Help: Can Anyone Research Medical Libraries?

Subject: Can Anyone Research Medical Libraries?
From: wysiwyg
Date: 18 May 00 - 12:44 PM

Dear Mudcatters--

I am not well. I have not been well. I am trying to get well.

To get well, I need some information I hope is stashed in some dusty medical research libraries and, hopefully, online ones.

I have a possible topic list. I am not an experienced surfer and fatigue and frustration are factors I need to avoid. This project needs a leader who knows how to find abstracts, and probably some helpers.

This is NOT a "get-well-card" thread, I am just looking for this specific assistance.

Any help out there in Mudcat Land? If so, please reply here, in personal message, or via e-mail to:

[e-mail]

Thanks for any help you can give!

~S~

Subject: RE: Help: Can Anyone Research Medical Libraries?
From: Pene Azul
Date: 18 May 00 - 12:50 PM

Here are a couple of links for you:

 http://www.webmd.com/  (click on the Consumer button)

 http://health.yahoo.com/

If you're looking for anything specific, let me know and I'll try to help.
Hope you get to feeling better soon.
PA

Subject: RE: Help: Can Anyone Research Medical Libraries?
From: wysiwyg
Date: 18 May 00 - 12:57 PM

PA, thanks, I am looking for a way into professional journals and abstracts. Do you know how to get into them?

~S~

Subject: RE: Help: Can Anyone Research Medical Libraries?
From: Dave (the ancient mariner)
Date: 18 May 00 - 01:02 PM

Praise. Send me an email listing the subjects or areas you want information on, and I shall be happy to do some research for you.(I do a lot of this in my job) Unless there is a Doctor or Nurse out there willing to help, who may be better qualified than me. Send to [e-mail]

Subject: RE: Help: Can Anyone Research Medical Libraries?
From: SINSULL
Date: 18 May 00 - 01:16 PM

http://www.americasdoctor.com/

Praise, Try this, although it's not a research site. Recently, I got some rather disturbing test results back on a relative. The doctors were vague about specifics so I went to this through AOL and spoke with a "doctor?" on line who gave me specific information, test descriptions, advice on what to do next, etc. Worth a try. He actually followed up about a week later to see if I needed any further help.

They also have on-line chats with various specialists. Be well. SS

Subject: RE: Help: Can Anyone Research Medical Libraries?
From: Pene Azul
Date: 18 May 00 - 01:23 PM

Maybe these will help:

Journal of the American Medical Association

Medical World Search

Googol Web Directory of Health>Medicine>Journals

Googol Web Directory of Health>Education>Patient Education>Journals

PA

Subject: RE: Help: Can Anyone Research Medical Libraries?
From: wysiwyg
Date: 18 May 00 - 01:36 PM

Wow!!!! Keep it coming!

Dave, want to be project leader?

Wow!! Less than an hour!

Wow!!!!

Bow Wow!!!

Wow!!!!

~S~

Subject: RE: Help: Can Anyone Research Medical Libraries?
From: catspaw49
Date: 18 May 00 - 01:46 PM

Praise....YOU are the project leader. You have great links already and franly, "Google" is an incredibly easy search engine to use and extremely thorough. Type in what you want and read. I surmise you have been to the doctor and are now wanting additional info. If you're looking for something obscure, you may not find it on the net.

I would caution you about self-diagnosis and self-treatment without consulting your doctor and assorted specialists in the specific field. The net can enhance your knowledge, but it in no way replaces diagnosis and proper treatment by a competent physician. See some specialists.

Spaw

Subject: RE: Help: Can Anyone Research Medical Libraries?
From: SINSULL
Date: 18 May 00 - 01:56 PM

At the risk of being trite: Physical and emotional health go hand in hand. Surround yourself with supportive, positive people and screw the rest. You can't afford them in your life. Sinsull the Sage Who's Been There.

Subject: RE: Help: Can Anyone Research Medical Libraries?
From: wysiwyg
Date: 18 May 00 - 02:01 PM

Dear friends..... please..... no advice.

Help as asked is help needed.

~S~

Subject: RE: Help: Can Anyone Research Medical Libraries?
From: Bert
Date: 18 May 00 - 02:01 PM

I think that many University Medical libraries are open to the public. I know that the library at the University of Alabama in Huntsville was. Try your nearest one.

As Spaw says, try a search engine. And don't forget to do a search on ANY medications that they might prescribe for you. That can highlight specific problems and side effects and can also lead to relevent support pages. But beware of those pages that are provided by the manufacturers, they tend to be biased.

