Search Tips

To Begin Your Search
To begin your search enter your keyword or phrase in the search box (located at the top of the page below the tabs) and click the Search Site button. The search results page will display the top 4 MedicineNet results for each category (see below for descriptions) along with the total number of articles found on MedicineNet and in that category.

View All Results Found (drill down within categories)
Each category has a 'See All . . .' link that drills down and lists all the articles found in that category. This drill down page displays 20 results on each page. You can scroll through all the pages in the category drill down by clicking the Next Page >> link or a page number link. Each result found is ranked by relevancy. The results that have the same ranking will display in alphabetical order. You can return to the summary page by clicking the Back to Search Summary Page link.

Not Sure of the Spelling?
If you're not sure of the spelling, type the first few letters, followed by an asterisk(*). For example if you type: asp*, the results will display articles that include the word asperger, aspirin, and aspartame.

Refining Your Search
You can search by an exact phrase (one-word or multiple-words) or a combination of multiple keywords.  For example:

• to search for the articles that include the exact phrase, type:  "heart attack" (include quote marks for exact phrase)
• to search for articles where all the keywords are present, type: heart attack
• to search for articles that include both words, type: heart and attack
• to search for articles that include at least one of two words, type: heart or attack
• to search for articles that include combination of words, type: attack near heart
• to search for articles using the beginning of the word, type: hear* (use the wild card character asterisk)

Search is NOT case sensitive so any combination of small and capital letters will work.

Search will ignore any non-letter and non-numeric characters like ' or - and, possibly the rest of the word that includes those characters. For example, instead of searching for "children's", it will search for "children" which will include articles with "children's".

Category Descriptions
Articles are organized by categories. Below are descriptions of each category:

• Diseases & Conditions - major medical topics like diabetes and arthritis.
• Doctor's Responses - answers to questions submitted by our readers.
• Doctor's Views - medical and health opinions written by our doctors.
• First Aid - guides of what to do for immediate medical aid before you can reach a doctor.
• Health Facts - useful health and medical facts.
• Health News - daily news articles from the health and medical field.
• Medical Dictionary - medical reference that contains easy-to-understand explanations of over 10,000 medical terms.
• Medications - the most common prescription and over-the-counter medications, side effects, and drug interactions.
• Poison Control Centers - regional centers of the American Association of Poison Control Centers.
• Procedures & Tests - medical procedures and tests where our doctors' explain how and why the procedures are done.
• Symptoms & Signs - common symptoms and signs. It is very helpful to evaluate symptoms and signs in diagnosing the causes of health problems and in monitoring the status of diagnosed diseases.