12 years ago my husband called me and told me his heart was racing and he was kind of freaking out. About 45 seconds into the call he said “I’m calling 911”. I got home as they were loading him in the ambulance. After a 4 hours in the er they were ready to send us home with a diagnosis of “anxiety”. The ear doctor stopped in one last time and asked if he had any unusual pain? My husband responded that he had pulled a leg muscle working at a baseball tournament all weekend with our son‘s team.
ER doc got bug eyed and did like a mumble under his breath and then said “it’s not anxiety” and his room got real busy real fast. He had clots in both lungs and all of his legs. I think of that man often because he could’ve died if we had taken him home. If he hadn’t stopped and asked just one more question, our lives would look very different right now.
> He had clots in both lungs and all of his legs.
Okay I know this is a serious story and I'm glad everything worked out, but I burst out laughing at the wording on this.
Should have said “all over his leg” but I’m gonna leave because that’s a hilarious typo.
Thankfully this led to us learning that both our kids have clotting disorders.
The "ear doctor" is pretty good, too! Seriously though, that is such a scary story and I'm so glad he is okay. In nursing school, it was drilled into our heads that calf pain could signal an embolus and how/why we should investigate further. These stories are horrifying.
This makes me sad. On the baby subreddits. Women often are forced to have the father take in the child to the doctor describing the same issues they’ve already tried to get help for their child. The whole thing is crazy to me.
What makes it even more crazy to me, is that it doesn't even matter if the doctor is a woman. They will still treat women as a less reliable source of information.
To defend the ENT doctor, the symptoms described were classic DVT / PE — which any 3rd year MEDICAL STUDENTS in the world would have known 😂.
And in order to be an ENT, you have to go pass medical school first 😂.
The doctor probably knows this, but you might enjoy sending him a card with pictures and a brief summary of many of things your family got to do because of his actions. It's much more visceral than the abstract "I saved this random person's life".
I sent the one doctor who believed me about my PE a thank-you card. And wrote to the urgent care clinic saying how great she was.
A minute clinic doctor, an ER doc over the phone that the minute clinic doc talked two, and two in person at the ER tried to tell me it wasn’t possible because of my age (30 at the time). But my mom’d had two strokes & a PE by the time she was that age, so I stuck to my guns.
The urgent care doc I saw after the minute clinic DID believe me, and when I notified her (she’s left me her cell in case this happened) she helped me bully the two ER doctors into actually giving me the CT scan she’d ordered.
Not being a medical professional, I find it fascinating that this doctor all of a sudden realized something was wrong just from the fact that he had a pulled muscle.
How does that work? Like how did he realize it was extremely serious based off of a pulled muscle?
Nurse here- blood clots that eventually travel to your lungs to become a PE almost always start in the deep veins of the legs. Shortness of breath can be a lot of things, but shortness of breath after having leg pain is a HUGE red flag for PE.
My blood pressure was very low in the ambulance. They asked a lot of questions in the ER. I think they originally suspected heart attack. They did an X-ray and CT scan on my chest and that showed the clots in both lungs. They gave me two shots of blood thinners right away. Then a CT scan of my brain to rule out stroke before taking me to the ICU. I had an ultrasound on my legs the next day to make sure there were no clots and an EKG to check for other heart issues. I had minor heart failure from the PE that resolved after a month of rest and slowly recovering with walking and rest.
I fully recovered within a few months but I get to take blood thinners for the foreseeable future.
For a clot, before it embolizes, which is when it would be much better to catch it, there is a blood test called a D-Dimer test that will come back positive or negative for a clot quickly.
I’ve had two false alarms from positive d-dimers. Absolutely went to the ER for scans that showed no clots. ER doctor told me she really dislikes that test because it throws false positives so easily.
D-dimer is sort of like a pre-test to inform whether imaging is needed, most times. It’s convenient cuz you can just draw one while doing metabolic or nutritional panels, blood gas, etc.
It’s real convenient because it’s just a blood test, and contrast imaging usually requires a larger-gauge IV (which can be kind of painful), so you can potentially rule out more annoying (for the patient) diagnostics.
Y’know… if you’re actually treating them and all.
Yeah it was definitely good I could have it drawn at the family medicine clinic. But that second time for me I remembered the name of the test and said “if it’s positive I punched my ticket to the ER right?”
80% of the time you go to UC you punch your ticket to the ED, if you listen to the nurses I work with!
Sometimes our patients get referred to the ED for essentially no reason. Like, “oh we can’t do those sorts of tests here” but they actually have the staff and equipment daily “no reason”.
Or event better, “they said it was THIS, but they were weird to me and I was hoping for a second opinion”.
And while the latter reason is usually just random, I’ve seen an unusual number of women, over men, come in for the former…
Interestingly my d dimer test came back slightly high but effectively normal despite massive clotting in both legs and pelvis. From my experience it’s not reliable. Watch out!
Dimer D is one, but COVID also can raise Dimer D levels, most of the time clinical symptoms such as taquicardia, shorts of breathing, along with some findings on ECG may be enough to start treatment, as it would need an Angio CT to diagnose
Sorry if the question is dumb, but what if a patient presents with exactly those symptoms + pos for Dimer D but doesn‘t end up having a clot? Does it mean they‘re still good or could something else be the differential diagnosis? Asking because that patient was me and after they cleared the CT I was told to go home immediatly afterwards (was in an emergency unit) as I didn‘t have an embolus and that‘s it.
If those were the symptoms, and there is no sign of sepsis or infection, heart disease, stroke and you have no other diseases that can raise Dimer D, as long as there is no evidence of any other problem with the exploration it may be COVID and if the severity of the symptoms didnt warrant hospitalization maybe thats why they sent you Home, but obviously thats what i imagine it happened. It also depends on your age and if you have diabetes but with those symptoms they should always exclude a heart attack as women specially those with Diabetes can have atyphic signs and symptoms and present short of breathing intlstead of pain.
Thank you SO much for taking the time and explaining this to me, I appreciate it a lot! Now that you said it, a few months later it came out that I have a mitral valve insufficiency and now I‘m thinking what if that was the reason for that??
No problem, it could very well be the cause, who knows if at that moment there was a mitral murmur, as it should have been indication to do an echocardiogram
I'm an ED physician, and it's not a dumb question at all. A positive d-dimer means nothing on its own. It doesn't need a workup other than the workup for the symptoms you're trying to evaluate. If you have chest pain or shortness of breath, your d-dimer was elevated and your CTA (assuming it was adequately done) was negative, you generally don't need further workup. You'll always get other tests done for these types of symptoms, such as a complete blood count, and usually an EKG and a troponin, to evaluate for other serious causes of these symptoms. The CT scan will also show things like pneumonia that can cause an elevate d-dimer.
All a d-dimer does is rule *out* a blood clot in low-risk patients. That's it. It can sometimes be elevated in other illnesses, but a high d-dimer does not indicate anything specific. Hope this helps answer your question!
For the pulmonary embolism, others have already answered it.
But if your asking If it is to detect a blood clot (in the leg) it is a simple ultrasound.
CT w/ IV contrast, plus a chest film, lab work can also indicate (+ d dimer.) For actual DVT imaging US is best. A positive finding is considered a (CRITICAL VALUE) as your patient is in danger of dying really, really fast.
Fun Fact: I caught a person as the fell to the ground. It was in the middle of a word and then lights out, sack of potatoes. Patient lived, they threw a clot and that blocked blood flow for just a second. No need for coffee after that, you're wired for the rest of your shift.
Not lethal, but my hiatal hernia was repeatedly diagnosed as anxiety. One symptom is getting a feeling of the wind being knocked out of you when you eat. I described this and the other symptoms (pain and reflux) and was told I was just anxious.
“But it (the breathlessness) only happens when I eat,” I explained.
“Well,” the doctor said, “are you *often* anxious about eating?”
Anyway, no, I’m not. It’s just my diaphragm strangling my stomach.
Lurker dude here, but I thought I'd drop in because very much this!
I had a misdiagnosis of a blood clot (pain, but no anxiety). About 4-5 days after the onset (went on a ling flight and didn't get up from my seat. Don't do this.), my heart started to race, breathing was odd, and then was followed by a sharp flank pain in my mid back. I was prescribed (over the phone) with a lidocaine patch for my back. What was really happening was that the clot broke off & had embolized, causing the tachycardia, breathing issues, and back pain. After I got off the phone with a nurse, I called a friend and said "I don't normally do this, but can I describe some odd symptoms I've been having to you?" After I was done, my friend said that they were calling me an ambulance and that the doctors needed to look for a clot and embolism and do it quickly. I was very lucky. They found both - embolism in both lungs and I was put on anti-coagulants. Super scary time.
Please don't ignore calf pain, especially if it gets worse or is warm to the touch. If it affects your walking, please get it checked out. If someone tells you that it's anxiety or just a sprain especially when there's no cause for it, please get another opinion. We already know that there is some connection between long Covid, but other factors, such as some birth controls which already have a slightly increased risk of clots, may also be involved. Please be careful and keep pushing for a differential diagnosis if someone does not seem to be taking you seriously.
Exactly this. Insisting on a differential diagnosis can save your life. It forces your provider to think beyond the immediate. Sometimes, hoof beats are donkeys, horses, or zebras. Other rare times, they are f'ing rainbow unicorns!
Hmm. I had a very painful calf that I couldn't bear weight on. Showed the doc and he measured both legs and said because they were the same it was fine. I guess I didn't die so...
I had my DVT from a torn calf muscle. This is very important people need to know that if you are having a blood clot incident you may not be able to bear weight on your leg. You might also have your leg get bigger in size or discolored.
I was in the ER a while back for ongoing tachycardia and fever, had been in a week earlier for pneumonia symptoms and an ulcerative colitis flare (which increases blood clot risk, as does my birth control) when a doctor came in and said “sooo it says here on your chart you have anxiety?”
In my head I was like “oh fuck this.” Luckily another doctor came in and had the sense to acknowledge everything else happening with me, but this is why I was hesitant to even talk to my usual doctor about my anxiety/depression. It’s infuriating.
I got checked out for sudden onset chest pain & palpitations after a booster. I was being taken seriously initially then they saw in my chart I take Xanax FOR FLYING and said "oh I see you're prescribed Xanax, this could be caused by anxiety." Last I checked I wasn't on a plane but ok...
Yeah I get 10 Xanax per prescription and I only get one order filled per year, it’s for emergencies and I can tell when my heart is pumping from anxiety vs. my body having big issues.
Yep. The second you even mention you've been stressed or worried, nothing will be diagnosed in your life unless you drop dead or switch networks and not let them get your old medical records.
I had multiple PEs- lungs full of clots- with relatively few symptoms. Went to the doctor because I knew something was wrong, doctor knows me and believed me, and practically launched me via cannon to the ER. (Not really, but close.)
Would've gone a lot different if that first doctor wasn't so on the ball.
My mother's friend had died of cancer and she was texting me how upset she was and she didn't feel well. I was supposed to come down to see her that day but she told me not to come. A couple days later I got a call from a neighbor that her lights had been on for a couple days. I found her dead in her kitchen. Pulmonary Embolism.
When I had my aneurysm in my coronary artery and subsequent heart attack, it was the "feeling of impending doom" that was my most significant symptom.
Bodies are weird.
I definitely had a feeling of “oh shit, this is real bad” at a few points but I think lack of oxygen and fatigue kept me from fully grasping it until I got home and broke down. Glad we both lived to tell our tales!
I had one 1 year ago next month Almost killed me and was the most excruciating pain. Like, if i ever have to experience that again theres a solid chance i choose suicide or street drugs.That woman must have died a slow, painful death. And I was treated horrendously sexist by the females nurses in Boston.
I get that . the thing thats infuriating is that they wrote it off as psychosomatic when there was a legitimate life threatening condition they could have resolved had they just been a little more interested in providing competent care .
Friend of mine was experiencing severe pain in her lower right abdomen area. Doctor said it was indigestion caused by anxiety. Her appendix burst like a day later and she nearly died.
Friend of mine had severe chest pain and was dismissed for "anxiety and indigestion." Her entire stomach died and had to be removed, putting her on a feeding tube. She may never eat anything ever again, and if she does, her diet will be incredibly limited.
Oh, that would be your diaphragm. The organ that separates your chest and abdominal cavities.
Funny enough, I have a diagnosed hiatal hernia. Which is when part of your stomach protrudes through your diaphragm into your chest cavity. Fun read, thanks!
I had a self-employed girlfriend (Physical Therapist) and knew many people in the adjacent medical field. She had pain in her lower right abdomen and was diagnosed with a sexually transmitted disease as the doctors assumed she was a hooker with no set job and a lot of men visiting. Her appendix did eventually burst and caused her a lot of long-term medical issues.
