Sites to See: Do-It-Yourself Healthcare
By: Source: AARP Bulletin Today Date Posted: 2003-08-05 15:18:42
Council on Family Health
In particular, check out the site's Educational Resources section, which explains how to read over-the-counter medicine labels, check for tampering, understand the dangers of drug interactions and maintain healthy, self-care-focused lifestyles.
National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine
Under the site's For Consumers and Practitioners section, find fact sheets and background information on cancer treatments, dietary supplements and herbal medications that are used as alternatives to traditional prescription drug therapies. The site also provides numerous links to National Institutes of Health sites for additional information.
National Library of Medicine
Use this site's Health Information section to search the federal government's top database on medical conditions and treatments, MEDLINEplus. Search by condition, gender and age. You also can search for information on specific medicines within the Drug Information section, which offers a robust dictionary to decipher complex medical terms you might find on over-the-counter medicine labels. The site's provider directory allows you to search for doctors and specialists in your area.
HealthFinder
This federal Health and Human Services site offers excellent search tools to find information on medical conditions, drugs and their risks, and healthier living. The site's Alternative Health section (found under the "Health Library" icon) features an alphabetized search format to find background info on supplements, over-the-counter medications and other treatments for specific medical conditions.
Intellihealth
This Harvard Medical School-sponsored site is an excellent tool to find information on medical conditions, drug treatments and current health news of interest to older Americans (click the "Look it Up" icon to access). The site offers free health risk reports if you're willing to plug in some personal information; a "symptom scout" feature to help you diagnose an ailment; and an "ask the expert" function in which medical doctors proffer free medical advice.
WebMD
Arguably one of the best-known consumer sites, WebMD offers a host of information on self-care for specific medical conditions/symptoms (click "Self Care" under the Medical Info section on the right side of the page). The site also offers interactive self-care tools, such as My Health Record, a Health Risk Appraisal and a Fitness Journal.
Consumer Healthcare Products Association
This site offers more background on self-care trends—especially reports on self-medication among older Americans and dietary supplements (click the "statistics" icon on the home page to access). The site also offers self-care information segmented by gender and condition—as well as sound advice for purchasing medicines online.
These links are provided for informational purposes only. AARP does not endorse, and has no control over or responsibility for, the linked sites or the content, advertisements, materials, products, or services available on or throughout these sites.
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