ROVIN' AND RAVIN' WITH MIKE
Copyright ©
2000 by Michael Segers, All rights reserved
Brought to you by Peanut.org
Your
On-Line Medical Library
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Now
that access to the Internet has opened the libraries of the world to every home,
office, and classroom, people have more opportunities than ever before to
educate themselves about medical decisions. It’s very important to remember
that the Internet is not some magical alternative reality where we can suddenly
turn into physicians or stock brokers. It is nothing more than a great source of
information, information that we must weigh carefully. Just because you see
something flickering on the monitor of your computer does not mean that it is
reliable, whether it is news about an upcoming stock offering or an alternative
to spinal surgery.
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Recently,
I’ve been joined with the rest of Worth County in sadness about the deaths of
two of my former students, Renee Welch Chapman and
Michael
Elam. We all have our
own memories of them, as kids we watched grow up, as good students, and finally,
as healers who died in service to others. Just as I dedicated a recent column to
the memory of a dear teacher, now I dedicate this column to the memory of these
fine young people. |
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Any
adventures on the Internet begin with a search. Perhaps the best-known search
engine is Yahoo
but my personal favorite is Altavista.
One that I’m using more and more these days is Google.
Despite
its name, Dogpile
is a useful way to access several search engines at once.
As
you work with a search engine, you will learn its tricks and secrets. For
example, when I used Google to search for the two words prostate cancer,
I got over 278,000 sites. By adding quotation marks, I narrowed (?) the list to
about 173,000.
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Such
a wealth of material makes it hard to know where to begin. So, I would like to
suggest several places you can look at that may be a more efficient use of your
time. I have raved about About.com many
times, and I have roved through many of its more than seven hundred sites
searching for the best pages on the Internet. I would begin any searches for medical information at
About.com's
health/fitness index to find
sites presided over by real people with real names and real photographs,
offering information, bulletin boards, links, and chat rooms.
From
the home page of Yahoo, you can go to its links for health
and medicine. Here, you will find
many topics covered, with over 7000 links for specific diseases and medical
conditions.
One
of my favorite Internet medical resources is the On-Line
Medical Dictionary. What I
find especially useful about this dictionary is that within the definitions,
there are links to definitions of other medical terms which, if you are like me,
you need to look up to understand the definition you begin with.
But,
the Internet offers us so much more than just information. It offers us various
communities in which we can participate, especially those e-mail communities
joined by Usenet. Given the anonymity of Internet communication, accessing a
Usenet group can be an easy way for people to find support and information in a
safe, non-intrusive setting.
Finally,
as I’ve roved around cyberspace and raved in my own little corner of our
electronic peanut patch, I’ve written several articles, loaded with links,
about various aspects of health and healing, primarily about those therapies
known collectively as alternative medicine. At the end of this article,
you will find a listing of these raves.
I
hope this article gives you a starting point for your roves around the Internet
in search of physical and mental health. Keep your feet dry and your heart as
full of noble thoughts as a heart can be, after it has been broken by the loss
of two of "our" kids and another one of the good ones who, though not
from Worth County, will forever have a place with them in our hearts.
Rovin'
and Ravin'
Medical Articles, which you can find on:
Rovin'
Through Medical Alternatives
In
the Grip of the Grippe - concepts of illness and health
The
Healing Circle - recovery (guest columnist)
Meditation
for Ordinary Life - meditation and health
Back
to the Massage Parlor - massage
Acupuncture:
The Points of Good Health - traditional Chinese medicine
Herbs
to Your Health - medicinal herbs
Illustration
(above): Hippocrates,
Founder
of the Western medical tradition
Rovin'
and Ravin' Home