But what if Google is right now and then?
We can't confirm the internet information in real-time.
We still need to consult medical professionals.
Redditor PumpkinAino wanted to hear about the times the Google search paid off, so they asked:
"Reddit Doctors and Nurses: What's the most impressive case of Google 'self-diagnosis' that turned out to be true?
"My mom was acting insane... I had to call 911. I told the ER to test her for a UTI. I was right!"
- schlomo31
i know right schitts creek GIF by CBC Giphy
"No truly shocking stories, but I will tell you this - the longer I am a medical professional, the more I take careful note of a patient's reported symptoms or side effects. A patient may be on a drug that absolutely, positively, never caused dysphagia in clinical trials. But for your patient, it does. I believe them."
"There are a couple of hypochondriacs out there, but for the most part, people are pretty in tune with their bodies. Lots of HCPs (I love you, but I am looking at you, medical residents!) will write off symptoms as 'psychosomatic,' but when you dig deeper, there is a treatable physiologic cause."
- Girleatingcheezits
"It started with pressure headaches, then I got up one morning and walked sideways into my bedroom wall. GP diagnosed Labyrinthitis and prescribed medication for nausea."
"The headaches got more frequent along with spells of the most intense vertigo. Two years of 'it’s just anxiety' from three different GPs."
"I started getting ringing in my ears and sometimes my hearing would become 'muffled' for short periods of time, like I was underwater. I was reading everything I could find relating to my symptoms, and absolutely everything pointed towards Ménière’s disease."
"Still, 'it’s anxiety,' and my GP laughed and called me Doctor Google."
"Eventually ended up at an Out of Hours clinic one night because my vertigo was so bad and I’d completely lost my hearing in one ear. This led to a referral for an MRI and eventual diagnosis of… Ménière’s disease."
"Signed, Doctor Google MD."
- MediumPeteWrigley
"Weirdest I've heard of was Philip K. Dick believing in a dream he had that his perfectly healthy, presenting baby son had a fatal inguinal hernia."
"Despite the doctor's resistance detailed exam of the son found and successfully treated it."
"Apparently, made PK Dick really was questioning reality."
"Certainly inspired fantastic stories he wrote, and they are still being made into movies."
- Satchik
"When I was in high school, one of the science classes had to do a project on systemic diseases. This kid chose diabetes. They noticed the symptoms matched what they had been feeling lately. Went to the hospital, and it turned out they were days to hours from a diabetic coma. I think it’s a miracle it went undetected for so long, but then again, I don’t know much about diabetes."
"They are now a medical professional, so this story really came full circle."
- amurderofcrows
"I’m a nurse and correctly diagnosed myself with pericarditis after being sent home from the ER. I was pregnant and had sharp chest pain that those mf-ers brushed off as heartburn. Like a knife in my chest. I’m still irritated 25 years later lol."
- AstridCrabapple
nurse ward GIF Giphy
"I’m not a medical professional, but I have spent a lot of time in the hospital and know my body and medical history. A few years ago, I started noticing memory loss, confusion, getting lost in familiar places, etc., and it occurred immediately after falling and hitting my head. I was afraid it was dementia despite my age (40)."
"I talked to one of my doctors, who started a year-long process of figuring out what was wrong. It turns out that I have a very rare form of early-onset vascular dementia (there’s no treatment, surgery, or medication). I am 44 (diagnosed at 40). I’m glad to have an answer and suspected it was something like this, but it is much worse than I could’ve thought."
- lottieslady
"Also, not a medical professional, but I diagnosed myself, and my doctor was pretty flummoxed."
"For years, I had horrible periods, and had that whole ‘could be endo, could be fibroids’ runaround. But I also couldn’t use tampons - I would somehow just bleed past them, which made less than no sense - and my period cycle was so off sometimes I swore it was like I had two uteruses."
"Then one day, I was listening to a podcast, and a woman started talking about her experience of living with two uteruses. And I was like ‘damn, that’s me.'"
"Told the GP, she reluctantly sent me for the scans, told me it almost certainly wasn’t that, given the rarity. But yep, turns out I have two uteruses, cervixes, and vaginas, and one unit of a kidney instead of the factory-issue two."
"Also, my mum thought I was mad and jokingly bet me a car I didn’t have two uteruses. Still chasing her up on that."
- HowAboutBiteMe
"I'm not a doctor or a nurse, but I've got one."
