Written By: Anusha Iyengar | Published : February 4, 2016 6:10 PM IST
Are you constantly hooked to your smartphone or laptop surfing health-related websites? There are high chances that you are suffering from cyberchondria. It is one of the biggest concerns in the health care industry currently. Cyberchondria is a condition where you compulsively dig the internet for information about specific real or imaginative symptoms of illness. Here are 5 signs that you are suffering from cyberchondria.
You love and trust Dr Google
You spend most of your time reading about rare or severe diseases on the internet. You panic and go to Google every time you experience the smallest of symptoms. It might even be something that will go away with time. Most of the times, instead of using your smartphone to make an appointment with your physician, you head over to your 'bookmarked' medical websites.
'You are okay' doesn't make any sense to you
Even if the doctor tells you that it is something minor, you are constantly surfing the internet and looking up severe illnesses that you might have. In most cases, this behaviour makes the person spend unnecessarily on myriad medical tests for diseases he doesn't suffer from.
Your anxiety level increases
Every time you find new information about health-related issues, you start panicking. You are already paranoid about your health and the health websites you go to for information are certainly not helping you. They, in fact, make you feel worse.
Your perception and behaviour towards health changes
According to a study conducted by Microsoft, the information that you draw from the web can influence how you reflect and make decisions about your health and well being, including the attention and advice you seek from healthcare professionals. Your behaviour towards diet, exercise and lifestyle also changes. You become more proactive and preventive when it comes to health.
One thing leads to another
You search for stomach pain as a symptom and before you know it, you have bookmarked pages that are about stomach cancer, ulcers, bladder infections and so on. This increases your anxiety level and no matter how much a doctor tells you that you'll be okay in a day or two, you will still be upset and paranoid over what you researched. You also tend to self-diagnose sometimes and end up self medicating. Here is why you must never self-diagnose after googling your symptoms.
If you are one of those people who rely on the internet for everything, you need to see a doctor immediately. Internet can never substitute a medical doctor.
References:
White, R. W., & Horvitz, E. (2009). Cyberchondria: studies of the escalation of medical concerns in web search. ACM Transactions on Information Systems (TOIS), 27(4), 23.
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