{"id":1578,"date":"2016-05-11T08:00:31","date_gmt":"2016-05-11T12:00:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/singlecare.com\/blog\/?p=1578"},"modified":"2020-07-17T14:13:47","modified_gmt":"2020-07-17T18:13:47","slug":"rise-cyberchondriacs-internet-not-replacement-doctor","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.singlecare.com\/blog\/rise-cyberchondriacs-internet-not-replacement-doctor\/","title":{"rendered":"4 signs you may have cyberchondria and how to overcome it"},"content":{"rendered":"

Have a headache? Feel a bit off-balance? Suffering from a run-of-the-mill stomachache? It\u2019s common to take to the internet to self-diagnose what\u2019s causing those symptoms. If you\u2019ve looked online and been terrified by what you found, that anxiety you feel could be cyberchondria.<\/span><\/p>\n

What is cyberchondria?<\/span><\/h2>\n

Cyberchondria is the feeling of panic that creeps in after reading about health information online. Whether it\u2019s on social media or an article, the emotions you feel are real. They\u2019re called cyberchondria.<\/span><\/p>\n

Before the convenience and immediacy of the internet, the majority of self-diagnoses used to come from medical students, who believed themselves to be suffering from the same diseases they were studying. The phenomena was so common that it became a recognized <\/span>condition<\/span><\/a> in its own right: medical students\u2019 disease. The psychosomatic disorder is a form of nosophobia\u2014fear of disease\u2014and requires that sufferers know the symptoms of the diseases they think they\u2019re suffering from before they exhibit the actual symptoms.<\/span><\/p>\n

Another real medical condition? Hypochondria. It\u2019s the fear of living with a disease even though physicians and diagnostic tests can\u2019t find anything wrong. It can be so intense that the feelings of anxiety or depression it causes can lead to real symptoms. With the easy availability of medical information online, its sister condition, cyberchondria, has appeared.<\/span><\/p>\n

Now, patients have easy access to <\/span>1,200 petabytes<\/span><\/a> of data on the web, and an increasing number of them come to their physicians with preliminary hypotheses about their condition based on personal research. This cyberchondria can lead to poor health outcomes and red herrings during consultations. It\u2019s easy to find symptoms that sound like diseases that are incredibly rare, and the anxiety that creates can take a serious toll on your stress levels and well-being before, and even well after, you consult your doctor.<\/span><\/p>\n

Rare diseases by the numbers<\/span><\/h2>\n

The definition of a rare disease differs from country to country. For example, a disease is considered rare in America if it affects fewer than 200,000 people at any given time whereas a disease is considered rare in Europe if it occurs in fewer than one out of 2,000 cases. <\/span>According to Rare Disease Day<\/span><\/a>, rare diseases currently affect 3.5% – 5.9% of people worldwide.<\/span><\/p>\n

Oftentimes cyberchondriacs, take to the internet to understand the reason behind an unusual, but not deadly symptom. After reading the most serious affliction in the list of possible diagnoses, it\u2019s easy to jump to unnecessarily grave conclusions. One way to fight that instinct? Remind yourself that these diseases are rare, and question the belief that\u2019s stressing you out.<\/span><\/p>\n

Take Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (or <\/span>ALS<\/span><\/a>), for example. It rose to fame because of the Ice Bucket Challenge, but the disease affects only two out of every 100,000 people.<\/span><\/p>\n

Awareness and activism are warranted for those suffering from the debilitating illness. Before you self-diagnose with ALS, or another similar condition, consider what is more likely to happen:<\/span><\/p>\n