Crowd sourcing your health

Are you crowd sourcing your health and well-being?

In an age where we have access to some much information and resources, far too many are taking the easy, or perhaps lazy option and crowd sourcing their health concerns.

Crowd sourcing is essentially coming on social media, asking other people what they do for certain health conditions. This is particularly prevelant in Facebook groups. People saying I have X condition, what can I do? Then everyone replying saying oh I do A, use supplement B, ect. From this the question originator then goes with the most popular response, the easiest option or the one that sounds like something they thought would be good.

Some might suggest Google. Dr Goggle can provide information, but not proper analysis. And with millions of webpages written by anyone with a computer, finding quality information isn’t always easy.

Some might suggest articles or blogs written by Dr So and so, but is that doctor one who is trained and qualified independently in that subject area. In most cases, they are not. The reason these resources and approaches are not great is that they do not account for bio individuality. They are generic. They are not focussed on YOU and how your condition manifests in your body, your symptoms.

We need to stop self diagnosing and crowd sourcing our health needs, and employ the services of professionals. A general practitioner may be the first step in diagnosis, but they are generalists, not specialists. Use the information you’ve gathered through reading to help you ask pertinent questions, to be treated as an individual by your practitioner.

It will take time to find in most cases, but YOU are worth more than Dr Google, Dr So and So, and more than crowd sourcing.

In love and good health, Natalie