Watching “Diagnosis” on @Netflix. One very not small thing for @LisaSandersmd: the reason so many patients hate a function disorder diagnosis is NOT because they think doctors are saying it’s all in their head.
@netflix @LisaSandersmd It is because most doctors a) actually do think the symptoms are psychogenic and b) it is often a misdiagnosis that can cause (mostly women) grave harm.
@netflix @LisaSandersmd I am heartened, though, that the episode did address racial and gender bias. I just wish that the focus was less Ann’s discomfort “she has low trust, she feels like...” and more the actual, rampant, systemic problems in the medical system that are killing women and POC.
@netflix @LisaSandersmd And yes, it is a catch-all. Any diagnosis made in the absence of objective evidence is a catch-all. The mind is a powerful thing, mind/brian dichotomy, etc. are often handwaving in the face of the failure to diagnosis.
@netflix @LisaSandersmd Differential can diagnosis can never be a defensible process so long as the accurate diagnosis is never considered among the possibilities. You reach FND by method of exclusion, having never considered the correct answer.
@netflix @LisaSandersmd The vast majority of women with ME/CFS, POTS, hEDS are at one point or another misdiagnosed with anxiety, FND, or conversion disorder. This a massive problem and this was a missed opportunity to address the major problems of FND head-on.
@netflix @LisaSandersmd I was diagnosed with conversion disorder and was mostly in bed or in a wheelchair for eight years. I had craniocervical instability and tethered cord syndrome and recovered after surgery. It only took airing my MRI on PBS. I lost eight years. Others have lost decades.
@netflix @LisaSandersmd I hope Ann finds her actual diagnosis. She made the right choice.
@netflix @LisaSandersmd *functional disorder. Excuse the autocorrect!
Anyway, you have a major platform. It would be incredible if you could address this problem head-on. It would require deep perspective-taking vis-a-vis actual patients. Neurologists are getting *so much wrong*
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