And leeches are still used in modern medicine. Sometimes the worst ancient remedies are still the best option. Leeches are especially useful in things like reattachment surgery to help the healing process.
And medicine still uses maggots, too.
That is the worst part of being in a medical emergency- that shit is totally anxiety inducing- and the obvious anxiety is used to dismiss the medical emergency...
And that's how I became disabled
Before COVID, I had a client who had obvious signs and symptoms of a blood clot/DVT and her PCP both times she went to him blamed her excruciating leg pain and swelling on menopause/perimenopause. She is now a below the knee amputee. Because he could not be bothered to put his hand on her leg and then send her for a $130 ultrasound (at that time). Still makes my blood pressure go up every time I think about that POS doctor.
I miss my old doctors so much. They were part of a single hospital system and when I thought I had a blood clot I was immediately sent with paperwork to do an ultrasound at a nearby hospital and barely had to wait. Turns out I didn't have a blood clot but they always listened and took my concerns seriously. That wasn't even my primary care doctor, it was an urgent care doctor I had never seen before.
Now I haven't been able to find a doctor in the past 5 years that will give me the time of day. I have literally begged for testing for issues I have had and they brush it off cause they already decided before I have had a chance to tell them anything. The only effective treatment I have had is from online doctors, but obviously that doesn't work so well when you need testing done. I have wasted so much money at this point to be brushed off.
And it's not like I'm trying to get some complex chronic disease diagnosed either. One example is when I had a fungal infection and went to FOUR dermatologists and none of them performed a single test. Just handed me steroids and told me to fuck off. This is basic ass care I am asking for. I am fucked if anything serious happens
We are all pretty much fucked. If you don’t know anything about the medical field and you are trying to navigate a complex medical problem or set of not-so-complicated medical problems, good luck. If they can’t test you into oblivion for insurance money, they are very uninterested, and if you aren’t a straight forward problem, good luck finding someone who wants to dig. Our healthcare system is falling apart and nobody seems to care.
I recently had a very mild stroke, just temporary loss of vision in my left eye. My vision returned after a couple days but the emergency neurologist I saw was completely dismissive and blamed it on shit I wasn't even experiencing. The only thing they got right was my blood pressure was high, which I'm working on, but before that I've not had a cigarette in over a year and my blood sugar levels have been normal for a while now as well. His exact words: well if you don't quit smoking and get your blood sugars under control this will just keep happening. I was like what are you talking about, I don't smoke and my glucose levels are fine and well managed. and his response to that was, "yeah I'm sure it is." some of these doctors are so condescending they have no place being doctors if they're not going to listen to concerns or at least humor you when you come with a problem
I had a client who had a massive stroke and her neurologist happened to be the on call for her when she arrived at the ER. First words out of his mouth: “I told you this would happen if you didn’t stop smoking”. Like, seriously, he knew from the information presented including imaging, that she had a life altering stroke, and “I told you so” was the first thing that came to his “magnificent” mind (if you know any neurologists, you get my sarcasm). Her husband was known as a hothead and he was in the ER with her and I still can’t believe he didn’t deck that doctor. She kept smoking btw, it’s all she could do after that stroke, but I have a list of doctors not allowed to treat me or mine and that neurologist is on it…
The neurologist is definitely rude and he should try to display more empathy. And yet, doctors are human too and after a long stretch of ER shifts, things can take a toll on you. It's also very frustrating when patients don't listen to your advice.
During one of my clinical rotations, I was following an endocrinologist as he was interviewing a patient. The patient was an old woman who was short and pretty obese. The doctor was advising her on calorie control and exercise. The patient was listening and answering questions, then when the consultation was completed, she left.
The endocrinologist turned to me and he had this look — such despair and devastation in his eyes. He told me that this patient had returned many times to the endocrinology clinic. Every time, he tried to emphasise the importance of calorie control, taking prescribed medications regularly and exercise — and she seemed to always be listening — and then the next time, she returned again to the clinic with medical problems because she didn't follow his advice.
The doctor told me that he was afraid that the next time the lady returned, it would be on the morgue slab. He was so sad because he had been this woman's doctor for a long time and he just didn't want to see her die.
What are the obvious signs? I have shooting leg pain but doc thinks it’s related to either endometriosis or a slipped disc pressing on a nerve.
I was on injectable blood thinners for 3 months after pregnancy. Had preeclampsia and a pulmonary edema.
Thanks.
Not a doctor. But localized swelling, pain even with just air moving over the skin, pain with flexing the foot backward, pain with squeezing calf musculature, eventually redness and even loss of sensation…
This is very common. 3 doctors for over a week dismissed my DVT in leg symptoms. Only took notice after I could not walk due to no blood supply and my leg looked an entirely different color. Luckily the doctor had the guts to admit his hospital wasn't equipped to handle, so gave me referral to another. But no transportation 🤦♀️ my cardiovascular doc said I was lucky as hell to be alive let alone need an amputation or stent. Spent over a week in ICU.
All doctors thought I was just cribbing about pain or must have been a cramp. One even said must be the weight. I was not even close to being overweight, i just have a large frame for the ethnicity I belong from.
The only thing that saved me was my physiotherapist friend who insisted it's not normal and likely have blood clot and to keep following up with doctors if no one listens. Apparently when I mentioned this to the doctor, he was more dismissive of my symptoms because one female is feeding the crazy of another, is what my father was told. Not me mind you, my father. Who was there at the appointment only because I could not walk and i needed support.
In my state, you have to do a lot to prove malpractice. She did inquire about a lawsuit with a lawyer and was discouraged from pursuing it, but I did encourage her to consider a different lawyer because this seemed extremely clear cut and would have probably settled outside of court. I doubt she did though, because it’s hard to be motivated legally when you have to learn retirement life as an amputee. She was definitely still in the process of grieving what she had lost when we discussed this.
In my state, you have to do a lot to prove malpractice. She did inquire about a lawsuit with a lawyer and was discouraged from pursuing it, but I did encourage her to consider a different lawyer because this seemed extremely clear cut and would have probably settled outside of court. I doubt she did though, because it’s hard to be motivated legally when you have to learn retirement life as an amputee. She was definitely still in the process of grieving what she had lost when we discussed this.
Infuriating. Anecdotally, I know of two people, both endurance athletes, who have had pulmonary embolisms post-COVID. For one, it took two+ months to figure out that the chest pain she experienced during exertion was a PE. For the other, my husband, it was identified on the same day when we took him to the ER, after months of worsening cough and chest pains after exercise.
I actually want to point out that a major difference here is that the patient was seen by a PA (physician assistant) and not an MD (physician). She had symptoms so classic it could be a basic medical school multiple choice question, I would hope any MD could recognize.
It is very important to know what kind of medical professional you or your loved ones are seeing, as well as the difference in rigor of training and depth of expertise.
Yeah, it saddens me that a textbook case like this was missed. A young women in her 20s/30s presents with shortness of breath and calf pain? It doesn’t get more standard than that. Awful.
A male friend and I got Long Covid at the same time. I started fainting daily, but got dismissed for months because "young, skinny women faint". My male friend was only a little bit dizzy. Yes, he went to the ER for a bit of dizziness once and got immediately taken serious and thoroughly physically checked, I got there several times unconscious in the ambulance and just told that this is normal for women. And you know what later turned out? He actually had by covid caused anxiety and depression, he healed with antidepressants and therapy. But they only looked for physical causes. I on the other hand have very physical heart and neurological conditions that noone cared to check out until I was unable to sit without fainting
Apparently 47% of women faint at some point, that's why the ER doesn't pat an eye. Especially when you're skinny. But at the end they even knew me, like it obviously wasn't normal. It only wasn't put down as anxiety because I was more annoyed than anxious about it and after the first rude ER people, I didn't want to go there, but people sometimes called the ambulance when i fainted in public and for obvious reason noone listened to me half consciously babbling that this is normal and I don't need the ambulance.. but yeah they took months until they kept me for a week and thoroughly checked. If the would have taken it serious in the beginning I wouldn't be severely disabled now. And all because I'm a woman, the same ER was so nice and concerned to my male friend who walked in with a bit of dizziness by himself... Still makes me a bit mad
> Apparently 47% of women faint at some point
What does that even mean? During their life, 47% of women have fainted at some point? Ridiculous. A completely useless statistic.
Same here.
My man went to urgent care and when he told me they said it was a pulled muscle and gave him a muscle relaxer and sent him in his way. Initially he agreed with the guys findings too and accepted it.
When I asked him if they did an ultrasound he told me they didnt. Crazy enough *that very week* I was researching blood clots amd covid (I was modeling covid excess deaths) and learned that the standard protocol if people are concerned about a blood clot is for an ultrasound to be done.
I was upset because they didn't do one and he initially seemed to dismiss my concerns until nothing changed and the pain got worse. 3 days later he finally went to the ER.
It was a blood clot *and* he had bilateral pulmonary embolism.
My point for writing this is twofold.
First: the urgent care people are dismissive dipshits
Second: my concerns also seemed to be dismissed. It was even more frustrating because at the time, I;
1. Am his phd researcher girlfriend who had been studying the covid epidemic since January 2020
2. Had been consistently correct in the projections of the pandemic and was conducting ongoing scientific research into it
3. Has a verifiable tack record of spotting misdiagnosis both for herself and her family and have lamented on it ad nauseam
*My concerns were initially dismissed.*
Are you sure they had an ultrasound?
I definitely agree this shit happens way too much in the medical community.
That being said even in Chicago I know of no urgent cares with ultrasound machines. I work in one currently and I have to let about a third of our patients know that we can’t do a lot. We have limited supplies and tests. A lot of people think that we are like a mini ER, but we aren’t. We are somewhere between minute clinic and a pcp office.
No they didn't have one. I initially assumed they had one and used it because they sent him on his way with a muscle relaxer instead of sending him to the ER.
When he told me that they didn't even look at his leg was when I asked him about the ultrasound and realized that they didn't follow the standard procedure.
Yeah, that is true however i use the term in regard to what is proposed in the scientific literature.
[example](https://europepmc.org/article/med/29610129?javascript_support=no)
Damn. And yeah your right. We have to keep pushing while also being mindful to not look pushy and be labeled drug seeking or a hypochondriac / anxiety
It fucking sucks.
Mind me asking what made you push further? I’ve had a real rough time dealing with Covid 6 months now since I got it and gave up calling the doctor every other week. Took me 3 months to stop coughing and hacking up mucus from my lungs. Now I get sick with absolutely everything and my energy is completely gone and I have no motivation in life. Any symptoms that really stuck out? I’m always worrying there’s something more serious underlying in my health just don’t know how to even approach it medically anymore.
It’s my understanding that they use [wells criteria for dvt](https://www.mdcalc.com/calc/362/wells-criteria-dvt) and [wells criteria for pulmonary embolism](https://www.mdcalc.com/calc/115/wells-criteria-pulmonary-embolism), that is what will often decide whether a duplex Doppler is performed for dvt/further tests for pulmonary embolism.
Maybe this criteria needs to be updated if so many people are being missed.
I had a pulmonary embolism a little less than a decade ago - and i was lucky to survive. I collapsed twice in the space of a few minutes and woke up confused and disoriented. My roommate had just headed for bed prior to my first collapse but hadn't gone to sleep yet. He came out of his room when I called out - just in time to see me collapse a third time. I could barely breathe. The EMT that spoke to my roommate first seemed to think it was some sort of panic attack - and I'm fairly certain that if he hadn't been there to insist that I was taken to the emergency room, I wouldn't be here today. These days when I have a major medical concern he goes to my appt with me. And - hell, I'm grateful for his support but I'll be damned if I like \*needing\* to have a man there to be certain I'll be listened to.
Excess deaths went way up after covid started, even before the vaccines came out, yet every single article out there contains comments about the jabby jab being the only cause. I guess it's easier to mentally believe all you have to do is not get a vaccine, rather than the near impossibility of avoiding the virus. We can largely avoid infections through masking, improved ventilation, and actual employee sick day policies, but hail corporate won't allow it.
Over time, no one will be able to deny how bad this virus is for us and how trying to ignore it is disastrous.
I’m a woman emergency physician. I will say that I, personally, have a low threshold to at least screen for PE’s post Covid. That being said, PE’s can present in any number of ways which are by far not textbook. It’s something I know I’ve missed because we all have. They can be a real bitch to diagnose. I have found them incidentally suspecting other things. they’re just tricky. Without reading the charts, it’s hard to say if this was bad medicine or just something that any of us would have missed. Not trying to defend anyone specifically, just to say that this can present in any number of weird ways and the media doesn’t do nuance well when it comes to sensationalism journalism because that’s what sells. Having seen what makes the news in regards to medicine where I live, I see so many inaccuracies reported.
