Feeling Ill? Try a Symptom Checker

How many times have you gotten sick and been worried that you could have something serious? Possible diagnoses start coming to mind but you’re never really sure. You end up turning to friends and family or searching symptoms on the Internet. Once in a while you find a friend or family member who can say “oh yeah, I had those symptoms, turned out I had an ulcer, you should see a gastroenterologist.” Still, it’s not very often that you find that someone who can confirm your suspicions.

In addition, over the last few years, a growing number of people end up in emergency rooms when really they should be going to a clinic or urgent care center. The RAND corporation estimates that as many as 40% of emergency room visits are for minor conditions like colds and back pain. That means you have to wait 4 hours or more on average to be seen by a doctor. Similarly, many people try to self medicate when they need to be heading to the emergency room, delaying the critical care they need. Who can blame them really? It seems that you need an MD just to know when to see a doctor.

When people feel new symptoms coming on, they naturally go to Google to understand what’s wrong. Unfortunately, Google isn’t a very good Doctor. Searching for “headache” overstates your risk of serious conditions like brain cancer or tuberculosis by as much as 1000x. With daily advances in technology, more accurate calculations are being made to propose likely medical conditions from a combination symptoms, health history, location and gender.

Symptom checkers have been designed for just this purpose. Powered by data, it is now possible to enter your signs and symptoms, check health data from several million reports over the past few years, and combine that with your past medical history to determine the most likely cause of your discomfort. The goal is to make sure anyone can begin to uncover what they may have as well as understand what steps they can take next to find relief.

If you’re like most of us and wondering what to do next time you’re sick, try going to symcat.com. It’s a new symptom checker that places powerful data from the Center for Disease Control at your fingertips and helps connect you to a solution whether it’s obtaining an over-the-counter medication or a doctor’s appointment.

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