Bert.

Subject: RE: Help: Can Anyone Research Medical Libraries?
From: Mary in Kentucky
Date: 18 May 00 - 02:04 PM

Hi Praise,

I essentially diagnosed myself with MS ten years before the docs did. There are reasons for waiting for all the symptoms and test results to show, but I was deliberately lied to by one doctor and vaguely put off by others. Thank goodness most docs these days don't do that. There are all kinds of insurance problems that you need to be aware of as soon as possible.

I'll send the URL for a website that has abstracts when I get home tonight. I think the name is Medline, and you have to register for it, but it's free. I found that to be about the best you can do on the web. Most journals don't put the full article on the web, but if you can find an abstract you're interested in, you can then go to a med school library and copy the article. I was a trained chemist and knew how to use ChemAbstracts and go through the Science Citation Index for some pretty good sleuthing. At one time, I found a way to "go in the back door" to a web site for a medical library in Utah, but that door has since been closed. I think you can get full articles from lesser known medical journals, but not the biggies.

Fifteen years ago I managed to go to a medical school library and spend time reading. Most doctors don't recommend that, but I found it to be the most comforting thing I could do, and it gave me a tremendous since of relief. If you need to check out books, you can often get a friend who is enrolled in a nearby college, and use their ID to check out books.

I'll send more specific info privately. I've found that certain organizations for specific diseases often have the latest research news and links for more information. There are also some pretty good watch dog groups that certify the various websites to make sure you're not getting bad information. (I think about 70% of the medical info you get off the web is "suspect."

The MS Society has a slogan that "Knowledge is Power," and I firmly belive it!

Talk to you later, Mary

PS It's better to contact me through the Mudcat personal messages. I've neglected my emails lately because my son sent me the LOVE BUG!

Subject: RE: Help: Can Anyone Research Medical Libraries?
From: wysiwyg
Date: 18 May 00 - 02:17 PM

Keep it coming, gang. I am on fire with energy today (too much), and unsure of tomorrow. Put all the links here for whoever ends up project leader. This looks do-able.

WOW!!!

~S~

Subject: RE: Help: Can Anyone Research Medical Libraries?
From: wysiwyg
Date: 18 May 00 - 02:29 PM

Dave, list and other info sent.

(sigh....)

Thanks.

~S~

Subject: RE: Help: Can Anyone Research Medical Libraries?
From: Sorcha
Date: 18 May 00 - 02:44 PM

Here is an Assistant to the Assistant Project Director. Praise gets to be the boss, and tell Dave TAM what to do. Either of you tell me and I will go look. I am not/never have been educated in the medical field, but have personal experience, and can generally work my way through medical-ese. Here's to the Praise Team, let's get this woman well again!!

Subject: RE: Help: Can Anyone Research Medical Libraries?
From: Jeri
Date: 18 May 00 - 05:28 PM

Here are a couple more sites I didn't see above:
Links to loads of medical journals
Merck Manual On Line

It's not unusual for intelligent, determined but skeptical patients to read about a condition and wind up knowing more about it than doctors. They become experts, while doctors have to have a bit of knowledge on a broad range of topics. Good luck with this!

Subject: RE: Help: Can Anyone Research Medical Libraries?
From: catspaw49
Date: 18 May 00 - 05:52 PM

Jeri, that's true. and Mary G. made a good point about Ms. I researched a medication I was on three years ago and found that I was highly allergic. All well and good. But there are just as many tales of people screwing around when they should be seeing a specialist. The first one may be an idiot, but somewhere down the road is a person with the expertise and the honesty to treat you. I'm not knocking self-research. We do a lot around here ourselves medically....but we see qualified specialists too. Had I gone 3 years before I did, perhaps I wouldn't have had all the side complications I've had over the past three years. But I decided I'd read everything I could and pass the info on. What I wound up doing was kidding myself.... and it cost me big time.

No "advice" there Praise....Just responding to Jeri and Mary. I hold good thoughts for you and your improvement to full health as soon as possible.

Spaw

Subject: RE: Help: Can Anyone Research Medical Libraries?
From: catspaw49
Date: 18 May 00 - 05:56 PM

Sorry Mary in KY.......I said Mary G. and I meant Mary in Kentucky!!! Apologies to both of you.

