The Search of Hay

Both examples were originally posted on another forum, where I discuss a topic of my initiated.

Celiac.com Sponsor (A13):
1. Are doctors able to perform a proper differential diagnosis? 

An example about the incompetence of human brain would be medicine. Did you know that the average time that goes for diagnosing Sjogren's Syndrome (an autoimmune disease most often prevalent in middle aged women) is 7 years!? Those poor women suffer years with dry eyes, mouth, and tiredness, but because the symptoms are vague the patient often doesn't notice them, because she thinks they are normal (she has got used to them) and only goes to doctor when more severe symptoms begin. OK, this erroring is not that bad, because it can be really hard noticing a gradual change in sth that you see every day (in this case yourself).

What's really frustrating though, is when you go to your GP, mention her your "dry eyes", "dry mouth" and "constant fatigue", and then the GP says you have depression. Her mind is biased toward picking one symptom (fatigue) which's some causes she can remember, and chooses the most common of them. Probably she'll do the basic blood test to exclude the other causes she can recall, and of course they all come back negative, because she didn't add "ANA" to the list. Or she did add it, and ANA comes back negative, and the doctor concludes the patient doesn't have Sjogren's Syndrome. Wrong! Statistically only 2/3 of Sjogren's patients have positive ANA. What she should do is refer the patient to rheumatologist, who would perform the tear measure test.

Now, I am not a doctor, neither a med student, but when adding those three symptoms in the symptom list of Open Original Shared Link, it gives you all possible causes, tests performed for confirming a hypothesised cause, and everything else I need to know. This would be an example of stupid computer database performing better than a doctor. I truelly can speak from my heart here, because I've experienced it over and over again. Doctors should admit the errors of their mind, and take an advantage from the existence of such web programs: start using them as your aid to perform a proper differential diagnosis! People suffer due to their constant errors. 

2. Another example of the stupidity of doctors

I just asked a web question from an endocrinologist. The purpose of this was to get an advice on my still undiagnosed disease. The question included all my symptom list and all the laboratory blood tests I have performed on myself within the last 12 months, which by now has piled itself up into a 3 page long Word document.

Now, the tests show that I have 7/8 times high androgen hormone levels (testosterone, estradiol and SHBG), and 2/2 times elevated renin-angiotensin hormones (renin and aldosterone), which regulate the blood pressure by affecting blood potassium density. However, I did mention in my question that my blood pressure has always been okay, also (as I naturally had predicted) my potassium levels.

Now, the doctor gave me an answer that was very academic and scientifically true in overall, which is a good thing. She said that 7/8 time elevated androgen levels definitely show a pattern, and for some reason something undeterminable (from simply seeing my test results) causes them to be elevated. However, they can't cause my symptoms. Which basing on the scientific research done in past is also true.

She also noted that 2/2 consequently tested elevated renin-aldosterone is not enough to say it wouldn't be a random spike, caused by the combination of pre-existing genetic feature of mine + this feature reacting to environmental changes. If I waited, there is a handgraspable chance those two hormones would subside. Especially because my blood pressure and potassium are and have always been normal.

Nor is there scientifically any relation between those two hormone groups (angiotensins and androgens). One being elevated can't cause the other jumping over the borderline.

All correct. Statistically she would make a good doctor.

But not in my case. What she didn't consider was the probability of {me having strong and long symptom list, lasting already for seven year} AND {me having two groups of elevated hormones} being/not-being related to each other. The probability of them not-being related would be near to zero. Thus, whatever science says about my test results, one would have to conclude that "I am statistically a rare case". Science is made by observing a large group of people, and conclusions usually made out of correlations, not from individual cases. Thus I say it is much more probable that I have a rare or cleverly-hidden disease, rather than "I am a healthy person who has nothing to worry about", which was the statement the doctor concluded her answer with.

I will not let myself be affected by her judgement, and continue my search for the real answer. 

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Hope these two posts give you courage to keep going. Always second guess what people tell you.