What Are the Most Common Misdiagnosed Medical Conditions?
Misdiagnosis happens when a health condition is identified incorrectly, meaning a patient is told they have one disease or problem when they actually have another. In Kentucky, it’s more common than many people realize.
Take a closer look at some of the most frequently misdiagnosed medical conditions, including both physical illnesses and misdiagnosed mental disorders.
Depression Vs. Other Conditions
Depression is one of the most common mental illnesses, but it’s also often misdiagnosed — both in missing the diagnosis and in mistaking it for something else.
Depression can cause symptoms like:
- Deep sadness
- Fatigue
- Lack of concentration
- Irritability
- Sleep and appetite changes
But these same symptoms can also appear in other mental disorders like anxiety disorders, bipolar disorder, or post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).
This overlap of symptoms makes careful evaluation crucial. Doctors need to ask the right questions about history, such as past episodes of high energy or family history of bipolar, to avoid a common misdiagnosis between depression and other conditions.
Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD)
BPD is a complex mental health condition most often revealed through intense mood swings, relationships with a high degree of instability, and difficulty in regulating emotions. It has a high rate of misdiagnosis.
In fact, the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) has noted that BPD is one of the most commonly misdiagnosed mental health conditions, to the point that its true prevalence is hard to pin down.
While bipolar disorder comes in distinct episodes, BPD moods can shift more quickly — even within a day — and are often triggered by interpersonal stress. If a clinician doesn’t gather enough history, they might only see the surface symptoms and apply the wrong diagnosis.
Misdiagnosing BPD as bipolar means the patient might be prescribed mood stabilizer medications and then feel frustrated when those don’t fully address their problems.
Cancer
It’s frightening but true that some cancers get misdiagnosed. Early cancer symptoms can be very general, such as fatigue, weight loss, or mild pain, which are easy to attribute to more common and benign issues. For example, lung cancer’s cough and shortness of breath might be blamed on asthma or a lingering infection.
The result of such a common misdiagnosis is a delay in cancer treatment, which can allow the cancer to grow. That’s why getting a second opinion or additional testing on ambiguous findings can be so important when cancer is a possibility.
Lyme Disease
Lyme disease, spread by tick bites, can be an imitator of other illnesses. It often starts with vague symptoms like fatigue, headaches, joint aches, and sometimes, a bull’s-eye skin rash. Because these early symptoms are so nonspecific, Lyme disease is commonly misdiagnosed as conditions like chronic fatigue syndrome or fibromyalgia.
A missed Lyme diagnosis means the patient doesn’t get timely antibiotics, allowing the infection to persist and potentially cause more serious issues.
Heart Attack or Stroke
When you’re young and walk into an ER with chest pain or sudden weakness, it’s easy for doctors to chalk it up to indigestion or stress. Yet heart attacks happen more often than you might think. The CDC reports someone in the U.S. has a heart attack every 40 seconds, totaling about 805,000 each year.
Strokes also follow a similar pattern. Every 40 seconds, someone has a stroke, and about every 3.5 minutes, a stroke proves fatal. This data shows why dismissing symptoms as “just gas” can carry serious risks.
Contact the Fort Mitchell Medical Malpractice Lawyers at HJV Car Accident Personal Injury Lawyers for Help Today
Diagnosis is often called an art as much as a science, and like any human endeavor, it isn’t perfect. Doctors generally do the best they can with the information at hand, but many factors can lead to a wrong call.
If you suspect that a misdiagnosis or an anesthesia error caused you harm in Kentucky, it’s important to keep in mind that you don’t have to face the aftermath alone. Consulting a medical malpractice lawyer can help you understand your options and pursue compensation for your medical bills, lost wages, and pain and suffering.
For more information, don’t hesitate to contact HJV Car Accident Personal Injury Lawyers to schedule a free consultation with a personal injury lawyer in Louisville today. We have two convenient locations in Louisville and Fort Mitchell, Kentucky.
We proudly serve Jefferson County, Kenton County, and its surrounding areas:
HJV Car Accident Personal Injury Lawyers – Louisville, KY Office
600 W Main St Ste 200
Louisville, KY, 40202
(502) 540-5700
HJV Car Accident Personal Injury Lawyers – Fort Mitchell, KY Office
2380 Grandview Dr
Fort Mitchell, KY, 41017
(859) 578-4444