From the content of the article
When a patient walks in the door of a doctor’s office, they expect their doctor to be able to find out why they are suffering in a single visit. Obviously, this is not always true, due to the complexity of a complete diagnosis.
That’s why a study collected some pathologies that go unnoticed by many doctors, although some of them are really common, writes Yalpp.
Fibromyalgia
Fibromyalgia is relatively common but also one of those conditions that are difficult to diagnose, especially among women over 50 years old, consisting of chronic generalized muscle pain.
It is also associated with other pathologies such as insomnia, headache, irritable colon or dysmenorrhea. Its main problem is that its etiology is unknown, and women who suffer from this condition are often underdiagnosed or incorrectly evaluated and may feel disabled by not finding a solution to their problem or are incorrectly treated with drugs that would bring more risks.
Diagnosis is predominantly clinical, through a complete history and clinical history, along with physical examination, usually by pressing on so-called “trigger points”, especially tender areas that trigger pain on palpation.
Multiple sclerosis
This neurological disease is due to an inflammatory and destructive process of the cells responsible for the production of myelin in the central nervous system. Myelin is the substance responsible for nourishing and lubricating our neurons so that they are able to transmit nerve impulses properly.
This destruction occurs over time as plaques in our brain and spinal cord, causing concentrated neurological symptoms. Some of the most common symptoms are: decreased sensitivity, burning or stinging sensation, blurred vision, double vision or motor weakness.
The most common form of multiple sclerosis is that which manifests as a focus, that is, as inflammation occurs, new symptoms appear or pre-existing symptoms are exacerbated. After this crisis phase, we have a clinical remission of variable time.
All these striking symptoms usually appear in very young patients, between the ages of 20 and 45 in most cases. All this should alert us and direct the diagnosis.
But this is where things get complicated, because to diagnose multiple sclerosis requires temporal dissemination (the existence of two or more episodes of neurological deficits separated in time), spatial dissemination (the deficits are due to different neurological lesions) plus other neurological problems or infectious diseases that may mimic multiple sclerosis and should be excluded.
Irritable bowel syndrome
It is the most common gastrointestinal disease of our time. It often goes unnoticed by the patient, who gets used to living like this, with changes in the intestinal rhythm alternating between constipation and diarrhea. It is also accompanied by abdominal pain.
Once the patient is consulted, the doctor is forced to make a wide differential diagnosis (to try to find the cause of the diarrhea or constipation) and to exclude the warning signs that would make us look for a serious illness.
In order not to have to subject the patient to multiple explorations and tests (always in the absence of alarm data), several diagnostic criteria have been developed to make a purely clinical diagnosis.
Celiac disease
This disease, increasingly known among the general population, is characterized by intolerance to gluten gliadin, a group of proteins widely used in our diet (wheat, barley, rye, oats).
It is a disease based on the immune system, in which antibodies develop against these proteins and other enzymes present in our own intestine, gradually causing its erosion and destruction. That is why it is included in the range of difficult-to-diagnose diseases.
Lyme disease
It is an infectious pathology caused by bacteria found in mice and deer, on which ticks feed, and they are the ones that transmit it to humans through bites. It is characterized by the ability to generate serious neurological disorders and permanent arthritis if not identified and treated in time.
Fortunately, not all of these bites transmit the disease, which is why it is very important to know how to identify the symptoms of Lyme disease. They are related to disorders of the nervous system, joints, skin and heart and usually occur in 3 phases:
The first is a circular rash in the area of the bite that appears in the first or second week after infection, and although it is usually the typical sign of Lyme disease, many patients do not develop it.
This rash can take different forms and can be painless, although sometimes it can cause itching, burning. In people with a darker skin tone, it can be more difficult to detect, and the rash, although it increases in size, usually disappears in a short time. Along with it, it usually comes with flu, fatigue, headache or muscle aches.
Second, symptoms usually appear weeks after the bite even in those who did not have the initial rash, showing fatigue, indisposition and other rashes in other areas far from the bite.
Third, if the previous two phases were not detected or are not treated, the third phase can occur. They can appear at any time, even years later, manifesting in children as arthritis, inflammation and tenderness in joints such as the knees.
Having a wide variety of symptoms, it is so difficult to diagnose, although blood tests are usually performed to detect the body’s reaction to this disease.
Source: www.doctorulzilei.ro
