Feeling a bit feisty after seeing recent tweets from doctors & journalists regarding medically unexplained symptoms & the push to give a functional and/or somatic diagnosis without thoroughly ruling out other diagnoses.
So here are my thoughts:
#neisvoid
#misdiagnosed
Thread
So here are my thoughts:
#neisvoid
#misdiagnosed
Thread
1. Approximately 12 million US adults are misdiagnosed every year, and women and minorities 20 to 30 percent more likely to be misdiagnosed. How many women are having their medically unexplained symptoms dismissed as part of a somatic illness?
healthline.com/health-news/ma…
healthline.com/health-news/ma…
2. The diagnostics 4 somatic illnesses place a red flag on patients who have multiple symptoms. The AAFP states that SSRD "should be considered early in the evaluation of patients with unexplained symptoms to prevent unnecessary interventions and testing."
aafp.org/afp/2016/0101/…
aafp.org/afp/2016/0101/…
3. Same for Fibromyalgia. Patients with a history of abuse, mental illness and multiple symptoms fit the Cleveland Clinic criteria for fibromyalgia and doctors are discouraged from referring patients to other specialists or conducting further testing.
ccjm.org/content/85/5/3…
ccjm.org/content/85/5/3…
4. But many diseases that affect women have multiple symptoms associated with them. Those same symptoms are listed as criteria for Somatic Symptom and related Disorders, Fibromyalgia, Functional Neurological Disorders, and many other functional/somatic disorders
5. Here are a few diseases that share symptoms with somatic/functional disorders:
Small Fiber Neuropathy
hopkinsmedicine.org/health/conditi…
Small Fiber Neuropathy
hopkinsmedicine.org/health/conditi…
13. It can take years for a patient to properly get diagnosed, if at all, with an autoimmune disease.
aarda.org/wp-content/upl…
aarda.org/wp-content/upl…
14. And although Ovarian Cancer is often called the silent killer, 89% of early stage undiagnosed women go to the doctor with the same set of symptoms, but only 20 percent of cases are caught in an early stage.
jamanetwork.com/journals/jama/…
jamanetwork.com/journals/jama/…
15. Many women with mental health symptoms are afraid to speak up about their issues, for fear of their physical symptoms being overlooked.
pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/17464789/
pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/17464789/
16. Also, women with chronic pain conditions are more likely to be misdiagnosed with a mental health condition and given psychotropic drugs more than men.
independent.co.uk/life-style/hea…
independent.co.uk/life-style/hea…
17. Millions of women have been diagnosed with fibromyalgia, but studies show at least half of fibromyalgia patients are thought to have small fiber neuropathy, a disease that is described as damage to the peripheral nervous system.
hilarispublisher.com/open-access/sm…
hilarispublisher.com/open-access/sm…
18. Fibromyalgia shares many of the same symptoms of small fiber neuropathy (SFN), but the main difference is that SFN can be definitively tested for and treated, whereas the underlying causes of fibromyalgia are unknown and treatments only address symptoms.
19. A quick and painless skin biopsy can confirm the SFN diagnosis, and if positive, further diagnostics can find a medical cause of the neuropathy in the majority of patients. Prompt treatment can prevent further damage to the nerves.
journals.lww.com/painrpts/Fullt…
journals.lww.com/painrpts/Fullt…
20. Clearly, we have a problem. Millions of women r not getting the proper medical care they need and deserve. I was misdiagnosed for years until I finally received the correct diagnosis of a progressive neuromuscular disease. My heart goes out 2 everyone who has experienced this
21. For my story and more research, I've posted my essay below:
themanifeststation.net/2020/09/27/hys…
themanifeststation.net/2020/09/27/hys…
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