Claire Eden worried increasingly about the sores in her husband’s mouth. She thought he might have oral cancer or something equally serious and repeatedly told him to visit the doctor, but he wouldn’t go.

So Eden took her husband’s health into her own hands.

“I just started Googling ‘mouth sores’ and something caught my eye about cinnamon gum,” the Buckhead resident says. “I thought, ‘Oh, my goodness,’ because he had recently been chewing a lot of cinnamon gum.

She perused tales of those who reacted poorly to the product. some developed sores on the walls of their mouth, their lips, their tongue. even swelling. The descriptions of their maladies matched her husband’s problem.

He switched to Wrigley’s Spearmint and his sores disappeared almost immediately.

Eden figures she saved herself a chunk of change by going online to diagnose her husband. “At least a co-pay,” she says, and maybe hundreds more had a doctor run expensive tests.

This is the allure of so much medical information bobbing at one’s fingertips: hospital, government and nonprofit websites, blogs, news stories, Facebook, Twitter. The potential to self-diagnose — and save a few bucks — is greater than ever.

That also means the ability to misdiagnose is greater than ever.

For the patient and the doctor, arriving at an accurate diagnosis can be like a game of “guess who?” says Dr. Erica Brownfield. but patients are less likely to know the right questions to ask.

“It’s hard when you don’t have the medical training and background to figure out, ‘how do I fit the pieces of the puzzle together?’ to come up with the correct diagnosis,” says the Emory general internist. She suggests patients pinching their pennies try calling their doctor first. if symptoms are minor, the physician might advise waiting it out or recommend home remedies.

Doctors, however, also have witnessed a wave of patients who research, self-diagnose and worry themselves into believing they have a more serious condition than they actually do.

Mableton resident Leigh Anne Rehkopf was between jobs and couldn’t afford to see a doctor, much less purchase expensive drugs or treatments, if needed.

“I woke up one morning with the most incredible headache at the base of my skull,” Rehkopf says. “I was like, ‘I have meningitis’ — not that I would have any idea what that’s like.” Then Rehkopf agonized when research on WebMD.com confirmed her symptoms were consistent with meningitis. at the doctor’s office, she was diagnosed with a sinus infection.

“Turns out you have sinus glands at the base of your skull,” Rehkopf says. She didn’t even have to pay for the antibiotics to treat it — some grocery chains’ pharmacies provide common medicines for free or cheap when you have a prescription.

But Rehkopf’s experience hasn’t deterred her from visiting medical websites. “I still don’t go to the doctor because I don’t make enough money to pay the co-pay,” she says.

Despite the occasional misdiagnosis online, Dr. Jacob Varghese says he supports dollar-watchers doing some of their own research first, especially as medical websites’ information has improved over the years. Varghese, who practices at North Fulton Primary Care in Alpharetta, recalls a patient using online research to diagnose her own plantar fasciitis — inflammation of the sole — before she ever stepped foot in his office.

“It’s great as an initial start, or even as a follow-up after you’ve already talked with your doctor,” Varghese says. but, he adds, it shouldn’t replace the relationship with your physician.

Emory’s Brownfield also likes her patients having access to accurate information. “It empowers patients, and it lets them be proactive about their health.”

But she, too, prescribes common sense. “At any point if you have any question about what you have or if a condition persists, you should go into the doctor.”

A doctor’s view

Tips from Emory’s Dr. Erica Brownfield when using medical websites:

• If a web address ends in .edu or .org, content concerns are less likely.
• A .com suffix indicates business sponsorship; skepticism warranted.
• If it’s a blog or one-man show, exercise caution.

Reputable health websites

Some recommended sites:

MayoClinic.com: Look up diseases, check symptoms, learn about drugs and test procedures.

ClevelandClinic.org: Learn about symptoms, healthy living (can download mobile app).

WebMD.com: Includes symptom lookup, articles on seasonal illnesses or conditions.

MedlinePlus.gov: Part of U.S. National Library of Medicine — National Institutes of Health, includes interactive video tutorials to evaluate symptoms.

AHRQ.gov: Information from U.S. Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality on choosing quality health care, understanding diseases, comparing treatments.

Have you ever correctly or incorrectly diagnosed yourself to save money? what was the outcome?

