Her Doctor's Diagnosis Was VERY Wrong

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Executive Producer: Doctor Mike
Production Director and Editor: Dan Owens
Managing Editor and Producer: Sam Bowers
Editor and Designer: Caroline Weigum
Editor: Juan Carlos Zuniga

* Select photos/videos provided by Getty Images *

** The information in this video is not intended nor implied to be a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. All content, including text, graphics, images, and information, contained in this video is for general information purposes only and does not replace a consultation with your own doctor/health professional **

[DKexoriente]

Cardiologist here. Studies confirm that women get misdiagnosed way more often and their life threatening conditions often get misdiagnosed with "agitation" and "anxiety". The rate of deaths among women due to cardiovascular diseases misdiagnosis is terrifying. Thank you for highlighting this topic.

[evilpompom]

Don't be the "good patient", be the "bad" patient. Be the patient that asks questions, be the patient that asks for second opinions, be the patient that demands answers. Be the patient that takes their symptoms seriously. ❤

[rebelliousraven]

I'm a nurse and I've had probably 8-10 patients through the years who were diagnosed with Lupus. EVERY SINGLE ONE of them were initially misdiagnosed, made to feel horrible and ridiculed, some nearly died. Most all were female, though the MDs were NOT all men.

Its disheartening. I'm glad, Dr Mike, you were able to help this wife/mother feel better.

Please don't ever let the jaded members of the medical community change you.

[queenmotherhane]

My friend developed severe neck pain and her orthopedist told her to lose weight and go to physical therapy. It didn’t work. Meanwhile, her gynecologist recommended a hysterectomy for some huge fibroids that had been bothering her for years. My friend woke up from surgery and her neck pain was gone. It turns out the fibroids had been pressing on her spinal cord.

[julesballand]

I am in tears. Long story short, it took 15 years for me to finally find a doctor that cared enough to investigate and diagnose me with Lupus… I’m medicated and able to live an almost normal life. Thank you Dr. Mike for doing this video.

[mrschurch]

My mother was a nurse, overweight and in her late fifties, when she started to have symptoms that she recognized. She was snoring heavily, constantly tired, and was having drowning nightmares. It took her THREE MONTHS to convince her doctor that she needed to have a sleep study. Of course, once the sleep study was done, she was diagnosed with sleep apnea and finally given a prescription for a C-PAP. She was a NURSE and they didn't trust her opinion of her own body.

[norotic]

I find it EXTREMELY fascinating about how you mentioned that her getting the diagnosis was enough to make her start to feel better. I had a very similar feeling when I was FINALLY diagnosed with PTSD/C-PTSD after YEARS of fighting for my diagnosis, and some horrible doctors telling me "Oh, that's impossible, unless you've been to war". Right away when I got my diagnosis, I felt such a relief, as I felt like I was finally heard and not "just crazy".

[desireep]

Tragic but true, as a woman of colour, not only am I typically told that I'm making something up, I've also been accused of being "drug seeking" despite not asking for drugs and actually refusing them, but also been loudly told by a receptionist that "we will not touch you without a credit card" for a wisdom tooth extraction that I was referred for. I've actually been pondering going to medical school myself because I know I'm not the only one falling through the cracks like this.

[CeceCarlton]

It’s doctors like Doctor Mike that restore my faith in healthcare professionals. Not all physicians are like him but he gives me hope.

[tillitugi]

It took me 17 years to finally get diagnosed with a genetic condition after being repeatedly told it was anxiety and depression. Even when I had symptoms as a child - rather than investigating, I was admitted to the youth anorexia ward. Also as an adult I was repeatedly told I was doing this to myself. 17 years later I finally found a doctor that would listen and diagnosed me. Can't describe the feeling I had when I got that call. I'm now a doctor myself, a pediatrician in training. I want to give children the kind of diagnosis and treatment I never got when I needed it.

