see healthtap.com/
Wow - quick answers from medics - fre... - Lung Conditions C...
Wow - quick answers from medics - free ... I love the internet and how we can link up so easily
15 Replies
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lol juliekay 
healthtap.com/#user_questio... - the answer from Dr Andrew Carroll amused me, if only for the image of those little green bugs...
Jo_BLFHelplineBritish Lung Foundation
Hi Everyone
I don't want to spoil the fun,but..... i think we need to be really careful about sites like this. It is a site from abroad so the advice/information may be different, also we don't know if the medical advice they atre giving is correct.
This site is not a substitute for proper medical advice, obviously any problems see your doctor.
Best
Jo
Have to agree with Jo - why go to a website when you can talk to your doc, who knows your history, face to face or over the telephone?
Just had a look at the site JK; it's one I won't be visiting again.
My opinion - after trying it - is that I got a good sensible opinion about a leg wound that's not healing. That info may help me when I see my Doc soon about it, as I now know more about the options. Our NHS is mostly fab in my view and sometimes not so fab. This site is just another way to double check/ get another independent view. These guys are giving their time for free and other doctors on the site will tick to say if they agree or add something. Would of course be silly to be dependent on any one source. While I agree that we should always question every source of help and not blindly accept it, I really don't understand why people dismiss without adequate exploration or consideration. Especially when we do all google for extra info and indeed ask each other on this blog ... this is just that ... extra from some docs. I wouldn't use for some things of course where it's best for a medic to know me and myhistory, or for general info. each to his/her own
Well said , nothing is as sad as one who has a closed mind and is set in their ways.
I can't give details, but as an Assessor for the Information Standard amongst others, I today was working and spoke to a senior neurologist at a major London hospital. When talking he said, 'people do too much research on the internet and most of it is absolute boll*cks' (apparently that's a medical term - so he said). He has a piont though, be careful out there.
Lynne x
HiJuliekkay.You can always ask the BLF for starter advice,they will point you in the right direction. Richard Cornish
I agree with you juliekay. We're not stupid! We already know the internet has a lot of rubbish on it and are sensible enough to take a view on stuff we see on there. I appreciate why Jo from BLF feels obliged to sound a warning, but only an idiot would accept without question something they'd read on the net, unless they knew for sure it was a reputable site, eg BLF 
Davy has already made his decision and actually I probably won't use that site either, except maybe for the type of simple query julie mentions, and even then I'm not silly enough to totally rely on it. It's just a potentially useful adjunct and people should feel free to use their own intelligence & judgement about it.
I definitely don't agree with that neurologist Lynne. My husband has severe tinnitus and having been referred to a local ENT consultant was told "nothing can be done, get used to it, you might feel suicidal but in fact very few people with tinnitus actually commit suicide." Completely unhelpful, and wrong too! OH was in a pitiful state so I dedicated myself to finding a solution & spent long hours researching and pursuing every avenue on the net, finding potential therapies, getting him referred from one place to another until eventually we found a brilliant guy who is an renowned expert in tinnitus & has helped him enormously.
Why didn't the ENT consultant know about this guy? Because even senior doctors don't know everything, fact! and I for one find this lofty irritation with patients doing internet research in order to become better informed about matters which are affecting their own bodies extremely patronising
FF xx (kicking soapbox over as she jumps off it)
in reply to
well said, fairyfootsteps. soapboxes are great, eh
and also am very interested in your tinnitus research ... I have had it or over 20 years, and found nothing to help yet. x Julie
Hi Julie - Yeah I think it's fair to say I know quite a bit about it now! I presume you know about the British Tinnitus Association? And Action on Hearing Loss. There is a lot of info you can download from there, & discussion forums, but quite honestly that was just a starting point for us (I say "us" cos I feel like I've been on the tinnitus journey alongside him!) My husband has been very badly affected, whereas I too have had a degree of tinnitus for yrs (since IV gentamycin) but I don't "suffer" from it because the sound isn't particularly intrusive & I manage to ignore it most of the time.
Anyway the best thing would for me to send you a pm, which I will as soon as I've got time to write it all down! Promise I won't forget but am having to try and find an outfit for a wedding on Sat (bit late I know) so may take me a few days
FF x
in reply to
I look forward to hearing from you, thanks. Enjoy the wedding
in reply to
Hi FF. Did you enjoy the wedding ?
Hi Julie - not really, I'm not that fond of weddings! Such a long day to be stuck indoors, I'm an outdoors person.
I know what you're thinking sweetie but I haven't forgotten you, I've been thinking of you and your tinnitus, and will find the time to write my OH's various experiences as soon as I can. I am off to Arundel today in pursuit of a new gas fire as my house is on top of a hill and hence very draughty, but hope to be able to write to you this evening!
love, FF x
