Monday 4th January: Dr Google

Isn't it funny how, when you get ill, you almost always think the worse.

Despite the above gastroenteritis bug (here under a microscope in the picture) affecting most people in my family, when your symptoms don't quite match the symptoms of the other people affected there's a fear that you've actually got something much more sinister.

And when you have the internet on hand to help you make your own diagnosis, it only makes things worse.

So, instead of believing that I have gastroenteritis (which I can now spell with ease btw) from the symptoms checklist on the NHS website, I refer to Dr Google and find the following on Wikipedia:

"A few loose stools and vomiting may be the result of systemic infection such as pneumonia, septicemia, urinary tract infection and even meningitis. Surgical conditions such as appendicitis, intussusception and, rarely, even Hirschsprung's disease may mislead the clinician."

I then have to look up all these and check the symptoms. Before you know it, I'm exhausted, not from the illness, but from hours of being a hypochondriac online.

It seems I'm not alone and there is now a recognised term for this behaviour: 'cyberchondriacs'.

I am, of course, hoping that I'm not tempting fate and that I do indeed just have gastroenteritis. Should I develop any new symptoms though, I know where I'll be heading ...