e-Second Opinions: 100 Search Engines and Tools for Medical Self-Diagnosis

26 april 2009--Although seeing a doctor is best, it's not always easy to get to a doctor right away. Fortunately, there are loads of tools online designed to help you diagnose and treat symptoms right at home. Here we've listed 100 of the best.

Search Engines

Simply type your symptoms or ailment into these search engines, and you'll find helpful information.

1. eCureMe: To self diagnose with this search engine, you'll just have to search for your most troublesome symptom.
2. MedlinePlus: MedlinePlus is designed to make finding information on drugs, diseases, and more easy.
3. Google Health Co-op: Find hand-picked sites for your condition with this search tool from Google.
4. Amniota: Find all of the information you need with this health search engine.
5. iSeekHealth: With this handpicked directory, you'll find loads of information.
6. Healia: This search engine offers high quality information and personalization.
7. InteliHealth: Powered by Aetna, this site will help you learn about symptoms, conditions, drugs, and more.
8. NOAH: On this site, you can research health topics by body area or disease.
9. e-Lynks Health: You'll find lots of information with this portal to health websites.
10. CureResearch Symptom Center: In this symptom checker, you can search for diseases that match up with what you're feeling.
11. Healthline Symptom Search: Find possible cures based on your symptoms with this search engine. You can even get a search plug-in for Firefox.
12. gopubmed: Search for medical publications with this tool.
13. Yahoo! Health: Use Yahoo! Health to find information about drugs, diseases, and more.
14. AnswerMed: Simply type in a query to learn about a medical condition or surgery.
15. OrganizedWisdom: Use this human-powered health search to find the diagnosis information you're looking for.
16. Afraid to Ask: Use this search tool to find answers to the questions you're afraid to ask your real doctor.
17. Mayo Clinic: Look up a disease, symptom, and more with the Mayo Clinic's search tools.

Databases

Check out these databases to get answers to some of the most common medical questions.

18. Conditions and Concerns: This reference provides easy access to information about common ailments and symptoms.
19. Go Ask Alice!: Check out Go Ask Alice! to find answers to medical questions.
20. Medical-Articles: Find published medical news with this resource.
21. Healthwise Self-Care Checklist: On AOL Body, you'll find this checklist that walks you through diagnosis, education, and treatment.
22. Dr. Koop's Symptoms Reference Index: Go through this extensive list of symptoms to find out what's wrong.
23. Healthcyclopedia: This site offers an alphabetic index of health conditions.
24. WrongDiagnosis Symptom Center: Here you can research popular symptoms for more than 10,000 diseases.
25. Medifocus: Get researched information with Medifocus' guides.
26. Netwellness: This resource has more than 55,000 pages of information from the faculty of three leading universities.
27. Home Healthcare Guide: This service from Surgery Door offers lots of information on conditions, emergencies, operations, and more.
28. Health Library: Check out this library for information that's hand-picked from government agencies, nonprofits, and universities.
29. Ohio State University Medical Center Patient Education: Find information on conditions, tests, and much more with this resource.
30. Medinfo: Here you'll find lots of patient-centric information on specific conditions.
31. eMedTV Health Information: This library of medical information offers data on diseases, procedures, drugs, and more.
32. Netdoctor Library of Diseases: Find an extensive library of expertly reviewed medical articles here.
33. All Health: Here you'll find a great medical reference library and symptom finder.
34. Stop Getting Sick: Use this database to find general information news, and research on diseases and conditions.
35. SHARing Point Server: This health information system shares data across the world.
36. Family Doctor: This database has more than 600 articles and guides on medical topics, all reviewed and edited by medical experts.
37. Diseases Database: Here you can look for information on diseases, symptoms, drugs, and more.

Online Professionals

These sites feature professionals that offer their services online.

38. Just Answer: With this service, you'll be able to talk to doctors and nurses that are online and ready to answer questions.
39. eDocAmerica: Whether you're looking for a physician, psychologist, or advice from a nurse, check out this site for help.
40. BumperBrain: Use this site to locate and get health experts in just about any field.
41. Netwellness Ask an Expert: Get information from more than 500 world-class experts in this resource.
42. aarogya: On this wellness site, you can talk to doctors in specific specialties, like cardiology, homeopathy, and oncology.
43. InteliHealth Ask the Doc: In this resource, you can search for questions and answers related to your ailment, or ask a question of your own.
44. The ICU Answer Page: Learn all about the ICU in this guide from a critical care nurse.
45. WrongDiagnosis Ask a Doctor: Choose from 5 fully reviewed doctors for medical advice on this site.
46. HealthySelf: Ask this expert to do medical research for you.
47. Allexperts Medical Q&A: Here you'll find past answers to medical questions, plus be able to ask your own.
48. Kasamba Health & Medicine Experts: Choose from over a hundred health experts online with this site.
49. Afraid to Ask: Talk to Afraid to Ask's doctors to get answers to the questions you don't want to ask your regular doctor.
50. Ask the Doctor Online: Contact these doctors for a standard or urgent consultation.
51. Dr. Sinatra: Check out Dr. Sinatra for information on solutions to health problems.
52. Consult Doctors: With this service, you can choose to get a standard or stat consultation, and even a full report on a medical question within just a few days.

