Top 10 misdiagnosed medical cases

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Top 10 Misdiagnosed Medical Cases

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Sometimes ailments are very difficult and tricky to diagnose. Symptoms might not vary greatly and a disease mimics the other. Take a look at the following examples of such deceptive cases that often bemuse doctors.

10. Celiac Disease Celiac disease is an immune reaction to gluten that inflames the small intestine. Patients suffering from this disease experience difficulty while digesting gluten-containing foods such as wheat and barley. Celiac disease causes itchy skin, headaches, joint pain, acid reflex, and heartburn. In some cases, it may also cause diarrhea and weight loss. These symptoms can be easily misunderstood for something else. However, a blood test can always diagnose a case of celiac disease and endoscopy determines any damage to the small intestine.

9. Irritable Bowel Syndrome In some cases, the disorder is so hard to diagnose that doctors resort to the “diagnosis of elimination�. It goes by dismissing all irrelevant possibilities. Irritable bowel syndrome is one of these conditions and it’s characterized by abdominal pain, diarrhea and/or constipation, cramping, and bloating. It takes at least 6 months to diagnose a person with the irritable bowel syndrome.

8. Inflammatory Bowel Syndrome Inflammatory bowel syndrome is another case diagnosed by eliminating other possibilities. Its symptoms include pain, diarrhea and sometimes malnutrition. When a patient comes in with abdominal pain, odds indicate a gallbladder problem. Diarrhea is often thought to be caused by an infection. After a number of various tests, the number of possibilities are ruled out and the doctors finally come down to the final conclusion and begin treatment.

7. Fibromyalgia Although a patient with fibromyalgia complains about musculoskeletal pain, doctors fail to establish an obvious physical cause. To settle on that diagnosis, the patient sees different specialists, ruling out other possibilities. If the patient shows up at a rheumatologist, he is diagnosed for fibromyalgia. If he shows up at gastroenterologist, it’s irritable bowel syndrome.

6. Rheumatoid Arthritis Rheumatoid arthritis, an autoimmune disease, also causes inexplicable pains. It causes inflammationand joint swelling. The aches and stiffness at the joints may be caused by many other factors. Inflammation can be detected through blood tests but an accurate diagnose of RA requires a doctor’s physical exam and a look at the patient’s medical history.

5. Lyme Disease A tick bite or a telltale bull’s eye usually forms a rash around them when a person is infected with the Lyme disease. Sometimes, however, the person infected develops no rash but shows other Lyme disease symptoms such as fatigues, headaches and joint pain.

However, these symptoms can easily be misunderstood for something different. A blood test can show Lyme disease antibodies in the blood, but not until after a few weeks and the results are still highly unreliable.

4. Lupus Lupus is a chronic inflammatory disease that forms a butterfly-shaped rash across a person’s cheeks. In some cases, the rash is nonexistent, which makes Lupus an extremely tricky case to diagnose. Lupus can affect the joints, brain, kidneys, skin and lungs. It could be misguiding and appear as a different ailment. A full physical examination and blood and urine tests are necessary but unfortunately, it’s nearly impossible to diagnose a case of Lupus.

3. Migraines Migraine patients experience severe headaches, throbbing, nausea, vomiting and sensitivity to light and sound. Sufferers usually get the wrong treatment without even knowing their diagnoses and their medications might not be appropriate for migraine patients.

2. Cluster Headaches Cluster headaches is another case of intense severe headaches. They are rare and often misdiagnosed. Because they usually occur during seasonal changes, they get mistaken for allergies.

1. Hypothyroidism Hypothyroidism is a case in which the thyroid gland produces a deficient amount of hormones. It commonly occurs during old age causing dry skin, muscle ache, weight gain, fatigue and impaired memory. These symptoms can be misunderstood simply as signs of a person aging.

Misdiagnosed Medical Cases, Health, health care, Top 10