Thursday, February 28, 2008

"I'm Not Depressed I Have Lyme Disease"


One would think that being in the medical field things should not slip by, however as a medical provider I have noticed that as patients we tend to either ask too many questions or not enough. As a mother I think at times I also down play a lot of my children's symptoms as well. I have seen this type of behavior being on both ends of the spectrum. An example of that was when my daughter was having vague symptoms and it took three years to have her diagnosed with Lyme disease.
She was having vague symptoms of headaches, dizziness, and feeling tired all the time she was twelve at the time. I had taken her to the pediatrician whom in turn did some lab work, then told me all was normal. The pediatrician stated that sometimes with puberty these vague symptoms may occur, understandably I accepted this diagnosis. Then I was told that she may have the beginning of depression. So I went in a circle for several years until finally someone listened to her say "I'm not depressed, listen to me please."
Unknown to me that some of these symptoms could have been resolved if only the proper testing was done in a timely fashion.
My advice is to ask questions, many questions and if they are not answered ask more questions!

No comments: