Thread by @angryhacademic

something i think doctors don't always appreciate:
diagnoses are important to patients, even if there's no treatment

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#MedTwitter #chronicillness #DisabilityRights

im sure there's other reasons but key things overall i think are:
1. a diagnosis gives you limits - what treatment can and can't be tried, what can trigger things, what's the prognosis, etc

2. it gives patients a community - there's tonnes of groups for people with all kinds of ailments, conditions, illnesses, disabilities. being able to talk to someone with a shared experience helps make everything less shit

3. it helps remove uncertainty - all the time a diagnosis isn't made, "what if" is constantly going through the patients head. this is particularly true when a dr then refuses to test for something that has some chance of providing a clue

4. rules things out - even if the answer is "you have X, we can't do anything for X", it means other things that might have different implications have been ruled out, i.e. the dr has been thorough and is certain you have X and not A, B, C

5. its gives patients a lead - i know we're in the middle of a "i did my own research" epidemic, but patients often LIVE (with) their condition 24/7. they're constantly thinking about it. they often read in depth about it and might come across helpful things the dr didn't know

i acknowledge with point 5 that this road also leads to misinformation, but this should be assessed case-by-case:
(i) if that's the case the dr needs to properly explain their thinking and give as much care to the patient as quackery does

(ii) if a patient comes with scientific papers and information from legit support groups of conditions with similar symptoms, the dr should not dismiss this

if you're a dr, and a patient is ill (in whatever way), your duty is not to gatekeep their #health. your duty is to help them. if you haven't tested enough to give a diagnosis then you are potentially harming your patient by withholding treatment

if you really have tested enough and you're still stumped, then you need to be the biggest advocate for your patient and find someone with more experience/knowledge than you to help.

patients should not be left hanging or fighting for answers.

i know some will highlight the obvious: the #NHS is crumbling, we dont have time for this so only test for more certain things that have a clear treatments

imo this is flawed & costs more long term: constant visits to the dr, lower quality of life, extended unnecessary suffering

anecdote on point 5(ii): in my long battle to get dr's to consider endometriosis, i mentioned to a dr that maybe this is an immune problem *and cited a review about the immunology of the menstruation & endometriosis" to which i was told "endometriosis is not an immune condition"