A know-it-all patient is a doctor's worst nightmare. In today's AI-driven world, many people think they can consult with Google or ChatGPT and know exactly what's wrong. In fact, a 2019 study showed that a whopping 89% of Americans turned to the Internet before they went to the doctor.
Diagnosing oneself is pretty dangerous: we're not as well-informed as doctors, might be biased when we look up our symptoms on the internet, and give ourselves serious health scares when WebMD tells us it's (once again!) cancer.
But sometimes, people surprise even the most seasoned doctors with their accurate self-diagnoses. Bored Panda came across a couple of threads online where someone asked, "What's the most impressive case of Google 'self-diagnosis' that turned out to be true?" And we present to you the most astonishing stories below!
#1
When I was in high school one of the science classes had to do a project on systemic diseases. This kid chose diabetes. They noticed the symptoms matched what they had been feeling lately. Went to the hospital and it turned out they were days to hours from a diabetic coma. I think it’s a miracle it went undetected for so long, but then again, I don’t know much about diabetes.
They are now a medical professional, so this story really came full circle.
They are now a medical professional, so this story really came full circle.
34points
#2
I (41f) am not a doctor. ChatGPT helped me diagnose myself with a brain tumor.
My vision was blurry, I was losing depth perception and peripheral vision, I was noticing color blindness, I was getting bad headaches, extreme fatigue, anxiety, depression, weight gain, mood swings and my period stopped. I had my house checked for mold, worried I became allergic to my dog, thought I had fibromyalgia.
I was on antibiotics, antidepressants, and then my primary care doctor told me it was likely perimenopause. I asked her for an MRI to rule out a tumor and was told there was no medical need for one. I saw an ophthalmologist who did more tests and my eyes were healthy, no reason for the vision issues, which were getting worse. She referred me for an MRI, where they found a 2.5cm pituitary macro-adenoma wreaking havoc on my hormones and pressing on the optic chiasm, impacting my vision.
I have an appointment with a neurosurgeon this week to discuss surgery options. Some of my vision might be too far gone to recover, but I am hoping it won’t get worse.
My vision was blurry, I was losing depth perception and peripheral vision, I was noticing color blindness, I was getting bad headaches, extreme fatigue, anxiety, depression, weight gain, mood swings and my period stopped. I had my house checked for mold, worried I became allergic to my dog, thought I had fibromyalgia.
I was on antibiotics, antidepressants, and then my primary care doctor told me it was likely perimenopause. I asked her for an MRI to rule out a tumor and was told there was no medical need for one. I saw an ophthalmologist who did more tests and my eyes were healthy, no reason for the vision issues, which were getting worse. She referred me for an MRI, where they found a 2.5cm pituitary macro-adenoma wreaking havoc on my hormones and pressing on the optic chiasm, impacting my vision.
I have an appointment with a neurosurgeon this week to discuss surgery options. Some of my vision might be too far gone to recover, but I am hoping it won’t get worse.
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34points
#3
It started with pressure headaches, then I got up one morning and walked sideways into my bedroom wall. GP diagnosed Labyrinthitis and prescribed medication for nausea.
The headaches got more frequent along with spells of the most intense vertigo.
Two years of “it’s just anxiety” from three different GPs.
I started getting ringing in my ears and sometimes my hearing would become “muffled” for short periods of time like I was under water. I was reading everything I could find relating to my symptoms and absolutely everything pointed towards Ménière’s disease.
Still, “it’s anxiety”, and my GP laughed and called me Doctor Google.
Eventually ended up at an Out of Hours clinic one night because my vertigo was so bad and I’d completely lost my hearing in one ear. This lead to a referral for an MRI and eventual diagnosis of… Ménière’s disease.
Signed, Doctor Google MD.
The headaches got more frequent along with spells of the most intense vertigo.
Two years of “it’s just anxiety” from three different GPs.
I started getting ringing in my ears and sometimes my hearing would become “muffled” for short periods of time like I was under water. I was reading everything I could find relating to my symptoms and absolutely everything pointed towards Ménière’s disease.
Still, “it’s anxiety”, and my GP laughed and called me Doctor Google.
