Feeling under the weather doesn’t mean it’s necessary to go to the doctor’s office. In many cases, rest and proper hydration at home can help with feeling better, but many people may still want to know what they have. This can help with making sure they’re not contagious, determining when they can go back to work, or understanding the severity of their symptoms and when to see a doctor for help. When someone is feeling sick and wants to know what’s wrong, one way to do so is to use a symptom checker.
When to Use a Symptom Checker
A symptom checker can be used at any time someone feels there may be something wrong with them. It can be a good idea to use our symptom checker to find out if an illness is likely a flu or a cold, whether someone may be contagious, or whether they may want to miss work or school for a bit to recover. It can also help the person determine if they need to see a professional for in-person assistance or to see if their issue may be something more serious. Anyone can use the symptom checker at any time, but it is important to do so carefully to get the best results and help prevent worrying too much over something that may turn out to be minor and easily resolved.
Describe Symptoms and Use Details
The first thing to do when using a symptom checker is to describe the symptoms as carefully as possible. Think of how the symptoms would be described if talking to a doctor. It is a good idea to be as specific as possible when describing the symptoms and to add any details that could be relevant. It doesn’t hurt to add extra details, and the more information a person can provide to the symptom checker, the easier it will be for them to get good results from it. Simply adding a sentence or two about a runny nose and cough isn’t enough to allow the symptom checker to work properly – it’s better to go into more detail and make sure to add all potential symptoms. Don’t forget to add in how long the symptoms have been occurring, too.
Add Relevant Personal Information
It’s going to be necessary to add in some personal information, as this can help the symptom tracker narrow down the potential results. Adding in the person’s gender, for instance, can help narrow down the results, since some issues can impact one gender but not the other. If someone has been sick and on for the last week and is feeling nauseous, if they are male, it is not likely to be morning sickness, so the symptom checker will look into other potential causes. It’s also necessary to add in information like the person’s age and geographical location, as these can make a difference in determining the potential cause of their illness.
Read Through Potential Conditions
It’s a good idea to read through the potential conditions carefully to determine which one is most likely to be accurate. Since the symptom checker only has information that was provided by the client, and does not have access to things like the person’s medical history, there may be a number of results that could be possible causes for the illness. It is a good idea to look through each of these carefully, as some may be possible to ignore because they’re extremely unlikely to be the cause. With the rest, go through the descriptions of each to see what might be the most likely cause of the illness and to get more information about what they can do to recover.
Add Details as Needed
The symptom checker may provide numerous results, so it may need more details to help narrow down the possibilities. It is a good idea for the person to add in any more details they can think of so the symptom checker has more information to work with. This can include any type of information, as well as answers to any questions the symptom checker may have. The final results should be more accurate once all of the details are included and all of the questions are answered.
Consider Getting Expert Care
It is a good idea to consider getting expert care for the illness, especially if it turns out that it may not be a minor issue. While a symptom checker can help with determining why someone is not feeling well, it may miss something obvious because information wasn’t included, or it may just not be able to narrow down the options to determine the exact cause of the illness. It can be beneficial, especially if the results are confusing or unable to be narrowed down much, to see a doctor and get in-person assistance for the issue. This could help the person get a clearer answer as to why they don’t feel well.
Track Results for the Future
Don’t forget to keep track of the results in case they’re needed in the future. In most cases, writing them down or taking a screenshot can help the person save them in case they’re needed in the future. If the person suffers from chronic illnesses or believes it may be a sign of a chronic illness, they may want to track the symptoms and the results from the symptom checker in a journal so they can refer back to it in the future. Be sure to include all pertinent details, like start and end dates of the symptoms, to easily track everything.
If you’re not feeling well, a symptom checker can provide you with more information about what’s wrong so you can take the right steps to feel better. Take a look at an online symptom checker today to learn more about how they work and how they can help you. When you’re ready, it’s easy to add in your symptoms and other details to get more information about what’s wrong and what your next steps should be.