Dr. Celia Garner with Avenues Internal Medicine says it’s important to find reliable medical resources. She shares her top picks.
Websites for understanding symptoms
-Mayo Clinic Symptom Checker
www.mayoclinic.com
This site has multiple common symptoms with some questions to help narrow down what the more likely causes are. The explanations of particular diagnoses are clear, concise and not too technical. It has a downloadable app from iTunes for $2.99.
-WebMD Symptom Checker
www.symptoms.webmd.com
This site is a bit less user friendly and can give a bit too much information but is quite useful for obtaining a wide list of possible causes of symptoms especially when the symptoms are not common symptoms. It has a free downloadable app.
Websites for understanding diagnoses
-National Institutes of Health
www.health.nih.gov
Easily searchable site with a lot of information about just about any diagnosis. The information is high quality although it can be a bit vague.
-MedLinePlus
www.medlineplus.gov
This site has a great drug database that includes supplements that doctors are often not as familiar with. There is also a lot of information in multiple languages.
-FamilyDoctor
www.familydoctor.org
This site has a wealth of information, what makes it stand out that it has many audio and video components.
-Emedicine
www.emedicine.medscape.com
This provides very in depth and technical information (geared more towards those who have some medical back ground). It would be helpful for those who are interested in really delving into a certain condition. It has a free downloadable app.
Women specific sites
-Healthy Women
www.healthywomen.org
This site has a wealth of information on health issues specific to women ranging from breast cancer to hormonal replacement therapy to incontinence.
Books
-General Health
Mayo Clinic Family Health Book
Excellent general resource for the whole family.
-Women’s Health
Our Bodies, Ourselves: A New Edition for a New Era
The Boston Women’s Health Collective is a non-profit public interest women’s health education, advocacy, and consulting organization that first published this book in 1970. It has been constantly updated to include up to date issues confronting women’s health.
The Women’s Complete Healthbook
by American Medical Women’s Association
This book is a straightforward, well written manual to explain many conditions pertaining to women’s health.
Tips for evaluating resources on your own
-Always check where the information is coming from!! Look at who wrote the article (is it an M.D. or not? Is it an MD or person who has a specialty in the particular field? Etc.), where the article is published or published from (does it come from Harvard Medical School or No Name Medical School? Is it supported by the National Institutes of Health? Etc.), and make sure there are sources cited for the information provided in the article.
-Articles in the popular press (i.e. the newspaper, magazines, etc.) often do provide a good basic idea but can tend to interpret studies incorrectly or place inappropriate emphasis on how significant the results.
Dr. Celia Garner specializes in internal medicine. She can be reached at Avenues Internal Medicine in Salt Lake City. 324 10th Avenue, Suite 285
801-408-2888
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