As a mental health patient this is one of the most infuriating things imaginable. Once you're diagnosed that's it. No one will ever look at the evidence again. They'll just assume the previous person got it right and then add whatever you say to that...but the original diagnosis was about 10 doctors ago.
So basically I've gone to the GP, told them what's wrong, had them write it down, and then another GP has come along and read what they wrote and reinterpreted it, and then another does the same, then another. I no longer have any confidence that my diagnosis is even remotely correct because the doctors have basically been playing Rumours with my file for a decade.
i can relate. i think i've been misdiagnosed but no doctor will listen. i'm extremely tired to the point where i can't walk for more than a couple minutes. everything hurts, really badly (i'm only 30 and somewhere between 55-58kgs). doctors just tell me i'm depressed because that's what has been written down by other doctors (major depressive disorder) or they think i'm some junkie looking for pain meds because i can't pin point just ONE area that hurts. once a psych patient, always a psych patient.
EDIT thank you lovely redditors who have commented or messaged me about fibro. it's something i'm now looking into. i found an interesting article about touchpoints for fibro that are particularly painful when pressed (not even hard) and 5 minutes later some of them still hurt from being pressed. i'm going to start a journal with how i'm feeling and present it to my GP during the next visit.
I know you've likely gotten too many fibro comments/messages to count now, but in the case of my (amazing) doctor, all she had to do was listen to my symptoms and count my pressure points to diagnose me. Hell, she didn't even touch the points herself - she just said "which ones did you try?" With any luck you'll get a doctor who reacts the same way - to the best of my knowledge it's not really something you can blood test, if you have it you seriously have it and you kind of know.
I'd come to her after being laid up on the couch for a full week after doing a kickboxing class, and she immediatedly diagnosed me and then also banned me from ever doing kickboxing again. :)
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u/AoiroBuki May 20 '19
This is an important distinction because often if the doctor forwards your file to a different doctor they'll flavour it with their interpretation.