Dr. Nina Shapiro has some thoughts about your WebMD habit.
“Now, I like it when patients challenge me,” the pediatric head-and-neck surgeon tells The Post. “But it’s a little bit of a pet peeve [of mine] when patients say, ‘I’ve done my research,’” because they’ve almost always done it wrong. Worse, these “researchers” tend to arrive with a self-diagnosis and a treatment plan.
Between misinformation and a tendency to fear the worst (tummy ache? stomach cancer!), patients’ self-diagnostic attempts are more panic-inducing than productive, in the physician’s experience. “If you are looking for a problem online, you will find it very easily,” she adds.
The Los Angeles-based doctor hopes to help people cut through the noise with her new book “Hype” (St. Martin’s Press), a 250-page myth-busting effort debunking everything from bogus studies to quack cancer cures. Below, her top tips for avoiding fake health news and making the most of your doctor appointments.
Search smarter. Done right, “searching online for health information can be valid,” Shapiro writes. But, she says, too many use the Internet to confirm their pre-existing beliefs and biases. She’d rather see you search for “vitamin C” or “colds” instead of “vitamin C cold cure” because that’s less likely to lead you to biased, sketchy sources, and it puts you in a better position to ask informed questions of your physician.
Beware of buzzwords. Don’t be too enamored of “miraculous,” “groundbreaking” and “remarkable” studies. “For seasoned scientists, no study … is a miracle, breaks ground or is remarkable,” Shapiro writes. Less sensationalistic terms — “doctor recommended,” “clinically proven” — can also be fairly meaningless, she adds. That doesn’t mean that all studies are fake or useless, just that you shouldn’t make lifestyle changes based on new research until you’ve sussed out the reports with a professional. For example, there’s a sound link between people who drink in moderation and stress reduction. But those studies don’t confirm that the drinking itself causes your stress levels to lower — and they’re certainly not a reason to start.
Experiment with caution. Lots of people claim to be cured by “unscientific methods,” Shapiro writes. And some of them maybe are, thanks to “the good ol’ placebo effect”: when a patient believes that an unproven treatment (say, a copper bracelet for arthritis) will be helpful, so it is. That brain-powered phenomenon is real, Shapiro writes, and while it doesn’t work for all illnesses, it “can sometimes work better than any drug.” That said, everyone’s pain is different, and everyone’s brain is different. So the acupuncture session that cured your friend’s migraines may not do anything at all for you. The take-away? Complementary, alternative medicines “can be great,” Shapiro says. But they work best in combination with conventional medicine.
Vet your doc. Not all doctors are created equal, so it’s important to make sure you’ve got a good one. But don’t pull up Yelp — medical professionals aren’t nightclubs. “Sites that enable such quick reviews can be misleading, to say the least,” Shapiro writes. “If you have the luxury of choosing a doctor,” she suggests asking people you trust for recommendations, rather than strangers whose judgment you know nothing about. Once you’re in the office, “get a feel” about the doctor in person: Do you feel pressured into buying anything? Are they open to your questions? What’s his or her experience (beyond a diploma) — if they’re a surgeon, how many types of X operation has this person performed? “Any doctor who gets angry or defensive at questions like these should raise an eyebrow,” she says.