The Medline Website Is The Premier Medical Information Portal

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Newsweek called Medline "the absolute best source of up-to-date medical information on just about every disease or condition, plus any medications you might need to know about. It's one-stop shopping and your tax dollars pay for it, so you should use it!" The Wall Street Journal added that "MedlinePlus should be the first stop in any internet health search." The American Customer Satisfaction Index (ACSI) gave this health site an 86/100 score, which is the highest of any government site, and Yahoo said it's one of the "seven most trusted health sites on the net." If you're looking for medical advice, information, research or local resources, then join the 32 million visitors who come to Medline each month.

Medline offers many unique functions to enhance your understanding and enrich your life. For instance, if you are about to undergo a colonoscopy or hip replacement surgery, a biopsy, a laparoscopy, LASIK eye surgery or another procedure, then you can watch an interactive tutorial that will show you what will be done and alleviate some of the mystery and anxiety. Another resource you may find very useful is the "Health Check Tools" page, which gives you educational quizzes about breast cancer, arthritis or alcoholism, as well as an "alcohol calorie intake counter," a mental health screening quiz, a cancer risk questionnaire, a diabetic "rate your plate" assessment, a target heart rate calculator, an interactive menu planner and a risk assessment tool for coronary heart disease.

Medline is set up to accommodate all different types of people. Speak Spanish? No problem, as there is a version en Espanol, as well as forty other languages! Is your eye sight failing? Don't worry, there is a version, located on the lower right-hand corner of the "Health Topics" page, which offers an easier to view page.

Some of the most frequently requested topics on Medline include: alzheimers, back pain, birth control, cervical cancer, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, depression, diabetes, exercise, heart diseases, herpes simplex, high blood pressure, kidney diseases, multiple sclerosis, ovarian cancer, Parkinson's disease, pregnancy, sexually transmitted diseases, shingles, skin diseases and thyroid disorders. If you were to look up back pain, then you would find a menu that is divided by the very basics that includes: Basic Overviews, Latest News, Diagnosis/Symptoms, Treatment and Prevention/Screening. Next to that column, you'll find another menu exploring additional information: Alternative Therapy, Rehabilitation/Recovery, Coping, Specific Conditions and Related Issues. For the multimedia lovers, there are interactive functions, videos, tutorials and health check tools like quizzes and calculators. You can read journal articles and the latest research, you can look up organizations or statistics, and you can look up additional information specifically related to your age or gender. Even if you don't have a preexisting condition, you may want to come to the site simply to find out how to live a better, healthier life.

As the G.I. Joes said, "Knowing is half the battle." The more educated you are, the better chance you will have at living efficiently. No one wants to live out the last 20 years of life stuck in a wheelchair with limited mobility. We want to be looking great and feeling great for as long as possible! Whether you're looking for research to give you renewed optimism for a chronic disease or information on a medical procedure/medication you've been prescribed, Medline is a gold mine of medical information, paid for by your tax dollars. So why not take a look and get your money's worth? Visit Medline at www.Nlm.Nih.gov.