Staying healthy can be a daunting task. None of us wants bad news but we have to keep checking in with the body to make sure it's still functioning. Trying to figure out the best way to stay alive can be anxiety inducing. Not every headache and joint pain is cancer but.... sometimes it's something worse. Try to err on the side of caution, see a doctor, WebMD may be right once in a blue moon but it's not what you should rely on.
Redditor Oof_Padoof wanted to hear about all the best reasons why none of us should self diagnose through the world wide web and just get to the doctor by asking...
Doctors of Reddit, what is your worst case of "I googled my symptoms?"
27....
"Had a patient come in and tell us she is having vision issues that are new. Ok lets have a look........ oh, looks like you placed a contact over a contact...... 27 times."Darkdemonmachete
That was a horrible experience.
Giphy"I had a UTI, because I had the symptoms and Googled it. Day of doctor appointment, it was just a regular check up. But I asked for a UTI test since I explained how I was feeling. Convo went like this:"
"could it be possible to request a UTI testing? I've been feeling the symptoms of burning when I pee and some discomfort-"
"how do you feel now? Any pain?"
"well no not at the -"
"well if you did have a UTI the symptoms wouldn't go away you are fine"
"2 or so days later I get a full blown kidney infection from a, who would have guessed, a UTI. sent out a complaint, forget that doctor. I always ask for a test if I am suspicious of anything and I have them document it if they say no from now on. That was a horrible experience."chile-con-limon
This confuses the heck out of me.
"This confuses the heck out of me. When I go to a doctor they specifically ask if I've done research about whatever, like they expect it. Awkward position cause if I have researched I feel like an idiot using Dr Google and having medical student syndrome, if I haven't researched I get the distinct impression nice disappointed the doc."FluroJacket
Back Issues...
"Not a doctor, but my friend once said a guy came with a backache and wanted to get operated coz he thought he had kidney failure."The_RageHound
The Leg Feels...
"Ever since we studied multiple sclerosis in Neuro, I'm convinced I have it, despite my only symptom being parestesis (funny feelz) in my legs at night." Interferonno2fan
Deja Vu...
Giphy"Not a doctor, but throughout my childhood and teen years I had these weird episodes where I would suddenly have really bad Deja Vu and get very nauseous. For the next few hours afterward I would feel like I was in a fog and my memory would be shit. Eventually I googled my symptoms and learned they might be minor epileptic seizures."
"I went to a doctor and he laughed it off and told me it was probably just having panic attacks related to the normal emotions of being a teenager. I was so sure he was wrong that I opted to go get an EEG - turns out I have a mild form of epilepsy and google was totally right."mambo_number_69
You seem Heavier...
"Not a doctor, but the brother of the patient... and "worst" being on the money. My older sister diagnosed herself as having symptoms of systematic heart failure. Her new primary doctor agreed and gave her some basic guidelines of what to do, and had her visit her cardiologist. The cardiologist pooh-poohed her, saying there was probably nothing to worry about and scheduled a test in a few days just to be on the safe side."
"One of the things her primary had her looking out for was sudden weight gain, and when she woke up two days later suddenly 6 pounds heavier, we went straight to the emergency room, who ran tests, including an echocardiogram. Her injection fraction was 12, and they immediately sent her to the biggest hospital in the area, where they ended up saving her life from congestive heart failure. She had had at least two silent heart attacks due to the amount of damage they found."lostjaggi
Easy Fix.
"Not a doctor but I was having horrible debilitating headaches for awhile, googled my symptoms and they ranged from stress to brain cancer. Ended up being sinusitis." hangryguy
Not the Nipple...
"I had an insect bite basically next to my nipple. It was itching like crazy, and my usual bite cream said not to be used on nipples, so I decided to Google what else I could do to relieve it. Found out that apparently no one else has ever had an insect bite on their nipple, but that what looks like an insect bite on or right next to your nipple is almost certainly inflammatory breast cancer. Phoned up my GP (we used to be neighbors so I kind of knew him) and was in a right state because I thought I had this incredibly aggressive form of breast cancer. He listened to me for a minute, asked a couple of questions and then said, "It's an insect bite. Come back to me if it's still there in three weeks. Oh, and try deodorant on it."
"The deodorant calmed it right down, and it had gone by about five days afterwards."The_Sown_Rose
dUDE....
