Becoming computer literate can be a danger to your health. But not just in the ways you may think – such as a sore back or neck or repetitive strain injury derived from incorrect posture.

The ability to surf the web brings a world of information to your fingertips but it doesn’t necessarily give you the ability to analyse it correctly.

The older we get, the more likely it is we will suffer aches and pains, symptoms and ailments. And the more technologically savvy we become, the more tempting it is to say to ourselves “sure I’ll just check it online” rather than calling into a pharmacist or making an appointment with a GP.

Self-diagnosis and self-administering of medication via the internet is the danger to your health.


Sick with worry

While the Internet is a useful tool for gathering information on most topics under the sun, it is also fraught with danger – the biggest of them being the user’s inability to interpret the results it throws up. A search engine can also become a self-fulfilling prophecy in that the results will reflect only the words being fed into it.

For example, google the words ‘shivers’ and ‘aches’ and you will get diagnoses ranging from flu to iron deficiency! Self-diagnosis is no substitute for professional advice. You can end up making yourself sick with worry over nothing. Or, even worse, you can ignore a potentially serious condition because you have assessed it wrongly.


Self-medication

Typing in these words also threw up a bewildering array of medicines designed to treat the shivers and aches.

The other problem with self-diagnosis is that it could lead to self-medication and buying prescription-only products online. The sale of prescription-only medicines by mail order is illegal in Ireland but that hasn’t stopped the practice flourishing here. In 2009 alone, the Irish Medicines Board intercepted 42,000 potentially harmful tablets. These were destroyed with no compensation to the purchasers.

It’s easy to see why the convenience and freedom afforded by the Internet would tempt people to self-diagnose and seek a cure online rather than go to the expense and time of visiting a doctor but there is another free, convenient option.


Visit your pharmacist

Pharmacists are the first port of call in the healthcare system. These highly-qualified professionals are more than able to dispense wise advice as well as suitable medicines. Community pharmacists can deal with many health problems on the spot - you don’t need an appointment and you can speak to them in private if you wish.

Liz Hoctor, the president of the Irish Pharmacy Union, warns there are potentially serious implications for patients who choose to self-medicate.

“Before dispensing a medication to a patient, the pharmacist checks for possible drug interactions; incorrect drug dosage and clinical abuse,” she says. “Patients buying medicines over the Internet also have no way of knowing whether the medicines are counterfeit or genuine.”

Some of the dangers of buying medicines over the Internet include:

• Counterfeiting (The World Health Organisation estimates that 50% of medicines bought online are fake);
• There is no way of telling what the medicines actually contain;
• There is often no information leaflet accompanying the medicines; and

Source: Irish Pharmacy Union

We may think we know what’s best for us and generally we do. But when it comes to our health, the chances are a professional will know better. The adage “better safe than sorry” definitely applies to scheduling a GP visit or going to a pharmacist rather than diagnosing online.