and I are still emotionally scarred from the time we did a Google Image search for "goiter." (I didn't know they could look THAT bad!)
Anyway.
Go to the doctor!
Have you ever made yourself sick Googling symptoms?
*raises hand*
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