Giphy"Not really related to this topic, but I am a medical student.. and recently got stye in my eye. Stye is usually self- diagnosable but I called up my cousin who is a doctor just to confirm... Anyways, when I was telling this incident to one of my friends, he started scolding me saying as a medical professional, I should set the example of going to the doctor and getting proper medicines and treatment and all I could say was, "dude, I'm becoming a doc, I know how doctors are" Doctors especially when they know you're a medical student tend to over diagnose or pretend as if we have "medical student syndrome". But anyways, got the meds and my eye's healing 😁."jamiejohn21
Serious answer:
Giphy"I try to ask my patients if they have googled their symptoms. It gives me a lot of information about what they are worried about. I then try to stay humble about their findings, and try to not be a jerk about that. Trust is not built by telling people they are stupid. However, it is hard to keep a straight face when a 50-year old male walks in and says "I think I have caught the Down's syndrome", or when a young women thought she had testicular cancer."Santy924
Oh Jack. Is that you?
"I had a grade school kid tell me he had a brain tumor. Turns out he put a dried bean in his ear and forgot about it."
"Edit: Okay, wow. Well, to answer a few questions, the kid was 9 or 10, so no stupider than your average 9 or 10 year old. He didn't really have a reason why, but they'd been using beans for some counting thing in math at school. I don't know what kind of bean it was- small and red. It came out with tweezers. This was years ago and he has probably forgotten all about it, unless his mom reminds him periodically (I would.)" jcb42x
Surprise!!
"Paramedic student here. Last week we had a call for an imminent delivery. Pt started having abdominal pain that would last a little bit and stop. And about 2-3 min later would start again. She googled her symptoms and everything she found was saying she was in labor. She called her husband and he told her to call 911. We walked in as the baby was crowning. She had no idea she was pregnant."jesus-christ-of-ems
"Do you even know what gestational means?"
"Not a doctor, but I had a coworker come into the office with this one. He was having nausea, fatigue, frequent urination and decided to WebMD that crap. We're chatting in the office one day and he says something like "Yeah, I've been feeling like poop lately, and it sounds like gestational diabetes but I can't find any cases of men getting it." I just slowly lowered my head into my hand and asked him "Do you even know what gestational means?" He did not."dalgeekdalgeek
The Crackle...
Giphy"Not a doctor but when my fiance said he was having chest pains and when he breathed, it crackled, I googled and all of the symptoms lead to serious illnesses such a collapsed lung. Thought nothing of it, diagnosed it ourselves as an allergy and didn't go to a doctor till later in the day. It was in fact a fully deflated collapsed lung."charli1409
Feel the Crave....
"Not a doctor but worked at a hospital for a while. One of our doctors came back to the nurses station laughing because someone was fully convinced they were diabetic because they were "craving" water and webmd said that makes them diabetic. Turns out they are just human and require it to live." kiesertomasi
Impressive.
"Actually am a doctor, but this story is from medical school:"
"I had a patient who correctly diagnosed herself with mastitis, although she was very worried that she had inflammatory carcinoma of the breasts. To be fair, they can look similar."
"Another time, I had a patient correctly diagnose a lump in her breast as a fibroadenoma. I was very impressed."Reddit
So Many Groin Issues...
"This is in the occupational health field and we had a young gentleman come in who was pretty sure he had a groin hernia according to his Google search. He said he'd been lifting produce crates and experienced sharp, overwhelming pain in his groin. The doctor came back out after seeing him and was clearly fighting laughter by the time he got to the desk. Turns out the kid had Chlamydia which had caused things to become swollen and just happened to get symptomatic while he was at work."OmnoraMayday
Don't Leave.
"In 2013 i was feeling awful. Shaking, puking/dry heaving, shaking, excruciating and debilitating pain. Went to the ER had blood work done that I never knew what it said and the doctor told me it was a gallbladder attack, gave me pain meds and sent me home. Three days later I was even worse. Couldn't eat, couldn't sleep, the only relief I felt was when I was in scalding hot bath."
"I finally went back to the ER and they did more blood work and told me my gallbladder was septic and my pancreatic enzymes were 6500 and rising (they should have only been 100-150) and I was dying. I was admitted and when they did my gallbladder removal, my gallbladder was solid black and had 80 stones and a tar like substance from sepsis. Come to find out the first time I went to the ER my enzymes were 2000, I should never have been allowed to leave the hospital."AngelFears1676
Brain Matters.....
Giphy"Not a doctor but I deal with migraines. I would not be surprised if someone experienced a migraine for the first time, googled their symptoms while they still had the clarity to do so, and went to the ER thinking they are having a stroke." spaghatta111
While the web can be a great resource, it's best to go a real medical professional for any diagnoses.
Do you have similar experiences to share? Let us know in the comments below.
Experiencing death is a fascinating and frightening idea.
Who doesn't want to know what is waiting for us on the other side?
But so many of us want to know and then come back and live a little longer.
It would be so great to be sure there is something else.
But the whole dying part is not that great, so we'll have to rely on other people's accounts.
