Finding Accurate Medical Information on Illnesses and Health

[MineralMan]

If you search for, say "osteoarthritis" on Google, you'll get an amazing number of search results. Many of them will be for websites that are selling some sort of treatment or medication for that particular illness. It's a cinch that you're not likely to get reliable, accurate medical information at those sites, but it's hard to pick out the good sites that will give you information on the condition, in terms you can understand, and without a bias toward some particular way of dealing with it.

There are, however, a number of general medical sites that offer factual, science-based information on a wide range of health concerns. On these sites, you can learn about symptoms, treatments, prognosis, and much more, all in lay language and all dedicated to providing you with the information you need so you can discuss the condition with your medical professionals and better understand the information they give you about your personal health concerns. Here's a list of some of the reliable, science-based sites you can use to quickly search for a condition and get information you can trust and understand:

Mayo Clinic - http://www.mayoclinic.com
Medline from the National Institutes of Health - http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus
WebMD - http://www.webmd.com
emedicinehealth - http://www.emedicinehealth.com/script/main/hp.asp
MedScape - http://emedicine.medscape.com/
New York Times Health Guide - http://health.nytimes.com/health/guides/index.html
FamilyDoctor - http://familydoctor.org/online/famdocen/home.html
HealthFinder - http://www.healthfinder.gov/

Start with any of these. You'll learn the basics of almost any health issue, and you'll find links to additional information you can use to better understand your health conditions and concerns. Start with the real facts, and then go on from there.

[uppityperson]

1. I often use the mayo clinic. They seem to have more info, more choice, than

the others. They also are quite reasonable. I used to write patient ed info for a software company, so am particular in what I use now as so many of them are simply repeats.