Tag: heart disease misdiagnosis

Ups, downs, and going with the flow of diagnosis

~ Carolyn Thomas ~ 8 Comments

by Carolyn Thomas    ♥  Heart Sisters on Blue Sky

Karen Salmansohn is the author of many books, including (2nd best title ever!) “HOW TO BE HAPPY, DAMMIT!”  – a book reviewed by one reader as “self-help for people who would never be caught dead doing self-help”).  In her regular  Psychology Today column, while going through a period of time she called her personal “Bucket List From Hell”, Karen made a profound observation that resonated with me – and may also do so with you if you’ve been freshly-diagnosed with heart disease (or any other bad thing you wish was not happening). As Karen wrote:     Continue reading “Ups, downs, and going with the flow of diagnosis” →

Could you wait 10 years for a cardiac diagnosis?

~ Carolyn Thomas ~ 25 Comments

by Carolyn Thomas  ♥  @HeartSisters

My pal Cheryl Strachan, a Registered Dietitian in Calgary and author of my favourite cookbook for heart patients (30-Minute Heart Healthy Cookbook: Delicious Recipes for Easy, Low-Sodium Meals ), contacted me on February 13th (our national ‘Wear Red Canada’ Day) to ask:

“Are you watching today’s ‘Wear Red Canada’ webinar?  If you’re  listening to Bobbi-Jo Green’s heart patient story, I’m picturing smoke coming out of your ears!”

Cheryl had guessed correctly. By the time Bobby-Jo finished her webinar presentation, I was livid. Continue reading “Could you wait 10 years for a cardiac diagnosis?” →

Diagnostic uncertainty: when we just don’t know

~ Carolyn Thomas ~ 5 Comments

by Carolyn Thomas    ♥   @HeartSisters

The image above is all about uncertainty. It’s like a 5-step roadmap that you’d use when traveling an unfamiliar road to a new destination you know nothing about and do not want to visit.(1)  For people experiencing scary symptoms they fear might be heart-related, for example, uncertainty about what’s happening now and what will happen next is pervasive. But a new study published in the journal Patient Education and Counseling reminds us that patients aren’t the only ones facing uncertainty around a medical diagnosis: “Both patients and clinicians experience diagnostic uncertainty, but in different ways.”(2)        .        .   Continue reading “Diagnostic uncertainty: when we just don’t know” →

Women’s heart disease: is it underdiagnosed, or misdiagnosed?

~ Carolyn Thomas ~ 16 Comments

by Carolyn Thomas  ♥  @HeartSisters

Do you know the difference between a medical condition that’s underdiagnosed, and one that’s misdiagnosed? I thought you’d never ask. . .  Underdiagnosis is a failure to recognize or correctly diagnose a disease or condition, especially in a significant proportion of patients, as in: “Heart disease in women is still being underdiagnosed compared to our male counterparts.”(1) But misdiagnosis is an incorrect, partial or delayed diagnosis of one individual’s illness or other medical problem, as in: “I left the Emergency Department with a misdiagnosis of acid reflux despite my textbook heart attack symptoms of central chest pain, nausea, sweating and pain down my left arm.”

The trouble is this: the more that misdiagnosis happens to individual women, one after another, the more likely we are to continue seeing underdiagnosis of women heart patients as a whole. Thank you to these heart patients who shared their own experiences of surviving a misdiagnosis: Continue reading “Women’s heart disease: is it underdiagnosed, or misdiagnosed?” →