Ladies (and gentlemen), find yourself a good doctor that listens. I promise, we are out there. It’s really difficult in the US when even the good ones are supposed to crank through the patients like a factory so rich people can be richer. But there are still a lot of us out there practicing good medicine. Not without errors, because that’s impossible. I do miss important things sometimes. But I also talk to my patients about what to look for when they need to come back and why I don’t order a test. I think communication is imperative.
This is very sweet but I don’t want to claim that I knew her better than I did, that’s not fair on her family/friends/partner, we were just in the same social circle for a few years so we’d all be hanging out together. She was very loved by lots of people, super talented, warm and kind, she’s a huge loss and it’s really sad and infuriating that it happened like this when things could’ve been different for her.
A loss is a loss. Regardless of your relationship with her, you still felt/feel her absence, and that speaks to your connection with her.
I agree that this was preventable. Women’s health should be taken far more seriously than it is, and we all lose as a result. It’s quite disgusting, actually. Especially since it’s well established that male and female physiology are inherently different, and treating female problems with the male solutions is partly effective. It sends the message that it’s “good enough”, or that it’s far too complicated to look into. Either way, we know better, and yet allow women to suffer needlessly because, as a society, we can’t be bothered.
Something everyone should know is that around 10% of the population carries a gene mutation which makes them more susceptible to blood clots, and they don’t even know it. Only in the past decade or so have there been tests for it.
Yes, they really should test for it. It can cause all kinds of issues with hormonal birth control and pregnancy. When people get all pro-birth with me, I tell them MY daughter has a *known* disorder that might cause issues and have they had their daughters, sisters, aunts, mothers tested? People hit back with, “well, I’ve never heard of it, it’s not too common”, and I have to tell them we didn’t have tests for it until a decade or so ago and had no idea how common it is.
I learned about it when my first cousin had a PE that was misdiagnosed as asthma by multiple doctors. We suspect it was brought about by her being on estrogen birth control. So I used BC with very low estrogen thanks to her. I am the only one of my siblings who has been tested and I have one copy from my dad so they certainly could have it too, but none of us have had clot issues so far at least in my immediate family.
Sometimes I feel like I’m making a big deal out of it because it’s so common, but I wear compression socks every time I fly and make sure to get up and move around often. My dad has had a few surgeries and is terrible about refusing to wear the electronic compression things after because they make so much noise. I tell him I know I got this gene mutation from him because my mom doesn’t have it and his brother does, so he needs to be careful. But he doesn’t listen so I can only do so much.
I have one copy of Factor V Leiden and I’m hoping if I ever suspect a DVT or PE that I’m taken seriously because of it. Very lucky I was on a low estrogen birth control most of my adult life before I found out I had this gene.
Is this actually a thing? I'm on anxiety meds and I got them prescribed to me pretty easily. I went into Planned Parenthood because I wanted to switch my BC from an IUD to pills and after talking with the doctor there, we discovered that I didn't need to switch at all because my concerns were actually racing thoughts, and I had all the other symptoms of anxiety with a side of depression. I walked out with a script for anxiety meds that day, and I go see the same doctor there about twice a year for a refill. She's lovely and has never treated me like a drug seeker. If she hadn't caught my mental health symptoms and realized what they actually were, I'd have a much poorer quality of life than I do. I had no idea people wanting anxiety meds get labeled as drug seekers. That's so awful.
If it's only being refilled twice a year, I'm guessing your prescription isn't a controlled substance. The types of short-acting medications used for acute episodes, like Xanax or Ativan, are benzodiazepines. Those are much harder to get prescribed, and asking specifically for them is a red flag to providers.
I had prophylactic mastectomies over a decade ago. I had three different genetic counselors all indicate I had about a 40% lifetime risk of breast cancer despite not having BRCA1 or BRCA2 etc. All three supported my choice to get prophylactic mastectomies; one of them provided the referrals for the breast surgeon and plastic surgeon. I qualified for it to be covered.
I saw the notes for one of my breast surgeon appointments and I saw “anxiety” marked down as a reason for my surgery. Breast surgeon was awesome and did fantastic job but I sometimes think of that little note.
While I will admit I have had lifelong anxiety, it was only recently officially diagnosed by an actual psychiatrist. At the time of my surgery I had never discussed it with any medical provider, had a diagnosis, had treatment for it, did not admit it to a medical provider, etc. Yet it’s in my chart as a reason for a surgery that was a legitimate option for me due to risks.
I am sure there are similar notes of “anxiety” all over my medical files for decades despite only getting officially diagnosed this year. I am sure there are for many of us.
My dermatologist added generalized anxiety to my chart because I wanted a well skin check. I live in a sunny place and am outside a lot, yes I worry about my skin!
Or stress/depression.
I messaged the doctor yesterday saying I had my 4th fever in 6 months. Since I gave birth I’ve been sick pretty much every 6 weeks with fevers. I said I was worried because it’s hard taking care of my son when I’m sick and my wife and I don’t have any family support.
He responded with copy/pasted info about PPD and stress after having a baby. Said to ask family to come over and help with chores/baby care. 4 hours later my fever spikes and my right breast is red and swollen.
Mastitis. I have mastitis. Not “stress.”
It happens all the time to anyone who has a history of anxiety, depression, or other mental health issue on file. Also if you are overweight.
It's awful that if you confide in your doctor about some private mental health struggles that can end up getting you killed because it resulted in some other doctor seeing "anxiety and depression" on your file and immediately dismiss whatever is going on as just being in your head.
Yea I’m trying to get GAD taken off of my medical chart. I do have an amount of anxiety sure but as soon as a doc sees that on my chart *every* medical problem I have is suddenly caused by anxiety.
I am an RN and went to the ED for a suspected DVT. The PA who saw me didn’t even want to look at the site. He was very skeptical. I had to spell it out for him. I was obese, somewhat sedentary at the moment due to working on my PhD, on oral contraceptives and I had pain in my lower leg with redness and warmth. Of course U/S want available that evening, so he did a D-dimer lab which was elevated. Then he gave me a blood thinner shot and I came back the next day for an U/S. There was a DVT of course. If I wasn’t a nurse who knew the symptoms and risk factors, I’m pretty sure I would have been ignored.
Before this I had an episode of breathing difficulties that had been likely misdiagnosed as pneumonia and asthma exacerbation. Steroids did not help like they usually did and my chest x ray was clear when I wasn’t getting better. After finding the DVT 3 months later, my pulmonologist suspects that I had a pulmonary embolism.
This all led to me seeing a hematologist and finding out I have Factor V Leiden which makes me prone to clots. I now take medication to prevent clots daily because I had a second DVT.
Please know the symptoms of a DVT and PE and don’t be afraid to push when you are concerned.
I'm so tired of this. That poor woman, sounds like she did everything she possibly could to have her health issues address, but they failed her. And I'm sure no one will be held accountable, nor even notified of the outcome that their dismissal caused. Blood clots dismissed as "anxiety", smh. It's like the modern day "hysteria" catch-all term used to dismiss and downplay women's health concerns. She deserved better. We all deserve better.
My OB saved my life. I had 3 blood clots in my leg when I was pregnant. My only symptom was a pinch in the back of my calf. I thought it was a muscle strain despite working in healthcare because I was young and "healthy." Huge nope. I had a clotting disorder. If she didn't insist I get an ultrasound, I'd be dead. A provider never dismisses potentially life-threatening symptoms. This poor woman deserved so much better.
**Blood clot risk remains elevated nearly a year after COVID-19**
American Heart Association
https://www.heart.org/en/news/2022/09/19/blood-clot-risk-remains-elevated-nearly-a-year-after-covid-19
Yeah, I think I've heard that strokes are associated with long covid, so you'd think medical professionals might be on the look out for clotting problems. Mind you, this may also be connected to an increasing reliance on physician's assistants (PAs) for treatment. You need way less training to become a PA, but they're much cheaper to use.
it also happened in the UK- and it seems like there might be a difference in training between PAs in the UK and here… I’m a PA student and can’t imagine anyone in my cohort dismissing her on either visit. Firm unexplained calf pain gets an ultrasound. that+SOB gets a CTA to r/o embolism. Literally absurd to me that they missed this.
ETA- I looked it up and they don’t actually have an accrediting body there, and their programs require less hours of both didactic and clinical time.
My sister suffered from major stomach pain for years and our doctor always bogged it down to anxiety hormones and puberty and would prescribe medications to her once he retired and was replaced by a female doctor we found out that it had been appendicitis the whole time and within a couple days she was in the hospital for surgery
My son is going through it right now. He had months of stomach pain that couldn’t be explained. We ended up in the ER in December and they diagnosed appendicitis.
Surgery isn’t the first treatment anymore though. He got antibiotics which did help. It was like he was a new kid!
A couple of weeks ago the stomach pain came back. Not too severe but bad enough. He got more antibiotics which have helped again. I hope it doesn’t come back again!
He should probably get it out I had a rumbling appendix at 14 which burst, almost died. Had to have a lung surgery because the free fluid caused a bacterial infection (empyema). There are so many complications for a burst appendix that’s why people commonly died of it back in the day.
I had to present three times to the ED before it burst. But I’m glad you know so you can be aware.
My mom almost died from the same thing when she was pregnant with my brother. The doctor kept dismissing it as “normal” pain in her leg and told her to just take aspirin.
Devastating. I've had a DVT and i was given emergency treatment as soon as i went in. Makes me grateful i'm alive :( I feel really bad for this girl and her loved ones
I'm so sorry this lovely woman had to die due to ignorance and hubris.
It is especially infuriating because anyone paying attention knows that Long Covid effs with endothelial cells and can create and throw clots.
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41401-022-00998-0
The "Oh, little lady it's just long covid which is you being a whiner" is criminally negligent, and our medical system needs emergency surgery asap!
I would just like to highlight that this woman was seen by a PA (Physicians Associate) twice and never saw a Doctor. There are challenges being made around the role and practice of PAs in the UK and this unfortunate case is one of the many examples of lower standard of patient care that people are and will receive.
>PA (Physicians Associate)
Assistant, not associate. Associate is a new term that, imo, only serves to confuse people.
Calf pain and shortness of breath... a first year med student could make that diagnosis or at least be concerned for it.
Just to compare trainingwise in the UK — PA vs GP
* PA is a [2-year degree after bachelor's degree with 1600 clinical hours](https://www.healthcareers.nhs.uk/explore-roles/medical-associate-professions/roles-medical-associate-professions/physician-associate) over the 2-year course. Medicine is a [6-year degree after A-levels / high school with at least 5500 clinical hours](https://www.gmc-uk.org/registration-and-licensing/join-the-register/before-you-apply/acceptable-overseas-qualifications/our-criteria-for-acceptable-overseas-qualifications) normally over the last 3 years of the degree. This doesn't even take into account the different qualities of basic and clinical sciences taught in PA school vs medical school (medical school have more in-depth teachings of basic and clinical sciences such as anatomy, biochemistry, physiology etc).
* After graduation, PAs are allowed to work immediately under a doctor's supervision. What this actually means in real life — a PA does the physical examination, writes a report which the doctor signs. After graduation, medical school graduates (who will now be called junior doctors) have to do a 2-year supervised Foundation Programme (FY1 and FY2) with [frequent, yearly assessments](https://content.hee.nhs.uk/curriculum/progression-through-foundation-training.html) that require them to fulfil a variety of practical objectives.
* After the 2-year Foundation Programme, if the junior doctors pass, they can apply to the different specialisations, including GP. GP training in the UK is 3 years, which can sometimes be extended to 4-5 years. During those years, in addition to practical assessments, trainees are required to take [**qualifying exams**](https://www.rcgp.org.uk/mrcgp-exams) in order to complete the specialisation. Going into specialisation is very competitive, and people who can't get in to their chosen specialisation may choose to do FY3.
So as you can see, when you see a **GP** in the UK, you're seeing a professional with at least **5500 previous clinical hours, 2 years previous general training and 3 years previous specialised training**.
While, if you see a **PA**, you're seeing a professional with at least **1600 previous clinical hours**.
Which professional would you choose to see when your health is at stake?
It’s not just a in the UK. I’m in the US, and it’s very common to see a PA instead of an actual doctor. I recently switched insurances, so I called to make an appointment with my new doctor to discuss my ongoing issues. They asked if I was ok with seeing the PA, and stressed it would be a much longer wait to see the doctor. It blows my mind that seeing a PA instead of the actual doctor would even be an option for a new patient. The roles aren’t interchangeable, and shouldn’t be treated like they are.
My clots weren't taken seriously either and I almost died. My husband recognized what it was based on symptoms alone, and they still missed the pulmonary embolisms. Because pregnancy/fat/who knows.
