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Anxiety, Disorders, Health News, Medical News, Mental Health, health

Internet Counseling

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The internet has it all! Even licensed therapists to engage in counseling sessions with you if need be.

Asktheinternettherapist.com has audiovisual and text chats available for anyone looking for someone to talk to about mental health issues. Although there is a disclaimer at the bottom that the information on the site is meant to complement information from your physician, not replace it, it can still be helpful for many.

Also on the site are free discussion boards where people can connect and network with other individuals who share similar experiences. As far as mediums of communication via the world-wide-web we offer video, telephone, chat, e-mail, and face-to-face in-office therapy. According to their site, “As far as mediums of communication via the world-wide-web we offer video, telephone, chat, e-mail, and face-to-face in-office therapy.The different issues covered by our online counselors and medical staff can range from Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, Substance Abuse, Alcoholism, Family Issues, Relationship Problems, Marriage Problems, Career Coaching, Grief Help , Life Transition, Spiritual Guidance, Chiropractor Questions, Family Medicine, Massage Therapy, Nutrition Advice, Natural Medicine, Alternative Medicine, among many others.”

Costs range for $40-$120.

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April 9, 2010 · Tagged with , ,

Anxiety, Disorders, Health News, Medical News, Mental Health, health, health care

Cyberchondria–It’s real and on the rise

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John Markoff of the New York Times, wrote a really great article in November of ‘08 profiling Microsoft’s study of Cyberchondria. Cyberchondria is a term that was coined around 2000 that refers to the jumping to conclusions of one’s health conditions after reading health info on the web. If you’ve ever know someone who had a headache, looked it up on WebMD and then promptly determined they had a brain tumor, you’ve met a Cyberchondriac.

Microsoft ended up taking on a study that to survey popular health related web searches on popular search engines. The goal of the the study was to use the results to help shape the features of Microsoft’s search service, so it could be thought of as more of an adviser than a blind information retrieval tool.

From the article:

“They found that Web searches for things like headache and chest pain were just as likely or more likely to lead people to pages describing serious conditions as benign ones, even though the serious illnesses are much more rare.

For example, there were just as many results that linked headaches with brain tumors as with caffeine withdrawal, although the chance of having a brain tumor is infinitesimally small.

The researchers said they had not intended their work to send the message that people should ignore symptoms. But their examination of search records indicated that researching particular symptoms often led quickly to anxiousness.

They found that roughly 2 percent of all Web queries were health-related, and about 250,000 users, or about a quarter of the sample, engaged in a least one medical search during the study.

About a third of the subjects “escalated” their follow-up searches to explore serious illnesses, the researchers said.”

Pretty interesting stuff!

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April 8, 2010 · Tagged with

Uncategorized

Social Networking for Medical Professionals

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The internet has really united people from all walks of life, and allows you to connect with people much like yourself who you never would have met otherwise. The shaky economy has had a hard impact on health care facilities, prompting many doctors to reach out and expand through networking. DrConnected.com allows medical professionals to link up connect like never before.

Subscription to DrConnected is free and to begin, the user builds a Public Profile that displays the physician’s name, specialization, name of practice, location, profile photo, organizations and hospital affiliations. It is a fantastic tool for practices to gain exposure. It even has a map on your profile of your practice, an instant messaging too, and an option to write a blog.

Each public profile is indexed in major search engines and can be viewed by those conducting the search. In addition, DrConnected alpha v.1.0 has the following features incorporated: Network List of Colleagues, Invite a Colleague, Blog, and Got Feedback Button.

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April 2, 2010 · Tagged with

Medical News, health, health care

Online Smoking Support Groups

Posted by Sarah · 1 Comment 

As they say, old habits die hard, and they die especially hard if they’re tough-to-break habits like smoking.
If you find yourself on that familiar loop of quitting and starting up again and quitting and starting up again, you need to sit back and figure out what you’re doing wrong.

A common sentiment with a lot of people is that if they had someone to hold them accountable, saying no to tobacco would be a lot easier. That’s why a lot of doctors recommend support groups.

