Symcat – What’s Making You Sick?

To get an accurate medical diagnosis, sick and injured people need to visit a physician in person. But when getting to a doctor’s office immediately just isn’t feasible, Symcat is a medical diagnostic application that worried patients can use instead.

Wondering what could be causing your sore throat or shortness of breath? Head over to symcat.com and type in your No. 1 symptom or complaint to get started. Based on your symptom, Symcat will provide you with a lengthy list of potential conditions you could be suffering from. To narrow down this list even further, give the web-app a little more information about whatever it is you’re experiencing. Symcat will walk you through the basics just like at the doctor’s office, starting with how long your symptoms have been going on. Enter that information, along with your age, gender, any additional symptoms you’re feeling, and any past medical information that might be relevant given your current state, and Symcat will provide you with an updated list of conditions that you could be suffering from.

What makes Symcat different from other medical diagnostic applications are the percentages it lists next to each potential condition, which indicate the likelihood that you have that particular disease. You can also type in the name of a condition you fear that you may have – even if it’s not included on Symcat’s list of the conditions you’re most likely to be suffering from – to see your chances of having that condition and hopefully ease some of your fears.

Practical Uses:

• Find out whether you should get your cough checked out by a doctor
• See what your chances of having bronchitis are based on the conditions you’re presenting
• Offer an armchair diagnosis to a spouse who’s been dealing with stomach issues
• Check whether there’s any chance the symptoms you’re experiencing could be related to Ebola

Insider Tips:

• Symcat makes its diagnosis’s based on aggregate patient health data
• Symcat doesn’t require users to input any personal or identifying information
• Download the Android app to use Symcat on your smartphone
• View the “Specialists often seen” section to decide which type of doctor to call for help

What we liked:

• Symcat offers a description, list of symptoms, and guidelines for each disease
• People can use Symcat to get help finding a medical specialist in their local areas
• Diseases can be sorted by Most Likely or Relative Risk
• Symcat offers a directory of all known conditions and symptoms

What we didn’t like:

• Some people may decide to hold off on visiting the doctor based on information they found on Symcat

Alternatives:

• EverydayHealth – http://www.everydayhealth.com
• iTriage – http://www.itriagehealth.com
• WebMD – http://www.webmd.com

Company Info:

• Privately Held
• Headquarters: Baltimore, Maryland
• Founded by: Craig Monsen and David Do
• Web site: http://symcat.com

Costs:

• Free