subject: Wireless Internet Can Play Doctor [print this page] Everyone knows that one person maybe an aunt, a coworker, or a roommate who goes to the doctor every time he or she gets the sniffles for more than a weekend. "I have whopping cough!", they protest. "I have swine flu!" Within 48 hours, they will have alerted half of Kitsap that they are nearing death, and that everyone should come to say their last goodbyes.
Such behavior can make those who are a little less of the hypochondriac variety balk every time someone suggests they go to the doctor. It all seems so pointless. "For this old cough?" you might think. "Why would I pay for a check up just to hear, drink fluids and get some rest?" And you are right with the cost of medical care today, going to the doctor in non-emergency situations just often does not make sense in terms of your budget. But skimping out on the quality of your health care is not a good idea either. And if you really are sick, you might not know it, due to your lack fo medical training, of course!
Luckily, with the ubiquity of wireless Internet and mobile broadband provided via 4G phones these days, it is easier than ever to intervene in your own small medical issues and gain the expertise you need to treat yourself.
Here is an example of how to use wireless Internet to your full advantage. Say you have a runny nose and a headache. You can go to one of the countless medical help websites out there on the Internet, and enter your symptoms. Often these sites will have you list things one by one and ask you further follow up/prompt questions so that it can work to narrow down the different options and eventually reach your diagnosis. Most likely, you will end up with a short list of ailments and diseases, ranging from the very casual to the deadly. It can be easy to see the words "colon cancer" at the bottom of the list and freak out, but it is imperative that you do not do this. The tendency for people to over-diagnose themselves with these online medical websites is far too common. But then again, if it gets you to go to your doctor, in the end there was no harm done, minus temporarily increasing your stress and quite possibly your blood pressure for a period of 48 hours or so. But most likely, what ails you will be on the mild side of the list, and the website might even offer different remedies or cures that you can follow. Perhaps, it will even tell you to go to a doctor!
If you do not know of any medical websites offhand or if you are unsure of which to use you can also use your 4G phone to go into a standard search engine and look up your symptoms. This will likely lead you to the sites, and additionally might direct you to messaging boards where individual users discuss their symptoms and diagnoses.
