Why Dr Google Thinks You're Dying.

Send us Fan Mail Google is brilliant at listing possibilities and terrible at telling you what’s likely for you. We start with a tense moment at a horse clinic where a couple of odd steps become a public diagnosis of “lameness”, then use that as a clear parallel to the most common human version of the same mistake: typing “tired all the time” into Dr Google and walking away convinced it must be thyroid disease, anaemia, sleep apnoea or cancer. We talk through how we actually think as doctors, especially when someone presents with fatigue. Duration, severity and trajectory matter. So do red flags like unintentional weight loss, fevers, night sweats or a persistent cough. Age changes the probability of certain diagnoses, and so do risk factors such as smoking, travel history and sexual health. We explain the “probability ladder” running in our heads, why “common things are common”, and why emergency medicine also forces us to ask a harder question: what’s the worst-case scenario we cannot afford to miss? We also go into the limits of investigations and why “just test for everything” is not safe, kind or even logical. Tests carry risks, create false positives and incidental findings, and can escalate anxiety. Finally, we return to the wider problem of snap judgements on social media, where five seconds of video becomes a verdict, and we share how reassurance and safety netting help you feel steady without dismissing your concerns. If this helped, subscribe for more, share it with a friend who spirals after symptom searching, and leave a review so more people can find the podcast. Support the show Please consider helping me out, I'd seriously super appreciate it! <3 https://www.patreon.com/diariesofadoctor