Where to lookup symtoms of illness?

October 10, 2005 8:57 AM

What is the best place to lookup up symptoms of illness? I have a friend that needs to try to figure out what is wrong and doctors aren't helping.
posted by captainzero to health & fitness (11 comments total)

The Merck Manual of Medical Information.
posted by Gyan at 9:03 AM on October 10, 2005

WebMD.com has a symptom-lookup feature. Beware, though...I've been diagnosed with many forms of cancer through the website, and I'm still kicking, so I don't know how accurat it is.
posted by elquien at 9:03 AM on October 10, 2005

Poster here:

Here are the symptoms:
Pale stool, fatigue, swollen groin (around penis), undigested food, diarrhea

18 month boy

Any help is greatly appreciated!
posted by captainzero at 9:15 AM on October 10, 2005

If doctors aren't helping maybe you need another doctor or a lawyer to make the doctors more helpful. A websearch facility is not an adequate substitute.
posted by biffa at 9:31 AM on October 10, 2005

If it's the health of an adult, then sure, use a website.

If it's the health of an infant, there is no substitute for going to a doctor or the hospital. If the doctor is unhelpful, find another. And another if necessary.

Jesus. This is a baby, and she wants to diagnose his problem online?
posted by dirtynumbangelboy at 9:41 AM on October 10, 2005

The friend needs to get a second opinion, and doctors "aren't helping" could mean any number of things.

The list of symptoms you provide are far from adequate to make a diagnosis, which I entered into Dxplain, Harvard's symptom-->diagnosis engine. (I believe it requires university access.) Unfortunately the engine really requires a lot of medical-ese symptom description.

Your friend needs a pediatrician to see the child. The physician can decide which of the symptoms are relevant and which are red herrings.
posted by gramcracker at 9:52 AM on October 10, 2005

I am not a doctor, but has he been tested for celiac disease, a.k.a. gluten intolerance? Those symptons sound dead-on. Get him to a gastroenterologist and get his blood tested for the antibodies.

But better yet, get a full blood workup done by a good pediatrician since, as I already mentioned, I am not a doctor.
posted by Asparagirl at 10:30 AM on October 10, 2005

www.healthboards.com
posted by airnxtz at 10:35 AM on October 10, 2005

Another emphatic, impassioned vote for finding a doctor who *will* help, and against attempting to diagnose on the internet. While the internet makes alot of good information readily available, 1)alot of bad info comes with the good info and 2) it does not confer the expertise to correctly interperet any of the info.
posted by Eothele at 10:39 AM on October 10, 2005

He's pretty young for celiac disease to be causing that pile of symptoms, although they do seem to be right on.

For those of you recommending a doctor, I thought I could see from the original post that this information isn't wanted to replace a doctor's advice, but more as a way to be prepared and ask informed questions, or maybe to know what direction to look for a reference to a specialist.

WrongDiagnosis has a large database of symptoms that are nicely cross-referenced and categorized by disease. It's not written in doctorese, and is a good place to start.

Your friend can search by symptom, look at comparative diagnoses, and take the results to a more complex lookup and then to a doctor on the next visit.

You should be aware that many doctors just absolutely hate the half-informed "Internet doctor" that many patients or parents become in situations like this. It's best to use this information to ask questions and not to tell the doctor what to do. Once you get a diagnosis, then you can learn as much as you can from every source.
posted by Sallyfur at 11:32 AM on October 10, 2005

What city is the patient in/near?
posted by docpops at 2:41 PM on October 10, 2005