Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Bedridden for 11 years, he discovered a surgery for his adrenal condition

www-m.cnn.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

61–70 of 147 posts

Re: Bedridden for 11 years, he discovered a surgery for his adrenal condition

#61

Post by fiblye »

barkingcat wrote: post #31
IAmGraydon wrote: post #26

I don’t understand why it took so long for him to get this diagnosis. Elevated adrenaline levels are easily tested for in a simple catecholamine blood test. That test is among the basic panel done when one sees an endocrinologist. It may not have pinpointed his adrenal medulla as the problem, but it should have pointed them in that general direction very early on.

Because doctors in the western medicine tradition don't always accept a patient's symptoms at face value. The person in the story got referred to psychiatry because medicine didn't believe him. Similarily, many legit medical disorders are discounted as not real symptoms by western medicine until decades later, for example, lyme disease, which is caused by a real organism with a real transmission pathway (ticks), with…

I’ve got a relevant experience to back this up.

I had a urinary tract infection that I felt progress up to my bladder and eventually into one kidney and then the next. I would’ve liked to visit a doctor immediately, but with American medical costs being what they are and hospitals advising me to hold out a few more days until a doctor in my insurance network was available, I’d hoped that small stinging pain down there would go away. But nope, it spread to all the regions mentioned plus I was passing blood almost nonstop. I couldn’t sleep, could barely walk, and felt like I was on the verge of dying.

I made it to a doctor once I knew it was a life or death situation, described my symptoms and the progression, and the guy starts digging into me, trying to say I’m just fishing for antibiotics (what?) and it’s clearly a kidney stone. I all but called him a dumbass, because it wouldn’t make sense for a kidney stone to move backwards up to both of my kidneys. I had to wait around for a urine test to prove that yes, it was in fact an obvious kidney infection, but the doctor was still skeptical asserting that it’s probably just a mild kidney stone, and reluctantly gave my antibiotics that cleared it up instantly.

That wasn’t the first time a doctor tried to argue against my obvious problem (I also had one argue that I didn’t break a clearly broken bone), but it was the most frustrating experience.

Re: Bedridden for 11 years, he discovered a surgery for his adrenal condition

#62

Post by Foober223 »

fiblye wrote: post #61
barkingcat wrote: post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Because doctors in the western medicine tradition don't always accept a patient's symptoms at face value. The person in the story got referred to psychiatry because medicine didn't believe him. Similarily, many legit medical disorders are discounted as not real symptoms by western medicine until decades later, for example, lyme disease, which is caused by a real organism with a real transmission pathway (ticks), with…

I’ve got a relevant experience to back this up. I had a urinary tract infection that I felt progress up to my bladder and eventually into one kidney and then the next. I would’ve liked to visit a doctor immediately, but with American medical costs being what they are and hospitals advising me to hold out a few more days until a doctor in my insurance network was available, I’d hoped that small stinging pain down ther…

Some doctors are idiots. No different than people in any other profession.

Re: Bedridden for 11 years, he discovered a surgery for his adrenal condition

#63

Post by caycep »

barkingcat wrote: post #31
IAmGraydon wrote: post #26

I don’t understand why it took so long for him to get this diagnosis. Elevated adrenaline levels are easily tested for in a simple catecholamine blood test. That test is among the basic panel done when one sees an endocrinologist. It may not have pinpointed his adrenal medulla as the problem, but it should have pointed them in that general direction very early on.

Because doctors in the western medicine tradition don't always accept a patient's symptoms at face value. The person in the story got referred to psychiatry because medicine didn't believe him. Similarily, many legit medical disorders are discounted as not real symptoms by western medicine until decades later, for example, lyme disease, which is caused by a real organism with a real transmission pathway (ticks), with…

It depends on the culture...I think medical culture differs from place to place. When I was in the northeast, everyone had the ambition of being the next Michael DeBakey or chief of Harvard Medical School, so we'd all run every single test under the sun. The patient'd get a huge bill later from the lab because the insurance didn't want to pay, but what the hey, we were all medical residents and didn't have to deal with the fallout (the primary cares probably did and were pissed).

Out here in the west...people will roll in with some obvious diagnosis and some overworked urgent care doc seeing 60 patients a day wouldn't have bothered to ordered even the most basic tests....

Re: Bedridden for 11 years, he discovered a surgery for his adrenal condition

#64

Post by sjg007 »

fiblye wrote: post #61
barkingcat wrote: post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Because doctors in the western medicine tradition don't always accept a patient's symptoms at face value. The person in the story got referred to psychiatry because medicine didn't believe him. Similarily, many legit medical disorders are discounted as not real symptoms by western medicine until decades later, for example, lyme disease, which is caused by a real organism with a real transmission pathway (ticks), with…

I’ve got a relevant experience to back this up. I had a urinary tract infection that I felt progress up to my bladder and eventually into one kidney and then the next. I would’ve liked to visit a doctor immediately, but with American medical costs being what they are and hospitals advising me to hold out a few more days until a doctor in my insurance network was available, I’d hoped that small stinging pain down ther…

That sounds weird. If he really thought kidney stones then why not order an ultrasound? Also why not go to the ER? Your insurance has to cover it.. I guess it would depend on your coinsurance/copay though..

