Posted by spoc on April 10, 2004, at 17:54:38
In reply to PPL WITH EXPERIENCE PLSE PLSE READ AND HELP!!, posted by crazychickuk on April 1, 2004, at 9:04:14
Hi crazychickuk, I just jumped in here and this probably isn't what you were hoping for either. I think you've been here longer than me, but I'm guessing your question is hard for people to know where to start with, because the potential answers would be limitless, and the most suitable thing(s) for you are no doubt already here many times over if you look for them.
Below is what I do to find information relevant to me, before I start a new thread. It sounds obvious but it must not be quite how you do it or else you'd have almost TOO many possibilities to consider by now. As far as that, no one knows you and your own nuances better than you, even if you summarize some of them in a post. So taking a stab at finding and tailoring the answers to yourself will by far be the most effective route. I think it's better to at least figure out or pick a ballpark to be in, *then* inquire about those more specific things, like a potential med or supplement. This process may sound inconvenient or complicated, but actually it becomes natural very quickly. And to me is even fun, like a computer game but one that is highly useful.
Anyway! Using most of the boards here but mainly meds and alternative, I keep track of interesting suggestions from those relevant sounding threads I skim. Within those threads I usually also find a wealth of additional suggestions that you'd never know were there to look at the thread or post title, and keep track of them too. Sometimes those steps in themselves wind up sending me off on other links or thread offshoots from the main; to where all in all I have tons to look into.
BUT if you have patience and read through all posts in a thread and its offshoots, often the dizzying number of questions coming to mind along the way (that you may be tempted to just start a new thread to get answered) will answer and resolve themselves as you come upon subsequent existing posts to the thread, which answer them. Also along the way if you use common sense and pay attention to the supporting data and "quality" of rationales given by various posters, you develop a natural process of elimination by which you end up with your "finalist" suggestions that you will next research further.
After having done the above, I then take my finalist ideas and begin doing Babble/Google searches for more archived info on them, using search parameters to focus the search and narrow the returns to recent years. I posted tips for how to do that in Admin this week, in a thread begun under the main title "PB sticky on searching archives?" Here's a link to my tips:
http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/admin/20040307/msgs/333885.html
In addition to Babble/Google searching you may also want to use regular Google (or other favorite engine) advanced searches to find data outside this site, but *hopefully* you know how to assess whether a site is reliable! That's key. Here is a link to tips for determining whether a health care related site is reliable, that I found at one of Dr. Bob's own resources links:
http://www.medicine.uiowa.edu/uhs/Healthguide.cfm
And, of course, ask questions of any docs and medical professionals you can, but it sounds pretty different in the UK (so sorry to hear that). Finally, after all this or at least some of it, if I still have questions I will *then* start a new thread, asking for any new developments or opinions on a specific thing I will name, which I found and am interested in.
For you and anyone else reading this, here is one more tip on how to get at the data you need on the Internet, if you are not a good Internet researcher or don't have the time or inspiration. Check out the link below, for a service called Google Answers. It is like going through the looking glass to another side of Google, where researchers do the work FOR you. You set your own offering price for your question, but do be realistic in relation to its complexity. AND, you have to be specific -- the blanket question "What should I try next, whether Western or Eastern?" would never get touched. Post a certain thing you saw somewhere and want investigated. Here is the FAQs page, from which you can click on the Google Answers logo in the upper left to begin the process:
http://answers.google.com/answers/faq.html
And heck, here's a link to a list of other specialized search utilities at Google, most free, because they can be so useful but I really think almost no one knows they are there (no, I don't work for Google!):
http://www.google.com/options/index.html
Anyway, I hope there was at least something in here you haven't tried yet, and that it helps. Best of luck! :- )
poster:spoc
thread:331226
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/alter/20040225/msgs/334992.html