Medical professionals are some of the most trusted experts out there. However, nobody’s perfect. Even the most skilled, sharp, and knowledgeable experts make mistakes from time to time. It’s only human. However, some mistakes can have extremely far-reaching and terrifying consequences for your health.
Some of the members of the r/AskReddit community spilled the tea about the worst medical misdiagnoses they have either experienced or heard about. We’ve collected their most powerful stories for you to read. Check them out below. Meanwhile, it’s a good reminder to always get a second (and maybe even a third or fourth…) professional’s opinion!
Some of the members of the r/AskReddit community spilled the tea about the worst medical misdiagnoses they have either experienced or heard about. We’ve collected their most powerful stories for you to read. Check them out below. Meanwhile, it’s a good reminder to always get a second (and maybe even a third or fourth…) professional’s opinion!
#21
When I was in the Marines & in combat training at Camp LeJeune in North Carolina, shortly after basic training, I started noticing a pain in one of my feet. I was in a class at the time and it progressively got worse as that class dragged on, and I mentioned it to a guy sitting next to me after he noticed me squirming around like I was uncomfortable. He happened to glance down and said, "Oh my god, dude...look at your foot." It was starting to swell so much that you could actually see it through the jungle boots I was wearing.
I went to a Corpsman (medic) to get it checked out and it was so swollen by then that they had to cut the boot off, and I guess because my foot had swelled up so much the skin broke, but the wounds from where the skin broke looked like a snake bite. So the initial diagnosis made by the medic, was that I had been bitten by a venomous snake.
This is like 45 minutes to an hour after I first noticed pain, so the whole time the humvee was taking me back to a hospital (we were out in the field at the time), which felt like an eternity even though it was racing at high speed on these dirt roads, I was thinking I was definitely going to die.
Fortunately at the hospital it was diagnosed as cellulitis (a bacterial infection), which can be potentially serious too, but it felt like good news compared to a venomous snake bite. I probably got it from a blister from one of the many humps (forced marches) we were doing, later getting exposed to swamp water.
I went to a Corpsman (medic) to get it checked out and it was so swollen by then that they had to cut the boot off, and I guess because my foot had swelled up so much the skin broke, but the wounds from where the skin broke looked like a snake bite. So the initial diagnosis made by the medic, was that I had been bitten by a venomous snake.
This is like 45 minutes to an hour after I first noticed pain, so the whole time the humvee was taking me back to a hospital (we were out in the field at the time), which felt like an eternity even though it was racing at high speed on these dirt roads, I was thinking I was definitely going to die.
Fortunately at the hospital it was diagnosed as cellulitis (a bacterial infection), which can be potentially serious too, but it felt like good news compared to a venomous snake bite. I probably got it from a blister from one of the many humps (forced marches) we were doing, later getting exposed to swamp water.
Report
0points
#22
Got bit by a tick the size of a pin head. Started blistering in a weird way. Pretty sure it was Lyme's.
Went to urgent care. "we'll do a test for Lyme's to calm you down, but it's shingles" (I was 31. Not impossible but highly unlikely)
Lyme's test came back negative the same day the area around the bite mark started to form a bullseye.
Drove myself to the smaller ER further away. Nurse walks in. Sees me. Sits down and goes "so we'll wait for the doctor for the official diagnosis. But you're going to be in for a world of sucky antibiotics"
So yes it was Lyme's. I saw the tick and got it off me before it was able to spread over my entire body, allegedly. Remember folks! If you find a small tick on you, save it so they can test it for diseases!
Went to urgent care. "we'll do a test for Lyme's to calm you down, but it's shingles" (I was 31. Not impossible but highly unlikely)
Lyme's test came back negative the same day the area around the bite mark started to form a bullseye.
Drove myself to the smaller ER further away. Nurse walks in. Sees me. Sits down and goes "so we'll wait for the doctor for the official diagnosis. But you're going to be in for a world of sucky antibiotics"
So yes it was Lyme's. I saw the tick and got it off me before it was able to spread over my entire body, allegedly. Remember folks! If you find a small tick on you, save it so they can test it for diseases!
Report
0points
#23
My, thankfully slow growing, brain cancer was 'pre-diabetes' and 'kid needs glasses'.
Report
0points
#24
For years, doctors and teachers told me I was subconsciously faking sick because of was afraid of school. I had an immunodeficiency.
Report
0points
#25
I saw my doctor when I was 25 years old because my toes were numb.
Diagnosis: poorly fitting shoes.
Yeah, ok, I had super stinky feet so I always bought cheap shoes. Never heels. As I aged I sorted out the stinky feet (connected to psoriasis) and I started buying nice shoes but still, my toes never regained feeling. Ahh I guess I permanently damaged them.
Lost feeling my right hand a few years later. ER diagnosis was, and I quote what was said to me face after a physical exam and nothing else "well it's not a stroke *shrug* bodies are weird" I literally continued on with life with limited feeling/sensation in my toes and my dominant hand.
At 37, from my knees down would go numb when I was lying down to try to sleep. Weird. It got worse and spread up my legs so I went to my doc (different from years earlier).
Yeah, I had/have MS.
I guess no harm no foul for the original diagnoses since I'm not diabled, right?
Diagnosis: poorly fitting shoes.
Yeah, ok, I had super stinky feet so I always bought cheap shoes. Never heels. As I aged I sorted out the stinky feet (connected to psoriasis) and I started buying nice shoes but still, my toes never regained feeling. Ahh I guess I permanently damaged them.
Lost feeling my right hand a few years later. ER diagnosis was, and I quote what was said to me face after a physical exam and nothing else "well it's not a stroke *shrug* bodies are weird" I literally continued on with life with limited feeling/sensation in my toes and my dominant hand.
At 37, from my knees down would go numb when I was lying down to try to sleep. Weird. It got worse and spread up my legs so I went to my doc (different from years earlier).
Yeah, I had/have MS.
I guess no harm no foul for the original diagnoses since I'm not diabled, right?
Report
0points