Last year, I Googled “cure me”, clicked on the first link that came up, answered about 950 questions, and was given a few solutions. I knew I had pneumonia at the time, but had absolutely no money for doctor bills, no insurance and really no faith in modern medicine. Although I’ve always tried to remain on the natural side of healing, I’d been put on antibiotics at least 5 times that year for ear infections – as a last resort. I knew that the antibiotics were what really wore me to the point of pneumonia, and I just wanted to find some natural remedy for it.
Nearly 1000 questions and 2 hours later, I was left with a list of potential illnesses including liver damage, bacterial dysbiosis and of course, pneumonia. What I got from the website was a possible cause for the pneumonia and a road map for healing. Of course, I was left with a bunch of research to do – but the site really sent me in the right direction.
Can this Work for You?
If you are concerned with your health and lack the funds to see doctors, I believe that the internet is a great place to start. Don’t expect the system to cure you, or even correctly diagnose you – but it can give you ideas to discuss with your doctor and even lead you toward which doctors and tests you should research.
Never Blindly Trust Doctors or Health Websites
You should always research doctors, symptoms and medications before deciding on a treatment plan that is right for you. I usually start on the internet, read some of the resources used by the particular website, then I round it off by looking though medical journals (at the library), and interview doctors and holistic practitioners. If you try this, you may be very surprised at the contradicting information that’s out there.
The web provides us with all this knowledge about our health. If we can fish through the contradictions, and take time to consider options, we can become our own best doctors.
Here are a few good resources to get your started:
General Health:
Aetna Intelihealth
http://www.intelihealth.com/
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
http://www.cdc.gov
Familydoctor.org
http://familydoctor.org/familydoctor/en.html
healthfinder
http://www.healthfinder.gov/
Mayo Clinic
http://www.mayoclinic.com/
MedlinePlus
http://www.medlineplus.gov
Women’s Health:
HealthyWomen
http://www.healthywomen.org/
National Institutes of Health, NIH Office of Research on Women’s Health: Women’s Health Resources – Women’s Health Resources from NIH.
http://www.womenshealthresources.nlm.nih.gov/about.html
U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Office on Women’s Health: womenshealth.gov
http://womenshealth.gov/
Parenting and Kids:
aboutkidshealth.com – from The Hospital for Sick Children
http://www.aboutkidshealth.ca/
American Academy of Pediatrics
http://www.healthychildren.org
KidsHealth.org
http://www.kidshealth.org
National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD)
http://www.nichd.nih.gov/health
St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital
http://www.stjude.org/caregiverresources
Teen Health
http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/teenhealth.html
Seniors’ Health:
Administration on Aging
http://aoa.gov/AoARoot/Index.aspx
The AGS Foundation for Health in Aging
http://www.healthinaging.org
National Institute on Aging
http://www.nia.nih.gov/
NIH Senior Health
http://nihseniorhealth.gov/
Complementary and Alternative Medicine:
American Chiropractic Association
http://www.acatoday.org/patients/index.cfm
Longwood Herbal Task Force (LHTF)
http://www.longwoodherbal.org
National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine (NCCAM)
http://nccam.nih.gov/
I guess the above resources are sufficient to get you started on your research and find solutions to your medical problems.
Gina Laverde is a Chicago-based writer and researcher whose expertise in natural health stems from her experiences with Body Ecology Diet, Blood Type Diet and homeopathic remedies. Gina believes that we’re in the midst of a serious world health crisis, and that the key to survival lies within our guts.
Leave a Reply