Dr. Huntley's
Diagnosis
Checklist
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See what questions
a doctor would ask.
See what questions
a doctor would ask.
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.
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.
Types of deafness: A brief understanding of the anatomy of the ear is required in order to understand the pathology behind deafness. The ear can be grouped into 3 categories: the external ear, middle ear and inner ear. In cases of conductive deafness the defect is due to an obstruction in the middle ear which contains the ear ossicles. Sensorineural deafness points more towards pathology in the inner ear. A more detailed history regarding other symptoms such as tinnitus, vertigo, ear discharge, ear pain is needed to tell apart the various ear pathologies. A triad of deafness, vertigo and tinnitus points to Meniere's disease. Age of the patient as well an occupational history would be of good use to get to a proper diagnosis.
Ramsay Hunt syndrome- recovery depends on nerve damage: The Ramsay Hunt syndrome is herpes zoster affecting the geniculate ganglion. This syndrome develops when the varicella virus becomes reactivated from the geniculate ganglion. It is seen as a disease of older people but it can affect all ages including children. It usually presents with a paroxysmal attack of deep seated pain in the ear which slowly progresses to be diffuse in nature and continuous type with vesicles, vertigo, facial palsy causing a crooked smile and tinnitus. Making the diagnosis is very difficult when the presentation is simply pain in the ear. It is usually mistaken for Bell's palsy but the presence of vesicles helps in coming to a diagnosis. But in cases of children vesicles may not be present and this could alter the diagnosis. Presence of vertigo may change the diagnosis to acute labyrinthitis. The more severe the damage the longer it will take to recover. Early diagnosis is useful in starting an early treatment of steroids and antiviral agents for the syndrome.
Some of the causes, which may potentially be dangerous or fatal if left undiagnosed, may include:
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