Using the Internet to Find Health Information
Author: Marie Anakee Miczak

The Internet has opened many doors for people with a multitude of information swirling around, waiting to be accessed & downloaded. While a sizable amount may be deemed junk by those unfamiliar with the net, anyone must agree that there is a ton of good as well out there. A key area of good net content is that of health and healing related information. At one time, health topics were usually in the new age or natural health genre, even boarding on the side of quackery & obscurity but nowadays every company, branch of medicine and trusted physician worth his/her salt has a website. These websites aren’t simply billboard ads anymore either. The net surfing public is no longer satisfied with such sites, they want real information & the health field has followed suite.



One of the most popular health areas still is the holistic, preventative or natural health field. Probably because many of the methods of treatment are for self limiting ailments and can be used in the comfort of your own home, such as for colds, allergies, stress, etc. Individuals much rather log on than go to a doctor for such problems. One should always be mindful of the source of the information & how that plays on it’s accuracy. A holistic magazine which is online such as 1 Healthy Universe http://www.1healthyuniverse.com/ will most likely be more factual and complete than a website bent on selling you vitamins such as Health Quest Holistic Health http://www.holistichealth.com/. Both are good websites but the latter will probably always steer you to a vitamin or mineral remedy, or a product they sell. This can be harmful in some cases. Having many options and avenues for treatment for a single ailment is much better than just one and a true holistic approach. The net can be a great place for finding out about new or rediscovered therapies as well such as Aromatherapy http://www.fragrant.demon.co.uk, herbology http://www.botanical.com , bach flower remedies http://www.bachcentre.com/ and homeopathy http://www.homeopathyhome.com. One might be interested in trying something new such as yoga but doesn’t feel like traipsing to the store for a video or book on the subject, what if you don’t like it? What if it winds up sitting on a shelf only to collect dust? Ideas like this keep many from discovering new things but the net can alleviate all of this doubt by giving you a peek at subjects that interest you. If you visit http://www.timages.com/yoga.htm, try the moves and discover you love yoga, you can go buy books and videos to further your understanding later & be more apt to use them regularly.



Medical doctors, pharmacists and other mainstream practitioners are also now getting into the act with their own websites. They include well known names such as former US Surgeon General C. Everett Koop’s website www.drkoop.com which borders on information overload and Dr. Weil’s website www.drweil.com. Hospitals are maintaining informative sites too such as the Mayo Clinic at www.mayohealth.org. These high budget websites offer a great deal of information & interaction in one place, along with constant updating. Another trend on the Internet which Dr. Weil’s site includes is the ability to supposedly ask a real doctor, nurse or other type of practitioner a question electronically and get a personalized response back. This could be very beneficial for children who have self limiting problems and parents who want a quick, simple answer. Of course, just as your pediatrician probably isn’t holding working hours at 1 in the morning to take your calls, you will not likely get an e-mail answer either at off hours. It may even take longer than a day. A few pediatricians who have such websites include; http://www.drpaula.com, http://www.mindspring.com/~drwarren/DrWarren.html and http://www.drs4kids.com. Why they are doing this for free is a good question, most likely to encourage you to come in for a real visit Other popular ones are ask a dentist http://www.dentistdirectory.com/ask_dds.htm, ask a cardiologist http://www.bev.net/health/cadiac/ask_cardio.html and ask a podiatrist at http://www.srch.u-net.com. Make sure you read all about the Dr. and what to expect in the way of an answer to your health question(s). Never replace a doctor who physically examined you advice for that of a website doc’s.



Yet another popular area of the health web is cyber support groups and organizations which either give you a way to interact & talk with others in a similar position as you or a clearing house of information you can download. Once the only way to access such help was through local branches of an organization. If one didn’t live close to a metropolitan area, there was a good likely hood there wasn’t any local branch available. Writing away for information was another option but it could take weeks to get a response and organizations are known for running out of handouts frequently. There are a number of community like websites with many small communities located inside which you can join, such is the case with Yahoo! clubs.yahoo.com. They have a large number of health related groups and you even have the opportunity of starting your own for free there. Larger established organizations which have made the move online include; AA http://www.alcoholics-anonymous.org/ and the American Diabetes Assoc. http://www.diabetes.org.



One problem many people have is the actual searching for these helpful websites. Offten one becomes used to a certain search engine & never bothers to use any others. This isn’t good because no one search engine has every site listed on it. Some engines have search results which are too broad or long as well to be of any real help. A good general place to search is www.aj.com. It’s very user friendly in that it:
1.) allows you to ask a real question &
2.) searches it’s own database along with 5 other popular search engines at the same time.
Special search engines for health related websites have also started to pop up more and more which can be very helpful for giving exact matches to what you’re looking for. http://www.druginfonet.com/index.html, http://www.medsurf.com, http://www.medhelp.org and http://www.healthatoz.com are very good medicine related search engines to try. Health A to Z even more so because it has a panel of physicians who rate each website listed on a 1 to 5 basses and give their thoughts of the overall quality and helpfulness.



Although products such as herbs, vitamins, etc. have been marketed on the Internet for some time, prescription drugs are just now becoming more and more easily attainable as well. A number of pharmacies have started to offer online filling of prescriptions and a few doctors have even gone so far as to write prescriptions online without even physically examining the client. The latter can lead to many dangers including interactions between the newly prescribed medication(s) and preexisting ones, medical conditions, supplements, etc. that the online doctor was not told about or even if he was, would take into real consideration. Mostly these are drugs that men would use such a Viagra. They play on many mens reluctance to come in for a real office visit and their likelihood to except self diagnoses, hence the danger of using such sites. Online pharmacies can be on the other hand quite helpful, one of the best things about them is you can actually compare prices for prescriptions. Many store front pharmacies make it very hard for you to do this by not posting prices and being vague with you when you ask. A few to check out are, http://www.clickpharmacy.com, http://www.pharmacy.com, http://www.pharmacyinternational.com, http://www.rxuniverse.com, http://www.drugemporium.com and http://www.nofrillspharmacy.com. The key to using the Internet for your health needs is to have a sound mind, don’t take anything at face value. Pay special attention to the source of the website & ask yourself, are they trying to sell me something? Is this website made by a real MD or other sort of practitioner or by a lay person who read a few books? Where is this information really coming from, ones personal feelings or medical studies? The net has a lot to offer in the way of braking news in the area of health, the key is finding reputable sources for such information.

-by MAM






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Marie Anakee Miczak is the author of titles including "Secret Potions, Elixirs & Concoctions" (Lotus Press).


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