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’Net Junkie Shawn "Speedy" Lopes |
No medical question
is taboo hereThere are some topics we simply can't discuss with anyone, including our closest confidantes. Things that are best left for discussion with a professional. A personal physician, for example. The problem is, it may not always be feasible to make a doctor's appointment each time a possible health concern arises.
Though no one would suggest replacing your doctor with an online service like afraidtoask.com, there are occasions when a health-related Web site could be useful in gaining basic information on such ailments as diverticulitis, actinic keratosis, Lyme disease, lice, constipation, gas ... well, you get the idea.
Afraidtoask.com is a straight-shooting, no-nonsense Web site, complete with graphic photographs and detailed descriptions of physical conditions and diseases. "Have you ever had a medical question that you were too embarrassed to ask a friend, family member, or even your doctor?" it asks. "Are you tired of the establishment medical sites that sugarcoat their information and won't show you the pictures you need to see?" Afraidtoask. com may just be what the doctor ordered.
The Web site allows one to search its database of more than 90 health-related topics. It features an uncensored bulletin board, which allows users to converse on a variety of topics, from body functions to medical conditions to sex-related subjects. Afraidtoask.com, it seems, isn't afraid to answer any health-related question, no matter how personal or embarrassing.
For those who require additional information, the Web site also offers users the opportunity to ask a board-certified doctor their most intimate medical questions. A $25 one-time-only fee is billed to your credit card. Most responses, afraidtoask.com says, come within a day's time. Many are answered sooner.
More than 2 million Web surfers, we are told, have visited the Web site since its inception in 1996. Fifty-seven percent of survey respondents have been female, 43 percent male. With 18- to 24-year-olds as its biggest users (29 percent), under-18s at 26 percent and the 65-and-over crowd at 2 percent, it's a pretty safe bet that this is a site that gets more hits for "acne" than "impotence."
Note: Web sites mentioned in this column were active at time of publication. The Honolulu Star-Bulletin neither endorses nor is responsible for their contents.
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’Net Junkie drops every Monday.
Contact Shawn "Speedy" Lopes at slopes@starbulletin.com.
