Misdiagnosis of High blood pressure
High blood pressure: Related Misdiagnoses
Metabolic syndrome often undiagnosed: Metabolic syndrome, also known as Syndrome X, is
an often overlooked medical condition that causes a cluster of chronic symptoms.
There are often four symptoms and conditions combined: obesity, hypertension (high blood pressure),
high cholesterol, and diabetes (Type 2 diabetes) or in come cases pre-diabetes initially.
See the introduction to metabolic syndrome.
Heart attacks can be undiagnosed: Although the most severe symptoms of heart attack are hard to miss,
there are varying degrees of severity.
It is altogether too common for people to die from undiagnosed heart attack, or from delaying too long
to call for emergency help.
The prognosis for treatment is far better for patients treated in the early stages of a heart attack.
The most common misdiagnoses include heartburn, or other less severe causes of chest pain.
See the introduction to heart attack and the symptoms of heart attack.
Heart attacks can be overdiagnosed: Although many people die from heart attacks, there are also
many cases where people fear that they have a heart attack, but actually have something milder.
Some of the conditions which may be causes of chest pain, causing fear of a heart attack, including
an anxiety attack, heartburn, and so on.
See the causes of chest pain and the symptoms of heart attack.
Unnecessary hysterectomies due to undiagnosed bleeding disorder in women: The bleeding disorder
called Von Willebrand's disease is quite common in women, but often fails to be correctly diagnosed.
Women with the condition tend to have heavy periods, since they actually have a bleeding disorder.
Severe afflictions may result in the women receiving a hysterectomy unnecessarily, when the
underlying cause has not been identified.
See the introduction to Von Willebrand's disease and bleeding disorder.
Rare heart condition often undiagnosed: The rare heart condition called long QT syndrome can lead to episodes of palpitations
and rapid heartbeat.
In rare cases, this undiagnosed condition can be fatal.
It should be considered for any unexplained heart rhythm abnormality.
Heart attack can be over-diagnosed: Although heart attack is often undiagnosed,
leading to fatality, it can also be over-diagnosed.
People become concerned that a condition is a heart attack,
whereas there are various less dangerous possibilities.
After all, there are numerous causes of chest pain.
Some of the common conditions where a person may become concerned
about a possible heart attack include a panic attack (which often has
both chest pain and difficulty breathing), and heartburn/reflux type conditions.
Nevertheless, chest pain itself can be a potentially life-threatening symptoms,
and needs immediate professional attention.
Alzheimer's disease over-diagnosed: The well-known disease of Alzheimer's disease
is often over-diagnosed.
Patients tend to assume that any memory loss or forgetulness symptom might be Alzheimer's,
whereas there are many other less severe possibilities.
Some level of memory decline is normal with aging,
and even a slight loss of acuity may be noticed in the 30's and 40's.
Other conditions can also lead a person to show greater forgetfulness.
For example, depression and depressive disorders can cause a person to
have reduced concentration and thereby poorer memory retention.
Dementia may be a drug interaction: A common scenario in aged care is for
a patient to show mental decline to dementia.
Whereas this can, of course, occur due to various medical conditions,
such as a stroke or Alzheimer's disease,
it can also occur from a side effect or interaction between multiple drugs
that the elderly patient may be taking.
There are also various other possible causes of dementia.
Tremor need not be Parkinson's disease: There is the tendency to believe that
any tremor symptom, or shakiness, means Parkinson's disease.
The reality is that there are various possibilities, such as benign essential tremor,
which is mostly harmless.
see the various causes of tremor and misdiagnosis of Parkinson's disease.
Blood pressure cuffs misdiagnose hypertension in children: One known misdiagnosis issue
with hyperension, arises in relation to the simple equipment used to test blood pressure.
The "cuff" around the arm to measure blood pressure can simply be too small to accurately
test a child's blood pressure.
This can lead to an incorrect diagnosis of a child with hypertension.
The problem even has a name unofficially: "small cuff syndrome".
See misdiagnosis of hypertension.
Rare diseases misdiagnosed as Parkinson's disease: A rare genetic
disorder is often misdiagnosed as Parkinson's disease for men in their 50's.
The disease Fragile X disorder can show only mild symptoms in the early years,
and Parkinsons-like symptoms around age 50.
See misdiagnosis of Parkinson's disease.
Over-diagnosis of pulmonary hypertension in obese patients: A diagnosis
of pulmonary hypertension, particularly pulmonary arterial hypertension,
is often a misdiagnosis in obese patients.
Exertional dyspnea leads to a diagnostic reading of high right ventricular systolic pressure,
which seems to indicate pulmonary hypertension, but is ultimately found to be an
incorrect diagnosis.
See misdiagnosis of pulmonary hypertension.
Obesity-related conditions undiagnosed in children: A variety of conditions
are associated with obesity (see obesity), but these tend to be undiagnosed more often
in child patients than in adults.
Some of the overlooked conditions may include hypertension, diabetes, acanthosis nigricans, etc.
See misdiagnosis of obesity or introduction to obesity.
Hypertension misdiagnosis common in children: Hypertension is often
misdiagnosed in adults (see misdiagnosis of hypertension), but its misdiagnosis is even more likely in children.
Some of the symptoms of hypertension that can be overlooked include chest pain, headaches, abdominal pain, etc.
See symptoms of hypertension or misdiagnosis of hypertension.
Silent attack in diabetics: Heart disease is the leading cause of death among diabetics. Patients with type 2 diabetes above the age of 60-65 years are susceptible to silent heart attacks.Diabetes being a multi systemic disorder also affects the nerves causing autonomic neuropathy hence making the heart attack painless.Diabetics who are smokers and have increased blood pressure are more prone for silent attacks and hence these group of patients must undergo screening tests like a treadmill stress test.Some of the symptoms that patients can experience includes mild discomfort in the chest,jaw or arms which is relieved on taking rest,shortness of breath and tiredness. Some of the investigations in addition to a good clinical history that need to be done include an electrocardiogram,estimation of the cardiac enzymes.
Lack of early signs in renal cell carcinoma: Renal cell carcinoma lacks early warning signs
and makes a much generalised presentation. Hence the chances of it being
misdiagnosed are higher. It has to be differentiated from conditions like renal
abscess, metastatic disease, infected or hemorrhagic cyst and lymphoma. The
prognosis of patients with RCC depends on its stage at diagnosis. The prognosis
is worst for patients with metastatic disease at presentation and best for
patients with small masses confined to the kidney.
Cushing's syndrome of obesity?: Cushing’s syndrome usually occurs
due to chronic steroid administration, bilateral adrenal hyperplasia, adrenal
tumour and ACTH excess. Morbidity and mortality
associated with Cushing syndrome are related primarily to the effects of excess
glucocorticoids. The patient usually presents to the doctor with features of
weight gain more so on the face with skin changes, depression and muscle
weakness. A proper history is needed to rule out conditions like obesity,
bulimia, alcoholism and depression.
High blood pressure: Possibly Deadly Misdiagnoses
Some of the causes, which may potentially be dangerous or fatal
if left undiagnosed, may include:
More about Misdiagnosis
» Next page: HYPERTENSION (Algorithmic Diagnosis of Symptoms and Signs)
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