Summary: If and when you seek out information about your own or others’ illnesses, recognize the information you find will often not be as relevant to the ill person as you first thought. Go to a reliable credible source for information., and preferably, when written material is chosen, have a credible health care professional check it out. Community resource centers often have health care professionals who can help you help yourself. Search engines like Google are a debating society with both proven and unproven information, and much of the information may be written with medical jargon to add to your problems. Friends and the Internet are not a substitute for information from your nurses and physicians. Your friend’s anecdotes may have critical differences from your situation. Proper medical intervention at this time may be a bigger problem if care is delayed when following a pathway incorrectly chosen for your situation.
