How to Use MedHelp
1. Introduction
Welcome to MedHelp! MedHelp is an organization who's focus is to provide medical information in
non-technical terminology, in order to assist you in understanding your
disease/condition and to help you make informed choices if necessary. We
are an independent organization, not affiliated with anyone, and strive to
provide you with only the Best of the Best information from leading (and
highly reputable) sources. This page will give you some recommendations
and should answer some of the more frequently asked questions.
2. Finding Information
In general, it is unwise to try to diagnose
yourself. If you have a medical problem we strongly recommend that
you seek a qualified medical opinion from someone that can see you,
conduct tests if necessary, and diagnose you properly. It is also equally
unwise to try to get a diagnosis sight-unseen via the Internet.
Once you have a diagnosis you can
search our site for information. We have on-line
over 60,000 entries in our Search Engine, almost all information on our
site is non-technical. After you go to our Search
page, enter the name of the disease or condition you are looking for
information on. Keep it simple, one or two terms (e.g. colon
cancer, lupus, chickenpox). Our Search Engine will provide you with many
articles you can read where you can get started in your road to knowledge.
It will be both easier and faster if you start your journey by reading the
information that is already on-line. It is also a good idea to print out
articles that you find useful, so they can be re-read many times. You will
find that some of the more technical articles take a while to be fully
understood.
3. Posting a Question
MedHelp is currently hosting several medical
specialty forums. In these forums you can post a question to a medical
professional (doctor or nurse). Questions are usually answered within a
few days, and your answer will be posted back in the Forum. Answers will
stay on-line for a week or two, after which they will be kept in the
Forum's Archive. You can go into a Forum from our Home
Page or from our Forum Page.
In order to post a question:
- Select one of the forums that is most appropriate
for your question (Heart, Gastroenterology, Neurology, etc.).
- All of the Forums have an initial opening page
which allows you to sign up for a newsletter if you'd like, and the
disclaimer statement and rules.
- Once you click on the AGREE button you will be in
the Forum.
- The Forums are structured as
Question-Answer-Answer, etc. The purpose of these forums is to help you
better understand your condition, NOT to get a diagnosis. You
can see that the messages are in "threads" based on topic.
In order to post a question:
- Click on the Post A Question button.
- We then require you to enter your name and address in order to
register with us. (This information is kept confidential and we use
it for demographics and for patient satisfaction questionnaires).
- You will then be presented with a page which you can fill out in
order to post your question.
- Done!
- Please be patient, some of the more difficult questions may take
a bit longer to answer and please also note that the staff that are
answering these questions are doing this as their time allows, they
are also seeing patients. If your question is urgent
or an emergency please call your
health care provider or 911. The purpose of these forums are to help
you better understand your disease/condition, NOT to provide
emergency care. Please also note that not all forums are staffed with doctors but some are patient-to-patient forums.
- It would be wise to bookmark our site
http://www.MedHelp so that you can return to the forum ... and
besides we like the traffic :)
- One last note, all doctor answers get swept into the
Forum's Archive, if you don't return for a few weeks you can search for
your message and answer there. Enter the Forum and click on the button
called Archive, you can then either browse by topic, search the
MedHelp site, or look for a posting based on author's name (You!).
Regards,
Cindy & Phil
Founders
