Why I am Grounded from Symptom Googling

I am grounded from symptom googling. I am not kidding. Grounded. Why you may ask? That’s a loaded question. First off, I have explained that I have Anxiety and it’s not easy. So there is a factor…. I mean, anxiety does make small concerns feel like big ones sometimes, even without google. 

What is Symptom Googling?

Well, symptom googling is using everyone’s favorite search engine to search up symptoms you or someone you know has been displaying. Usually resulting in mass pandemonium. 

Why I am DONE Symptom Googling

I have a little pain in my ear and all of a sudden after googling away.. it’s not just a pain anymore, now it’s morphed into some huge case of gangrene and my ear is going to fall off and shrivel up and I am somehow going to end up deaf. Time to go to the doctors, I am clearly so close to kicking the bucket, it’s scary. NOT, it’s just excess wax build up, I am fine. 

This doesn’t just happen when I google my own symptoms. No, no. Not just mine. I never let the kids know that I am freaking out, I internalize it until I call the doctor and make an appointment and then we just address the concerns with the doctor, who ultimately looks at me like I have two heads.

My 4 year old wakes up saying her neck hurts and all of a sudden, google has me convinced that my daughter has Meningitis. I am a doctors worse nightmare sometimes! 

“No Jen, your daughter does NOT have Meningitis, she just slept funny.” 

I have decided that there will be no more symptom googling. NEVER. In all reality it doesn’t help at all! Symptom googling makes it much, much worse. Mountains out of Molehills. 

My Anxiety is what makes these googled symptoms worse, and thankfully I have the anxiety more under control now! However, knowing that looking up symptoms on the internet exacerbates my Anxiety, I now know to just avoid the symptom googling all together. 

So if you are a googler…Ditch the Symptom Googling… It’s NOT helping.  

Are you Guilty of Symptom Googling?