Active Stocks
Thu Mar 28 2024 15:59:33
  1. Tata Steel share price
  2. 155.90 2.00%
  1. ICICI Bank share price
  2. 1,095.75 1.08%
  1. HDFC Bank share price
  2. 1,448.20 0.52%
  1. ITC share price
  2. 428.55 0.13%
  1. Power Grid Corporation Of India share price
  2. 277.05 2.21%
Business News/ News / Business Of Life/  Being a smart patient
BackBack

Being a smart patient

The Net has a plethora of medical information but the quality and reliability of the content can vary widely from site to site

Self-diagnosis, even by the most well-informed person, can be dangerous.Premium
Self-diagnosis, even by the most well-informed person, can be dangerous.

OTHERS :

It’s dengue season and you find yourself awash with high fever, muscle pain and fatigue. After waiting for a couple of days when the fever continues unabated, your family suggests a visit to the general physician. You read about the symptoms of dengue on the Internet (and Ebola too, as there is an epidemic in West Africa and this is a globalized world after all). You worriedly make an appointment with the doctor. On arriving at the clinic, you see the string of patients sitting in a line against the clinic wall and resign yourself for a wait. You mentally congratulate yourself for bringing your Kindle along and settle into the one chair left vacant. After waiting for an hour and a half, the nurse sends you in. The doctor spends 10 minutes taking your history before you’re ushered out with a prescription for crocin, lots of fluids, and plenty of rest. You’ve taken all the research that you did to show your doctor and ask if you need to get any additional tests done but he dismisses the information, saying you have viral fever. Your suspicion that this is something more serious doesn’t leave you till the fever and all the other symptoms do, five days later.

A recent US national survey by non-profit Pew Research Center’s Internet and American Life Project found that 35% of adults say that they have gone online to find out what underlying illness they or someone they know might have. While similar data on Indian adults is unavailable, Ravi Raghavan, a physician in private practice in Bangalore, says that judging from his experience and those of his colleagues, many educated Indians are searching for medical answers on the Web too. He says, “Often the young professionals coming to my clinic have stress-related aches and pains but convince themselves that they have some deadly disease." The Internet has a plethora of medical information but the quality and the reliability of the content can vary widely from site to site. Also, there is no ranking system of the websites based on their usefulness. Until a medicine research specific search engine is developed, it’s best to limit searching to one or two credible sites like that of the National Institutes of Health, MedlinePlus, the Mayo Clinic and MedicineNet. And while reading these websites is useful and informative it cannot and should not replace trusting your doctor to perform the actual diagnosis.

Self-diagnosis, even by the most well-informed person can be dangerous. Often symptoms for many varied diseases can be quite similar, and it takes a medical professional to tease out the differences. In assuming that you know best, you can miss the subtleties of your symptoms and misdiagnose yourself. For example, a headache and irritability can be brain tumour masquerading as a migraine or a sinus infection. Self-diagnosis also undermines the role of your doctor and you need to respect your doctor’s opinion. Also sometimes you may think that you have a far more serious condition than you do and worrying about it can make things worse. Or you can be in denial about some of your symptoms, and that can have potentially dangerous consequences too.

Shameem Arora, medical consultant, global food and beverage company Pepsi Foods Pvt. Ltd, Gurgaon, says she finds many of her patients coming to the clinic loaded with research done on the Internet convinced that they have a deadly disease or a serious complication of an underlying illness. She recommends not researching symptoms on the Internet at all. “Patients having done their research insist on invasive tests and end up exposing themselves to radiation and getting blood tests done for no reason," says Dr Arora. Yet, the Internet has information a mouse click away, making it difficult to resist if you are curious about your condition or concerned about the quality of medical care you are about to receive. Bhavana Rao, 39, director at consulting and outsourcing company Accenture, Bangalore, says she can’t avoid doing some research on the Net before she goes to the doctor, but makes sure she limits her queries to a few and writes them all down clearly prior to the appointment. She also says that she always asks the doctor how long it will take to feel better, so that she knows how long she needs to wait till the symptoms resolve. On being asked if she worries post diagnosis, she says, “Once the doctor has made a diagnosis, I don’t question it." This is a useful tip when you are in the hands of a family physician or a doctor whose diagnostic abilities you trust.

But if you are going to a doctor for the first time then the next best thing is to get a second or a third opinion if you aren’t convinced of the diagnosis. This is what Bangalore-based Kanika Agarwal, a 33-year-old entrepreneur, does. “I often take three or even four opinions depending on the seriousness of the medical concern. And I usually end up following the recommendations of the doctor with the most experience." Both Dr Raghavan and Dr Arora concur that taking another opinion is sound advice when you have questions regarding the diagnosis. They also agree that exaggerating the symptoms is something that patients often do in their enthusiasm to be correctly diagnosed but this can do them more harm than good. It can lead to a misdiagnosis.

Instead, Dr Arora recommends an annual comprehensive health check-up for all her patients over the age of 30. “And if there is a family history of a particular disease, like breast cancer, then a deeper investigation like a breast ultrasound is crucial," she adds. An annual health check-up gives the physician a history to work with should symptoms of non-communicable diseases like diabetes or hypertension emerge. This medical history leads to better care being delivered to you, the patient.

Sujata Kelkar Shetty, PhD, is a wellness consultant and clinical scientist trained at the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, US.

Unlock a world of Benefits! From insightful newsletters to real-time stock tracking, breaking news and a personalized newsfeed – it's all here, just a click away! Login Now!

Catch all the Business News, Market News, Breaking News Events and Latest News Updates on Live Mint. Download The Mint News App to get Daily Market Updates.
More Less
Published: 06 Oct 2014, 07:46 PM IST
Next Story footLogo
Recommended For You
Switch to the Mint app for fast and personalized news - Get App