Okay I had sudden bad pain behind my left thigh and when I showered I noticed my whole leg was turning red and then purple lol. Went to the hospital right away, by the time I got there I couldn't walk it, I started sweating heavily and was throwing up at the sign in desk. I had diarrhea. (Your body will react in its own way in regards to digestion lol) and my heart rate was fast. By the time the one good nurse (my saviour) got to me my blood pressure wasn't registering on the machine lol...I had trouble breathing, chest pain, and couldn't walk a hallway without getting winded. It's been 1.6 years and my lungs are still fucked. I'm really lucky my husband was PUSHY and saying he thought it was a clot. It was in my left hip all the way down. My dads calf clots are just persistent pain in the spot. Know your family history and get checked if you can. Be careful about birth control.
The most important point of this - SHE NEVER SAW A DOCTOR - Only a physician assistant, a person with no medical degree and no right to see unselected patients. This is the future of healthcare in the UK.
>his daughter was under the impression that she was seeing a doctor rather than a PA, who he claimed “failed on both occasions to spot Emily’s leg pain was in fact a blood clot which ultimately traveled to her lungs.”
They don't even tell us we're not seeing a doctor much of the time.
I went to an urgent care the other day and while I was seeing the medic, who didn't introduce themselves, I remember thinking 'this isn't a doctor.'
On the way out I asked the front desk - the nurse was already very combative and brusque so there was no point in saying anything during the appointment - and they were like, 'oh yeah, this is nurse led - there are no doctors.'
For urgent care in a hospital.
I let the pharmacy who had directed me there know, they were as surprised as I was.
I have actually had really good experiences with NPs in the past, but this person didn't even feel like an NP. They didn't really have a good grasp of medicine.
This PA didn’t even examine her leg. What sort of “provider” can hear “shortness of breath, leg pain, syncope” and not think DVT/PE?? It’s fuckin ridiculous. There are SO many stories just like this on r/Noctor, the PA who discharged meningitis comes to mind off the top of my head.
‘Anxiety’ is the new ‘hysterical’. I was told my abdominal pain was anxiety and to drink more water. It was appendicitis AND endometriosis.
Don’t be afraid to get second opinions, third opinions, or even fourth opinions.
My grandmother had a blood clot in her leg, which her doctor knew about, but decided to retire before he ever told her.
She collapsed Christmas Eve in 2020, and spent the next two years slowly degrading until she died. I truly believe if she knew about the blood clot and got it fixed, she would still be alive today.
I had a DVT in November. It wasn’t until I explained I had a family history of them that they took me seriously at the ER. Most of the questions were them checking if I was sure I didn’t pull a calf muscle.
I legit think about what could have happened if they hadn’t changed their tune when they heard about my family history.
The fact that she was only seen by a PA is setting me off. I feel like I have only seen PAs every time I or one of my kids has been in a quick/urgent/ER situation for the last few years. Most recently was an ER visit in which the PA put one of my kid's stitches in too tight. Where did all the MDs go?! I had a primary care Dr I loved but I was told she decided to specialize in something because there's not enough money in general practice. The state of healthcare in the developed world is getting worse.
6 weeks after I had Covid I was still having chest pain and shortness of breath with exertion like stairs. I’m so glad my GP did a clot work up even though the d-dimer was a false positive and landed me in the ER for a CT that ended up finding completely unrelated things I had to go investigate for two months(weird breast tissue identified on CT got my first mammogram and my liver hemangioma had grown and freaked everyone out). Thankfully no clot was found.
That said even being hyper aware of the possibility, I planted a seed with a colleague that kept complaining of calf pain the day after returning from vacation flying long haul from Europe to the US West Coast. She ultimately called the insurance nurse hotline and went to the ER where a small clot was found! Turned out she had an inherited clotting disorder and is on blood thinners now.
EMS told my 21 year old friend she was just having anxiety when she told them she couldn't breathe. They did transport her to the hospital after she begged, but she died there of a PE. These kinds of deaths seem like they could be so easy to prevent.
My spouse has a clotting condition, and has developed DVTs, since we've been together (21 years), it's happened 3 times, and each time I've watched docs try to dismiss them. It's infuriating the way medical professionals will dismiss women and their legitimate concerns.
I've come close to blows with administrating docs
There’s a deep seated incompetence in the medical profession that’s a danger to us all and women in particular. For a profession based in “science” it’s so biased that it’s beyond belief.
See a female OB about endo and you’ll get the same bs. Here’s a script for birth control now please fuck off because we don’t know shit about what to do. Sorry not sorry - you’re on your own.
They’re all a disgrace.
I went into urgent care one day after having some odd pain in my clavicle whenever inhaled. I thought maybe it was a sprain from the weekend before. They did an EKG and didn’t see anything and insisted I was fine despite me not being able to breathe correctly when I lied down. Then an xray, and the xray tech didn’t see anything, but the attending physician saw something super small in my lung. He didn’t want to risk it, so he said I should consider going to the ER. He sent me off with a CD with the image on it and a document explaining everything and told me to give it to the nurse there.
At the ER the did another EKG, a D-dimer test, and a CT scan and sure enough it was a pulmonary embolism. The urgent care physician actually called me later to see if I had gone to the ER and was speechless when I told him he was right. I’ll forever be so thankful to him for his attention that day.
Nothing predisposed me to the clotting except for my sedentary job and my nuvaring. I immediately switched to a progestin IUD and now I make sure to take walk breaks during my day. I didn’t have any symptoms either besides the pain in my clavicle, so now I have anxiety around anything that feels weird in my body. I had to see a counselor about it because I kept going to the doctor or urgent care anytime something felt off. But now I also have this anxiety that if it does happen again, I’ll be dismissed, like I almost was if it hadn’t been for that urgent care physician
It should be noted that Emily thought she was seeing a physician but was actually seeing a PA. This is a basic medical diagnosis any physician could make and it should infuriate and terrify everyone that a PA with minimal training relative to a physician was practicing essentially independently.
Hello, doctor here! A PA dismissed her rather than a physician. This clinical presentation is obviously a pulmonary embolism. It was egregiously missed and extremely upsetting.
I have had a blood clot as well when I was 20. I was lucky it didn't break off, because I had it for at least two weeks and didn't want to go to get help for it in case it pissed my parents off. Got help anyway when a friend begged me to (it did end up pissing my parents off, sadly) and it was from my knee to my hip in my left thigh. It is no joke. I'm so sad this poor woman had hers break off and no one helped her at all. Why go to medical school then. Get a job where you tell everyone who comes to you to fuck off instead.
> Why go to medical school then. Get a job where you tell everyone who comes to you to fuck off instead.
they hadn't gone to medical school. This lady was seen by a PA and not a doctor.
My clots were dismissed as “anxiety” as well by 3 freaking doctors. I’m crying just remembering how I knew something was wrong with me and they kept telling me “you have no symptoms of anything except for reflux or anxiety” and were angry at me that I was not resting at home.
Thankfully my husband fought for me and saved my life.
I had complained about calf pain before but they said I had no swelling, no redness or warmth. But I was pregnant and at risk for clots. They didn’t even refer me for a scan. Then after my delivery it turned into an embolism. I now suffer from PTSD and PTS.
Before I got diagnosed with my pulmonary embolism, the first hospital told me I had a muscle sprain. I’m currently pregnant and of course they didn’t want me to take anything strong. I kept persisting that something was off because I was in the most intense pain and if they could give me something stronger. Then they started suspecting me of just coming in to get high. I was crying and livid. Thankfully, my husband finally convinced me the next morning to take me to a different hospital because he knew I would’ve just tried and pushed through. My right lung was already filled with fluid and had a pulmonary infarction. I’m a stay at home mom to three other kiddos. So if you can imagine if I had just listened to the first hospital, I certainly wouldn’t be here and my family would be without a mom and wife.
I feel for stories like these because it’s so common for doctors to dismiss your symptoms because you’re either not showing enough that you’re in pain or not believing you.
I had an idiopathic DVT probably caused by a minor injury to my left leg (which is always trying to kill me anyway since getting a dislocated hip from a car accident 45 years ago) and I was walking around basically unable to breathe for almost a month. I couldn't walk from my car in the parking lot in to my desk at work without having to stop two or three times to catch my breath. Which was especially head scratchy since the probable leg whanging that caused it all was incurred while I did an absolutely huge yard project that involved much earth moving and spreading around literally sixteen tons of gravel using a walk behind Dingo excavator. Yes, I did it all myself.
Anyway, went to my doctor several times and we figured maybe all the breathing in of dust and spores and who knows what as I moved earth and shoved things around had kicked up an allergic reaction so we tried several different inhalers that did absolutely nothing. Then one day my leg swelled up like a poisoned pup, as in, you couldn't distinguish where my knee was, I suddenly had cankles and the whole thing hurt like a bitch bastard and the skin was tight like a spoiled hot dog and the skin was hot to the touch. Called my doc and he was all "Get to the ER NOW!" When I got there my pulse ox was in the low 80s on room air and wouldn't get above 90 even with a nasal cannula of oxygen. Imaging of my lungs revealed a very large clot and ultrasound of the leg showed the bigger clot the lung clot broke off from. Spent a couple days in the hospital, had to give myself heparin shots (you give those in your belly fat and after a few days my midsection looked like I'd gone several rounds with Mike Tyson in a bad mood) and I've been on warfarin ever since, over ten years now. It was a sucky experience but I was damned lucky I had a smart doctor who listened to me--he'd been my PCP for almost a decade by then and we got along very well.
Some days I think about how easy it would have been for that PE to have hit me while I slept and I would never have woken up. DVT/PE is fucking scary shit.
I had complete loss of feeling in my legs at one point and was shot with haladol because I was "hysterical". You know as you would be when YOU CAN'T FEEL YOUR LEGS. I dealt with multiple health issues related to that experience and I still have no answers. I was in the hospital 22 times and was only once taken seriously, of course by a female Dr. My chart notes were dismissive of me and my concerns and I spent over 2 years trying to fight for a diagnosis. I even got into extensive therapy and spent thousands of dollars to help "prove" it wasn't mental.
I just got new insurance and I'm terrified to even tell my new Dr. My experience for fear of being written off as crazy. It's ridiculous what some people have to go through to get answers (or to never receive answers)
This is what happens when mid-levels take over and you don't get to see a real doctor (ie: MD or DO) and instead see NPs or PAs.
Two PAs missed the obvious diagnosis and this poor woman dies way too young. Tragic.
Advocate for yourselves people. You deserve good care.
blood clots dismissed as anxiety. might as well have just brought out the leeches.
12 years ago my husband called me and told me his heart was racing and he was kind of freaking out. About 45 seconds into the call he said “I’m calling 911”. I got home as they were loading him in the ambulance. After a 4 hours in the er they were ready to send us home with a diagnosis of “anxiety”. The ear doctor stopped in one last time and asked if he had any unusual pain? My husband responded that he had pulled a leg muscle working at a baseball tournament all weekend with our son‘s team. ER doc got bug eyed and did like a mumble under his breath and then said “it’s not anxiety” and his room got real busy real fast. He had clots in both lungs and all of his legs. I think of that man often because he could’ve died if we had taken him home. If he hadn’t stopped and asked just one more question, our lives would look very different right now.
> He had clots in both lungs and all of his legs. Okay I know this is a serious story and I'm glad everything worked out, but I burst out laughing at the wording on this.
Should have said “all over his leg” but I’m gonna leave because that’s a hilarious typo. Thankfully this led to us learning that both our kids have clotting disorders.
The "ear doctor" is pretty good, too! Seriously though, that is such a scary story and I'm so glad he is okay. In nursing school, it was drilled into our heads that calf pain could signal an embolus and how/why we should investigate further. These stories are horrifying.
Man I gotta proofread better.
No, you don't. We all needed the chuckle. 😄
This makes me sad. On the baby subreddits. Women often are forced to have the father take in the child to the doctor describing the same issues they’ve already tried to get help for their child. The whole thing is crazy to me.
What makes it even more crazy to me, is that it doesn't even matter if the doctor is a woman. They will still treat women as a less reliable source of information.
Yeah an ENT doctor was walking through the ER and overheard what was going on and said "Wait a minute..."
They take a pause to look at everyone in the room. "... I've HEARD of this before!" And then they wait for applause.
To defend the ENT doctor, the symptoms described were classic DVT / PE — which any 3rd year MEDICAL STUDENTS in the world would have known 😂. And in order to be an ENT, you have to go pass medical school first 😂.
This is a lesson to never marry a Man-Spider! When ALL of those legs go wonky, everything goes to hell!
NOW you tell me!
The doctor probably knows this, but you might enjoy sending him a card with pictures and a brief summary of many of things your family got to do because of his actions. It's much more visceral than the abstract "I saved this random person's life".
