What if your doctor’s wrong?

4 Common Mistakes that can kill you

After experiencing several days of stomach pain and bloating, my husbands’ doctor dismissed it as a mild case of constipation. When the symptoms progressed to severe stomach pain and constipation, we sought out a second opinion and discovered that the actual problem was colon cancer, which would have required a gastroenterologist and a colonoscopy.

The cost of this “Missed diagnosis” claimed his life at age 45.

This is why I am ferociously passionate about this topic both on a personal and professional level.  So, even though I am tempted to begin with alarming statistics, I feel it’s important to understand the difference between these four categories.

We’ll start with Diagnosis, which would seem to be the obvious…or is it?

How does your doctor come to the conclusion of a diagnosis anyway?

According to the “Medicine” definition, a diagnosis is  “The act or process of identifying or determining the nature and cause of a disease or injury through evaluation of patient history, examination, and review of laboratory data.”

Here then lie the 4 common mistakes that can cost you your life…literally kill you.

1. Diagnosis: Most patients accept the doctor’s conclusion without question. However, did you know that doctors are often limited to their specific field of expertise and cannot properly diagnose beyond their niche?  This often leads to:

2. Misdiagnosis: For example, I’ve worked with several clients that were diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis. After months of treatments without relief, we began investigating the diagnosis and discovered that what they actually had was either Fibromyalgia or Lyme disease.

3. Missed diagnosis:  This refers to the lack of a diagnosis, which either leads to no treatment or an inaccurate treatment. As was the case with my late husband Anson. In 19 years, I knew him to be sick only 2 maybe 3 times with the common cold or flu. So, as his stomach pain, bloating and constipation continued to worsen over three months with just intermittent relief his doctor diagnosed Irritable Bowel Syndrome and prescribed another pharmaceutical to alleviate the discomfort. As we found out…too late…this was an inaccurate treatment for an altogether “Missed-Diagnosis.”

4. Undiagnosed or Failure to Diagnose: The fourth common killer.   There is nothing more frustrating than experiencing symptoms that can often be debilitating and yet remain without a “conclusive” diagnosis. My client Jen’s doctor referred her to a psychotherapist when, after several inconclusive tests, he couldn’t find anything physically “wrong” with her.  Several months later, after seeing an infectious disease specialist, we discovered she had H. pylori infection, which is a strong risk factor for stomach cancer.

Many of my clients have experienced frustration and anger by the fact that they cannot seem to get a diagnosis, or an accurate one. They experience symptoms, they accumulate test results that they often don’t understand, they can’t find relief, and though it’s very clear that something is wrong with their health, no one can provide a solution or   the wrong solution is prescribed.

Please don’t wait til it’s too late…

Here are some facts you should know:

• According to the Center for Disease Control, there are between 80 to 100 different and often disabling chronic autoimmune diseases. And they often mimic each other.
• In a 2009 report funded by the federal Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality found that 28% of 583 diagnostic mistakes reported anonymously by doctors were life-threatening or had resulted in deaths or permanent disability.  *(posted in the Washington Post Health & Science May 6, 2013)
• According to the Institute of Medicine, between 44,000 and 98,000 Americans die each year from medical errors. An additional 100,000 die from needless infections, according to the CDC. Knowing the possibilities for medical mistakes leads to prevention and safety.
• Jonathan Lewin, chief radiologist at Johns Hopkins Hospital, says that on an annual basis, his group sees a significant discrepancy in diagnosis in about 8% of cases, such as a brain tumor mistakenly thought to be an infection or a stroke or multiple sclerosis that initially is diagnosed as a brain tumor. “The last thing a surgeon wants to do is take out a piece of brain and find out this isn’t what we thought it was,” Dr. Lewin says. *(Posted in The Wall Street Journal January 17, 2012)

So, the point of all these stats is not to scare you or demean doctors. It’s to inform you so that you can help your doctors help you.

Why?

1. Because knowledge is power. Don’t be afraid to question your doctor.
2. Doctors are human too. They make mistakes.
3. It is impossible for a doctor to be an expert in the multitude of diseases known to the western world.
4. The importance of advocacy…because You don’t have to be a statistic!

Stay tuned for the 7 Do’s and Don’ts for your Doctor Appointment.

In Gratitude,
Sónia

“Mainstream medicine would be way different if they focused on prevention even half as much as they focused on intervention…” ~Anonymous