When To Research Medical Symptoms And Diagnoses

When is it useful for a patient to do his own research in addition to seeing a doctor?

Does the doctor always know best or is it better for a patient to also read up and know about his disease?
How to know which sources of information are reliable?

Should a patient do own research or leave it to qualified professionals, and get a second/third opinion?

The above questions apply to a range of conditions - starting from whether or not to have child take optional vaccinations like the HPV vaccination, get a nasal spray or injected flu shot, how often to get a pap smear, mammogram, to more serious ones like whether/when to take medication for clinical depression, to the much more serious ones like advanced cancer or rare diseases.

Should a patient research it or leave it to the professionals? If the former, how to do the research reliably, how to educate oneself about the disease without simply adding to the worry?

I am creating thread here, because it is about educating oneself on how to research medical information, in an age where the internet increasingly encourages and calls for DIY in many areas of life.
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I have very actively researched things doctors recommended a few times for my kids, including major dental work and some major and minor surgeries. Always ended up not opting for what was suggested, and so far decision has proved right. Did get 2nd and 3rd opinion till at least one matched what I found/wished.

For myself, there have been a couple of times - I retrospectively wish I had done more reading up by myself rather than relying on doctor only.

I think researching symptoms without seeing a doctor might not be a good idea, but once some professional medical attention has been sought, and there is some opinion from doctors, a patient or parent can benefit by doing his own research too.

 

Agree. The unquestioned reverence accorded to doctors and a certain degree of blind trust/faith is more prevalent in India. Sometimes due to a familiarity with the doctor, or due to an inbuilt tendency to not question authority. My parents' primary doctor aged with them, and while some doctors are good into their 70's, this guy was maintaining the practice for son/DIL to return from abroad and take it up. For years, he has simply slightly changed medication in each visit. I digressed.

True. It does not end at making sure the website or journal etc is reliable. How to process the information available. At one point, I even looked for a course or tutorial for that!

So, how? Any suggestions?

 

Yes, the term for that is Cyberchondria -" a growing concern among many healthcare practitioners as patients can now research any and all symptoms of a rare disease, illness or condition, and manifest a state of medical anxiety." A muscle twitch being googled as ALS, a migraine as brain tumor and a mole as melanoma.

The thread is about should patients do own research or not, and if yes, how to go about that. And to my horror, response will vary depending on whether country is India or a western country. : )