"My younger brother dealt with persistent chronic ear infections and was supposedly diagnosed with eczema in his ears. They would often weep pus that smelled foul, and he would swab them every day. They were red and flaky inside, which prompted the eczema diagnosis, but I don't think it explained the pus?"
"So after 10 years of dealing with this, he gets fed up with it and decides to send off samples of his own for private testing so he could review every single bacterium that was present himself."
"Turns out the biggest colony was Candida."
"He was able to receive a now family-famous prescription for his vaginal yeast infection, which cleared up his problem within 3 days."
- xenogazer
"Diagnosed myself. Didn't have any dramatic symptoms other than poor appetite and fatigue. I knew I had something going on above my waist, but not in my chest. Doctors blew me off, so I got a lung scan due to my smoking history. Kidney cancer. The tumor was on the upper part and outside of the kidney. Small tumor, had a partial nephrectomy, 3rd post-surgery scan coming up."
- dark_places
"Doctor here. Many encounters with patients with their own ideas of what might be going on, often from Dr Google. Always worth listening to their story and what led them to their conclusions. Mostly wrong, sometimes helpful, sometimes right."
"Had a lady come in and tell me a classic story of a pheochromocytoma - intermittent episodes of racing heart, high blood pressure, headache, anxiety, sweating. A pheochromocytoma is a benign or malignant tumor that can produce excess epinephrine/norepinephrine (adrenaline)."
"She was relatively young with no prior blood pressure problems, and sure enough, BP high enough at her age to warrant screening for the odd causes of high blood pressure regardless of her concerning symptoms. Sure enough, had a pheo. Fortunately, benign. Got surgery. Cured. Blood pressure was great thereafter."
- ProtexisPiClassic
"Went to the doctor, and he asked in a condescending manner what 'Dr. Google said I have. I said that my symptoms matched up with multiple sclerosis."
"Two years later, I visit him, and he has a resident following him around. She was the one who performed a test on me (Babinski reflex) that indicated neurological damage that led to my diagnosis of multiple sclerosis."
- WhyYesOtherBarry
"I have a drop kidney, it's where the ligaments that hold my kidneys in place are weakened, and my right kidney hangs down about 5 inches too low."
"It's a rare condition, and it takes a bunch of convincing doctors to get the right imaging done."
"I also called the fact that I have 4 slipped discs, cervical kyphosis, and nerve damage in my lower back, causing problems in my pelvis."
"All of which took years of trying to tell doctors to get the right X-rays and MRIs."
- MyLife-is-a-diceRoll
Organ Donation Kidney GIF by I Heart Guts Giphy
"After an egg retrieval, I got myself to the ER and told them I definitely had a severe case of ovarian hyperstimulation syndrome. I thought it was a no-brainer. Boston IVF had warned me of what to look for, and I had nearly every symptom, including the 'go immediately to the ER' ones."
"The ER doc kind of laughs and goes, 'Maybe we should avoid googling symptoms.'”
"He recommended Tylenol and was going to discharge me!"
"It took me forever to convince them to just do imaging and check my ovaries— first time I’ve ever heard a doctor say, 'Holy s**t, that can’t be right.'”
"My ovaries were each larger than a grapefruit. They called the on-call OBGYN, who admitted me immediately. Per my OB, I’m the only person my (tiny) hospital has ever had to admit for severe OHSS."
- EvilAbed57
"I diagnosed my mother’s PEs (pulmonary embolisms). She’d had abdominal surgery the week prior and made an off-the-cuff remark about having to sleep upright as she was short of breath when lying down. That didn’t sit right with me, so a quick Google told me about how PEs can happen, especially after major abdominal surgery. Told her to get to emerg, STAT—sure enough, 3 PEs. She’s fine now, thankfully, but she sure as hell could’ve had a stroke if she hadn’t mentioned anything."
- mad_morrigan
"Not a specific instance, but if someone looks you dead in the eye and says they're going to die, you should believe them. Happened more than once when I was an EMT."
- cawise89
Hell Yeah Deal With It GIF Giphy
So maybe we can GOOGLE our way to health.
Or perhaps we should still rely on the experts.
After reading this... I'll be GOOGLING everything all night.
Now, fans of pop and R&B are going through the same scare with the late Michael Jackson's sister and fellow singer La Toya Jackson.