Eventually ended up at an Out of Hours clinic one night because my vertigo was so bad and I’d completely lost my hearing in one ear. This lead to a referral for an MRI and eventual diagnosis of… Ménière’s disease.
Signed, Doctor Google MD.
31points
Self-diagnosing and being right sure do sound cool, but it is something that probably all doctors would advise against. Experts are noticing alarming numbers of self-diagnoses in the mental health field, especially among adolescents and children. They're the most prone to self-diagnosing with ADHD, autism, eating disorders, depression, OCD, etc.
Social media is most often the culprit. How many videos on TikTok, Instagram, or Facebook have you seen where a person names "symptoms" of having ADHD? The director of psychology, neuropsychology, and social work at Johns Hopkins, Jennifer Katzenstein, Ph.D., explains that seeing their favorite influencers discuss their mental health experiences inevitably leads teens to apply them to themselves.
#4
My wife was in a coma from encephalitis and fulminant liver failure. The doctors had no idea what it could be. (Including her sister, who is a neonatologist, and was therefore very familiar with a lot of ICU stuff). The different specialists were basically playing hot potato with her case. None were willing to actually take charge, and very few were willing to admit they really had no idea.
I put every bit of information into ChatGPT and got two options: Porphyria or Hemophagocytic Lymphohistiocytosis (HLH.) Porphyria was an easy urine test that came back negative. HLH was more complicated but could be conclusively diagnosed with a bone marrow biopsy.
I had her transferred to an academic medical center. The dozen or so specialists there hemmed and hawed about giving her the biopsy because she only had 4 of the 5 required clinical signs. (I learned that doctors can be pretty arbitrary at times.) All while sending 10s of thousands of dollars worth of bloodwork for increasingly impossible other diagnoses.
Eventually, however, they were forced by her worsening condition to biopsy her marrow and saw the telltale signs of this very rare condition. She got the treatment in time and has made a full recovery.
I put every bit of information into ChatGPT and got two options: Porphyria or Hemophagocytic Lymphohistiocytosis (HLH.) Porphyria was an easy urine test that came back negative. HLH was more complicated but could be conclusively diagnosed with a bone marrow biopsy.
I had her transferred to an academic medical center. The dozen or so specialists there hemmed and hawed about giving her the biopsy because she only had 4 of the 5 required clinical signs. (I learned that doctors can be pretty arbitrary at times.) All while sending 10s of thousands of dollars worth of bloodwork for increasingly impossible other diagnoses.
Eventually, however, they were forced by her worsening condition to biopsy her marrow and saw the telltale signs of this very rare condition. She got the treatment in time and has made a full recovery.
31points
#5
I suspected I developed choleostasis of pregnancy while pregnant with my second child. How I figured it out is kind of a miracle, as it has very similar symptoms to HELLP syndrome, which is much more well known.
I followed a woman on IG who sold leggings (I was a yoga teacher). Over the years, she became pregnant and lost her child within 36 hours after birth with no real cause. Five or so years later, she became pregnant again and was closely sharing her experience, as a lot of her account focused on her grief and healing after losing her first child. She started feeling itchy on her hands, arms, and feet, and realized she had felt the same symptoms with her first pregnancy, but dismissed them. This time she went to her doctor, pressed for testing, and eventually was diagnosed with choleostatis of pregnancy, which can have adverse effects on the fetus (including stillbirth and fetal death). Connecting the dots, she realized that she had this with her first pregnancy and was highly likely the cause of her first child's passing.
At 36 weeks, I started feeling itchy hands and feet. I lotioned, ignored it, but it kept getting worse. I kept thinking of the IG lady though, and I decided to go to my doctor. She thankfully said, lets test your liver just to check. Turns out I had cholesostasis of pregnancy, and likely saved my baby's life by not waiting. I was induced 2 days later and my daughter had no adverse effects. .
