How exact a science is medicine?

 

A major part of a doctor’s job is to make a diagnosis.

I woke up, one morning, to find I couldn't see clearly through my left eye. I immediately went to see my GP, who very quickly diagnosed conjunctivitis. He explained to me that because I had recently had a cold, the virus had infected my eye. A dose of antibiotics soon sorted it out.

Yet, in my experience, I have known of GP's, who couldn't diagnose the signs of diabetes, heart disease, TB, COVID, leukaemia, or pancreatic cancer. I know of one GP who standard refrain was to tell you to work it off. All these people were qualified doctors, yet they were unable to diagnose some ailments that are not that difficult to diagnose.

Although diabetes is known as a crafty disease because it can cause secondary infections, a blood or urine sample, can indicate the presence of it, and even asking someone to breathe on you can lead to a diagnosis. If a person's breath smells of pear drop (acetone), it can be an indication of diabetes.

This week, I watched a TV program called 'Monsters Inside Me'. One of the people who featured in the TV program, was a young teenage girl from Tennessee, called Kennedy Odom. Kennedy complained of fever and pain when chewing and swallowing. She had blisters on her mouth, felt debilitated, lost 30 pound in weight, and a scan revealed that she had an enlarged spleen. Initially, the doctors said she had strep throat and later they diagnosed leukaemia, but blood tests showed this wasn't the case. The doctors were completely baffled, until a relative of Kennedy's, asked the question, could it be something in her mouth that was the root of the problem. She was seen by a periodontist and tested for allergies. It was discovered that Kennedy had an allergic reaction to nickel and her dental braces, contained nickel. When these were removed, she immediately started to recover.

We often know when something is wrong with us, because we know our own bodies and know when things are wrong. This is what you should rely on, intuition and experience, and what your body is telling you. Medicine is not an exact science, and doctors often fail to diagnose the problem or overlook something.