Yeah. There are many useful things you can learn on Google. But you can also panic yourself to no avail.
I had a course of isotretinoin (US - Accutane) a couple of years ago. The internet says some really scary things about it, out of all proportion to the risk. It wasn't that there was no risk, and I did want to inform myself and the internet was helpful for that, but it also misinforms people. I was lucky that I was only making a decision for myself, that even the high risks were, relatively speaking low, that I had enough scientific background to be able to read key papers, and that the more worrying issues raised were mostly not ones directly applicable to me. In a more vulnerable situation, I could have been in a much more stressful situation. But it still angers me that people who could be helped are being frightened by scare stories, as opposed to being supported in an informed decision (which might go either way).
sienamystic I hope you're able to control the entirely understandable freaking out and make an informed decision, whichever way that goes.
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regna
(no subject)
Date: 2011-02-04 09:16 pm (UTC)I had a course of isotretinoin (US - Accutane) a couple of years ago. The internet says some really scary things about it, out of all proportion to the risk. It wasn't that there was no risk, and I did want to inform myself and the internet was helpful for that, but it also misinforms people. I was lucky that I was only making a decision for myself, that even the high risks were, relatively speaking low, that I had enough scientific background to be able to read key papers, and that the more worrying issues raised were mostly not ones directly applicable to me. In a more vulnerable situation, I could have been in a much more stressful situation. But it still angers me that people who could be helped are being frightened by scare stories, as opposed to being supported in an informed decision (which might go either way).