Misdiagnosis

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Trellie

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Hi guys! I was wondering how many of you were misdiagnosed with something else before getting the Lyme disease diagnosis? I ask because I've heard a lot stories of people first being diagnosed with things like fibro or even ALS before being diagnosed with Lyme!

I can totally understand how this can happen, after all a long term infection with, let's say, Brucelossis produces similar symptoms to the ones experienced by fibro or Lyme sufferers. It can be so confusing!

I was infected with the brucelossis bacteria (no idea how!) a while ago, I still don't know if it was that or something else what caused me arthritis in certain areas or not. I don't think I will ever know either, it seems every doctor tells me something different... it seems nowadays it's harder and harder to find a decent doctor.

What you were diagnosed with before finally getting the Lyme diagnosis?
 
At my work I have seen a lot of misdiagnosis when it comes to Lyme disease. I am not really sure what it is, but I think that it is just something that doctors can go to when they might not know what is wrong or maybe the symptoms are just that generic and applicable to a lot of other diseases as well. The best thing to do is be sure and do your research and get second opinions.
 
This thread was targeted at people who are now diagnosed with Lyme, I've met some people who have been misdiagnosed with things as bad as ALS, fibro and even MS. It sounds crazy to me this kind of things still happen, I guess we are not as advanced as we like to think when it comes to medicine. Not enough at least.
 
My niece was initially thought to have either Crohn's or IBS when they were looking into why she was sick so often...there was a lot of back and forth with what it could be, but I'm glad that my brother and sister in law really were persistent with trying to get to the bottom of exactly what was causing it. From everything I have researched, it seems to be fairly commonly misdiagnosed - I guess because some symptoms mirror other things it can be tricky at times to get it understood from the start.
 
That is odd, I also suffer from IBS :O I was diagnosed with fibro some years ago, but who knows, maybe I was misdiagnosed... maybe I could have been bitten by a tick as a kid. That wouldn't be too far fetched. Sadly it is very hard to diagnose this disease, the tests are very inaccurate :(
 
That is odd, I also suffer from IBS :O I was diagnosed with fibro some years ago, but who knows, maybe I was misdiagnosed... maybe I could have been bitten by a tick as a kid. That wouldn't be too far fetched. Sadly it is very hard to diagnose this disease, the tests are very inaccurate :(

That really is the problem. You have something that has very common symptoms that overlap with dozens of other conditions. You have a test that is very inaccurate and you have a disease where the debilitating symptoms often occur months after the most recognizable and distinct symptom (the rash) has disappeared.

That last point is probably the most important. If the rash always occurred WITH the other symptoms, then it would be an easy diagnosis. But for most patients, the rash has disappeared and is forgotten by the patient months before they go to the doctor for the more annoying symptoms.
 
That really is the problem. You have something that has very common symptoms that overlap with dozens of other conditions. You have a test that is very inaccurate and you have a disease where the debilitating symptoms often occur months after the most recognizable and distinct symptom (the rash) has disappeared.

That last point is probably the most important. If the rash always occurred WITH the other symptoms, then it would be an easy diagnosis. But for most patients, the rash has disappeared and is forgotten by the patient months before they go to the doctor for the more annoying symptoms.

In my opinion is a hit and miss situation, but a good doctor should always have a clue, sadly those are hard to find. So far I've seen the best and the worst in this field... Most doctor nowadays don't seem to have the same kind of initiative and desire to actually help their patients... it's all about money. It's sad but true, I've met a couple god doctors with a real desire and vocation, but those are as rare as a ruby.
 
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