[writerlilies]

You could be telling one of my misdiagnosis stories: I have ataxia. When it first started, 2021, the ER docs and nurses looked at my race, age, weight, and gender and decided I must’ve been lying and drug seeking, so they blamed the Adderall rx I’d been taking for five years and anxiety because the blood work came back normal. The first neurologist said it was in my head and did an EEG. Nothing there and the ataxia had stopped between the ER visit and the neurologist visit. 🤷🏾‍♀️ More blame on mental illness. Nearly two years passed.

The ataxia got worse. Had to stop writing and making jewelry. I saw neurosurgeon who diagnosed essential tremor and referred me to another neurologist. She actually listened to me! I’m still floored at that because my hopes weren’t high at all. She tested for everything. The ataxia came from extremely low B12 levels partially due to a gastric bypass surgery way back in 2015. Now I’m on Anti-seizure medication and biweekly B12 shots. It still comes back and I’ll probably needs the shots for the rest of my life, but there’s an actual diagnosis and a treatment that works!

[fancyrider]

It’s taken nearly ten years for someone to listen to me about my pain and I finally found an OBGYN who took me seriously. I’m now working on getting an endometriosis diagnosis and am grateful someone decided to finally just listen.

[nax]

As someone who WORKS in healthcare and who was STILL ignored/dismissed/thought I was lying about my OWN health when I went to the urgent care and ER...yeah, this doesn't surprise me 😞

[criticaloptimist]

My grandma had lupus and was treated like she was insane most of her life. Thank you for being a truly compassionate doctor.

[GreenIdeasYogaPractice]

Thank you for this. My 17 year old daughter got sent from DR to DR for literally YEARS - told she was just "tired", "clumsy", or MANY TIMES even that she "forgot she hurt herself" ???!!? when it turned out to be a (painful) connective tissue disorder.

[tammeywhite]

50+ female here and the treatment rings so true. My whole life I was told I had migraines but not one single migraine medication helped. Always had antidepressants pushed on me and all made me feel awful. Finally diagnosed with IIH after having a CSF leak into my ear. Decades of high cerebral spinal fluid pressure in my brain thinned and pitted my skull / skull base causing the CSF leaks, encephaloceles, hearing loss. Three craniotomies and a shunt in my spine, then one in my brain since then.
Warning: Not every bad headache is a migraine.
So glad she found this doctor that was interested and not lazy!

[lisahontschik]

It took ELEVEN years for me to get my autoimmune disease diagnosed. Being female, overweight, and history of depression created the perfect storm of 10+ doctors blowing me off. It took me 11 long years of constant pain and fatigue to find my Dr. Mike. Thanks for highlighting this massive issue, Dr. Mike ❤

[BlueBirdsFIy]

my best friend knew something was dangerously wrong with him because he was dealing with very strange bowel movements, extreme stomach pains, blood in stool, etc at 26 years old. the first doctor he visited said "you have anxiety." literally. they said he had anxiety and those other symptoms were just "him being nervous." he pushed and pushed to have a gastroenterologist meeting and have a rectal exam earlier than normal. they kept pushing back but finally agreed. guess what? TUMOR. he had STAGE 3 COLORECTAL AND THE DOCTOR TOLD HIM IT WAS ANXIETY?!?!!?!?1 i don't trust anyone anymore. luckily his oncology team were amazing but im so mad to this day.,

[lexilla]

Fellow lupus patient here! I can confirm what Dr. Mike said about her pain going down. Stress can be a major trigger for autoimmune symptoms and flares, which causes pain symptoms to increase. The fact that this poor woman was worried sick about all these appointments and the pain and being mistreated definitely sounds like a lead to stress. So glad he was able to help her!

[PurrplePanda]

I’m not a doctor. But I do have a masters in microbiology and immunology and worked in an immunology/autoimmunity research lab. Knowing what I do about autoimmunity, especially in women, after hearing all her symptoms and history I honestly immediately thought it was lupus. It’s sad that it took so long and so much judgement for her to find help. But I’m extremely glad that she was eventually able to find the help that she needed. So thank you for that.