Medical Self-Diagnosis with a System

Everyone knows the feeling when symptoms suddenly appear and insecurity grows: harmless or a sign of a serious illness? This book offers a well-founded guide to systematic and methodically secure self-diagnosis. Based on science, it presents practical strategies that patients can use to better understand their symptoms, assess possible causes, and make informed decisions about the next step. In addition to detailed explanations of physiological processes, typical clinical pictures and differential diagnoses, this book contains a structured checklist that helps to categorise complaints in a targeted manner. It provides a thorough understanding of the relationships between symptoms, risk factors and medical backgrounds without resorting to simplistic or misleading self-tests. This book is aimed at patients who want to develop a more precise awareness of their state of health in order to plan doctor's visits more effectively, avoid unnecessary diagnostics and take a responsible role in shaping their own medical care. Well-founded self-observation is no substitute for a professional diagnosis, but it can be a valuable tool for raising one's own well-being and medical care to a new, reflective level. Over the past 10 years, Bremen University Press has published over 4,500 academic books in various languages.