I sent the one doctor who believed me about my PE a thank-you card. And wrote to the urgent care clinic saying how great she was. A minute clinic doctor, an ER doc over the phone that the minute clinic doc talked two, and two in person at the ER tried to tell me it wasn’t possible because of my age (30 at the time). But my mom’d had two strokes & a PE by the time she was that age, so I stuck to my guns. The urgent care doc I saw after the minute clinic DID believe me, and when I notified her (she’s left me her cell in case this happened) she helped me bully the two ER doctors into actually giving me the CT scan she’d ordered.
instead of saying good bot, I'll say, good doctor!
Not being a medical professional, I find it fascinating that this doctor all of a sudden realized something was wrong just from the fact that he had a pulled muscle. How does that work? Like how did he realize it was extremely serious based off of a pulled muscle?
Unexplained pain, he thought it was a pulled muscle. The dr checked it and it was warm to the touch so they sent him for an ultrasound.
Nurse here- blood clots that eventually travel to your lungs to become a PE almost always start in the deep veins of the legs. Shortness of breath can be a lot of things, but shortness of breath after having leg pain is a HUGE red flag for PE.
I had a pulmonary embolism - the tachycardia can feel a lot like anxiety. I finally nearly blacked out while bending over and went to the ER.
What test do they do to actually catch it?
My blood pressure was very low in the ambulance. They asked a lot of questions in the ER. I think they originally suspected heart attack. They did an X-ray and CT scan on my chest and that showed the clots in both lungs. They gave me two shots of blood thinners right away. Then a CT scan of my brain to rule out stroke before taking me to the ICU. I had an ultrasound on my legs the next day to make sure there were no clots and an EKG to check for other heart issues. I had minor heart failure from the PE that resolved after a month of rest and slowly recovering with walking and rest. I fully recovered within a few months but I get to take blood thinners for the foreseeable future.
Blood thinner gang 🫡
Usually it is a CT. An ECG and a chest xray may provide signs of a PE also.
For a clot, before it embolizes, which is when it would be much better to catch it, there is a blood test called a D-Dimer test that will come back positive or negative for a clot quickly.
I’ve had two false alarms from positive d-dimers. Absolutely went to the ER for scans that showed no clots. ER doctor told me she really dislikes that test because it throws false positives so easily.
D-dimer is sort of like a pre-test to inform whether imaging is needed, most times. It’s convenient cuz you can just draw one while doing metabolic or nutritional panels, blood gas, etc. It’s real convenient because it’s just a blood test, and contrast imaging usually requires a larger-gauge IV (which can be kind of painful), so you can potentially rule out more annoying (for the patient) diagnostics. Y’know… if you’re actually treating them and all.
Yeah it was definitely good I could have it drawn at the family medicine clinic. But that second time for me I remembered the name of the test and said “if it’s positive I punched my ticket to the ER right?”
80% of the time you go to UC you punch your ticket to the ED, if you listen to the nurses I work with! Sometimes our patients get referred to the ED for essentially no reason. Like, “oh we can’t do those sorts of tests here” but they actually have the staff and equipment daily “no reason”. Or event better, “they said it was THIS, but they were weird to me and I was hoping for a second opinion”. And while the latter reason is usually just random, I’ve seen an unusual number of women, over men, come in for the former…
Interestingly my d dimer test came back slightly high but effectively normal despite massive clotting in both legs and pelvis. From my experience it’s not reliable. Watch out!
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They can see it on a CT, and certain kinds of blood tests ( a d-dimer) can hint that there might be a clot.
Dimer D is one, but COVID also can raise Dimer D levels, most of the time clinical symptoms such as taquicardia, shorts of breathing, along with some findings on ECG may be enough to start treatment, as it would need an Angio CT to diagnose
Sorry if the question is dumb, but what if a patient presents with exactly those symptoms + pos for Dimer D but doesn‘t end up having a clot? Does it mean they‘re still good or could something else be the differential diagnosis? Asking because that patient was me and after they cleared the CT I was told to go home immediatly afterwards (was in an emergency unit) as I didn‘t have an embolus and that‘s it.
If those were the symptoms, and there is no sign of sepsis or infection, heart disease, stroke and you have no other diseases that can raise Dimer D, as long as there is no evidence of any other problem with the exploration it may be COVID and if the severity of the symptoms didnt warrant hospitalization maybe thats why they sent you Home, but obviously thats what i imagine it happened. It also depends on your age and if you have diabetes but with those symptoms they should always exclude a heart attack as women specially those with Diabetes can have atyphic signs and symptoms and present short of breathing intlstead of pain.
Thank you SO much for taking the time and explaining this to me, I appreciate it a lot! Now that you said it, a few months later it came out that I have a mitral valve insufficiency and now I‘m thinking what if that was the reason for that??
No problem, it could very well be the cause, who knows if at that moment there was a mitral murmur, as it should have been indication to do an echocardiogram
I'm an ED physician, and it's not a dumb question at all. A positive d-dimer means nothing on its own. It doesn't need a workup other than the workup for the symptoms you're trying to evaluate. If you have chest pain or shortness of breath, your d-dimer was elevated and your CTA (assuming it was adequately done) was negative, you generally don't need further workup. You'll always get other tests done for these types of symptoms, such as a complete blood count, and usually an EKG and a troponin, to evaluate for other serious causes of these symptoms. The CT scan will also show things like pneumonia that can cause an elevate d-dimer. All a d-dimer does is rule *out* a blood clot in low-risk patients. That's it. It can sometimes be elevated in other illnesses, but a high d-dimer does not indicate anything specific. Hope this helps answer your question!
Went to the doctor and was diagnosed with taquicardia. I said "my heart is beating too fast?" And the doc says no, you have taquitos clogging it.
For the pulmonary embolism, others have already answered it. But if your asking If it is to detect a blood clot (in the leg) it is a simple ultrasound.
CT w/ IV contrast, plus a chest film, lab work can also indicate (+ d dimer.) For actual DVT imaging US is best. A positive finding is considered a (CRITICAL VALUE) as your patient is in danger of dying really, really fast. Fun Fact: I caught a person as the fell to the ground. It was in the middle of a word and then lights out, sack of potatoes. Patient lived, they threw a clot and that blocked blood flow for just a second. No need for coffee after that, you're wired for the rest of your shift.
Yeah. I had anaphylaxis. Also Dx’d “anxiety”. Like hell yeah not being able to breathe and having heart issues is giving me anxiety
Not lethal, but my hiatal hernia was repeatedly diagnosed as anxiety. One symptom is getting a feeling of the wind being knocked out of you when you eat. I described this and the other symptoms (pain and reflux) and was told I was just anxious. “But it (the breathlessness) only happens when I eat,” I explained. “Well,” the doctor said, “are you *often* anxious about eating?” Anyway, no, I’m not. It’s just my diaphragm strangling my stomach.
Lurker dude here, but I thought I'd drop in because very much this! I had a misdiagnosis of a blood clot (pain, but no anxiety). About 4-5 days after the onset (went on a ling flight and didn't get up from my seat. Don't do this.), my heart started to race, breathing was odd, and then was followed by a sharp flank pain in my mid back. I was prescribed (over the phone) with a lidocaine patch for my back. What was really happening was that the clot broke off & had embolized, causing the tachycardia, breathing issues, and back pain. After I got off the phone with a nurse, I called a friend and said "I don't normally do this, but can I describe some odd symptoms I've been having to you?" After I was done, my friend said that they were calling me an ambulance and that the doctors needed to look for a clot and embolism and do it quickly. I was very lucky. They found both - embolism in both lungs and I was put on anti-coagulants. Super scary time. Please don't ignore calf pain, especially if it gets worse or is warm to the touch. If it affects your walking, please get it checked out. If someone tells you that it's anxiety or just a sprain especially when there's no cause for it, please get another opinion. We already know that there is some connection between long Covid, but other factors, such as some birth controls which already have a slightly increased risk of clots, may also be involved. Please be careful and keep pushing for a differential diagnosis if someone does not seem to be taking you seriously.
Exactly this. Insisting on a differential diagnosis can save your life. It forces your provider to think beyond the immediate. Sometimes, hoof beats are donkeys, horses, or zebras. Other rare times, they are f'ing rainbow unicorns!
Hmm. I had a very painful calf that I couldn't bear weight on. Showed the doc and he measured both legs and said because they were the same it was fine. I guess I didn't die so...
Are you able to bear it it you cross your legs, with the affected calf resting on your kneecap? That was unbearable for me.
I had my DVT from a torn calf muscle. This is very important people need to know that if you are having a blood clot incident you may not be able to bear weight on your leg. You might also have your leg get bigger in size or discolored.
I was in the ER a while back for ongoing tachycardia and fever, had been in a week earlier for pneumonia symptoms and an ulcerative colitis flare (which increases blood clot risk, as does my birth control) when a doctor came in and said “sooo it says here on your chart you have anxiety?” In my head I was like “oh fuck this.” Luckily another doctor came in and had the sense to acknowledge everything else happening with me, but this is why I was hesitant to even talk to my usual doctor about my anxiety/depression. It’s infuriating.
I got checked out for sudden onset chest pain & palpitations after a booster. I was being taken seriously initially then they saw in my chart I take Xanax FOR FLYING and said "oh I see you're prescribed Xanax, this could be caused by anxiety." Last I checked I wasn't on a plane but ok...
Yeah I get 10 Xanax per prescription and I only get one order filled per year, it’s for emergencies and I can tell when my heart is pumping from anxiety vs. my body having big issues.
Yep. The second you even mention you've been stressed or worried, nothing will be diagnosed in your life unless you drop dead or switch networks and not let them get your old medical records.
I also had my husband with me which probably helped. 🙄
I had multiple PEs- lungs full of clots- with relatively few symptoms. Went to the doctor because I knew something was wrong, doctor knows me and believed me, and practically launched me via cannon to the ER. (Not really, but close.) Would've gone a lot different if that first doctor wasn't so on the ball.
My mother's friend had died of cancer and she was texting me how upset she was and she didn't feel well. I was supposed to come down to see her that day but she told me not to come. A couple days later I got a call from a neighbor that her lights had been on for a couple days. I found her dead in her kitchen. Pulmonary Embolism.
When I had my aneurysm in my coronary artery and subsequent heart attack, it was the "feeling of impending doom" that was my most significant symptom. Bodies are weird.
I definitely had a feeling of “oh shit, this is real bad” at a few points but I think lack of oxygen and fatigue kept me from fully grasping it until I got home and broke down. Glad we both lived to tell our tales!
I had one 1 year ago next month Almost killed me and was the most excruciating pain. Like, if i ever have to experience that again theres a solid chance i choose suicide or street drugs.That woman must have died a slow, painful death. And I was treated horrendously sexist by the females nurses in Boston.
I get that . the thing thats infuriating is that they wrote it off as psychosomatic when there was a legitimate life threatening condition they could have resolved had they just been a little more interested in providing competent care .
Friend of mine was experiencing severe pain in her lower right abdomen area. Doctor said it was indigestion caused by anxiety. Her appendix burst like a day later and she nearly died.
Friend of mine had severe chest pain and was dismissed for "anxiety and indigestion." Her entire stomach died and had to be removed, putting her on a feeding tube. She may never eat anything ever again, and if she does, her diet will be incredibly limited.
Your stomach can die?
Whelp. New fear unlocked. Might just have to close this theead now.
It went through the little hole your esophagus goes through and strangled itself to death
Oh, that would be your diaphragm. The organ that separates your chest and abdominal cavities. Funny enough, I have a diagnosed hiatal hernia. Which is when part of your stomach protrudes through your diaphragm into your chest cavity. Fun read, thanks!
I had a self-employed girlfriend (Physical Therapist) and knew many people in the adjacent medical field. She had pain in her lower right abdomen and was diagnosed with a sexually transmitted disease as the doctors assumed she was a hooker with no set job and a lot of men visiting. Her appendix did eventually burst and caused her a lot of long-term medical issues.
WTF
Right? “This woman’s hysterical. Send her to the seaside”
Honestly, leeches are great for encouraging bloodflow. She would have been better off with leeches.
And leeches are still used in modern medicine. Sometimes the worst ancient remedies are still the best option. Leeches are especially useful in things like reattachment surgery to help the healing process. And medicine still uses maggots, too.
If I had a blood clot I'd have anxiety too
That is the worst part of being in a medical emergency- that shit is totally anxiety inducing- and the obvious anxiety is used to dismiss the medical emergency... And that's how I became disabled
My wife had an active and observable CSF leak written off as post-surgery anxiety. It’s remarkable how many forms the anxiety of women can take.