Redditor AlaskaStiletto wanted to hear from everyone who has returned to life, so they asked:
"Redditors who have 'died' and come back to life, what did you see?"
Sensations
Happy Good Vibes GIF by Major League SoccerGiphy"My dad's heart stopped when he had a heart attack and he had to be brought back to life. He kept the paper copy of the heart monitor which shows he flatlined. He said he felt an overwhelming sensation of peace, like nothing he had felt before."
PeachesnPain
Recovery
"I had surgical complications in 2010 that caused a great deal of blood loss. As a result, I had extremely low blood pressure and could barely stay awake. I remember feeling like I was surrounded by loved ones who had passed. They were in a circle around me and I knew they were there to guide me onwards. I told them I was not ready to go because my kids needed me and I came back."
"My nurse later said she was afraid she’d find me dead every time she came into the room."
"It took months, and blood transfusions, but I recovered."
good_golly99
Take Me Back
"Overwhelming peace and happiness. A bright airy and floating feeling. I live a very stressful life. Imagine finding out the person you have had a crush on reveals they have the same feelings for you and then you win the lotto later that day - that was the feeling I had."
"I never feared death afterward and am relieved when I hear of people dying after suffering from an illness."
rayrayrayray
Free
The Light Minnie GIF by (G)I-DLEGiphy"I had a heart surgery with near-death experience, for me at least (well the possibility that those effects are caused by morphine is also there) I just saw black and nothing else but it was warm and I had such inner peace, its weird as I sometimes still think about it and wish this feeling of being so light and free again."
TooReDTooHigh
This is why I hate surgery.
You just never know.
Shocked
Giphy"More of a near-death experience. I was electrocuted. I felt like I was in a deep hole looking straight up in the sky. My life flashed before me. Felt sad for my family, but I had a deep sense of peace."
Admirable_Buyer6528
The SOB
"Nursing in the ICU, we’ve had people try to die on us many times during the years, some successfully. One guy stood out to me. His heart stopped. We called a code, are working on him, and suddenly he comes to. We hadn’t vented him yet, so he was able to talk, and he started screaming, 'Don’t let them take me, don’t let them take me, they are coming,' he was scared and yelling."
"Then he yelled a little more, as we tried to calm him down, he screamed, 'No, No,' and gestured towards the end of the bed, and died again. We didn’t get him back. It was seriously creepy. We called his son to tell him the news, and the son said basically, 'Good, he was an SOB.'”
1-cupcake-at-a-time
Colors
"My sister died and said it was extremely peaceful. She said it was very loud like a train station and lots of talking and she was stuck in this area that was like a curtain with lots of beautiful colors (colors that you don’t see in real life according to her) a man told her 'He was sorry, but she had to go back as it wasn’t her time.'"
Hannah_LL7
"I had a really similar experience except I was in an endless garden with flowers that were colors I had never seen before. It was quiet and peaceful and a woman in a dress looked at me, shook her head, and just said 'Not yet.' As I was coming back, it was extremely loud, like everyone in the world was trying to talk all at once. It was all very disorienting but it changed my perspective on life!"
huntokarrr
The Fog
"I was in a gray fog with a girl who looked a lot like a young version of my grandmother (who was still alive) but dressed like a pioneer in the 1800s she didn't say anything but kept pulling me towards an opening in the wall. I kept refusing to go because I was so tired."
"I finally got tired of her nagging and went and that's when I came to. I had bled out during a c-section and my heart could not beat without blood. They had to deliver the baby and sew up the bleeders. refill me with blood before they could restart my heart so, like, at least 12 minutes gone."
Fluffy-Hotel-5184
Through the Walls
"My spouse was dead for a couple of minutes one miserable night. She maintains that she saw nothing, but only heard people talking about her like through a wall. The only thing she remembers for absolute certain was begging an ER nurse that she didn't want to die."
"She's quite alive and well today."
Hot-Refrigerator6583
Well let's all be happy to be alive.
It seems to be all we have.
Trying to lose weight is a struggle understood by many people regardless of size.
The goal of reaching a healthy weight may seem unattainable, but with diet and exercise, it can pay off through persistence and discipline.
Seeing the pounds gradually drop off can also be a great motivator and incentivize people to stay the course.
Those who've achieved their respective weight goals shared their experiences when Redditor apprenti8455 asked:
"People who lost a lot of weight, what surprises you the most now?"
Redditors didn't see these coming.
Shiver Me Timbers
"I’m always cold now!"
– Telrom_1
"I had a coworker lose over 130 pounds five or six years ago. I’ve never seen him without a jacket on since."