Tools

Simply plug your medical issues into these tools, and you'll get all sorts of information.

53. The Analyst: Answer 900 optional multiple-choice questions to get a look at your entire health spectrum with this tool.
54. Health A to Z: Get a look at what's ailing you with this symptom checker.
55. PreOp Patient Education: Use this tool to research surgery procedures.
56. Symptom Checker: Select symptoms, find factors, and get results with this tool.
57. Descipher: With this tool, you can self-interpret lab test results from your doctor.
58. MSN Health & Fitness Symptom Checker: Use this visual symptom checker to cure what ails you.
59. HealthCentral: Use HealthCentral's illustrated guide to find out where it hurts.
60. EasyDiagnosis: Designed by a team of doctors, EasyDiagnosis takes a look at your main symptoms to determine your illness.
61. MedicineNet: Use this illustrated guide to pinpoint where it hurts.

Communities

Get support and advocacy from these medical communities.

62. ThirdAid: Find out how others with your condition are doing, and get independent knowledge from this community.
63. MSN Health & Fitness Support Groups: Find others with your condition with these support groups.
64. iMedix: Join this healthcare community to get information on symptoms, diseases, treatments, and more.
65. WrongDiagnosis Conditions Forum: Check out these forums for information on specific conditions from other sufferers.
66. Afraid to Ask Forums: Discuss sexuality, body functions, and much more in this community.
67. Healthcyclopedia Support Groups: Here you'll find support groups for all sorts of conditions and diseases.
68. MDJunction: Find a support group and learn more about your condition on this site.
69. Netdoctor Forums: Get information on general health and beyond in these forums.
70. MedHelp: On MedHelp's Ask a Doctor forums, you can find answers and ask questions of certified doctors.
71. Case Health: Hear about the medical success stories of others on this site.
72. MSN Health & Fitness Message Boards: Learn about and discuss conditions like pregnancy, depression, and more on these message boards.
73. PatientsLikeMe: Share your experience and learn from others on this support site.
74. DailyStrength: Here you'll find more than 500 support groups for just about every health issue out there.
75. HelpShare: Here you can ask a medical question and set the value of a good answer.
76. WrongDiagnosis Symptoms Forum: Learn and share information about symptoms for fertility, allergies, and more here.
77. HealthWorldWeb: On this site, you'll find loads of communities in which to learn more about your symptoms and conditions.

Assessment

Stay on top of your health and possible risks using these resources.

78. Heart Attack Risk Calculator: Learn how susceptible you are to a heart attack with this quiz.
79. Postpartum Depression Assessment: Find out if your intense feelings after pregnancy are normal or discover the sign of a condition that needs to be treated.
80. Alcohol: Are You Addicted?: Follow this questionnaire to find out if you have a problem with drinking.
81. How to Review Your Blood Test Results: This guide offers advice on normal ranges for test results.
82. New Hope Health Clinic: Get this holistic clinic's home testing kit, and you'll learn about your body and what you can do to take care of it.
83. Online Checkups: Get quick assessments for a variety of conditions with HealthFinder's online checkups.
84. Stress Trigger Assessment: Assess and identify the stressors in your life with this tool.
85. Nicotine: Are You Addicted?: Use this questionnaire to assess your addiction to cigarettes.
86. Fitness Assessment: Find out just how fit you are using this quiz.
87. Do I Have an Eating Disorder: Answer these questions to find out if you have a problem with food.
88. Breast Cancer Risk Assessment: Find out if you're at risk for this commonly diagnosed cancer.
89. Risk Factor Center: Find out your risk factors for diseases and more based on your lifestyle, exposure, and other factors.
90. The Menopause Assessment Scale: Assess your menopause symptons here.
91. Type 2 Diabetes Risk Assessment: This quiz will help you determine your risk for Type 2 diabetes.
92. Lab Tests Online: Get information on lab tests, conditions, and more from this resource.
93. Urinary Incontinence Test: Follow this questionnaire to determine whether or not you suffer from urinary incontinence.
94. Interactive Weight Tool: Determine your risk level for weight-related diseases using this tool.
95. Coronary Artery Disease Assessment: Use this quiz to find out how high your risk is for this common heart disease.
96. KnowYourRisk Assessment: Revolution health's tool will tell you your risk for diabetes, stroke, and heart disease, and offers information on how you can better prevent these conditions.
97. WrongDiagnosis Home Diagnostic Testing Center: Get tested right at home for ailments like diabetes, fertility, and more.
98. Depression Risk Assessment: Follow this questionnaire to see how likely you are to have depression.
99. Cold or Flu?: Find out if you're sick with the cold, or worse, the flu.
100. Pitfalls of Online Diagnosis: This article warns against some of the problems that can arise from online diagnosis.