Does your diagnosis really matter?

"Does it really matter? And, so what if you have got that condition?" Sharon was stunned by the consultant's coldness. How could a doctor show so little understanding of his patient's feelings?

Sharon had RSD. She had exercised her right to inspect her medical records and found this diagnosis in the file. Why hadn't the consultant told her? She decided to confront him with the question during this hospital visit and that was his response. Most medical professionals are thoughtful and caring, but this kind of treatment is distressingly common for people with rare conditions. Doctors want to be successful and give positive answers and sometimes can't cope with symptoms or conditions they don't understand. Reflex Sympathetic Dystrophy is one such condition and Sharon had met one such doctor. When professionals don't provide the help you need there are two choices: either you give up in despair or you fight for yourself. Sharon is a fighter and set herself to research the condition and control her own treatment. She sneaked into the hospital library and checked up on her original diagnosis and treatment. She knew she had carpal tunnel syndrome and the books described it in detail. They also mentioned that it occasionally led to another condition… Reflex Sympathetic Dystrophy.

Sharon's problems started when she got a new job. Her son, James had just started Play School and she took the opportunity to broaden her world by taking a job at the local psychiatric hospital. It was a part-time appointment, which fitted in fine with James' hours at the Play School; it would expand her horizons and get her meeting new people. The job was demanding, but she didn't mind that… until she got carpal tunnel syndrome. The carpal tunnel is the channel in our wrist which tendons and nerves pass through to control our fingers. Women are the most usual CTS sufferers; especially those who use their fingers a lot, such as typists, data entry operators, pianists and housewives.

Sharon gave up the job, knowing that she could no longer do it properly. She waited six months for an operation to relieve the CTS but, when the bandages came off, her problem was much worse. The pain was indescribable and her hand was locked in a hook shape, with her fingers unable to move. Frequent hospital visits during the following six months produced no further progress until the day her consultant was on holiday. The locum doctor produced the breakthrough she needed; he recognised the symptoms of RSD and sent her for a bone scan to confirm the diagnosis. But the results would not be available until after Christmas. When she next went to the hospital she was seen by the usual consultant.
"You're fine", he told her, "But you should have some physiotherapy."
This was the fob-off that sent Sharon scurrying for her medical records and led to the confrontation during her next visit.