I followed a woman on IG who sold leggings (I was a yoga teacher). Over the years, she became pregnant and lost her child within 36 hours after birth with no real cause. Five or so years later, she became pregnant again and was closely sharing her experience, as a lot of her account focused on her grief and healing after losing her first child. She started feeling itchy on her hands, arms, and feet, and realized she had felt the same symptoms with her first pregnancy, but dismissed them. This time she went to her doctor, pressed for testing, and eventually was diagnosed with choleostatis of pregnancy, which can have adverse effects on the fetus (including stillbirth and fetal death). Connecting the dots, she realized that she had this with her first pregnancy and was highly likely the cause of her first child's passing.
At 36 weeks, I started feeling itchy hands and feet. I lotioned, ignored it, but it kept getting worse. I kept thinking of the IG lady though, and I decided to go to my doctor. She thankfully said, lets test your liver just to check. Turns out I had cholesostasis of pregnancy, and likely saved my baby's life by not waiting. I was induced 2 days later and my daughter had no adverse effects. .
26points
#6
I’m a nurse and correctly diagnosed myself with pericarditis after being sent home from the ER. I was pregnant and had sharp chest pain that those mfers brushed off as heartburn. Like a knife in my chest. I’m still irritated 25 years later lol.
23points
While influencers sharing their mental health experiences help reduce stigma, kids and teens often assume they have the same condition based on one symptom. "A viewer might hastily conclude that they also have autism based on this limited information, when this symptom may actually be normal or related to another mental health condition," Katzenstein says.
Why is that bad? It often leads to over-pathologizing and misunderstanding symptoms. If an individual feels they tick off a symptom or two for a certain mental health condition, the first thing to do should be to contact a professional, not look for confirmation on social media. According to Katzenstein, a mental health provider can give an individual a professional assessment and take evidence-based measures.
#7
I was in severe pain 2 days after working out. When I say severe, I mean any twitch of my thighs made me want to cry. I could barely move my arms, sitting down was horrendous, and I was on the verge of asking my now-wife to help with using the bathroom. A half empty ketchup bottle felt like I was trying to curl 20lbs.
Well, around an hour into my shift at a hospital lab I went to the bathroom and noticed my urine looked like cherry cola. I talked to my former paramedic boss, told her what I was experiencing, and that I was concerned I had Rhabdomyolysis. She agreed and told me to head to the ER. I walked myself across the street to the ER and told the PA the story and told her I was worried about Rhabdo. She kind of dismissed me. Told me she thought it was unlikely but she’ll run some basic labs anyway to rule it out. 2 hours later she comes back with a nurse carrying two bags of saline and tells me that my CK levels are so high the lab is having to do serial dilutions to quantify the results which is why it’s taking so long. She didn’t have an actual result back on my CK, but she knew it was high enough to need dilutions and my liver enzymes were elevated.
They hooked me up to both bags of saline and within 30 minutes I was getting a third. I spent four days in the hospital, almost needed dialysis, and when I got out I couldn’t even dress myself. My arms were so swollen you couldn’t see my elbows.
Well, around an hour into my shift at a hospital lab I went to the bathroom and noticed my urine looked like cherry cola. I talked to my former paramedic boss, told her what I was experiencing, and that I was concerned I had Rhabdomyolysis. She agreed and told me to head to the ER. I walked myself across the street to the ER and told the PA the story and told her I was worried about Rhabdo. She kind of dismissed me. Told me she thought it was unlikely but she’ll run some basic labs anyway to rule it out. 2 hours later she comes back with a nurse carrying two bags of saline and tells me that my CK levels are so high the lab is having to do serial dilutions to quantify the results which is why it’s taking so long. She didn’t have an actual result back on my CK, but she knew it was high enough to need dilutions and my liver enzymes were elevated.
They hooked me up to both bags of saline and within 30 minutes I was getting a third. I spent four days in the hospital, almost needed dialysis, and when I got out I couldn’t even dress myself. My arms were so swollen you couldn’t see my elbows.
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22points
#8
I love how this has turned into a thread of patients who self-diagnosed.
I told my GYN that I might have endometriosis because I took a test in Cosmopolitan magazine (this was early 90s, so no internet) & I had the symptoms. She said I was being ridiculous. A few years later, she did my hysterectomy, where I lost 1 ovary because it was glued onto my bowels with endometriosis.