The 69-year-old singer posted a video on Instagram nearly a week ago, saying she was at the doctor's office, getting some tests, and trying to figure some things out.
Jackson checked in while smiling sweetly at the camera:
"Hi guys, I hope everyone is doing well. I am here at the doctor again, so I'm hoping that everything goes well with me, all results are good, and I hope that you guys have a great day."
She captioned the video:
"Wishing you guys a fun-filled, lovely weekend with much joy! Sending love and light to you all!"
"Please stay safe, and of course, most of all, healthy!"
You can watch the video here:
It's natural to need more check-ups and maybe even the occasional test or procedure as we get older. But when Jackson posted another video on Instagram just two days ago, claiming to hope for some "good news," it was cause for concern.
Jackson confided to her fans, looking more strained in this video:
"Guess where I am this Monday morning."
"You guessed, at that place again, constantly getting check-ups."
"Oh well... Have a great week, guys."
She captioned the video:
Hi guys, sending love, hugs, and light to you all!"
"Have a positive, prosperous, and enjoyable week."
You can watch the second video here:
Fans were concerned about what the pair of videos meant and sent the pop singer well wishes.
@latoyajackson/Instagram
@latoyajackson/Instagram
@latoyajackson/Instagram
@latoyajackson/Instagram
@latoyajackson/Instagram
@latoyajackson/Instagram
@latoyajackson/Instagram
@latoyajackson/Instagram
@latoyajackson/Instagram
@latoyajackson/Instagram
It's unclear why Jackson has had to pay the doctor multiple visits this week and what she might be hoping for good news about, but we hope she shares a positive update soon.
In short, his salty demeanor is downright legendary. So when he was asked if he'd alter his menus for people taking GLP-1 weight loss injections, his response was similarly fiery—and it's sparked a bit of a debate.
Apparently, it's become some kind of trend for restaurants to reduce their portion sizes in the era of GLP-1s, since that is basically the primary function of the drugs.
They work on the body's hormonal systems that govern blood sugar and appetite, resulting in people eating less and metabolizing food more efficiently and, hence, losing weight.
The advent of the drugs inspired fellow restaurateur Heston Blumenthal, for instance, to recently announce the addition of a "mindful" menu at his restaurant Fat Duck that features smaller portions for the GLP-1 set.
Asked by The Sunday Times if he would follow suit, Ramsay was unequivocal:
"That is absolute bullsh*t. There’s no fu**ing way we’re giving in to the Mounjaro jab."
The concept is somewhat ridiculous when GLP-1 users, like everyone else, can simply just stop eating at whatever point in the meal they feel like.
But Ramsay then took it to a kind of ugly place.
"The problem is with them [the diners] for eating too much in the first fu**ing place!"
"There’s no way that we’re coming in with an Ozempic tasting menu to make you feel like less of a fat f**k by 10:30 in the evening.”
Geez, did a fat person murder your dog or something? Chill, Gordon.
But people on weight loss drugs weren't Ramsay's only target. He's also had it with food influencers coming to his restaurants with "fu**ing ring lights and posting about how good the food is."
He told the Times:
"They're constantly taking fu**ing pictures with their flashlights on."
Most of us can probably agree with this take—wholeheartedly.
But while Ramsay's take on the people using GLP-1s proved a bit controversial, most agreed that restaurants changing their menus over it is rather silly.
"Lol I'm on a weight loss shot and i dont care how he cooks it or with what... Why the hell would I ask a renowned chef to change anything? What the hell do I know about duck sauce?" —u/spyro0918
"'Catering to Ozempic' is also just a weird culture-war thing to try and manufacture. You just...eat less."
"Taking a GLP-1 drug doesn't give you any inherent restrictions, it just slows your body processing food in your stomach so you feel full much longer and with less food." —u/darkeststar
"No one on weight loss drugs is asking for restaurants to serve them less. This is some dumb thing one restaurant is doing as an excuse to serve less food and is thinking this will somehow appeal to people." —u/wewantLADDER49sequel
Jessica Hellman/Facebook
Beatha Sellman/Facebook
Medal Jeannette June/Facebook
Mellisa Wisser/Facebook
Stephanie Bertsch/Facebook
Christina Borja McAlvey/Facebook
Yeah, this seems like a manufactured uproar started by one restaurateur who saw an opportunity to cut costs and market it as "Ozempic-friendly" or whatever. But at least we got a new fiery Gordon Ramsay rant out of it!