– by Lauren Davidson, Atlanta Bargain Hunter

See a great deal I should know about? Email me at ldavidson@ajc.com. You can also follow me on Facebook or on Twitter @atlbargains.

Vitamin C – Cure Colds to Cancer

Vitamin C from citrus was introduced a couple of centuries ago as a cure for scurvy rampant among British mariners. but just what is scurvy? Scurvy is actually defined as a deficiency of vitamin C. Its myriad manifestations appear today. It appears that scurvy was not a particular disease, but a condition that led to other diseases.

The difference today is there are many other new names assigned to diseases that are often related to scurvy. This benefits big Pharma`s bottom line for creating new expensive pharmaceuticals. It`s no surprise that inexpensive Vitamin C`s ability to safely cure maladies from colds to cancer is marginalized by the Medical Mafia.

Some Scurvy Symptoms

Some of the many scurvy symptoms include: Exhaustion, lethargy, sunken eyes, pale complexion, anemia, depression, and weakness. The afflicted person may experience joint and muscle pain, headaches, and nausea as well as fainting or dizziness.

Lung and kidney disease may result from scurvy conditions. Bruising occurs easily, and wounds heal slowly. Internal tissues may bleed as capillaries weaken. Ultimately, jaundice and water retention may occur with decreased urination.

Do any of those symptoms remind you of any other maladies or diseases by a different name? yet IV mega-dose vitamin C therapy starting at 15 grams is rarely utilized for these symptoms.

Vitamin C Therapy

According to orthomolecular physician Ronald Hunninghake, MD, cancer victims are vitamin C deficient. in other words, they have scurvy. he has worked with orthomolecular cancer pioneer Dr. Hugh Riordan, MD, for over two decades. their work has been a continuation of Dr. Linus Pauling`s insights into vitamin C for preventing and curing infectious diseases and cancer.

Success with cancer patients using Dr. Riordan`s protocol is not widely publicized. These and other orthomolecular physicians, who rely solely on vitamin and mineral supplementation for curing patients, want to avoid the flack from the medical establishment that exploded around Linus Pauling`s vitamin C revelations years ago.

Besides claiming that vitamin C could cure cancer, Linus Pauling also ruffled the cancer industry`s feathers when he publicly proclaimed that “the war on cancer is largely a fraud”. as the saying goes, you don`t draw flack until you`re over the target!

So perhaps Dr. Hunninghake is a bit guarded when he says mega-dosing vitamin C is a great adjunct for other cancer therapies. Cancer has been cured with mostly IV mega-dose vitamin C therapy during recent decades. instead, Hunninghake cites the fact that cancer patients are relieved of their scurvy from IV mega-dose vitamin C, thus allowing them to feel better and endure the side effects of conventional cancer protocols.

Despite Hunninhake`s protective diplomacy, Dr. Riordon has demonstrated that Vitamin C in large doses is selectively cytotoxic to cancer cells. When the dosage is high enough, vitamin C shifts from anti-oxidant to oxidant. normally anaerobic cancer cells perish when exposed to oxygen.

Though largely ignored by mainstream medicine`s blind allegiance to big Pharma, Vitamin C mega-dosing has proven extremely effective against many infectious diseases. Pathogens are also anaerobic.

Occasional Confirmations from Mainstream Medicine

Perhaps mainstream medicine is beginning to catch on. Dr. Karel Tyml and his colleagues at The University of Western Ontario have discovered that vitamin C can reverse sepsis, a potentially fatal disease with symptoms resembling – scurvy!

Dogs normally produce their own vitamin C. however, our canine companions don’t have enough C to control distemper, which is considered incurable. but mega-dose C has cured distemper and kept dogs from dying or being euthanized.

Article sources for more information:

VIDEO: Mercola interview of Dr. Dr. Hunninhake on high dose vitamin C orthomolecular therapyarticles.mercola.com/sites/a…

Scurvy Symptomsscurvysymptoms.net/

Vitamin C: Potential Life Saving Treatment for Sepsisphysorg.com/news/2010-11…

The NZ Allan Smith Recovery lewrockwell.com/orig5/me…

Quack Watch viewpoint on Pauling and vitamin C (The dark side of Linus Pauling) quackwatch.com/01Quacker…

Linus Paul Bio lpi.oregonstate.edu/lpbio/lp…

Vitamin C and The Law by Dr. Thomas Levyorthomolecular.org/resources…