About 4 months later, I started having extreme pain in my abdomen, and she tried to refer me to a gastroenterologist, but I knew from the AOL Hysterectomy Board, it was adhesions related to the hysterectomy. It took 7 or 8 months before she would check it out with laparoscopic surgery, and I had to live with the pain. She woke me up after surgery, yelling, "You knew! You knew!" She hadn't believed I had adhesions because I had pain in all different areas of my abdomen. Turned out I had adhesions in all different areas of my abdomen.
Next was the eye doctor. I tripped & fell twice in 1 day because the ground changed. This has happened to me so many times in my life, but when it happened twice in one day, I decided something was really wrong.
The first was because there was a deck raised just 6 inches off the ground, and next, because there was a raised area around the parking lot, but it was the same black as the parking lot, so I didn't see it & I fell again, 15 minutes later.
I googled for "I can't see when the ground changes" and Binocular Vision popped up. There was an online test for it and it showed I had it. When I went for my regular eye appointment, I told the doctor about how I fall & about the test results. She was so mad. She told me that it is a condition that is diagnosed by your eye doctor & NOT an online test, and we're going to test it right now!" Then I tested positive for it, and she was really mad that I was right, but it will supposedly be corrected when I get my new glasses. She never would have done that test if I hadn't told her about the online test.
I told my GYN that I might have endometriosis because I took a test in Cosmopolitan magazine (this was early 90s, so no internet) & I had the symptoms. She said I was being ridiculous. A few years later, she did my hysterectomy, where I lost 1 ovary because it was glued onto my bowels with endometriosis.
About 4 months later, I started having extreme pain in my abdomen, and she tried to refer me to a gastroenterologist, but I knew from the AOL Hysterectomy Board, it was adhesions related to the hysterectomy. It took 7 or 8 months before she would check it out with laparoscopic surgery, and I had to live with the pain. She woke me up after surgery, yelling, "You knew! You knew!" She hadn't believed I had adhesions because I had pain in all different areas of my abdomen. Turned out I had adhesions in all different areas of my abdomen.
Next was the eye doctor. I tripped & fell twice in 1 day because the ground changed. This has happened to me so many times in my life, but when it happened twice in one day, I decided something was really wrong.
The first was because there was a deck raised just 6 inches off the ground, and next, because there was a raised area around the parking lot, but it was the same black as the parking lot, so I didn't see it & I fell again, 15 minutes later.
I googled for "I can't see when the ground changes" and Binocular Vision popped up. There was an online test for it and it showed I had it. When I went for my regular eye appointment, I told the doctor about how I fall & about the test results. She was so mad. She told me that it is a condition that is diagnosed by your eye doctor & NOT an online test, and we're going to test it right now!" Then I tested positive for it, and she was really mad that I was right, but it will supposedly be corrected when I get my new glasses. She never would have done that test if I hadn't told her about the online test.
19points
#9
I’m not a doctor or nurse. This is about myself, hope that’s ok.
TLDR: I Google-diagnosed a liver problem a decade ago (with assist from by my nursing baby), but no one believed me. I now have a big ole tumor in my liver.
Nearly 10 years ago when I was breastfeeding and pumping, it became apparent that my baby would not drink pumped milk that was more than a few hours old. (It was all properly handled and stored.) I started taste testing and noticed that any milk not fresh-off-the-teat had a soapy taste. Not rancid or spoiled. Soapy. It didn’t take much googling to find out that some women have excess lipase in their milk which breaks down the fats quickly, causing the odd flavor but not affecting the quality otherwise. I learned heating it to near-scalding right after pumping halted the effect of the lipase and it could then be stored. (I had the throw away so much frozen milk, it was heartbreaking.) I talked to several lactation consultants, nurses, and doctors; no one had ever heard of it and despite having printed off several articles, they didn’t take me seriously. Anyways, I also learned that this is liver-related so I eventually convinced a doctor to run a blood panel to look at liver enzymes. A few slightly elevated levels, but nothing outside of normal thresholds. I gave up trying to find an explanation and just continued the PIA yet effective regimen of heating the milk.
