Diagnosing an illness correctly by using Internet

[MissCommando]

People say you shouldn't 'google' your symptoms but have you ever done so and correctly diagnosed yourself?

I've read about people who have diagnosed themselves, (particularly people who have rare illnesses that their GP has never heard of).

[mrs_overall]

Lottie, PVD may be common with older people, but you and me are obviously the exception to the rule

[LoftyLottie]

:o) Of course!!

[SMP]

My daughter developed severe ear pain. She saw dr after dr, had test after test but no one could say what was wrong, she was in a dreadful state. I googled severe ear pain and came across Geniculate Neuralgia a rare condition, she had every symptom. Asked several of the dr's about it including a neurologist nobody had heard of it. After 6 years was sent to a specialist in Manchester and his diagnosis "Geniculate Neuralgia" and he was able to operate and cure her.

[Sqad]

SMP....to put that into context.....a GP would never see a case of Geniculate Neuralgia in a lifetime and an ENT Specialist would be lucky to see 2 cases in 40 years of practice, so you see it is not that common and not surprising that it took a long time to diagnose.

It would seem that yours was a unique case helped by the internet.

[China Doll]

Not by using the internet but I once picked up a magazine on a train which featured an article in which Victoria Beckham (pretty sure it was her) talked about having PCOS. There was also a handy 'symptom guide' as part of the article. I made an appointment to discuss with GP as I had been experiencing very similar symptoms since puberty, and after blood tests, ultrasound and a lovely internal scan, I too was diagnosed with PCOS. While not life threatening or rare, it's helpful to know.

[MissCommando]

pdq1 - oh my gosh, that's every parent's worst nightmare. I hope you child made a full recovery.

I'm terrible for googling things but I have heard of people correctly diagnosing themselves. Curiosity gets the better of me.

China - I've got that too and I diagnosed myself from reading magazines and noticing I had most of the symptoms too. Only one of my ovaries was covered in the cysts though and most of my symptoms disappeared after having a child.

[thenry]

Ultimately you need to go beyond the GP to 'The Specialist'. I would never trust self diagnosis !