When you’re trying to quit, you often feel like no one in the world understands what you’re going through or how hard it is to kick the habit. So it’s a huge relief when you meet someone else who’s struggling with quitting. They’ve tried and failed and tried again– just like you have.

If you need support but don’t have time or are a little shy, online support groups can be a great alternative to in-person groups. Although it’s online, it’s a great platform to share your frustrations and successes among encouraging people.

You can meet people from home, who you can turn to when the temptation starts to creep in.
So if you find yourself backsliding after you vowed to quit, check out online support groups and meet others who will tell you, quitting is possible and to keep up the hard work!

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February 22, 2010 · Tagged with , ,

Health News, health, health care

STD Check – The Right Thing To Do

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I’m a student and I don’t have health insurance. I don’t even know how to go about getting it. But when my girlfriend told me that she didn’t want to have sex until I got tested for STD’s, I knew I had to quickly take some kind of step to getting checked, without paying exorbitant sums.

So I checked online and found amidst the multitudes of health plan sites a place where I could go to get checked for HIV and all the other infections that result from promiscuity.  So I went to this clinic, and quickly they found a place for me. I produced a urine sample, and let them prick my finger, and then it was over!

A couple of weeks later, I got the results back. I’m clean! As if I wouldn’t be…and now my girlfriend is happy that I’m safe, and we’re safe, and we can be together safely. But seriously, being healthy and STD free is no joke. I’m glad that I took all the proper precautions, and I will continue to, because it’s better to be safe than sorry.

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February 18, 2010 · Tagged with

Children, Health News, Medical News, Mental Health, health, health care

Online Diagnosis is Convenient, But Not Always Credible

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I had a friend of mine recently joke with me about how after she lost her health insurance; she had to resort to Googling her symptoms when she had a problem. But apparently she isn’t the only patient seeking the internet’s “expertise”.
A recent study done by Scarborough Research found that over half of teens use the internet as the primary way of diagnosing their illnesses. And only 75 percent of people are verifying the credibility of the information they find.
Online, you can find a range of diagnosis services, that allow you type in your symptoms and find possible causes. But with this convenience, comes the need for caution and careful evaluation of the information being given.
Sites like Yahoo and Wiki offer users a platform to post threads, a place where many divulge their health questions, and get answers from other users. Although sometimes it’s beneficial to hear from someone who has experienced the same symptoms as you, only a doctor can accurately assess your ailments. Things like your medical history need to be taken into consideration when diagnosing, something a computer program may overlook.
A big problem with online diagnosing is that a range of symptoms can be caused by a range of health problems. A search for “abdominal pain” or “stomach discomfort” could lead to a range of illnesses such as indigestion to colon cancer.
All in all, neither you nor the internet is a trained and licensed physician. So take the information you find with a grain of salt. Verify its credibility and if the problems are really serious, you should go see a doctor for proper diagnosis and treatment.

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February 12, 2010 · Tagged with , ,

health

Get Fit On the Web!

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Diet & ExerciseYou can find almost everything online these days, and nutrition and weight loss information are no exception. The Internet is loaded with support programs, calorie counters, fitness programs, and educational articles. Best of all, many websites provide these services free of charge! Here are a few of our favorites:

FitDay: Sign up for a free journal that allows you to track your diet and exercise, with analysis and info on how far you are away from your goal. You don’t even have to know the calories – if you enter “peanut butter sandwich” or “300 jumping jacks,” the website will automatically calculate the number of calories you ate or burned. Some similar sites include: The Daily Plate, my-calorie-counter.com, nutridiary, and myfitnesspal.com.

CalorieKing: This site is a great resource for people who eat out a lot, as you can look up the nutrition info for almost every well known restaurant, fast food, and coffeehouse chain. CalorieKing also has info for generic meals, like a plate of pancakes from your local diner or glass of red wine at home.

WebMD: WebMD’s Healthy Eating & Diet Center features ways to track your diet and exercise, a BMI calculator, plus tons of useful articles on portion sizes, large weight loss goals, and more. The website also includes detailed information on every name-brand diet program, from Atkins to the Zone.

If you’re looking to burn body fat fast, these websites might be just the ticket!

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January 14, 2010 · Tagged with , , , , , ,