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Prime Times Weekly publication of the Mail Tribune , Medford, Oregon In cyberspace ...THE DOC IS IN - ALWAYS Photo by Jim Craven Rogue Valley Manor residents David Israel, left, and Russ MacKenzie check out a prostate cancer information Wed site at the manor's computer lab. The Internet is rapidly becoming a major source for up-to-date medical information for seniors. Rogue Valley seniors are taking an active role in their own health care by searching out the newest research on the Web By JOHN DARLING Seniors are the fastest-growing group of Internet users. They have the time and, now that computers have become so cheap, the money. And they are overcoming that bugaboo of old age -- isolation -- by reaching out to other seniors for camaraderie and for vital information about investment, travel and, especially, medical care. The "silver net" is humming. A yearlong Senior Cyber Seminar series, held at Rogue Valley Medical Center's Smullin Health Center, will spotlight "Surfing Your Way to Health" at 1 p.m. Wednesday. At Rogue Valley Manor, computer and Internet classes are taught daily, and the manor's new residence building was built with a computer in every room. MEDICAL SITES GENERAL HEALTH www.Healthcentral.com www.Webmd.com www.Drkoop.com www.Mothernature.com www.Healthgate.com www.Fitness.com www.Senior.com MEDICINE ON THE NET www.Meds.com www.Rxlist.com www.Health.com www.Onhealth.com www.Yourpharmacy.com www.Drugdigest.com MEDICAL RESEARCH SITES www.Adam.com www.Medicinenet.com www.Allergy2000.com www.Drugstore.com A newly formed group of 50 cyber-savvy manor men with prostate cancer symptoms meets weekly not just to "open up with unbelievable honesty," said organizer David Israel, but to share the latest data gleaned from Web sites of such leading research centers as Stanford University, Baylor University, Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, the Mayo Clinic and Hadasa Hospital in Jerusalem. The group's perspective on prostate treatment was shifted significantly, Israel said, when members learned on the Net that throughout Scandinavia, doctors avoid surgery altogether and "let (the disease) run its course," treating it with herbs and hormones. "It's a revolution," said Israel, 72, a former New York stockbroker. "Until the Net, you had to depend just on your doctor, who might offer you three or four options, give you the odds on each one and by the time you walk out, you don't know your own name. Then, if you wanted to learn more, you had to invest months in libraries and getting information in the mail. "Now, 75 percent of what we (in the group) know is coming from the Net. In many cases, our doctors are learning from the patients." The men's motive is not to supersede their physicians, said another member, Russ MacKenzie, but to "become better patients. We've been to many doctors. Some say one drug will give you two years; another says 10. It can be confusing. We're reaching out for greater understanding and becoming experts on our own experience." Some patients use the Net to diagnose themselves, said Dr. Al Bates of Central Point. "One patient came in with a printout on hyperthyroidism and thought she had all the symptoms. She was right. However, it's real dangerous to self-diagnose and then try to treat yourself. You can easily have overlapping symptoms from a different disease." Photo illustration by Bob Pennell Gene Altman of Ashland, chairman of "Senior Aces," a senior computer-user club, researched bacterial eye infections on the Net and found much useful information, although too little of it in layman's terms. "The Net is great for seniors, especially if it's hard for them to get to the library. The part I don't like is that it's too easy to just sit there and e-mail and not get out people-to-people." One favorite site among seniors is askjeeves.com, an all-purpose gateway which answers any questions posed in plain English by linking users to appropriate sites on the Net, said Charles McCarty, of Ashland. He used the Net by keywording "asthma" and found "scores of sites." Unfortunately, anyone can create a Web site, and there are "tons of garbage" about health matters on the Net, said Mike Stallcop of Treadway Meetings and Adventures, who presents the Senior Cyber Series. Among the highly rated medical sites, he said, are webmd.com, healthcentral.com and drkoop.com. All are attractive, searchable sites, crammed with articles, supported by ads and offering message boards and chat rooms on just about any ailment you can name. The site drkoop.com features Dr. C. Everett Koop, the former U.S. Surgeon General. Health central.com is run by Dr. Dean Edell, who has a radio call-in show on health. He invites users to submit a health profile, then links them to appropriate sites, Stallcop said. With so much data in cyberspace, how do you tell what's valid? The Mayo Clinic gives this advice: 1. Use established medical institutions, hospitals, universities or government agencies. 2. Note if the site offers more than one perspective. Does it have links to other sites with differing data? Has the info been updated lately? Sites often note when they were last altered. New research can change things quickly. 3. Be wary of sites that promote products. Even health magazines may have a conflict of interest here. 4. Be suspicious of sites that disparage mainstream science or offer a diagnosis online. "You've got to know the source of the information and their credentials and bias," said gerontologist Tom Margulies of Ashland. "My caveat is: who supports the site? If it's a drug manufacturer, they've got a bias. Ask yourself, `Do they have a profit motive?' " As we careen headlong into a vast, new information sea, most doctors welcome the broader patient awareness via the Net, said Dr. Dennis Linden, of Southern Oregon Internal Medicine, and most doctors use it to keep abreast of their field. "It's a daily occurrence seeing patients walk in with Net printouts on their ailment," Linden said. "I encourage them to browse the Net, gain knowledge and come back to talk about it. I learn a lot of things people are trying and I help them ground it in reality," he said. Some doctors aren't so secure. "When I showed my doctor what I got off the Net," said McCarty, "he got a bit on edge. Doctors don't like you to know half as much as they do." Stallcop said, "Some doctors still need to understand they have to be more open-minded and find more alternatives, or they're going to lose patients. Patients are already saving hundreds of dollars getting prescription drugs off the Net at www.planetrx.com . Someday soon, our local physician very likely will compete with Net doctors who'll see patients and prescribe drugs via video-conferencing.'' Dr. Bates agrees. "The day is long past when we think, `I'm the doctor and you're the patient and I know what's best.' Patients hand me stuff off the Net all the time and I have to research it. It's good for me." Doctors should learn the Net, said Linden, whose clinic subscribes to several medical newsgroups. "It's impossible to keep up with all the new information in paper form." "The Net," said Stallcop, "is a completely unprecedented way for people to seek understanding and take control of their own health destiny." Just ahead, he added, is "Internet 2," a new, high-speed "backbone" communicating the latest discoveries of universities and medical centers. It is designed to soar above the traffic and commercialism of the Net we know today. Prime Times front page Mail Tribune front page Copyright � The Mail Tribune 1999, Medford, Oregon USA