An估计有1200万美国人a year are misdiagnosed with a condition they don’t have. In approximately half of those cases, the misdiagnosis has the potential to result in severe harm.
误诊可以有三星ous consequences on a person’s health. They can delay recovery and sometimes call for treatment that is harmful. For approximately40,500 people在一年内进入重症监护病房的人，误诊将使他们丧命。
We talked to three different people, living with three different health conditions, about how a misdiagnosis changed their life. Here are their stories.
我的症状始于14岁，我在25岁生日之前就被诊断出了。
I hadendometriosis，但我被诊断出患有“简单的抽筋”，这是一种饮食失调（因为胃肠道症状引起的饮食痛）和心理健康问题。甚至有人建议我小时候被虐待，所以这是我“表现出来”的方式。
I knew something was wrong all along. It was not normal to be bedridden because of period pain. My other friends could just take Tylenol and live a normal life. But I was so young, I didn’t really know what to do.
Because I was so young, I think doctors thought I may have been exaggerating my symptoms. Plus, most people hadn’t even heard of endometriosis, so they couldn’t advise me on getting help. Also, when I tried to talk about my pain, my friends laughed at me for being “sensitive.” They couldn’t understand how period pain could get in the way of living a normal life.
I was eventually diagnosed right before my 25th birthday. My gynecologist performed a laparoscopic surgery.
If I had been diagnosed earlier, say in my teenage years, I could have had a name for why I was missing class and why I was in unbearable pain. I could have gotten better treatment earlier. Instead, I was put on oral contraceptives which further delayed my diagnosis. Friends and family could have understood that I had a disease and wasn’t just faking it or trying to get attention.
My symptoms began in early childhood, but I didn’t receive my diagnosis until I was 33 years old. I’m 39 now.
I haveceliac disease，但有人告诉我我患有肠易激综合征，乳糖不耐症，软骨病和焦虑/恐慌症。
I never believed the diagnoses that I was given. I tried to explain the subtle nuances of my symptoms to various doctors. They all just nodded and smiled indulgently instead of actually listening to me. The treatments they recommended never worked.
最终我生病的常规MDs和去了naturopath. She ran a bunch of tests, and then put me on a very basic diet that was free from all known allergens. Then, she had me introduce foods at regular intervals to test my sensitivity to them. The reaction I had to gluten confirmed her instincts about the disease.
I was chronically ill for 33 years, from chronic throat and respiratory illnesses to stomach/gut issues. Thanks to the lack of nutrient absorption, I have (and still have) chronic anemia and B-12 deficiency. I’ve never been able to carry a pregnancy beyond a few weeks (infertility and miscarriage are known to occur in women with celiac disease). Additionally, the constant inflammation for over three decades has resulted inrheumatoid arthritisand other joint inflammation.
If the doctors I’d seen so often actually listened to me, I could have gotten a proper diagnosis years earlier. Instead, they dismissed my concerns and comments as being hypochondriac-female nonsense. Celiac disease wasn’t as well-known two decades ago as it is now, but the tests I asked for could have been run when I requested them. If your doctor isn’t listening to you, find another who will.
我患有莱姆病和另外两个tick-borne illnessescalled bartonella and babesia. It took 10 years to be diagnosed.
在1999年，24岁那年，我出去玩。不久之后，我在腹部发现了一个tick虫。它大约是罂粟籽的大小，我能够完整地将其清除。知道Lyme diseasecan be transmitted from deer ticks, I saved the tick and made an appointment to see my primary care doctor. I asked the doctor to test the tick. He chuckled and told me they don’t do that. He told me to come back if I developed any symptoms.
A few weeks after the bite, I started feeling achy, developed recurring fevers, experienced extreme fatigue, and felt run down. So, I returned to the doctor. At this point, he asked if I developed a bull’s eye rash, which is a definitive sign of Lyme disease. I had not, so he told me to come back if and when I did. So despite having symptoms, I left.
几周后，我发烧了105°F，无法直线行走。我有一个朋友把我带到医院，医生开始进行测试。我一直告诉他们我认为这是莱姆病并解释了我的历史。但是，他们都建议我需要皮疹，以使情况如此。那时，皮疹确实出现了，它们开始了静脉注射抗生素一天。离开后，我开了三个星期的口服抗生素。我的急性症状得到了解决，我“治愈了”。
I started developing new symptoms like drenching night sweats,溃疡性结肠炎, headaches, stomach pain, and recurring fevers. Trusting the medical system, I had no reason to believe these symptoms could actually be a consequence of the tick bite.
我姐姐是一名急诊医生，知道我的健康史。2009年，她发现了一个名为The The的组织国际莱姆和相关疾病协会（ILADS）and learned that Lyme disease testing is flawed. She learned that the illness often goes misdiagnosed and that it’s a multisystemic illness that can present as a large number of other illnesses.
I went to support groups and found a Lyme-literate doctor. He suggested we run specialty tests that are much more sensitive and accurate. After several weeks the results concluded that Ididhave Lyme, as well as babesia and bartonella.
If doctors completedthe ILADS Physician Training Program，我本可以避免多年的误诊，并节省了数万美元。
“[Misdiagnosis] happens more often than it’s been reported,” says Dr. Rajeev Kurapati, a specialist in hospital medicine. “Some diseases present different in females than males, so chances of missing it is common.” One study found that96 percent of physicians认为许多诊断错误是可以预防的。
There are certain steps you can take to help decrease your likelihood of getting misdiagnosed. Come准备to your doctor’s appointment with the following:
- 要问的问题清单
- a copy of all relevant lab and blood work (including reports ordered by other providers)
- a short, written description of your medical history and current health condition
- a list of all your medications and supplements, with dosages and length of time you have been on them
- 症状的进度图表，如果您保持症状
Take notes during appointments, ask questions about anything you don’t understand, and confirm your next steps after diagnosis with your doctor. After a serious diagnosis, get a second opinion or ask for a referral to a medical professional that specializes in your diagnosed condition.