The other day I was looking for symptoms on the oceanwide Intraweb as to find what are the illnesses that can cause, for instance, extreme fatigue, lack of appetite and the like. I knew before I even started that this would be a neverending battle with various sea-monsters (let that be read as meaningless websites) but I thought I would give it a shot as I momentary lack the proximity of a doctor and the services of my family doctor who is unfortunately located in another country (that can be referred to as Far far away land or Not in your way to work land). From the first two or three hits, it became clear to me that normal/natural/ordinary diseases such as… I dont know… various stress symptoms or simply fatigue, or something more exotic like a food poisoning are not in fashion anymore. Long gone are the days when imaginary colitis was the disease in fashion, and when people would be treated for it whether it was there or not. Today we just have terminal diseases in fashion – various types of cancer and the weird types of flu that are coded in letters and numbers that stand for swine flu, bird flu and… probably… other animal flu. So, if you sneeze – you have to see your doctor. It could be cancer. You have a cramp?! Oh, no! Might be yellow fever. Excessive fatigue? Has to be some sort of sleeping disease carried by a mosquito that bit you after travelling in the belly of a transatlantic coming from a country on the other side of the world that you never heard of. But wait! Theres more! The same mosquito bit someone on the boat and in the meantime some sort of whale and now the virus mutaded and… quel dommage - youre doomed!
This is bottom line absurd! If no other reason is invoked then we can at least mention the fact that such easy online diagnostics turn people into hypochondriacs over night, and can ruin the peace of mind of a slightly tired and very curious individual, whom, instead of curing his insomnia issue, is now browsing google trying to find the cure for the cancer he already ponders he might have!
Therefore, my quest for ”knowledge” only led me to the conclusion that there isnt any – not on the online Ive been browsing at least – oh and also, it reminded me of Lazyboy – Underwear goes inside the pants, especially the part with This disease comes with a hot chick and a puppy! Ilnesses are a serious matter – I will add, leaving aside my momentary resemblance with Captain Obvious – therefore they should be treated as such. And in order to be treated as such, small things such as overworked and really tired need to be taken into account before we decide to post ”medical opinions” that freak the hell out of students that experience the fatigue of their first job.
