Lyme disease is a serious condition that can have lifelong impacts. Unfortunately, this is a condition that often isn’t diagnosed right away. In fact, at least 50% of people who have this condition note that it took them more than three years to receive a diagnosis.
Around 45% of participants in a survey reported that they had early symptoms within weeks or days of the tick exposure. Still, many of these patients didn’t receive an accurate or suitable diagnosis in a timely manner. Somewhere around 37% of lab tests are false negatives. Another 13% are positive, but are ultimately dismissed as false positive.
Unfortunately, the vast majority of people with Lyme disease are misdiagnosed as having another condition before they are correctly diagnosed with Lyme disease. This occurred in around 72% of cases studied. Chronic fatigue syndrome, a psychiatric disorder and fibromyalgia are the most common misdiagnosed conditions.
Doctors might blame the broad symptoms of Lyme disease for the misdiagnosis. This isn’t ever suitable because Lyme disease would always be possible and should be vetted if someone presents with symptoms consistent with the condition after a tick exposure. Fatigue, musculoskeletal symptoms, and neurologic symptoms are the three type of symptoms that are often reported.
Anyone who suffers from a misdiagnosis for any medical condition should learn about the options they have. The top priority is to get help for the condition so that you can try to heal and move forward. After you do that, you might seek compensation to help you cover the costs of the care and other expenses that you can attribute to the misdiagnosis.
