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I’m on a number of support forums for illness. It is shocking how often doctors are flat wrong. Refuse to run tests, or ignore positive tests. Constantly see

I’m on a number of support forums for illness. It is shocking how often doctors are flat wrong. Refuse to run tests, or ignore positive tests. Constantly see people post test results that are a clear positive and doctor says nothing is wrong. This is on top of some diagnosis can take months to multiple years. Of course it goes both ways. A number of conditions can often be managed by diet alone. Some People will go ballistic if you suggest they try this. Umm. You have 3 months until next appointment. Why not try healthy food in mean time?

p1esk 4y ago
It is shocking how often doctors are flat wrong. I’m not going to dispute this statement, however it’s not clear how you can tell when it’s the case. The only way seems to consult multiple doctors and do a majority voting. Is that how you operate your illness support forum?
- treeman79 4y ago
  People post what symptoms are. What tests they have had, what doctors have said. People make suggestions on what conditions they should investigate. What tests should be run next. What kind sort of doctor they should see next. Something like Sjogrens, doctors tend to very out of date on testing criteria. So often a patient has every symptom. But doctor is highly dismissive of it. Or a test with a high false negative rate is negative. Doctor immediately stops testing. Even though better tests exist. Another example is when I see someone complaining about double vision. They need to go get a spinal tap to measure pressure. Not a lot of doctors realize that.
  - p1esk 4y ago
    You’re speaking as if you’re a doctor with better than average training and experience. Are you?
  - bookofjoe 4y ago
    >Not a lot of doctors realize that. Retired neurosurgical anesthesiologist (38 years experience) here. It would never occur to me (or neurosurgeons I worked with) to order a spinal tap if a patient presented with double vision. Elevated cerebrospinal pressure — if present — could cause acute brain stem herniation and sudden death.

p1esk 4y ago

It is shocking how often doctors are flat wrong. I’m not going to dispute this statement, however it’s not clear how you can tell when it’s the case. The only way seems to consult multiple doctors and do a majority voting. Is that how you operate your illness support forum?

treeman79 4y ago
People post what symptoms are. What tests they have had, what doctors have said. People make suggestions on what conditions they should investigate. What tests should be run next. What kind sort of doctor they should see next. Something like Sjogrens, doctors tend to very out of date on testing criteria. So often a patient has every symptom. But doctor is highly dismissive of it. Or a test with a high false negative rate is negative. Doctor immediately stops testing. Even though better tests exist. Another example is when I see someone complaining about double vision. They need to go get a spinal tap to measure pressure. Not a lot of doctors realize that.
- p1esk 4y ago
  You’re speaking as if you’re a doctor with better than average training and experience. Are you?
- bookofjoe 4y ago
  >Not a lot of doctors realize that. Retired neurosurgical anesthesiologist (38 years experience) here. It would never occur to me (or neurosurgeons I worked with) to order a spinal tap if a patient presented with double vision. Elevated cerebrospinal pressure — if present — could cause acute brain stem herniation and sudden death.