"Grey" area

Last night's episode of Grey's Anatomy--which I had to wait and catch today (I work Thursday nights as a computer lab attendant, so Friday's are my time to catch up and watch online)--got me thinking: how often do we all get it so completely wrong?

Doctors bear the heavy burden of always having to get it right. No matter what, they are expected to take your signs and symptoms and correlate them to the exact cause--and treat it. Immediately. But when those signs and symptoms can indicate one of a hundred possible causes, that task becomes exponentially harder (and makes us all hope our doctors spent their decade of school getting straight A's).

Then add in a patient who omits "unimportant" details (like constant chest pains or frequent migraines), can't describe with any accuracy what his/her body is feeling, or is absolutely-positively sure he/she knows what's wrong, and it begs the question--when it comes to our health, do we lead our doctors astray?

Here are 5 of the most commonly misdiagnosed diseases, according to a recent CNN article:

1. Aortic Dissection: a potentially fatal disease (actor John Ritter died from it), it sometimes masks itself as "heartburn."
2. Cancer: some cases are "silent killers," (ovarian being one) not displaying any symptoms at all until it's too late. But doctors miss it too, according to a Harvard study on U.S. malpractice claims, so don't hesitate to get a second opinion if you think your doctor's missing something.
3. Clogged Arteries: with a national agenda of getting in shape, many doctors push patients that note "being short of breath" onto the treadmill when they should be pushing them into a hospital--and treating them for coronary artery disease.
4. Heart Attack: ever feel nauseous, full in the chest, or just not up to par? These can be symptoms of a heart attack, making it less than the cut-and-dry diagnosis most people think it is.
5. Infection: I didn't think I'd find this on the list, but the same Harvard study ranked infection post-cancer as the number one misdiagnosis.

So how do we know when heartburn needs more than Tums, when cramps need more than Midol, and when a fever needs more than a day's rest and a bowl of chicken noodle soup? Maybe we can't, but we should learn from Dr. Karev and stick to our guns when our intuition is yelling. If something doesn't feel right or won't go away, get medical advice. Prepare an accurate symptom play-by-play for your doctor: when did it start, what does it feel like, how long has it been going on, what makes it feel better, what makes it feel worse?

Don't like the verdict? Get a second opinion, or a third, or even a fourth. You know what your body is telling you, make sure a doctor hears it as well!