Discovery channels
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 patients’ self-diagnostic attempts can be more panic-inducing than productive. “If you are looking for a problem online, you will find it very easily,” she adds.
She hopes to help people cut through the noise with her new book, “Hype” (St. Martin’s Press), a myth-busting effort debunking everything from bogus studies to quack cancer cures. She shares her top tips for avoiding fake health news. SEARCH SMARTER 1 Done correctly, “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 2 Don’t be too enamored of “miraculous” and “remarkable” studies. “For seasoned scientists, no study . . . is a miracle, breaks ground or is remarkable,” Shapiro writes. She cautions against making life changes based on new research until you’ve sussed out the reports with a pro. 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 3 Lots of people claim to be cured by “unscientific methods,” Shapiro writes. Some of them maybe are, thanks to the placebo effect: When a patient believes that an unproved treatment (say, a copper bracelet for arthritis) will be helpful, so it is. The phenomenon is real, Shapiro writes, and it “can sometimes work better than any drug.” That said, everyone’s pain is different, and everyone’s brain is different. The take-away? Alternative medicines “can be great,” Shapiro says. But they work best in combination with conventional medicine.