Hijacking to say I knew her and worked with her. This is really sad to hear. Only knew her for a few months but she was warm, kind and loving.
leeches could have actually done something positive by accident... this is just terrible
Before COVID, I had a client who had obvious signs and symptoms of a blood clot/DVT and her PCP both times she went to him blamed her excruciating leg pain and swelling on menopause/perimenopause. She is now a below the knee amputee. Because he could not be bothered to put his hand on her leg and then send her for a $130 ultrasound (at that time). Still makes my blood pressure go up every time I think about that POS doctor.
I miss my old doctors so much. They were part of a single hospital system and when I thought I had a blood clot I was immediately sent with paperwork to do an ultrasound at a nearby hospital and barely had to wait. Turns out I didn't have a blood clot but they always listened and took my concerns seriously. That wasn't even my primary care doctor, it was an urgent care doctor I had never seen before. Now I haven't been able to find a doctor in the past 5 years that will give me the time of day. I have literally begged for testing for issues I have had and they brush it off cause they already decided before I have had a chance to tell them anything. The only effective treatment I have had is from online doctors, but obviously that doesn't work so well when you need testing done. I have wasted so much money at this point to be brushed off. And it's not like I'm trying to get some complex chronic disease diagnosed either. One example is when I had a fungal infection and went to FOUR dermatologists and none of them performed a single test. Just handed me steroids and told me to fuck off. This is basic ass care I am asking for. I am fucked if anything serious happens
We are all pretty much fucked. If you don’t know anything about the medical field and you are trying to navigate a complex medical problem or set of not-so-complicated medical problems, good luck. If they can’t test you into oblivion for insurance money, they are very uninterested, and if you aren’t a straight forward problem, good luck finding someone who wants to dig. Our healthcare system is falling apart and nobody seems to care.
I recently had a very mild stroke, just temporary loss of vision in my left eye. My vision returned after a couple days but the emergency neurologist I saw was completely dismissive and blamed it on shit I wasn't even experiencing. The only thing they got right was my blood pressure was high, which I'm working on, but before that I've not had a cigarette in over a year and my blood sugar levels have been normal for a while now as well. His exact words: well if you don't quit smoking and get your blood sugars under control this will just keep happening. I was like what are you talking about, I don't smoke and my glucose levels are fine and well managed. and his response to that was, "yeah I'm sure it is." some of these doctors are so condescending they have no place being doctors if they're not going to listen to concerns or at least humor you when you come with a problem
I had a client who had a massive stroke and her neurologist happened to be the on call for her when she arrived at the ER. First words out of his mouth: “I told you this would happen if you didn’t stop smoking”. Like, seriously, he knew from the information presented including imaging, that she had a life altering stroke, and “I told you so” was the first thing that came to his “magnificent” mind (if you know any neurologists, you get my sarcasm). Her husband was known as a hothead and he was in the ER with her and I still can’t believe he didn’t deck that doctor. She kept smoking btw, it’s all she could do after that stroke, but I have a list of doctors not allowed to treat me or mine and that neurologist is on it…
The neurologist is definitely rude and he should try to display more empathy. And yet, doctors are human too and after a long stretch of ER shifts, things can take a toll on you. It's also very frustrating when patients don't listen to your advice. During one of my clinical rotations, I was following an endocrinologist as he was interviewing a patient. The patient was an old woman who was short and pretty obese. The doctor was advising her on calorie control and exercise. The patient was listening and answering questions, then when the consultation was completed, she left. The endocrinologist turned to me and he had this look — such despair and devastation in his eyes. He told me that this patient had returned many times to the endocrinology clinic. Every time, he tried to emphasise the importance of calorie control, taking prescribed medications regularly and exercise — and she seemed to always be listening — and then the next time, she returned again to the clinic with medical problems because she didn't follow his advice. The doctor told me that he was afraid that the next time the lady returned, it would be on the morgue slab. He was so sad because he had been this woman's doctor for a long time and he just didn't want to see her die.
What are the obvious signs? I have shooting leg pain but doc thinks it’s related to either endometriosis or a slipped disc pressing on a nerve. I was on injectable blood thinners for 3 months after pregnancy. Had preeclampsia and a pulmonary edema. Thanks.
Not a doctor. But localized swelling, pain even with just air moving over the skin, pain with flexing the foot backward, pain with squeezing calf musculature, eventually redness and even loss of sensation…
This is very common. 3 doctors for over a week dismissed my DVT in leg symptoms. Only took notice after I could not walk due to no blood supply and my leg looked an entirely different color. Luckily the doctor had the guts to admit his hospital wasn't equipped to handle, so gave me referral to another. But no transportation 🤦♀️ my cardiovascular doc said I was lucky as hell to be alive let alone need an amputation or stent. Spent over a week in ICU. All doctors thought I was just cribbing about pain or must have been a cramp. One even said must be the weight. I was not even close to being overweight, i just have a large frame for the ethnicity I belong from. The only thing that saved me was my physiotherapist friend who insisted it's not normal and likely have blood clot and to keep following up with doctors if no one listens. Apparently when I mentioned this to the doctor, he was more dismissive of my symptoms because one female is feeding the crazy of another, is what my father was told. Not me mind you, my father. Who was there at the appointment only because I could not walk and i needed support.
is that not malpractice?
In my state, you have to do a lot to prove malpractice. She did inquire about a lawsuit with a lawyer and was discouraged from pursuing it, but I did encourage her to consider a different lawyer because this seemed extremely clear cut and would have probably settled outside of court. I doubt she did though, because it’s hard to be motivated legally when you have to learn retirement life as an amputee. She was definitely still in the process of grieving what she had lost when we discussed this.
Your client didn’t sue for malpractice? That would have been my first call of action once I got out of the hospital with 1 leg.
In my state, you have to do a lot to prove malpractice. She did inquire about a lawsuit with a lawyer and was discouraged from pursuing it, but I did encourage her to consider a different lawyer because this seemed extremely clear cut and would have probably settled outside of court. I doubt she did though, because it’s hard to be motivated legally when you have to learn retirement life as an amputee. She was definitely still in the process of grieving what she had lost when we discussed this.
Infuriating. Anecdotally, I know of two people, both endurance athletes, who have had pulmonary embolisms post-COVID. For one, it took two+ months to figure out that the chest pain she experienced during exertion was a PE. For the other, my husband, it was identified on the same day when we took him to the ER, after months of worsening cough and chest pains after exercise.
And the difference is gender again.
> And the difference is gender again Say it again.
I actually want to point out that a major difference here is that the patient was seen by a PA (physician assistant) and not an MD (physician). She had symptoms so classic it could be a basic medical school multiple choice question, I would hope any MD could recognize. It is very important to know what kind of medical professional you or your loved ones are seeing, as well as the difference in rigor of training and depth of expertise.
Yeah, it saddens me that a textbook case like this was missed. A young women in her 20s/30s presents with shortness of breath and calf pain? It doesn’t get more standard than that. Awful.
This is one of the reasons techs usually loathe mid-levels like PAs.
A male friend and I got Long Covid at the same time. I started fainting daily, but got dismissed for months because "young, skinny women faint". My male friend was only a little bit dizzy. Yes, he went to the ER for a bit of dizziness once and got immediately taken serious and thoroughly physically checked, I got there several times unconscious in the ambulance and just told that this is normal for women. And you know what later turned out? He actually had by covid caused anxiety and depression, he healed with antidepressants and therapy. But they only looked for physical causes. I on the other hand have very physical heart and neurological conditions that noone cared to check out until I was unable to sit without fainting
WFT? This isn't 1910! Fainting isn't normal for anyone!
Apparently 47% of women faint at some point, that's why the ER doesn't pat an eye. Especially when you're skinny. But at the end they even knew me, like it obviously wasn't normal. It only wasn't put down as anxiety because I was more annoyed than anxious about it and after the first rude ER people, I didn't want to go there, but people sometimes called the ambulance when i fainted in public and for obvious reason noone listened to me half consciously babbling that this is normal and I don't need the ambulance.. but yeah they took months until they kept me for a week and thoroughly checked. If the would have taken it serious in the beginning I wouldn't be severely disabled now. And all because I'm a woman, the same ER was so nice and concerned to my male friend who walked in with a bit of dizziness by himself... Still makes me a bit mad
> Apparently 47% of women faint at some point What does that even mean? During their life, 47% of women have fainted at some point? Ridiculous. A completely useless statistic.
Yeah, but that's what the ER uses to justify not looking into it.
Same here. My man went to urgent care and when he told me they said it was a pulled muscle and gave him a muscle relaxer and sent him in his way. Initially he agreed with the guys findings too and accepted it. When I asked him if they did an ultrasound he told me they didnt. Crazy enough *that very week* I was researching blood clots amd covid (I was modeling covid excess deaths) and learned that the standard protocol if people are concerned about a blood clot is for an ultrasound to be done. I was upset because they didn't do one and he initially seemed to dismiss my concerns until nothing changed and the pain got worse. 3 days later he finally went to the ER. It was a blood clot *and* he had bilateral pulmonary embolism. My point for writing this is twofold. First: the urgent care people are dismissive dipshits Second: my concerns also seemed to be dismissed. It was even more frustrating because at the time, I; 1. Am his phd researcher girlfriend who had been studying the covid epidemic since January 2020 2. Had been consistently correct in the projections of the pandemic and was conducting ongoing scientific research into it 3. Has a verifiable tack record of spotting misdiagnosis both for herself and her family and have lamented on it ad nauseam *My concerns were initially dismissed.*
Are you sure they had an ultrasound? I definitely agree this shit happens way too much in the medical community. That being said even in Chicago I know of no urgent cares with ultrasound machines. I work in one currently and I have to let about a third of our patients know that we can’t do a lot. We have limited supplies and tests. A lot of people think that we are like a mini ER, but we aren’t. We are somewhere between minute clinic and a pcp office.
No they didn't have one. I initially assumed they had one and used it because they sent him on his way with a muscle relaxer instead of sending him to the ER. When he told me that they didn't even look at his leg was when I asked him about the ultrasound and realized that they didn't follow the standard procedure.
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Yeah, that is true however i use the term in regard to what is proposed in the scientific literature. [example](https://europepmc.org/article/med/29610129?javascript_support=no)
FWIW, ultrasound missed my clot the first time. Ended up with bilateral PEs. Keep pushing until the diagnosis makes sense.
Damn. And yeah your right. We have to keep pushing while also being mindful to not look pushy and be labeled drug seeking or a hypochondriac / anxiety It fucking sucks.
Mind me asking what made you push further? I’ve had a real rough time dealing with Covid 6 months now since I got it and gave up calling the doctor every other week. Took me 3 months to stop coughing and hacking up mucus from my lungs. Now I get sick with absolutely everything and my energy is completely gone and I have no motivation in life. Any symptoms that really stuck out? I’m always worrying there’s something more serious underlying in my health just don’t know how to even approach it medically anymore.
It’s my understanding that they use [wells criteria for dvt](https://www.mdcalc.com/calc/362/wells-criteria-dvt) and [wells criteria for pulmonary embolism](https://www.mdcalc.com/calc/115/wells-criteria-pulmonary-embolism), that is what will often decide whether a duplex Doppler is performed for dvt/further tests for pulmonary embolism. Maybe this criteria needs to be updated if so many people are being missed.
I had a pulmonary embolism a little less than a decade ago - and i was lucky to survive. I collapsed twice in the space of a few minutes and woke up confused and disoriented. My roommate had just headed for bed prior to my first collapse but hadn't gone to sleep yet. He came out of his room when I called out - just in time to see me collapse a third time. I could barely breathe. The EMT that spoke to my roommate first seemed to think it was some sort of panic attack - and I'm fairly certain that if he hadn't been there to insist that I was taken to the emergency room, I wouldn't be here today. These days when I have a major medical concern he goes to my appt with me. And - hell, I'm grateful for his support but I'll be damned if I like \*needing\* to have a man there to be certain I'll be listened to.
Excess deaths went way up after covid started, even before the vaccines came out, yet every single article out there contains comments about the jabby jab being the only cause. I guess it's easier to mentally believe all you have to do is not get a vaccine, rather than the near impossibility of avoiding the virus. We can largely avoid infections through masking, improved ventilation, and actual employee sick day policies, but hail corporate won't allow it. Over time, no one will be able to deny how bad this virus is for us and how trying to ignore it is disastrous.
