Jared's therapist and I had a hilarious conversation about what happens to those of us who have taken medical classes and the diseases chapters are discussed.
Most of us would swear that we have all of the signs and symptoms to everything we study even when there isn't the most remote possibility of it being true.
Now, all hail the Internet!
Without having to take pesky medical classes and do icky dissections, you can indulge your couch hypochondria with just the click of the mouse!
I was looking up a legitimate medical issue today for a friend (no, really!) and as I read the list I felt sicker line by line.
The beauty of this is that even the layman can access the most aggravating and distressing conditions with a simple web search and have something juicy to discuss at our next appointment. Doctors just LOVE patients who are well versed in the latest Internet lore. It makes them happy to think that they have patients who are armchair doctors in the diagnosing arena.
Back in the day when I worked as a physician's assistant, there was a lady who came in frequently to discuss the latest, greatest deadly malady that had most certainly befallen her and would cut her down in the prime of her life.
God bless her, she must have either subscribed to the Journal of the American Medical Association or sniffed out past copies in waiting rooms and libraries like a bloodhound. Absolutely convinced of her signs, symptoms and condition, this poor woman came into the office looking like death, and, due in large measure to the patient skill of the doc I worked for, she would leave feeling like she had been on death's door and was snatched by his merciful care to live yet another day in the bosom of health.
The Internet has lots of wonderful medical information on it. Some is life-changing and helps the average person to well up their courage and get that misshapen mole checked out. Other information is just a way to scare other people who aren't willing to do their own research and ask the questions that should be asked to take charge of the life they have been given.
I confess to a certain vacillation between the extremes. When I am feeling particularly maudlin, I look up the latest horror stories of seemingly simple conditions that rapidly progress into horrible circumstances leading to malformation and/or death.
Other days, I am content to ignore the siren song of the diagnoses Q&A segments.
Really, I haven't looked at them in days. Weeks even.
It's just that I haven't been feeling well for the past 24 hours. My stomach aches and I have a swimmy head and my ears are ringing, but I am not a hypochondriac. I promise!