Spaw

Subject: RE: Help: Can Anyone Research Medical Libraries?
From: Mbo
Date: 18 May 00 - 06:05 PM

Praise, I am at East Carolina University, and we have one of the most respected medical schools in America on campus, the Brody School of Medicine...we also have a huge library & medical library, with tons of medical journals and years & years of abstracts. PM about particular topic, I'll see what I can do. Also, since my sister has to go to the Medical library for research for her SL interpreting minor, I can get her to dig up some stuff too.

--Mbo

Subject: RE: Help: Can Anyone Research Medical Libraries?
From: Mary in Kentucky
Date: 18 May 00 - 06:27 PM

Hello again Praise,

...at the risk of sounding "preachy" before I give you the best links:

1. There is no substitute for a good doctor that you trust. Find a good 'un!
2. A little knowledge is a dangerous thing; drink deeply or not at all.
3. Medical journals are probably not the best place to start. I would suggest going to a good bookstore that lets you read while you're there and read books specific to the condition you're interested in...especially sections on diagnosis. Then when you have a few vocabulary words, maybe try some medical textbooks. Also read the websites of reputable organizations that give general guidelines (disease specific organizations such as the National Cancer Society, or the Center for Disease Control, or the Mayo Clinic, etc.) 4. Take everything you read and hear with a grain of salt until you have time to reflect on it. 5. Don't expect any one person to meet all your needs.

All that said, here are some links:

Medscape Medline - this is the best one I've found for getting access to medical journals. You can read abstracts here, but then need to access a library to get the full article. There are databases that have full articles, but you have to subscribe to a service.

Mayo Clinic - lots of info here and a nice search engine.

MedHunt (at Health on the Net Foundation) - not sure if this link will work.

Medinex - a prescreened search site. This is where I read that 70% of medical information on the web is wrong or grossly misleading.

Health on the Net Code of Conduct (HONcode) - another way to check the reliability and credibility of information.

Remember to send me a personal message.

Take care,
Mary

Subject: RE: Help: Can Anyone Research Medical Libraries?
From: catspaw49
Date: 18 May 00 - 06:38 PM

EXCELLENT POST MARY IN KENTUCKY

Just right!!!!..... and a lot of good sites. Been to a few of them myself.

Spaw

Subject: RE: Help: Can Anyone Research Medical Libraries?
From: Dani
Date: 18 May 00 - 07:54 PM

Praise, I am within spitting distance of UNC and Duke Universities, both with excellent (so I hear) medical libraries.

I am at your service. I know UNC at least has their libraries open to the taxpayer (that would be you and me!). Let me know, by personal message if you wish, if there's something I can do for you!

Dani

Subject: RE: Help: Can Anyone Research Medical Libraries?
From: alison
Date: 18 May 00 - 08:16 PM

Praise, I have no access to medical libraries apart from my own.. but years of experience as a nurse.. let me know if I can help....

slainte

alison

[e-mail]

Subject: RE: Help: Can Anyone Research Medical Libraries?
From: Dave (the ancient mariner)
Date: 18 May 00 - 10:17 PM

I'll ask my Doctor contacts about sites that may have information to help you and your Doctor, Praise. Will get back to you with specific information as soon as I'm able, but may be a few days.. Take care and hope these postings are helping you... Yours, Aye. Dave

Subject: RE: Help: Can Anyone Research Medical Libraries?
From: SDShad
Date: 18 May 00 - 10:43 PM

Praise--

The University of South Dakota, where I work, has a medical school. Not a world-class one with a world-class library, but they could easily have some of the relevant journals, and that's all it takes. There are enough of us here with access to med libraries, I suspect, that we can split up the research into much more manageable chunks between us. PM me with a topic to look for, and I might be lend my humble assistance.

God bless,

Chris

Subject: RE: Help: Can Anyone Research Medical Libraries?
From: wysiwyg
Date: 18 May 00 - 11:41 PM

Sounds like there are enough angels to get started, but now my computer is on the fritz and I am on Hardiman's laptop-- rainstorms here have soaked the phone lines and the modems are crabby about the signal.

Dave (tam), if you replied to my e-mail sent earlier, I can't fetch it from the address I sent it to you from-- needs to be [e-mail], not the address I sent from.

The topic list is on the computer that won't dial out and the wet lines have knocked me off this one twice already. I will try to send the list to those who requested it tomorrow morning. Please message me at motormice.

Thanks again to you all. I may not get back online till tomorrow morning-- long day, time to rest.

Just appreciate you all so much.

And to reassure-- I am not self-diagnosing or self-treating. Just need to know what are the laws governing this particular universe I am trying to run while living within it, cuz it don't work like they say it's s'posed to.