Well two days ago I had an ultrasound of my abdomen. They didn’t find what they were looking for, but the radiologist found a liver tumor. I’m terrified to find out what this means, but also quite eager to talk to the hepatologist. Was the soapy breast milk in fact an early sign of liver trouble? Doesn’t really change anything, except that I might finally get some sweet sweet vindication.
TLDR: I Google-diagnosed a liver problem a decade ago (with assist from by my nursing baby), but no one believed me. I now have a big ole tumor in my liver.
Nearly 10 years ago when I was breastfeeding and pumping, it became apparent that my baby would not drink pumped milk that was more than a few hours old. (It was all properly handled and stored.) I started taste testing and noticed that any milk not fresh-off-the-teat had a soapy taste. Not rancid or spoiled. Soapy. It didn’t take much googling to find out that some women have excess lipase in their milk which breaks down the fats quickly, causing the odd flavor but not affecting the quality otherwise. I learned heating it to near-scalding right after pumping halted the effect of the lipase and it could then be stored. (I had the throw away so much frozen milk, it was heartbreaking.) I talked to several lactation consultants, nurses, and doctors; no one had ever heard of it and despite having printed off several articles, they didn’t take me seriously. Anyways, I also learned that this is liver-related so I eventually convinced a doctor to run a blood panel to look at liver enzymes. A few slightly elevated levels, but nothing outside of normal thresholds. I gave up trying to find an explanation and just continued the PIA yet effective regimen of heating the milk.
Well two days ago I had an ultrasound of my abdomen. They didn’t find what they were looking for, but the radiologist found a liver tumor. I’m terrified to find out what this means, but also quite eager to talk to the hepatologist. Was the soapy breast milk in fact an early sign of liver trouble? Doesn’t really change anything, except that I might finally get some sweet sweet vindication.
18points
Yet Katzenstein doesn't judge the youth who self-diagnose based on what they see on social media. She says that people tend to "oversimplify and overgeneralize" terms like "OCD," "bipolar," and many more. There's nothing wrong with people worrying that there might be something wrong with them. But they should always speak to a professional about it instead of going on some influencer's mental health experience.
#10
Another not-a-doctor comment, but I had to self diagnose our firstborn with craniosynostosis. When he was born his forehead looked off to me, but our pediatrician brushed it off saying it was just from a hard birth and it would improve as he grew. I felt in my gut that was wrong and spent dozens of hours googling before finally hitting on the magic word, craniosynostosis. At his 3 month checkup I told the pediatrician I was concerned that's what it was and she still brushed it off but gave a referral to the Children's Hospital. The craniofacial nurse was only 3 steps through the door before she stopped and was like, "That's right coronal synostosis. Let me get a doctor to discuss surgery options.".
18points
#11
Went to the doctor and he asked in a condescending manner what "Dr. Google" said I have. I said that my symptoms matched up with multiple sclerosis.
Two years later I visit him and he has a resident following him around. She was the one that performed a test on me (Babinski reflex) that indicated neurological damage that led to my diagnosis of: multiple sclerosis.
Two years later I visit him and he has a resident following him around. She was the one that performed a test on me (Babinski reflex) that indicated neurological damage that led to my diagnosis of: multiple sclerosis.
17points
#12
I’m not a medical professional, but have spent a lot of time in the hospital and know my body and medical history. A few years ago, I started noticing memory loss, confusion, getting lost in familiar places, etc. and it occurred immediately after falling and hitting my head. I was afraid it was dementia despite my age (40). I talked to one of my drs who started a year long process of figuring out what was wrong. It turns out that I have a very rare form of early onset vascular dementia (there’s no treatment, surgery, or medication). I am 44 (diagnosed at 40). I’m glad to have an answer and suspected it was something like this but it is much worse than I could’ve thought.
17points
How is self-diagnosing mental health conditions harmful? According to Katzenstein, it can:
- Create unnecessary stress and anxiety;
- Create an incorrect perception of our mental health;
- Delay proper intervention;
- Result in an adoption of symptoms that don't accurately represent symptoms or experiences.
#13
Also not a medical professional, but I diagnosed myself and my doctor was pretty flummoxed.