– r7ndom
"140 lbs lost here starting just before COVID, I feel like that little old lady that's always cold, damn this top comment was on point lmao."
– mr_remy
Drawing Concern
"I lost 100 pounds over a year and a half but since I’m old(70’s) it seems few people comment on it because (I think) they think I’m wasting away from some terminal illness."
– dee-fondy
"Congrats on the weight loss! It’s honestly a real accomplishment 🙂"
"Working in oncology, I can never comment on someone’s weight loss unless I specifically know it was on purpose, regardless of their age. I think it kind of ruffles feathers at times, but like I don’t want to congratulate someone for having cancer or something. It’s a weird place to be in."
– LizardofDeath
Unleashing Insults
"I remember when I lost the first big chunk of weight (around 50 lbs) it was like it gave some people license to talk sh*t about the 'old' me. Old coworkers, friends, made a lot of not just negative, but harsh comments about what I used to look like. One person I met after the big loss saw a picture of me prior and said, 'Wow, we wouldn’t even be friends!'”
"It wasn’t extremely common, but I was a little alarmed by some of the attention. My weight has been up and down since then, but every time I gain a little it gets me a little down thinking about those things people said."
– alanamablamaspama
Not Everything Goes After Losing Weight
"The loose skin is a bit unexpected."
– KeltarCentauri
"I haven’t experienced it myself, but surgery to remove skin takes a long time to recover. Longer than bariatric surgery and usually isn’t covered by insurance unless you have both."
– KatMagic1977
"It definitely does take a long time to recover. My Dad dropped a little over 200 pounds a few years back and decided to go through with skin removal surgery to deal with the excess. His procedure was extensive, as in he had skin taken from just about every part of his body excluding his head, and he went through hell for weeks in recovery, and he was bedridden for a lot of it."
– Jaew96
These Redditors shared their pleasantly surprising experiences.
Shopping
"I can buy clothes in any store I want."
– WaySavvyD
"When I lost weight I was dying to go find cute, smaller clothes and I really struggled. As someone who had always been restricted to one or two stores that catered to plus-sized clothing, a full mall of shops with items in my size was daunting. Too many options and not enough knowledge of brands that were good vs cheap. I usually went home pretty frustrated."
– ganache98012
No More Symptoms
"Lost about 80 pounds in the past year and a half, biggest thing that I’ve noticed that I haven’t seen mentioned on here yet is my acid reflux and heartburn are basically gone. I used to be popping tums every couple hours and now they just sit in the medicine cabinet collecting dust."
– colleennicole93
Expanding Capabilities
"I'm all for not judging people by their appearance and I recognise that there are unhealthy, unachievable beauty standards, but one thing that is undeniable is that I can just do stuff now. Just stamina and flexibility alone are worth it, appearance is tertiary at best."
– Ramblonius
People Change Their Tune
"How much nicer people are to you."
"My feet weren't 'wide' they were 'fat.'"
– LiZZygsu
"Have to agree. Lost 220 lbs, people make eye contact and hold open doors and stuff"
"And on the foot thing, I also lost a full shoe size numerically and also wear regular width now 😅"
– awholedamngarden
It's gonna take some getting used to.
Bones Everywhere
"Having bones. Collarbones, wrist bones, knee bones, hip bones, ribs. I have so many bones sticking out everywhere and it’s weird as hell."
– Princess-Pancake-97
"I noticed the shadow of my ribs the other day and it threw me, there’s a whole skeleton in here."
– bekastrange
Knee Pillow
"Right?! And they’re so … pointy! Now I get why people sleep with pillows between their legs - the knee bones laying on top of each other (side sleeper here) is weird and jarring."
– snic2030
"I lost only 40 pounds within the last year or so. I’m struggling to relate to most of these comments as I feel like I just 'slimmed down' rather than dropped a ton. But wow, the pillow between the knees at night. YES! I can relate to this. I think a lot of my weight was in my thighs. I never needed to do this up until recently."
– Strongbad23
More Mobility
"I’ve lost 100 lbs since 2020. It’s a collection of little things that surprise me. For at least 10 years I couldn’t put on socks, or tie my shoes. I couldn’t bend over and pick something up. I couldn’t climb a ladder to fix something. Simple things like that I can do now that fascinate me."
"Edit: Some additional little things are sitting in a chair with arms, sitting in a booth in a restaurant, being able to shop in a normal store AND not needing to buy the biggest size there, being able to easily wipe my butt, and looking down and being able to see my penis."
– dma1965
People making significant changes, whether for mental or physical health, can surely find a newfound perspective on life.
But they can also discover different issues they never saw coming.
That being said, overcoming any challenge in life is laudable, especially if it leads to gaining confidence and ditching insecurities.