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Tuesday, September 2, 2014
10 Commonly Misdiagnosed Conditions - Everyday Health
The chance of getting a medical misdiagnosis could be greater than you think. A recent study found that diagnostic errors may affect as many as 12 million – or one out of every 20 – American adults. Half of those errors are potentially harmful, according to the study’s authors. “You have a good chance of being misdiagnosed if you have a really rare disease or a really common disease which presents non-specifically or in some atypical fashion,” says Mark Graber, MD, founder and president of the Society to Improve Diagnosis in Medicine, who was not involved in the study.
Here are 10 conditions that are commonly missed or mistaken for something else.
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Cancer
According to the Journal of Clinical Oncology, cancer misdiagnoses occur as much as 28 percent of the time, and up to 44 percent for some types of cancer. A nationwide survey of 400 cancer specialists found that leading the list of most misdiagnosed cancer conditions are lymphoma, breast cancer, sarcomas and melanoma. The reasons for misdiagnosis include fragmented or missing information, inadequate time for patient evaluation, and incomplete medical history.
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Heart Attack
What a heart attack feels like can vary, and sometimes people have few if any symptoms at all. “Older people don’t always have the same symptoms as younger people do, so a young person may have crushing chest pain, and an old person may not feel anything or say I have a little indigestion,” Dr. Graber says. Women having a heart attack are more likely to be misdiagnosed because they often don’t experience the classic symptom of chest pain, according to a 2014 study.
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Depression
Common symptoms of depression include feelings of sadness, anxiety, and irritability. People with depression may experience chronic fatigue, concentration issues, and sleep problems. These symptoms can be vague and overlap with other conditions such as bipolar disorder, anxiety disorders, and post-traumatic stress disorder. “Diagnosing depression requires a complete history and physical exam,” says Richard Shadick, PhD, associate adjunct professor of psychology and director of the counseling center at Pace University in New York City.
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Celiac Disease
“About 83 percent of people with celiac disease are either still undiagnosed or have been misdiagnosed with other conditions,” says Rachel Begun, MS, RDN. “The reason is the symptoms for celiac disease are many and vary widely from person to person.” The symptoms commonly include abdominal pain, constipation, and diarrhea; but people may experience headaches, joint pain, or depression. “Some people have absolutely no outward symptoms at all, making it particularly hard to diagnose,” says Begun. Celiac disease is most often misdiagnosed as irritable bowel syndrome.
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Stroke
“Doctors overlook or discount early signs of potentially disabling strokes in tens of thousands of Americans each year,” according to researchers. The American Heart Association found that young adults with stroke symptoms are often misdiagnosed with vertigo, migraine, or alcohol intoxication. Regardless of a person's age, stroke symptoms such as vision problems, confusion, severe headache, numbness of the face, and trouble speaking or walking require immediate medical attention.
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Lyme Disease
A bacterial infection caused by a tick bite, Lyme disease can cause symptoms like muscle and joint pain, fever, stiffness, and fatigue. The primary symptom is a rash, but not everyone develops one. “On average, people struggle for 1.2 years before they are accurately diagnosed with Lyme disease,” according to a 2005 study.
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Fibromyalgia
This chronic condition is characterized by widespread muscle and joint pain, fatigue, anxiety, and sleep issues. It is commonly mistaken for rheumatic diseases such as rheumatoid arthritis and lupus, and chronic fatigue syndrome. Risk factors include a history of rheumatic disease and fibromyalgia in the family. Fibromyalgia is more common among middle-aged women.
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Thyroid Conditions
A common cause of hormonal imbalance, thyroid disease can trigger production of too much thyroid hormone (hyperthyroidism) or too little (hypothyroidism). The thyroid hormone is an essential part of metabolic processes in your body, so unbalanced levels can cause symptoms such as weakness and fatigue, fluctuations in weight, and muscle pain. These symptoms may be mild and can be mistaken for other conditions including depression.
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Aortic Dissection
When there’s a tear in the wall of the aorta, blood rushes through and forces layers of the aorta to separate. “An aortic dissection, which can be fatal, has to be diagnosed very quickly, but it can present in dozens of different ways,” says Graber. “It can be very misleading and can confuse the doctor you’re seeing. As a result, they don’t do the correct tests quickly enough, and then you’ve got a diagnostic error.” A 2009 study found that nearly a third of patients suffering from aortic dissection were initially misdiagnosed.
Usually caused by a blood clot, pulmonary embolism is a blockage of the pulmonary artery, the main artery in the lung. Symptoms include sharp chest pain, shortness of breath, fainting, and anxiety. A 2013 study found that 33.5 percent of patients with pulmonary embolism were sent home or admitted to hospitals with a wrong diagnosis. Pulmonary embolism can be mistaken for other conditions such as a heart attack or pneumonia.
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