I think it can be divisive that patients need to check on their doctors' diagnoses and treatment pla
Posted , 8 users are following.
My doctor was very resentful that I knew more than she did about my illness. No patient should be expected to diagnose themselves but this is the case with many patients, especially those suffering from Giant Cell Arteritis who are dismissed by GP’s when they should be referred to a specialist. Even doctors, when unwell, see another doctor for diagnosis and medication. No patient should be expected to prescribe for themselves either, especially without access to previous health conditions, blood test results, scans, etc., and without medical training and experience. Telling your doctor how to treat you is a shocking indictment on the training of our medical practitioners. It is necessary to campaign to receive better treatment and you can do this in several ways. PMR and GCA are often referred to by high ranking specialists as being a condition of 'the elderly' - a disrespectful and illegally ageist term which can mean 'over the age of 50'! If you are unhappy with the treatment you receive from your doctors, contact your MP, the Health Secretary, your local Healthwatch. Each magazine for GPs and hospital doctors covers a number of illnesses and should cover autoimmune illnesses more often that they do but because they have little to offer in the way of expensive drugs, they are swept under the carpet. I have been shocked that GCA, which can result in stroke, heart attack, dementia and other very serious life long disabilities, is dismissed unless someone has a headache in their temples. This is because if someone does have pain in their temples, they can go completely blind, and this can result in a legal claim for damages which would affect the doctor. GCA can stay in the arteries for at least a decade after the last symptom has disappeared, causing lesions, weaknesses and artery damage which can affect vital organs. However, it is impossible to prove after the event, that any artery or organ damage was caused by GCA. I probably have artery damage due to misdiagnosed GCA and I am very angry about this indeed.
2 likes, 12 replies
noninoni misdiagnose
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No doctor should resent educated patients. And no doctor is all knowing- that is why specialists exists. But it is also good to attribute what you have learned to the site from which you learned it. There are so many horrid places for health care advice, that you need to reassure them that what you learned came from a reputable source. For example, I might talk about what I have learned from members of this forum or from the Mayo clinic, etc. My GP had a good laugh when I said people from this forum disliked their "rheumies" for trying to disprove their GP diagnosis. And she sited a similar experience that she had had.
noninoni misdiagnose
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twigjean noninoni
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noninoni twigjean
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The incidence of PMR is approximately 60/100,000.
If we divide both sides by 100, we get 0.6 per 1000.
if we divide both sides of the top numbers by 1000, we get 0.06 per hundred, or 0.06%, not 6.0%.
Incidence is NOT prevalence. Incidence is how many people have a new diagnosis of a disease in one year. Prevalence is how many people overall have the disease. So you mustn't get the two mixed up.
Bababoyd misdiagnose
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Bababoyd misdiagnose
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Oregonjohn-UK misdiagnose
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misdiagnose
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Oregonjohn-UK misdiagnose
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Perhaps my experience of GP's is different, or I'm in a practice that is not staffed with 'tin gods'. I tend to have a peer to peer conversation with them, but respect that he/she is the 'expert' in their field of work as I am an 'expert' in mine. I come back to my original comment that your GP is not necessary a specialist in what you may have or suspect, others in the practice may well be - if not then his/her job is to send you to the local hospital to confirm or otherwise. If you have problems with your own GP I could suggest you change to another doctor or practice?
misdiagnose Oregonjohn-UK
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Oregonjohn-UK misdiagnose
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My PMR experiences are purely based on my local NHS practise and hospital, but I have always had a good relationship with my GP who I've known for over 20 years. He knows where I come from professionally - hence my comment in the last post ' I tend to have a peer to peer conversation with them, but respect that he/she is the 'expert' in their field of work as I am an 'expert' in mine.'
I've always found that getting on the 'right' side of any professional starts with not telling them what you think they aught to do but 'suggesting' - nicely!!
misdiagnose
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