For years I had horrible periods, and had that whole ‘could be endo, could be fibroids’ runaround. But I also couldn’t use tampons - I would somehow just bleed past them, which made less than no sense - and my period cycle was so off sometimes I swore it was like I had two uteruses.
Then one day I was listening to a podcast and a woman started talking about her experience of living with two uteruses. And I was like ‘wait, that’s me’.
Told the GP, she reluctantly sent me for the scans, told me it almost certainly wasn’t that given the rarity. But yep, turns out I have two uteruses, cervixes and vaginas, and one unit of a kidney instead of the factory-issue two.
Also my mum thought I was mad and jokingly bet me a car I didn’t have two uteruses. Still chasing her up on that.
For years I had horrible periods, and had that whole ‘could be endo, could be fibroids’ runaround. But I also couldn’t use tampons - I would somehow just bleed past them, which made less than no sense - and my period cycle was so off sometimes I swore it was like I had two uteruses.
Then one day I was listening to a podcast and a woman started talking about her experience of living with two uteruses. And I was like ‘wait, that’s me’.
Told the GP, she reluctantly sent me for the scans, told me it almost certainly wasn’t that given the rarity. But yep, turns out I have two uteruses, cervixes and vaginas, and one unit of a kidney instead of the factory-issue two.
Also my mum thought I was mad and jokingly bet me a car I didn’t have two uteruses. Still chasing her up on that.
16points
#14
When I was 17, I had what I thought was a stomach bug for about 3 months, but it wasn't going away. I finally told my dad about it (he's an obsessive hypochondriac) and listed a couple of my symptoms. He grabbed the most recent version of the Merck Manual off the shelf (because he's a crazy obsessive hypochondriac) and flipped through the pages until he found a diagnosis that matched my symptoms. He legit said to me, 'well it's either an ulcer, Crohn's disease, or Ulcerative Colitis.' It was Crohn's disease. He found that out from a book, people.
16points
#15
I have narcolepsy and I only got diagnosed after bringing in a bunch of measurement tools I found on the national narcolepsy support page to my doctor. I have a symptom that is basically only present in people who have Type 1 narcolepsy (cataplexy) and I only realized that wasn't just some strange quirk everyone has when I was joking about it with friends, assuming they all experience it too (they did not lol) and googling that was what brought me to the diagnosis. It was confirmed with a daytime sleep test.
Narcolepsy is frequently misdiagnosed as ADHD and/or depression, and the front line treatment of both is stimulants to stay awake, or antidepressants, which can improve cataplexy symptoms, so my symptoms were well masked for a few years. But then I got COVID, and my symptoms became much, much more severe, and the stimulants stopped working. Now I take a better treatment that actually helps me.
Narcolepsy is frequently misdiagnosed as ADHD and/or depression, and the front line treatment of both is stimulants to stay awake, or antidepressants, which can improve cataplexy symptoms, so my symptoms were well masked for a few years. But then I got COVID, and my symptoms became much, much more severe, and the stimulants stopped working. Now I take a better treatment that actually helps me.
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16points
A big part of why people go to social media or Google to diagnose themselves is that mental health care is unavailable to them. The median budget for mental health services spent by governments is a mere 2%, the WHO reports. Patients often have to pay for mental health care out of their own pockets. In 2024, one report showed that 31% of Americans feel that mental health treatment is financially out of their reach.
#16
After an egg retrieval, I got myself to the ER and told them I definitely had a severe case of ovarian hyper stimulation syndrome. I thought it was a no-brainer. Boston IVF had warned me of what to look for and I had nearly every symptom, including the “go immediately to the ER” ones.
The ER doc kind of laughs and goes, “Maybe we should avoid googling symptoms.”
He recommended tylenol and was going to discharge me!
It took me forever to convince them to just do imaging and check my ovaries— first time I’ve ever heard a doctor say, “That can’t be right.”
My ovaries were each larger than a grapefruit. They called the on-call OBGYN, who admitted me immediately. Per my OB, I’m the only person my (tiny) hospital has ever had to admit for severe OHSS.
The ER doc kind of laughs and goes, “Maybe we should avoid googling symptoms.”
He recommended tylenol and was going to discharge me!
