Mistaken Identity – Other Diseases With Acid Reflux Symptoms
Everyone makes mistakes—even your physician makes them every once and a while. It is possible for your doctor to misdiagnose you with as condition that you might not even have at all, especially if the condition’s symptoms are similar to those related to other diseases.
The symptoms of acid reflux disease, which include heartburn, nausea, and regurgitation, are very similar to symptoms that are related to other diseases. Thus, it is possible during the diagnosis process that your doctor could misdiagnose you as having a disease other than acid reflux.
Reflux – An Alternative Diagnosis
It is common for acid reflux disease to be diagnosed in patients who might have another disease with acid reflux symptoms. This disease is commonly known as angina, or angina pectoris.
Angina refers to a chest pain caused by reduced blood flow to the heart. Frequently, angina is the first sign of heart disease, and the intense pain that it causes can often be mistaken for a heart attack. It is common for people with angina to be misdiagnosed as having acid reflux disease.
This misdiagnosis is critical, because while the symptoms of angina might be similar to those of acid reflux disease, the treatment methods really are not similar at all. If you have been diagnosed with acid reflux and do not see your symptoms being alleviated by treatment, then you may have been misdiagnosed.
Alternative Diagnoses For Acid Reflux
When going through the diagnosis process for acid reflux disease, it is important that your doctor rule out other diseases with acid reflux symptoms before proceeding with treatment. There are several other diseases with acid reflux symptoms, including heartburn and infantile colic.
Heartburn is a pain in the chest or esophagus caused when stomach acid refluxes back into the chest. In fact, heartburn is one of the symptoms of acid reflux disease. When heartburn persists for months and does not go away, it may have developed into acid reflux disease.
Infantile colic is another common misdiagnosis of acid reflux disease. Not much is known about the disease other than it can cause infants to cry for several hours. It is thought that the symptoms of this disease are similar to those of acid reflux; however, it is hard to know exactly what causes the infant to cry.
Back To Square One
Finding out that you have been misdiagnosed with a disease that has acid reflux symptoms can be devastating, because it means that you must start the diagnosis process all over again. However, once you are properly diagnosed and begin receiving the correct treatment, you will be sure to feel the relief you have been waiting for.