Re: Bedridden for 11 years, he discovered a surgery for his adrenal condition

#65

Post by sjg007 »

vanderZwan wrote: post #45
barkingcat wrote: post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Because doctors in the western medicine tradition don't always accept a patient's symptoms at face value. The person in the story got referred to psychiatry because medicine didn't believe him. Similarily, many legit medical disorders are discounted as not real symptoms by western medicine until decades later, for example, lyme disease, which is caused by a real organism with a real transmission pathway (ticks), with…

Yeah, the Lyme disease story checks out. My aunt had a mysterious disorder that left her in constant pain for years. She lived in Canada. Then, during one of her visits to us in the Netherlands, one of my uncles (her oldest brother, a neurosurgeon) suggested that her symptoms were very similar to Lyme disease. Even knowing the likely cause of the disease, the first two doctors she visited flat-out refused to have her…

You can't treat lyme disease years after the initial infection. So they really only test if you see the bulls eye rash and prescribed antibiotics. I think they might just prescribe the antibiotics if they see the rash. The knee swelling and pain comes much later. So what the doctors said was in fact correct.

https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/lyme-disease/...

Re: Bedridden for 11 years, he discovered a surgery for his adrenal condition

#66

Post by DoreenMichele »

In it, he found an important passage discussing how adrenal disorders could mirror thyroid disorders.

A former RN told me that adrenal and thyroid issues are interrelated. That was useful information for me.

I'm a bit surprised and taken aback that the article kind of implies that many medical practitioners aren't aware that thyroid and adrenal issues can be similar or connected.

Re: Bedridden for 11 years, he discovered a surgery for his adrenal condition

#67

Post by vimy »

sjg007 wrote: post #65
vanderZwan wrote: post #45

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah, the Lyme disease story checks out. My aunt had a mysterious disorder that left her in constant pain for years. She lived in Canada. Then, during one of her visits to us in the Netherlands, one of my uncles (her oldest brother, a neurosurgeon) suggested that her symptoms were very similar to Lyme disease. Even knowing the likely cause of the disease, the first two doctors she visited flat-out refused to have her…

You can't treat lyme disease years after the initial infection. So they really only test if you see the bulls eye rash and prescribed antibiotics. I think they might just prescribe the antibiotics if they see the rash. The knee swelling and pain comes much later. So what the doctors said was in fact correct. https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/lyme-disease/...

This is incorrect and based on outdated research. The research that shows persistent Lyme is real is piling up but the medical community seems slow to accept this fact.

Re: Bedridden for 11 years, he discovered a surgery for his adrenal condition

#68

Post by nullwasamistake »

This guy seems crazy. There's a million things they can give you for energy so you don't lay in bed all day. Also, the hell is he choosing to lay in bed over sitting in a nice comfy chair? The only reason bedridden people are in beds is to make it easy to roll them over and hook them up to machines. This guy didn't need either. It doesn't take a decade to discover adrenal gland issues, I think this guy is a basket case.

Re: Bedridden for 11 years, he discovered a surgery for his adrenal condition

#69

Post by vladus2000 »

I went through an annoyance with my vision. I ended up having two separate conditions (well a total of 5 things were wrong with my eyes, but two acive major ones and two that will eventually cause more surgery later but aren't a big deal yet and one that was minor), but because the first one seemed like it was causing the problems, it took me almost a year to find and get real treatment for my issues so I could be able to see properly again. It was really depressing as my vision just kept getting worse and eye doctors were not helping. Right before my surgery my eyes got to the point I couldn't legally drive (bear in mind that I was under 40 at this point) even with glasses.

I just kept trying different doctors until an intern assistant to one of them saw the actual issue and got me referred to an awesome specialist who confirmed the diagnosis (and found the other problems I had not known about yet) and got me to a surgeon who did surgery to fix it. As a result of this, I strongly distrust doctors and I think they can sense that when I see them.

For those more curious, I had Idiopathic Intracranial Hypertension as I am rather large. Due to being large and doctors being able to see that problem, they just assumed it was the issue and they never looked at anything else. They put me on NASTY drugs to fix the issue, but my eye sight just kept getting worse. I have no idea why it took an intern to see the problem, but in the end I had ABMD (also known as Map-Dot-Fingerprint Dystrophy). I believe a total of 6 eye doctors and two neurologists completely missed it. I really should have gotten the intern's name and properly thanked him, as who knows how much longer I would have had to go without a diagnosis. IIH can cause blindness, as it will slowly destroy your vision (or in some cases quickly), so I kinda understand why they may not have seen it, but from what I have read, it sounds like ABMD is pretty easy to see if you look for it, and none of the real doctors did.

So I hope no one out there ever has multiple problems causing similar symptoms, because doctors can't be bothered to think about that possibility, at least eye doctors.

Post reply on HN