It took me forever to convince them to just do imaging and check my ovaries— first time I’ve ever heard a doctor say, “That can’t be right.”
My ovaries were each larger than a grapefruit. They called the on-call OBGYN, who admitted me immediately. Per my OB, I’m the only person my (tiny) hospital has ever had to admit for severe OHSS.
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14points
#17
Diagnosed myself. Didn't have any dramatic symptoms other than poor appetite and fatigue. I knew I had something going on above my waist but not in my chest. Drs blew me off so I got a lung scan due to smoking history. Kidney cancer. Tumor was on the upper part and outside of the kidney. Small tumor, had a partial nephrectomy, 3rd post-surgery scan coming up. .
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14points
#18
Doctor here. Many encounters with patients with their own ideas of what might be going on, often from Dr Google. Always worth a listen to their story and what led them to their conclusions. Mostly wrong, sometimes helpful, sometimes right.
Had a lady come in and tell me a classic story of a pheochromocytoma - intermittent episodes of racing heart, high blood pressure, headache, anxiety, sweating. (A pheochromocytoma is a benign or malignant tumor can produce excess epinephrine/norepinephrine - adrenaline). She was relatively young with no prior blood pressure problems and sure enough, BP high enough at her age to warrant screening for the odd causes of high blood pressure regardless of her concerning symptoms. Sure enough, had a pheo. Fortunately, benign. Got surgery. Cured. Blood pressure was great thereafter.
Had a lady come in and tell me a classic story of a pheochromocytoma - intermittent episodes of racing heart, high blood pressure, headache, anxiety, sweating. (A pheochromocytoma is a benign or malignant tumor can produce excess epinephrine/norepinephrine - adrenaline). She was relatively young with no prior blood pressure problems and sure enough, BP high enough at her age to warrant screening for the odd causes of high blood pressure regardless of her concerning symptoms. Sure enough, had a pheo. Fortunately, benign. Got surgery. Cured. Blood pressure was great thereafter.
14points
Experiences and thoughts are valid, but patients should never misrepresent their symptoms in the hope of getting a certain diagnosis they've decided they need. "As clinicians, we don't know what we don't know," psychologist Amanda Rose, PsyD, told Cleveland Clinic. "Being honest helps your provider paint the clearest picture and come to the most accurate diagnosis and treatment plan."
"Being informed is crucial. But don't get wrapped up in what you read online."
#19
Diagnosed myself with ovarian torsion last year. The pain was indescribable and couldn’t even keep down sips of water.
Went to A&E. Medical staff tried to diagnose me with a kidney stone despite having no issue with peeing. Just saw I was fat and ignored my long standing PCOS diagnosis.
Multiple ultrasounds showed no calculi, but moving the wand over to just above my uterus did show my left ovary had dislodged and was hanging out there, being strangled by a 9cm cyst.
One salpingooophrectomy later and my pain was resolved. My creatinine levels were high for several days, putting me in AKI 2, but that’s because I was dehydrated.
Went to A&E. Medical staff tried to diagnose me with a kidney stone despite having no issue with peeing. Just saw I was fat and ignored my long standing PCOS diagnosis.
Multiple ultrasounds showed no calculi, but moving the wand over to just above my uterus did show my left ovary had dislodged and was hanging out there, being strangled by a 9cm cyst.
One salpingooophrectomy later and my pain was resolved. My creatinine levels were high for several days, putting me in AKI 2, but that’s because I was dehydrated.
14points
#20
Not a medical professional- I had been very sick with really basic symptoms tired, fevers, sore throats etc. on and off for three months, we tried lots of treatments but nothing worked. When getting a blood panel ordered one day I suggested doing a test for Lyme as I had pulled many ticks off me a long time ago and had read it can sit dormant in your body for years sometimes. My doctor, who was a DO, was hesitant to order the test. We talked about it for a while and he finally asked if it would give me peace of mind, I said yes and he said then it’s worth ordering the test if it will help my mental health. He later told me it was a first for him that a patients suggestion led to a correct diagnosis, and he’d be practicing for decades. Made a full recovery with some antibiotics and avoided a life of agony and medical complications.
14points