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Meet Web Hypochondriacs
prostoalex writes "When Jerome K. Jerome in 1889 described going to the British Museum to read medical encyclopedia and subsequently finding symptoms of almost all diseases in his body, he didn't realize the problem would exacerbate more than a century later. Web hypochondriacs are calling up doctors with requests for prescriptions for all sorts of diseases, since they discovered some similar symptoms on the Web. Wall Street Journal quotes a doctor: 'My impression is that people believe more of what they read than what I tell them. It seems that traditional Western medicine based on scientific evidence is less and less trusted by the general public. Meanwhile, some dubious theory from the Internet will be swallowed hook, line and sinker nine times out of 10.' "
That sounds EXACTLY like the problem *I* have!!!!
I hope there's a cure...
You see? You see? Your stupid minds! Stupid! Stupid!
I have MSBlaster! And Slammer! No, you got to believe me. They keep attempt to spread from within me. It's very annoying and has cost me three friends already -- I can't loose many more! And this Norton Anti-Virus doesn't seem to be working. I don't even know where to put the CD!
Free of Flash! Free of Flash!
2000 BC: Here, take this root.
1000 AD: That root is for a heathen. Here, say this prayer.
1850 AD: That prayer is superstition. Here, drink this potion.
1940 AD: That potion is snake oil. Here, swallow this pill.
1985 AD: That pill is ineffective. Here take this antibiotic.
2000 AD: That antibiotic is artificial. Here, eat this root.
2005 AD: That root works! Read about it on my blog!
I'd post a longer comment but my RSI is playing up.
Hal Spacejock: Science Fiction with Nuts
Web hypochondriacs are calling up doctors with requests for prescriptions for all sorts of diseases
I've got some e-mails about getting their pills if the doctor won't prescribe it.
I got all excited when I saw the title and thought ... Wow! People get spyware just by convincing themselves it's there! Oh well. **Returns to Python**
I am Spartacus
My wife will get some symptom, and then scour books and the web for indications of possible diagnosis. I found it funny after a while, but the first couple of times she declared that she had cancer or MS was quite worrying.
The funniest thing is that my wife is a doctor.
Any fool can talk, but it takes a wise man to listen.
I think the web is making everyone out to gullable.
I agree. I doubt very much there really are web hypochondriacs. Only the truly gullible will believe this article.
we actually have a jumpy user who calls/emails every time she hears about a new virus, gets an error message, sneezes, etc. we haven't heard much from her since upgrading her to xp. either everything is working or she's dead.
paranoid + non-technical = headache.
I agree. I doubt very much there really are web hypochondriacs. Only the truly gullible will believe this article.
Or maybe it's your post that only the gullible believe? Hmm... who to believe...?
to all my medical problems arrive by the hundreds in my inbox every day!
I'm quite a hypochondriac myself. My doctor told me a few years ago that I had General Anxiety Disorder. When I told my girlfriend at the time she asked me "How do you feel about having G.A.D.?"
I responded, "Quite frankly it makes me a little nervous."
Without citations, how can you really trust anything you read there?
I'm sorry, but without proper citation, how can I know that your claim is true?
"Patients are asked to not discuss or compare symptoms in the waiting room. It confuses the doctors."
You were 80% angel, 10% demon. The rest was hard to explain. - Over The Rhine
"Math in a song is good."-Linford
MOD parent up! I read this somewhere else on the web, too!!!
Intron: the portion of DNA which expresses nothing useful.
She'd watch any show with a doctor on it and she'd develop whatever illness they were describing.
:-)
She blew her credibility and any sympathy factor right out of the water when she called her mother in a twist and wailed about having prostate cancer.
Hypochondria is a hoot sometimes.
MSBPodcast.com The opinions expressed here are my own. If you don't like 'em... Think up your own stuff.
Canadian?
Fuck it
I said, "Doc, I think I have hypochondria"
Doc: "Go on..."
Me: "Well, what are the symptoms?"
Doc: "Anything you want them to be..."
But, at the end of the day, science has given us medicines and therapies that actually work
Possible side effects of this opinion may include heart burn, loose bowels, indigestion, gas, hair loss, sexual side effects, and death. Do not take this opinion if you have cancer or may be pregnant. Certain other opinions may conflict with this opinion. A blood test may be required to detect possible liver damage. Always consult the web before buying into this opinion. See our add in Lifestyle magazine.
Many years ago while I was attending college for an engineering degree, I ran into a fellow engineering student who used to be in the college of medicine. Amazed at such a drastic switch in majors, I asked him why?
He said he had to get out of medicine. Every time they discussed a new disease, he immediately came down with all the symptoms.
The good ol' USA. Now don't question me again or I'll invade your country or steal your reality TV shows. ;)
My beliefs do not require that you agree with them.
So, are the people who got it right morons or did you put yourself in that category with the above statement?
Well, mousetraps work pretty well. Or a quick dose of poison. If all else fails, a hammer would do the trick, but you'd have to be quick (and not too squeamish...)!
I like this cron diet. I enacted it immediately by adjusting my /etc/crontab from:
17 * * * * root perl -e 'chomp'
to:
1 1 17 * * root perl -e 'chomp'
Now lets see those pounds fall off.