Diseases your doctor diagnoses wrong

Doctors no matter how good they are can make mistakes. About 40% of all the mistakes that doctors make are misdiagnoses, according to the Patient Safety Foundation. The reason that doctors often misdiagnose certain conditions is because the symptoms for that condition are the same as other conditions, and the only way to tell the difference between those different conditions is through tests. If the doctor is confident about their diagnosis, they will feel that the tests that can be used to establish the difference between conditions are unnecessary.

Strokes are one of the most common conditions that doctors misdiagnose. Strokes are often diagnosed as vertigo, migraines, or an inner-ear disorder. The reason that strokes are diagnosed as other things is because of the similarity of the symptoms with the other conditions. Strokes, vertigo, inner-ear problems, and migraines all have the same symptoms. The most common symptoms you will see are numbness on one side of the body, headaches, and dizziness, sudden blurriness in vision, slurred speech, and/or lack of balance or muscle coordination. Strokes are often diagnosed wrong in young healthy people because doctors look at the milder problems first.

Temporomandibular joint syndrome is another disease that is often misdiagnosed by doctors; it is often confused with migraines or an ear disorder. This medical condition is often misdiagnosed because the symptoms can also signal a milder problem; the symptoms include headaches and/or ringing in the ears, aching back, neck, or teeth. This condition is best treated by a dentist, but people often go to a regular doctor because of the symptoms. If your doctor is not sure of what is going on or gives you a it might be kind of diagnosis, you will want to go see a dentist right away, especially if they did not conduct any tests or if the medications do not work you need to see a dentist.

Heart attacks and heart disease are also misdiagnosed; they are often diagnosed as a panic attack or simple stress. Heart attacks and panic attacks share the same symptoms, which include fatigue or trouble breathing, but this also accompanied by chest pain or tightness, and/or palpitations. Women have more of a problem being misdiagnosed with heart attacks because the heart attack is more subtle in women than it is in men, many women only show fatigue or shortness of breath as a symptom of their heart attack. If the treatment that your doctor prescribes does not seem to help the problem, you need to see a cardiologist as soon as possible.

Hypothyroidism is often diagnosed as depression because doctors often link constant sadness to depression rather than hypothyroidism. In hypothyroidism, the thyroid gland is not producing enough hormones for your body, so your hormones are out of balance. It is often confused with depression because the symptoms are the same. The two diseases share the symptoms of sadness accompanied by weight gain, fatigue, insomnia, and/or muscle aches or stiffness. If hypothyroidism is left undertreated it can lead to clinical depression, but it can cause other major medical issues, such as high blood pressure, and heart disease. The best way to tell if the problem is something besides depression is if the medications your doctor prescribes you to improve your mood doesn't work to ask for a TSH blood check, or you can have it checked at the initial visit to rule it out before starting on any medications.

The only way that you can help prevents your doctor from misdiagnosing something is to be informed about the conditions that doctors most often misdiagnose. Knowing about these conditions will allow you to ask the right questions, which can possibly save your life.