Thanks to the internet

I was musing the other day about whether the information available via the Web is more useful than not in terms of health issues. It's something I hadn't really reflected on in my own case, but, on doing so, I realise that had I not been able to read up on my pre-diagnosis symptoms and obtain information about them so easily, I may not  (almost certainly would not) have persisted in returning to my healthcare providers, insisting something much more serious was wrong than they were suggesting. Without that information, I probably wouldn't even have started writing this blog because I simply wouldn't have been around to do so.

Maybe the Web has encouraged hypochondria, but for every unnecessary visit to the doctor, there are people like me who would have accepted what they were told by the healthcare professionals, had it not been for being able to access that information and to engage in online support forums. It does make me wonder, though, about those people who don't have access to this source of information - what happens to them?