PubMed.com is over a decade old and it provides a resource for doctors and students to track studies. It includes medical journals dating back to the 1950’s, but the flood of results it provides may over whelm you. If you know what your looking for this a very powerful tool with a free login that allows easier filtering. There is also a  new added feature called iPhone application that soon will provide a second opinion while you are in the waiting room of the ER or doctors office.

VisualHealth.com is a free dermatological atlas that provides a Skin Disease Finder, which enables it readers to search for bites, boils, cysts, moles rashes, sores, warts and much more. It even has mug shots that match up with each rash so you can easily tell shingles from ringworm, or scabies from psoriasis. This is definitely more fun that going to the dermatologist’s office and it has some of the more hard-to-describe skin infections such as MRSA. You cane even select a location such as the scalp, toenail, cheek or finger webspace or select widespread rash.

ClincialTrials.gov focuses on experimental treatments with more than 25,000 open trials for drugs, vaccines and surgeries. It is sure to have something for everyone and inpatient volunteers are well compensated, but you have to remember that these drugs are untested, so one should be cautious. Sticking to trials offered by universities and the National Institute of Health are more likely to be monitored for safety more than the private sector.

Ben and James Heywood founded Patients Like Me after their brothers fight with Lou Gehrig’s disease. It encourages patients who are newly diagnosed with life changing, chronic illnesses. It’s a type of Facebook that holds thousands of profiles of patients who are living with diverse diseases like multiple sclerosis, Parkinson’s and HIV. It also has a section for mood disorders like anxiety and depression. It allows patients to track their symptoms over time, track their progress and rate their drugs and treatment with fellow patients. This site does share data with nonprofit groups, research hospitals and pharmaceutical companies, but the names and other identifying material are left out.

Mayoclinic.com may be the most concise source of medical information on the web, which provides an encyclopedic site that is very easy to consult. It has served as setting the standard for medical care in America for over a century and unlike other health sites, Mayo writes its own material, which is precise, straightforward and sympathetic. It provides a no nonsense symptom checker and many people read it just for shear pleasure.