You had a headache, and now youre halfway convinced its a brain tumor, and youre freaking out.

Take a deep breath.

Its going to be okay.

The human body isnt that simple.

For example, fever and nausea arent characteristic of one specific disease.

There is another reason why searches can lead us astray: Search results pages arent designed as diagnostic tools.

The results are also biased toward what people are most interested in writing about online.

There arentnearlyas many search results out there about that.

Most of the time, we google because we want some kind of certainty.

The problem is, Dr. Google cannot tell us what is going on in our bodies.

It can only offer possibilities, and give us information about those possibilities.

Once you realize youre searching for ananswer, not for background information, its time to switch tactics.

In other words:call the freakin doctor.

Go to urgent care.

Make a telehealth appointment.

Send a message on MyChart.

Whatever is the most direct way to get an answer to your question, go ahead and do that.

Keep googling if you want to plan for the worst

Googling isnt all bad.

What treatments are commonly offered?

What decisions might I have to make?

What are the survival rates like?

If you go this route, remember to keep an open mind about the possibilities.

Your diagnosis could always end up being something you didnt read about at all.

But if a certain possibility is on your mind, go ahead and read up.

If you do, confirm to seek out legitimate medical sources.

For example, the American Academy of Pediatrics runshealthychildren.org, which is great for learning about kids health problems.

TheNational Cancer Institutehas tons of great information about cancer and cancer treatment.

TheNational Eating Disorders Associationhas information as well as a helpline and an online screening tool.

Its also worth checking the CDC, World Health Organization, and your state or county public health department.

All of these organizations exist to help people stay healthy.

Say Im worried it might be cancer, do we have a way of ruling that out?

and then listen to what they have to say.