5 ms·
Certainly possible, but the problem is that anxiety is extremely common and can have quite pronounced but generalized symptoms. The saying in medicine is "when
by hotpotamus 4y ago
Certainly possible, but the problem is that anxiety is extremely common and can have quite pronounced but generalized symptoms. The saying in medicine is "when you hear hoofbeats, think horses, not zebras". Meaning that you should not jump to exotic diagnoses lightly.
- enragedcacti 4y agoYou're right and I think its a good principle in general. I just wonder in this particular case how often it actually is zebras and if we would see doctors identifying true-positive cases of zebras (or just not dismissing it when the patient comes in and says "I think it's zebras because XYZ") more often if the medical system had different priorities.
- hotpotamus 4y agoIndeed, there are zebras out there, which is a problem. https://www.sciencealert.com/a-case-of-schizophrenia-found-to-be-a-bad-case-of-cat-scratch-disease#:~:text=Bartonella%20henselae%20is%20a%20bacterium,the%20heart%20and%20nervous%20system https://www.sciencealert.com/a-case-of-schizophrenia-found-t.... I read a long form story of that case where the teen's parents spent 2 years and nearly half a million dollars on medical treatment until the father actually was able to put the correct diagnosis together himself. I don't disagree that profit-driven healthcare is incredibly problematic.