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!
#41
Back in 1998 A doctor wanted to wait 6 months for a breast biopsies . I insisted on one. Guess what? Stage 1 breast cancer.
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62points
#43
Oh hey, an ask I can actually contribute to!
I started to donate plasma as a teenager, and they generally do a screening test for various diseases to make sure your plasma is safe to use. Lo and behold, I got a positive result for something scary.
Or rather, 10-20 scary things. All at once. HIV, HPV, the entire hepatitis alphabet - their entire catalog of things they test for!! This as a girl who'd only ever kissed guys, and had never had blood transfusions.
I went straight to a doctor, got a ton of tests done, and I was obviously clean, but I can never donate plasma again because of that one, faulty test. Scary waiting for results anyways. Because like, what if?
I started to donate plasma as a teenager, and they generally do a screening test for various diseases to make sure your plasma is safe to use. Lo and behold, I got a positive result for something scary.
Or rather, 10-20 scary things. All at once. HIV, HPV, the entire hepatitis alphabet - their entire catalog of things they test for!! This as a girl who'd only ever kissed guys, and had never had blood transfusions.
I went straight to a doctor, got a ton of tests done, and I was obviously clean, but I can never donate plasma again because of that one, faulty test. Scary waiting for results anyways. Because like, what if?
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54points
#44
My pediatrician told my mom I had flea bites. It was the chicken pox.
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54points
#45
I was told for *years* that my breathlessness and palpitations were due to anxiety until I got refered to a specialist who diagnosed me with atrial fibrillation.
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54points
#46
I was diagnosed with Bipolar II by a doc who spoke to me for maybe 5 minutes in an emergency room. I’d never had a manic or hypomanic episode in my life. They put me on lots and lots of d***s that really messed me up. It took almost a year to get correctly diagnosed with an anxiety disorder and CPTSD. And another year to wean off of all the meds and onto the new, correct ones.
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53points
#48
I had a GP claim the abdominal pain I had was because 4 months prior I had a few drinks at my friend's birthday. 2 years later diagnosed with Crohn's which has been incredibly difficult to manage.
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50points
#49
I had a false positive on an AIDS test once. Two months in hell :D
I will never EVER test myself in a private lab ever again.
I will never EVER test myself in a private lab ever again.
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46points
#50
I had super dry itchy skin on my shins. My doctor said is was ringworm. It was in fact, just dry itchy skin.
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42points
