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As reported by WRCB-TV NBC 3, Chattanooga, Tennessee, January 25, 2007.

Online Health

You can go online and do just about anything: Work, shop, date...even get help with health problems.

And many new websites are going beyond just providing information -- they're also bringing people together.

Mindi Ramsey has the story.

This is the only family Karen Adrian has around. Her 18 month old daughter and her husband.

Otherwise, she's all alone in Connecticut.

So when she was recently diagnosed with an illness she turned to the internet for support.

"I went on google and I looked for different websites what would help me on a daily basis."

She found help on a site called "dailystrength.com".

The membership's free.

The site offers information about treatments, blogs, a place to write journals and talk to other people going through the same thing.

"It's not uptight. It's not a medical point of view. It's a normal people point of view. And it makes me feel more comfortable."

"I think it's definitely going to grow in popularity."

UConn Medical School head librarian Evelyn Morgen says high tech healthcare is on the rise because of two main reasons:

"In general people are taking more of an interest in their health and the internet has grown more interactive."

"I think they will actually work as self help groups, you know, old self help groups where people would get together in a room they can now do this virtually."

She adds that the doctors of tomorrow are being taught to deal with this new phenomenon and how it relates to the care of their patients.

"People are much more empowered to participate in their own healthcare."

People like Karen who says using the web has made a world of difference helping to overcome her health problems.

"I think it's a way to help people find some answers. It makes me feel like there's an outreach."

Mindi Ramsey, NBC News.