~S~

Subject: RE: Help: Can Anyone Research Medical Libraries?
From: John in Brisbane
Date: 19 May 00 - 12:04 AM

Praise, if all else fails let me know. I have a niece whi has a specialist degree in medical records management. She currently works for a major medical research institute - her work invilves researching and analysing background and causal factors for certain diseases. Regards, John

Subject: RE: Help: Can Anyone Research Medical Libraries?
From: Gypsy
Date: 19 May 00 - 12:45 AM

Highly advise getting ahold of a PDR, before medication. You can get them inexpensively thru Barnes and noble, or Amazon. We use ours to check everything. It is really comforting to know the difference between a side effect, and a new symptom.

Subject: RE: Help: Can Anyone Research Medical Libraries?
From: wysiwyg
Date: 20 May 00 - 09:47 AM

Home and office computers are both modem-challenged, need fixed. Hardiman will bring home laptop every few days so I can check motormice and PM's.

~S~

Subject: RE: Help: Can Anyone Research Medical Libraries?
From: Dave (the ancient mariner)
Date: 20 May 00 - 05:22 PM

Praise I sent three personal emails to that address, with research sites attached. I checked them, and they did go through.. I shall have another site specific to your needs, (recomended by a Haematologist) by Tuesday.. Yours, Aye. Dave

Subject: RE: Help: Can Anyone Research Medical Libraries?
From: wysiwyg
Date: 20 May 00 - 06:19 PM

Thanks Dave, and God bless. Just sent you another e-mail.

~S~

Subject: RE: Help: Can Anyone Research Medical Libraries?
From: Ferrara
Date: 20 May 00 - 07:22 PM

Praise, this site is going to be a big help to me as well. I have lots of interacting med problems and no one doctor ever wants to spend time doing the analysis so I end up figuring out as much as I can for myself, then running it by the various doctors. Hang in there.

If you are already on medication, you can go to your drugstore and ask for the full package insert for each medication. This is the same information that's in the Physicians Desk Reference or PDR. I've found it very helpful in identifying the source of some of my problems.

Also, you probably also know that there are lots of medical support and discussion and newsgroups on-line. If you have some clues as to what your problem is, you can look for keywords via your search engine. Sometimes people put up summaries of all they have learned in their own research into the condition. Also, they give links to more info. Alas this takes time and of course it takes a working computer.

Best of luck with this.

Subject: RE: Help: Can Anyone Research Medical Libraries?
From: wysiwyg
Date: 20 May 00 - 07:34 PM

Ferrara,

Please e-mail me at motormice@hotmail if you want to receive links people are giving me there as well, and I will forward them to you as received.

~S~

Subject: RE: Help: Can Anyone Research Medical Libraries?
From: wysiwyg
Date: 20 May 00 - 07:50 PM

I just sent the following to mcmoo, then realized I should really post it here to keep us current.

There are several general areas which are encompassed by a topic list. Dave and Sorcha have that, with an intro section describing current status. This intro is meant as an overview to prompt anyone looking up topics to see where creeping past the topic list might make sense. I am hoping they will hook up to organize everyone who has ofered to help, so that all the topics can be covered. (And the computer problems I am having are making all this kinda more complicated than I had foreseen.)

I am finding that my own energy to go to the links so generously provided, and search within them, is poor. Most of each day's energy is being allocated to:

An aggressive wellness program, including a complete revamp of the nutrition apporach that had been working well till more recently;

Rest and, when needed, attention to feelings and the discharge of them;

Turning work responsibilities over to others as I transition out of a high-stress job into another one that waits for me in the fall;

Readings in holistic, science-based health approaches;

Little things like family and prayer and laughter and good music and books!

So I am asking all of you kind enough to offer help, for a bit of patience, as the amazing human resource response comes together in a workable fashion.

Some have expressed a concern that I am trying to usurp the role of the doctor. Nuh uh!!!! Just arming myself with info. One key piece already figured out has had such a huge impact that I can hardly wait to get the rest.

Thanks again to all who have expressed interest and concern. I think we are inventing something new and interesting here.

~Susan

Subject: RE: Help: Can Anyone Research Medical Libraries?
From: JenEllen
Date: 20 May 00 - 10:28 PM

Praise,
I worked in human medicine before taking on the pooch patrol. Let me know if I can be of any assistance for EITHER Shugah-Dawg.
~JenElle

Subject: RE: Help: Can Anyone Research Medical Libraries?
From: wysiwyg
Date: 21 May 00 - 12:08 AM

Thanks JE. See PM.

~S~