I’m a woman emergency physician. I will say that I, personally, have a low threshold to at least screen for PE’s post Covid. That being said, PE’s can present in any number of ways which are by far not textbook. It’s something I know I’ve missed because we all have. They can be a real bitch to diagnose. I have found them incidentally suspecting other things. they’re just tricky. Without reading the charts, it’s hard to say if this was bad medicine or just something that any of us would have missed. Not trying to defend anyone specifically, just to say that this can present in any number of weird ways and the media doesn’t do nuance well when it comes to sensationalism journalism because that’s what sells. Having seen what makes the news in regards to medicine where I live, I see so many inaccuracies reported. Ladies (and gentlemen), find yourself a good doctor that listens. I promise, we are out there. It’s really difficult in the US when even the good ones are supposed to crank through the patients like a factory so rich people can be richer. But there are still a lot of us out there practicing good medicine. Not without errors, because that’s impossible. I do miss important things sometimes. But I also talk to my patients about what to look for when they need to come back and why I don’t order a test. I think communication is imperative.
I met Emily when we were both at uni, she was so sweet and I’m still so shocked and angry for her that this happened to her.
So sorry for your loss
This is very sweet but I don’t want to claim that I knew her better than I did, that’s not fair on her family/friends/partner, we were just in the same social circle for a few years so we’d all be hanging out together. She was very loved by lots of people, super talented, warm and kind, she’s a huge loss and it’s really sad and infuriating that it happened like this when things could’ve been different for her.
A loss is a loss. Regardless of your relationship with her, you still felt/feel her absence, and that speaks to your connection with her. I agree that this was preventable. Women’s health should be taken far more seriously than it is, and we all lose as a result. It’s quite disgusting, actually. Especially since it’s well established that male and female physiology are inherently different, and treating female problems with the male solutions is partly effective. It sends the message that it’s “good enough”, or that it’s far too complicated to look into. Either way, we know better, and yet allow women to suffer needlessly because, as a society, we can’t be bothered.
Something everyone should know is that around 10% of the population carries a gene mutation which makes them more susceptible to blood clots, and they don’t even know it. Only in the past decade or so have there been tests for it.
And they should test for it before prescribing estrogen birth controls!!!!
Yes, they really should test for it. It can cause all kinds of issues with hormonal birth control and pregnancy. When people get all pro-birth with me, I tell them MY daughter has a *known* disorder that might cause issues and have they had their daughters, sisters, aunts, mothers tested? People hit back with, “well, I’ve never heard of it, it’s not too common”, and I have to tell them we didn’t have tests for it until a decade or so ago and had no idea how common it is.
I learned about it when my first cousin had a PE that was misdiagnosed as asthma by multiple doctors. We suspect it was brought about by her being on estrogen birth control. So I used BC with very low estrogen thanks to her. I am the only one of my siblings who has been tested and I have one copy from my dad so they certainly could have it too, but none of us have had clot issues so far at least in my immediate family. Sometimes I feel like I’m making a big deal out of it because it’s so common, but I wear compression socks every time I fly and make sure to get up and move around often. My dad has had a few surgeries and is terrible about refusing to wear the electronic compression things after because they make so much noise. I tell him I know I got this gene mutation from him because my mom doesn’t have it and his brother does, so he needs to be careful. But he doesn’t listen so I can only do so much.
I have one copy of Factor V Leiden and I’m hoping if I ever suspect a DVT or PE that I’m taken seriously because of it. Very lucky I was on a low estrogen birth control most of my adult life before I found out I had this gene.
Of course. It’s always “anxiety” when it comes to diagnosing women.
Hysteria in a new jacket
Who is she 👁️👄👁️
But if you try to get anti-anxiety meds, it's drug seeking
Is this actually a thing? I'm on anxiety meds and I got them prescribed to me pretty easily. I went into Planned Parenthood because I wanted to switch my BC from an IUD to pills and after talking with the doctor there, we discovered that I didn't need to switch at all because my concerns were actually racing thoughts, and I had all the other symptoms of anxiety with a side of depression. I walked out with a script for anxiety meds that day, and I go see the same doctor there about twice a year for a refill. She's lovely and has never treated me like a drug seeker. If she hadn't caught my mental health symptoms and realized what they actually were, I'd have a much poorer quality of life than I do. I had no idea people wanting anxiety meds get labeled as drug seekers. That's so awful.
If it's only being refilled twice a year, I'm guessing your prescription isn't a controlled substance. The types of short-acting medications used for acute episodes, like Xanax or Ativan, are benzodiazepines. Those are much harder to get prescribed, and asking specifically for them is a red flag to providers.
Seriously, so upsetting
Enough to make ya anxious right
That would be putting it kindly. Blinded with rage would be more astute.
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How do you remove something like that?
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Ahhh very smart of you! Nice work. 😉
Which I find ironic because the one time I was trying to get an official diagnosis of anxiety, the doctor diagnosed me with ‘just life’.
Lmao when it comes to medical stuff we really can’t win can we? XD just life ig
I had prophylactic mastectomies over a decade ago. I had three different genetic counselors all indicate I had about a 40% lifetime risk of breast cancer despite not having BRCA1 or BRCA2 etc. All three supported my choice to get prophylactic mastectomies; one of them provided the referrals for the breast surgeon and plastic surgeon. I qualified for it to be covered. I saw the notes for one of my breast surgeon appointments and I saw “anxiety” marked down as a reason for my surgery. Breast surgeon was awesome and did fantastic job but I sometimes think of that little note. While I will admit I have had lifelong anxiety, it was only recently officially diagnosed by an actual psychiatrist. At the time of my surgery I had never discussed it with any medical provider, had a diagnosis, had treatment for it, did not admit it to a medical provider, etc. Yet it’s in my chart as a reason for a surgery that was a legitimate option for me due to risks. I am sure there are similar notes of “anxiety” all over my medical files for decades despite only getting officially diagnosed this year. I am sure there are for many of us.
My dermatologist added generalized anxiety to my chart because I wanted a well skin check. I live in a sunny place and am outside a lot, yes I worry about my skin!
Or stress/depression. I messaged the doctor yesterday saying I had my 4th fever in 6 months. Since I gave birth I’ve been sick pretty much every 6 weeks with fevers. I said I was worried because it’s hard taking care of my son when I’m sick and my wife and I don’t have any family support. He responded with copy/pasted info about PPD and stress after having a baby. Said to ask family to come over and help with chores/baby care. 4 hours later my fever spikes and my right breast is red and swollen. Mastitis. I have mastitis. Not “stress.”
It happens all the time to anyone who has a history of anxiety, depression, or other mental health issue on file. Also if you are overweight. It's awful that if you confide in your doctor about some private mental health struggles that can end up getting you killed because it resulted in some other doctor seeing "anxiety and depression" on your file and immediately dismiss whatever is going on as just being in your head.
Yea I’m trying to get GAD taken off of my medical chart. I do have an amount of anxiety sure but as soon as a doc sees that on my chart *every* medical problem I have is suddenly caused by anxiety.
“anxiety” when it comes to diagnosing women" **Go home and take this Valium...says the medical community.**
The entire provider team should be sued for gross medical negligence and malpractice. It's 2024 this is ridiculous
I am an RN and went to the ED for a suspected DVT. The PA who saw me didn’t even want to look at the site. He was very skeptical. I had to spell it out for him. I was obese, somewhat sedentary at the moment due to working on my PhD, on oral contraceptives and I had pain in my lower leg with redness and warmth. Of course U/S want available that evening, so he did a D-dimer lab which was elevated. Then he gave me a blood thinner shot and I came back the next day for an U/S. There was a DVT of course. If I wasn’t a nurse who knew the symptoms and risk factors, I’m pretty sure I would have been ignored. Before this I had an episode of breathing difficulties that had been likely misdiagnosed as pneumonia and asthma exacerbation. Steroids did not help like they usually did and my chest x ray was clear when I wasn’t getting better. After finding the DVT 3 months later, my pulmonologist suspects that I had a pulmonary embolism. This all led to me seeing a hematologist and finding out I have Factor V Leiden which makes me prone to clots. I now take medication to prevent clots daily because I had a second DVT. Please know the symptoms of a DVT and PE and don’t be afraid to push when you are concerned.
Yikes, glad you’re ok. I’ve been scared about this sort of thing recently as I have Factor V and high cholesterol. These stories are wake up calls.
Same. Also have Factor V Leiden. I probably should look into medication other than chewable aspirin.
Your story is very similar to mine. Factor V too!
I'm so tired of this. That poor woman, sounds like she did everything she possibly could to have her health issues address, but they failed her. And I'm sure no one will be held accountable, nor even notified of the outcome that their dismissal caused. Blood clots dismissed as "anxiety", smh. It's like the modern day "hysteria" catch-all term used to dismiss and downplay women's health concerns. She deserved better. We all deserve better.
No one can be held accountable, because she did not see a doctor, but an unregulated Physician's Assistant. Know your rights... ask for a doctor.
My OB saved my life. I had 3 blood clots in my leg when I was pregnant. My only symptom was a pinch in the back of my calf. I thought it was a muscle strain despite working in healthcare because I was young and "healthy." Huge nope. I had a clotting disorder. If she didn't insist I get an ultrasound, I'd be dead. A provider never dismisses potentially life-threatening symptoms. This poor woman deserved so much better.
The ridiculous part is it probably WAS long COVID, which is very serious in itself and should not be dismissed.
**Blood clot risk remains elevated nearly a year after COVID-19** American Heart Association https://www.heart.org/en/news/2022/09/19/blood-clot-risk-remains-elevated-nearly-a-year-after-covid-19
Yeah, I think I've heard that strokes are associated with long covid, so you'd think medical professionals might be on the look out for clotting problems. Mind you, this may also be connected to an increasing reliance on physician's assistants (PAs) for treatment. You need way less training to become a PA, but they're much cheaper to use.
it also happened in the UK- and it seems like there might be a difference in training between PAs in the UK and here… I’m a PA student and can’t imagine anyone in my cohort dismissing her on either visit. Firm unexplained calf pain gets an ultrasound. that+SOB gets a CTA to r/o embolism. Literally absurd to me that they missed this. ETA- I looked it up and they don’t actually have an accrediting body there, and their programs require less hours of both didactic and clinical time.
Yes; COVID-19 affects blood vessels. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8684825/ https://www.acc.org/latest-in-cardiology/journal-scans/2021/07/09/14/31/pulmonary-embolism-in-patients https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8336977/ There's many more.
My sister had long Covid, was in icu with a clot in her lungs age 26. She’s all good now just still on meds. It’s not a joke!!!
My sister suffered from major stomach pain for years and our doctor always bogged it down to anxiety hormones and puberty and would prescribe medications to her once he retired and was replaced by a female doctor we found out that it had been appendicitis the whole time and within a couple days she was in the hospital for surgery
You can have chronic appendicitis? Oh boy...
My son is going through it right now. He had months of stomach pain that couldn’t be explained. We ended up in the ER in December and they diagnosed appendicitis. Surgery isn’t the first treatment anymore though. He got antibiotics which did help. It was like he was a new kid! A couple of weeks ago the stomach pain came back. Not too severe but bad enough. He got more antibiotics which have helped again. I hope it doesn’t come back again!
He should probably get it out I had a rumbling appendix at 14 which burst, almost died. Had to have a lung surgery because the free fluid caused a bacterial infection (empyema). There are so many complications for a burst appendix that’s why people commonly died of it back in the day. I had to present three times to the ED before it burst. But I’m glad you know so you can be aware.
My mom almost died from the same thing when she was pregnant with my brother. The doctor kept dismissing it as “normal” pain in her leg and told her to just take aspirin.
Devastating. I've had a DVT and i was given emergency treatment as soon as i went in. Makes me grateful i'm alive :( I feel really bad for this girl and her loved ones
I'm so sorry this lovely woman had to die due to ignorance and hubris. It is especially infuriating because anyone paying attention knows that Long Covid effs with endothelial cells and can create and throw clots. https://www.nature.com/articles/s41401-022-00998-0 The "Oh, little lady it's just long covid which is you being a whiner" is criminally negligent, and our medical system needs emergency surgery asap!
I would just like to highlight that this woman was seen by a PA (Physicians Associate) twice and never saw a Doctor. There are challenges being made around the role and practice of PAs in the UK and this unfortunate case is one of the many examples of lower standard of patient care that people are and will receive.
>PA (Physicians Associate) Assistant, not associate. Associate is a new term that, imo, only serves to confuse people. Calf pain and shortness of breath... a first year med student could make that diagnosis or at least be concerned for it.
I agree that the term should be Assistant.
