Youth vs. Experience

Dr. Mom

Sometimes I wonder about the "progress" of modern medicine.

A few years ago, after a severe bout with the flu, I awoke one morning convinced that my lung had grown to my rib cage overnight and it protested vehemently about being dislodged every time I coughed. After several hours of misery I figured the only thing to do with a cantankerous lung was to tote it off to the medicine man to see what he had to say.

The emergency-room doctor was a young chap still new enough in his profession to be sympathetic but not experienced enough to be trusted. He gave a listen through his stethoscope. My lung, like most windbags, stayed suspiciously silent all the while he eavesdropped, only to revert to its former painful self the minute he turned his back. Perplexed, the doctor sent me for X-rays to make sure my complaints were valid.

My lung was not very photogenic. In the next three weeks I was X-rayed so often I began to feel like a piece of baggage dragged through the airport security scanner. Somehow the doctor and the radiologists could not reach a consensus of opinion.

"I believe you have pneumonia. Take these pills and come back in a week," said one.

"Hmm... I doubt if you do have pneumonia. Take these pills and come back in two weeks," said the other.

As I gagged and choked down dozens of huge capsules, friend hubby remarked he had dosed horses with less difficulty. "We just opened their mouths and aimed the pills at the back of their throats with a gadget called a Sure-shot gun. Worked every time!"

The mountain of pills slowly disappeared, but my lung still felt glued to my rib cage. A second medical opinion eventually concurred with the first: I had a viral infection of the chest muscle and it would simply disappear with time. The virus, that is. The chest muscle was there to stay, despite its painful protests.

Several weeks later, complaining to my 90-year-old mother about wasting hours and hours at doctor's appointments, half a dozen paper gowns in X-ray clinics, numerous dollars worth of medicine at pharmacies, and a tank of gasoline driving back and forth, I received no sympathy whatsoever.

"Humph!" was her retort. "I had that once. Cured it with a mustard plaster."

Next time I get sick I think I'll consult with an old-timer first.

-- Alma Barkman is a Winnipeg freelance writer,

photographer and homemaker

Dr. Google

Have a tickle in your throat that won't go away? Bothered by an itchy eye that keeps twitching? Wonder if it's normal that your left earlobe feels like it's on fire?

My bet is that if you're feeling "not quite right," you've Googled your symptoms. Today it seems that many people consult the Internet before going to the doctor. And I'm one of those people; on more than one occasion I've typed my symptoms into a search engine to try to get a sense of what's going on with my body.

I certainly don't place much faith in an online diagnosis -- being able to use a computer doesn't mean you've got a medical licence. But that doesn't stop me from taking a peek at what the Internet says.

I don't know what I would have done without the Internet when my daughter was born. As a new mom, I had no idea what to expect or what was considered "normal." Websites such as babycenter.com provided great tips and tricks for the minor stuff.

The scary thing is when people don't think critically about what they're reading. First things first: Consider the source. What websites are you visiting? Is the Canadian Medical Association providing the information and research, or is it your neighbour Pete on his blog?

That being said, is it possible that a computer will double as a doctor's assistant in the future? U.S. researchers from the National Institutes of Health and the National Library of Medicine are working on a project to find out if computers can interpret "the tone and meaning of questions phrased by online patients." More than 200,000 questions have been compiled from a website that provides free medical advice (AskTheDoctor.com), in addition to 9,000 medical questions collected from Stanford University and the University of Minnesota. Physicians have answered more than 10,000 of the questions gathered from the website.

In a recent article, AskTheDoctor.com co-founder Dr. Suneel Sharman said, "Imagine the amount of time physicians could save if they could ask a computer assistant a question and receive an instant and accurate response."

So what's the best course of action if you're sick? Should you put your trust in the old-timer, the doctor, your instincts or the Internet? Maybe it doesn't hurt to look to them all. I'm inclined to say the more informed you are, the better.

-- Alana Odegard is a senior student

in Red River College's creative communications program

Republished from the Winnipeg Free Press print edition February 5, 2012 A10