The following conditions are notoriously Difficult to Identify.
Irritable Bowel Syndrome
Some conditions are difficult to
diagnose because there is no real test to prove their existence; rather, they
require a “diagnosis of elimination,” as doctors’ rule out all other
possibilities. IBS is a chronic
condition that affects the large intestine and causes abdominal pain, cramping,
bloating, diarrhea, and/or constipation.
According to diagnostic criteria, a patient should have symptoms for at
least six months before being seen for a formal evaluation. Discomfort should be present at least three
days a month in the last three months before being diagnosed with IBS.
Celiac Disease
Celiac disease -- an
immune reaction to gluten that triggers inflammation in the small intestine -- takes
the average patient six to 10 years to be properly diagnosed. Celiac sufferers
would, in theory, have digestive problems when eating gluten-containing foods
like wheat, barley, and rye, but in fact, only about half of people diagnosed
with the disease have experienced diarrhea and weight loss.
Celiac
disease can also cause itchy skin, headaches, joint pain, and acid reflux or
heartburn, and it's all too easy to blame these symptoms on other things. A
blood test can diagnose celiac disease no matter what symptoms are present, and
an endoscopy can determine any damage that's been done to the small intestine.
Fibromyalgia
Fibromyalgia,
which is characterized by widespread musculoskeletal pain, involves
"medically unexplained symptoms" -- a term doctors use to describe
persistent complaints that don't appear to have an obvious physical cause. When
doctors can't find a root cause for a patient's chronic pain and fatigue, they
often settle on this diagnosis. This may involve seeing specialists and ruling
out other diseases, some of which prove equally difficult to diagnose, says Dr.
Eugene Shapiro, deputy director of the Investigative Medicine Program at Yale
University.
"There
are studies that show that people with certain symptoms who show up at a
rheumatologist will be diagnosed with fibromyalgia, but if the same patients
show up at a gastroenterologist they'll be diagnosed as having irritable bowel
syndrome."
Multiple
Sclerosis
Another
autoimmune disease, multiple sclerosis (MS) occurs when the immune system
attacks the body's own nerve cells and disrupts communication between the brain
and the rest of the body. Some of the first symptoms of MS are often numbness,
weakness, or tingling in one or more limbs, but that's not always the case.
Multiple
sclerosis can be episodic; the disease tends to wax and wane. Depending on the number and location of
lesions in the brain, he adds, signs and symptoms may be more or less severe in
different people. Once a doctor does suspect MS, however, a spinal tap or MRI
can help confirm the diagnosis.