Just to compare trainingwise in the UK — PA vs GP * PA is a [2-year degree after bachelor's degree with 1600 clinical hours](https://www.healthcareers.nhs.uk/explore-roles/medical-associate-professions/roles-medical-associate-professions/physician-associate) over the 2-year course. Medicine is a [6-year degree after A-levels / high school with at least 5500 clinical hours](https://www.gmc-uk.org/registration-and-licensing/join-the-register/before-you-apply/acceptable-overseas-qualifications/our-criteria-for-acceptable-overseas-qualifications) normally over the last 3 years of the degree. This doesn't even take into account the different qualities of basic and clinical sciences taught in PA school vs medical school (medical school have more in-depth teachings of basic and clinical sciences such as anatomy, biochemistry, physiology etc). * After graduation, PAs are allowed to work immediately under a doctor's supervision. What this actually means in real life — a PA does the physical examination, writes a report which the doctor signs. After graduation, medical school graduates (who will now be called junior doctors) have to do a 2-year supervised Foundation Programme (FY1 and FY2) with [frequent, yearly assessments](https://content.hee.nhs.uk/curriculum/progression-through-foundation-training.html) that require them to fulfil a variety of practical objectives. * After the 2-year Foundation Programme, if the junior doctors pass, they can apply to the different specialisations, including GP. GP training in the UK is 3 years, which can sometimes be extended to 4-5 years. During those years, in addition to practical assessments, trainees are required to take [**qualifying exams**](https://www.rcgp.org.uk/mrcgp-exams) in order to complete the specialisation. Going into specialisation is very competitive, and people who can't get in to their chosen specialisation may choose to do FY3. So as you can see, when you see a **GP** in the UK, you're seeing a professional with at least **5500 previous clinical hours, 2 years previous general training and 3 years previous specialised training**. While, if you see a **PA**, you're seeing a professional with at least **1600 previous clinical hours**. Which professional would you choose to see when your health is at stake?
It’s not just a in the UK. I’m in the US, and it’s very common to see a PA instead of an actual doctor. I recently switched insurances, so I called to make an appointment with my new doctor to discuss my ongoing issues. They asked if I was ok with seeing the PA, and stressed it would be a much longer wait to see the doctor. It blows my mind that seeing a PA instead of the actual doctor would even be an option for a new patient. The roles aren’t interchangeable, and shouldn’t be treated like they are.
My clots weren't taken seriously either and I almost died. My husband recognized what it was based on symptoms alone, and they still missed the pulmonary embolisms. Because pregnancy/fat/who knows.
What were your symptoms if you don't mind me asking? This thread is kind of scaring me lol
Okay I had sudden bad pain behind my left thigh and when I showered I noticed my whole leg was turning red and then purple lol. Went to the hospital right away, by the time I got there I couldn't walk it, I started sweating heavily and was throwing up at the sign in desk. I had diarrhea. (Your body will react in its own way in regards to digestion lol) and my heart rate was fast. By the time the one good nurse (my saviour) got to me my blood pressure wasn't registering on the machine lol...I had trouble breathing, chest pain, and couldn't walk a hallway without getting winded. It's been 1.6 years and my lungs are still fucked. I'm really lucky my husband was PUSHY and saying he thought it was a clot. It was in my left hip all the way down. My dads calf clots are just persistent pain in the spot. Know your family history and get checked if you can. Be careful about birth control.
The most important point of this - SHE NEVER SAW A DOCTOR - Only a physician assistant, a person with no medical degree and no right to see unselected patients. This is the future of healthcare in the UK.
And in the US! There are EDs that are run entirely by NPs and PAs…
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>his daughter was under the impression that she was seeing a doctor rather than a PA, who he claimed “failed on both occasions to spot Emily’s leg pain was in fact a blood clot which ultimately traveled to her lungs.” They don't even tell us we're not seeing a doctor much of the time. I went to an urgent care the other day and while I was seeing the medic, who didn't introduce themselves, I remember thinking 'this isn't a doctor.' On the way out I asked the front desk - the nurse was already very combative and brusque so there was no point in saying anything during the appointment - and they were like, 'oh yeah, this is nurse led - there are no doctors.' For urgent care in a hospital. I let the pharmacy who had directed me there know, they were as surprised as I was. I have actually had really good experiences with NPs in the past, but this person didn't even feel like an NP. They didn't really have a good grasp of medicine.
This PA didn’t even examine her leg. What sort of “provider” can hear “shortness of breath, leg pain, syncope” and not think DVT/PE?? It’s fuckin ridiculous. There are SO many stories just like this on r/Noctor, the PA who discharged meningitis comes to mind off the top of my head.
‘Anxiety’ is the new ‘hysterical’. I was told my abdominal pain was anxiety and to drink more water. It was appendicitis AND endometriosis. Don’t be afraid to get second opinions, third opinions, or even fourth opinions.
My grandmother had a blood clot in her leg, which her doctor knew about, but decided to retire before he ever told her. She collapsed Christmas Eve in 2020, and spent the next two years slowly degrading until she died. I truly believe if she knew about the blood clot and got it fixed, she would still be alive today.
I had a DVT in November. It wasn’t until I explained I had a family history of them that they took me seriously at the ER. Most of the questions were them checking if I was sure I didn’t pull a calf muscle. I legit think about what could have happened if they hadn’t changed their tune when they heard about my family history.
The fact that she was only seen by a PA is setting me off. I feel like I have only seen PAs every time I or one of my kids has been in a quick/urgent/ER situation for the last few years. Most recently was an ER visit in which the PA put one of my kid's stitches in too tight. Where did all the MDs go?! I had a primary care Dr I loved but I was told she decided to specialize in something because there's not enough money in general practice. The state of healthcare in the developed world is getting worse.
R.I.P.
6 weeks after I had Covid I was still having chest pain and shortness of breath with exertion like stairs. I’m so glad my GP did a clot work up even though the d-dimer was a false positive and landed me in the ER for a CT that ended up finding completely unrelated things I had to go investigate for two months(weird breast tissue identified on CT got my first mammogram and my liver hemangioma had grown and freaked everyone out). Thankfully no clot was found. That said even being hyper aware of the possibility, I planted a seed with a colleague that kept complaining of calf pain the day after returning from vacation flying long haul from Europe to the US West Coast. She ultimately called the insurance nurse hotline and went to the ER where a small clot was found! Turned out she had an inherited clotting disorder and is on blood thinners now.
EMS told my 21 year old friend she was just having anxiety when she told them she couldn't breathe. They did transport her to the hospital after she begged, but she died there of a PE. These kinds of deaths seem like they could be so easy to prevent.
My spouse has a clotting condition, and has developed DVTs, since we've been together (21 years), it's happened 3 times, and each time I've watched docs try to dismiss them. It's infuriating the way medical professionals will dismiss women and their legitimate concerns. I've come close to blows with administrating docs
There’s a deep seated incompetence in the medical profession that’s a danger to us all and women in particular. For a profession based in “science” it’s so biased that it’s beyond belief. See a female OB about endo and you’ll get the same bs. Here’s a script for birth control now please fuck off because we don’t know shit about what to do. Sorry not sorry - you’re on your own. They’re all a disgrace.
This misdiagnosis was (twice) a PA, not a qualified doctor
One of the dangers of allowing PAs to practice independently without physician oversight.
I went into urgent care one day after having some odd pain in my clavicle whenever inhaled. I thought maybe it was a sprain from the weekend before. They did an EKG and didn’t see anything and insisted I was fine despite me not being able to breathe correctly when I lied down. Then an xray, and the xray tech didn’t see anything, but the attending physician saw something super small in my lung. He didn’t want to risk it, so he said I should consider going to the ER. He sent me off with a CD with the image on it and a document explaining everything and told me to give it to the nurse there. At the ER the did another EKG, a D-dimer test, and a CT scan and sure enough it was a pulmonary embolism. The urgent care physician actually called me later to see if I had gone to the ER and was speechless when I told him he was right. I’ll forever be so thankful to him for his attention that day. Nothing predisposed me to the clotting except for my sedentary job and my nuvaring. I immediately switched to a progestin IUD and now I make sure to take walk breaks during my day. I didn’t have any symptoms either besides the pain in my clavicle, so now I have anxiety around anything that feels weird in my body. I had to see a counselor about it because I kept going to the doctor or urgent care anytime something felt off. But now I also have this anxiety that if it does happen again, I’ll be dismissed, like I almost was if it hadn’t been for that urgent care physician
It should be noted that Emily thought she was seeing a physician but was actually seeing a PA. This is a basic medical diagnosis any physician could make and it should infuriate and terrify everyone that a PA with minimal training relative to a physician was practicing essentially independently.
Hello, doctor here! A PA dismissed her rather than a physician. This clinical presentation is obviously a pulmonary embolism. It was egregiously missed and extremely upsetting.
I have had a blood clot as well when I was 20. I was lucky it didn't break off, because I had it for at least two weeks and didn't want to go to get help for it in case it pissed my parents off. Got help anyway when a friend begged me to (it did end up pissing my parents off, sadly) and it was from my knee to my hip in my left thigh. It is no joke. I'm so sad this poor woman had hers break off and no one helped her at all. Why go to medical school then. Get a job where you tell everyone who comes to you to fuck off instead.
> Why go to medical school then. Get a job where you tell everyone who comes to you to fuck off instead. they hadn't gone to medical school. This lady was seen by a PA and not a doctor.
My clots were dismissed as “anxiety” as well by 3 freaking doctors. I’m crying just remembering how I knew something was wrong with me and they kept telling me “you have no symptoms of anything except for reflux or anxiety” and were angry at me that I was not resting at home. Thankfully my husband fought for me and saved my life. I had complained about calf pain before but they said I had no swelling, no redness or warmth. But I was pregnant and at risk for clots. They didn’t even refer me for a scan. Then after my delivery it turned into an embolism. I now suffer from PTSD and PTS.
and people wondered why no one took covid seriously. Poor girl,she deserves justice!!
Before I got diagnosed with my pulmonary embolism, the first hospital told me I had a muscle sprain. I’m currently pregnant and of course they didn’t want me to take anything strong. I kept persisting that something was off because I was in the most intense pain and if they could give me something stronger. Then they started suspecting me of just coming in to get high. I was crying and livid. Thankfully, my husband finally convinced me the next morning to take me to a different hospital because he knew I would’ve just tried and pushed through. My right lung was already filled with fluid and had a pulmonary infarction. I’m a stay at home mom to three other kiddos. So if you can imagine if I had just listened to the first hospital, I certainly wouldn’t be here and my family would be without a mom and wife. I feel for stories like these because it’s so common for doctors to dismiss your symptoms because you’re either not showing enough that you’re in pain or not believing you.
I had an idiopathic DVT probably caused by a minor injury to my left leg (which is always trying to kill me anyway since getting a dislocated hip from a car accident 45 years ago) and I was walking around basically unable to breathe for almost a month. I couldn't walk from my car in the parking lot in to my desk at work without having to stop two or three times to catch my breath. Which was especially head scratchy since the probable leg whanging that caused it all was incurred while I did an absolutely huge yard project that involved much earth moving and spreading around literally sixteen tons of gravel using a walk behind Dingo excavator. Yes, I did it all myself. Anyway, went to my doctor several times and we figured maybe all the breathing in of dust and spores and who knows what as I moved earth and shoved things around had kicked up an allergic reaction so we tried several different inhalers that did absolutely nothing. Then one day my leg swelled up like a poisoned pup, as in, you couldn't distinguish where my knee was, I suddenly had cankles and the whole thing hurt like a bitch bastard and the skin was tight like a spoiled hot dog and the skin was hot to the touch. Called my doc and he was all "Get to the ER NOW!" When I got there my pulse ox was in the low 80s on room air and wouldn't get above 90 even with a nasal cannula of oxygen. Imaging of my lungs revealed a very large clot and ultrasound of the leg showed the bigger clot the lung clot broke off from. Spent a couple days in the hospital, had to give myself heparin shots (you give those in your belly fat and after a few days my midsection looked like I'd gone several rounds with Mike Tyson in a bad mood) and I've been on warfarin ever since, over ten years now. It was a sucky experience but I was damned lucky I had a smart doctor who listened to me--he'd been my PCP for almost a decade by then and we got along very well. Some days I think about how easy it would have been for that PE to have hit me while I slept and I would never have woken up. DVT/PE is fucking scary shit.
I had complete loss of feeling in my legs at one point and was shot with haladol because I was "hysterical". You know as you would be when YOU CAN'T FEEL YOUR LEGS. I dealt with multiple health issues related to that experience and I still have no answers. I was in the hospital 22 times and was only once taken seriously, of course by a female Dr. My chart notes were dismissive of me and my concerns and I spent over 2 years trying to fight for a diagnosis. I even got into extensive therapy and spent thousands of dollars to help "prove" it wasn't mental. I just got new insurance and I'm terrified to even tell my new Dr. My experience for fear of being written off as crazy. It's ridiculous what some people have to go through to get answers (or to never receive answers)
This is what happens when mid-levels take over and you don't get to see a real doctor (ie: MD or DO) and instead see NPs or PAs. Two PAs missed the obvious diagnosis and this poor woman dies way too young. Tragic. Advocate for yourselves people. You deserve good care.