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Teen diagnoses her own disease in science class
cnn ^ | 6/11/09 | Elizabeth Cohen

Posted on 06/11/2009 9:05:50 AM PDT by JoeProBono

For eight years, Jessica Terry suffered from stomach pain so horrible, it brought her to her knees. The pain, along with diarrhea, vomiting and fever, made her so sick, she lost weight and often had to miss school. During a science class, Jessica Terry, 18, discovered a tell-tale granuloma in her own pathology slide. During a science class, Jessica Terry, 18, discovered a tell-tale granuloma in her own pathology slide. Her doctors, no matter how hard they tried, couldn't figure out the cause of Jessica's abdominal distress.

Then one day in January, Terry, 18, figured it out on her own. In her Advanced Placement high school science class, she was looking under the microscope at slides of her own intestinal tissue -- slides her pathologist had said were completely normal -- and spotted an area of inflamed tissue called a granuloma, a clear indication that she had Crohn's disease. "It's weird I had to solve my own medical problem," Terry told CNN affiliate KOMO in Seattle, Washington. "There were just no answers anywhere. ... I was always sick." Terry, who graduated from Eastside Catholic School in Sammamish, Washington, this month, is now being treated for Crohn's, says her science teacher, MaryMargaret Welch.

(Excerpt) Read more at cnn.com ...


TOPICS: Health/Medicine
KEYWORDS: crohnsdisease; diagnoses
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Comment #41 Removed by Moderator

To: weef

Infernal Triangle: AMA,FDA,Drug Companies: If YOU are healthy THEY go broke......there is NO percentage in having us healthy...profit is not a dirty word until people suffer needlessly.

Have not been to Doctors in 37 years..No colds, no flu, nothing except some seasonal allergies.

I do read their medical journals. They have known how to prevent or reverse diabetes (chromium & vanadium) since about 1959.

I had poor balance...supplemented diet with niacin (B vitamin ..medical profession did studies on this in the 1930’s) increased my fruit intake, threw away the cane I used within 2 weeks have not used one for years....Better shape now than I was 20 years ago.

I will call a Doctor for a broken bone OR IF I NEED A CORONER! lol


42 posted on 06/11/2009 11:05:25 AM PDT by outhousepatrol
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To: fr_freak
Because these days doctors are largely incompetent, apathetic boobs who can't be bothered to spend more than 5 minutes thinking about any one patient's condition.

Had a problem with your doctor recently I see.

Please speak of your own experience and do not attempt to speak for all or about all.

43 posted on 06/11/2009 11:10:41 AM PDT by Gabz
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To: weef
Most doctors are incompetent. I fear the day I will need surgery.

Oh puleeeeeze. Just because most doctors you consulted were incompetent, which suggests possible incompetence on your part in finding a good doctor, does not mean most doctors are incompetent.

44 posted on 06/11/2009 11:14:34 AM PDT by Gabz
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To: JoeProBono

Sure hope she got an “A” in that class!


45 posted on 06/11/2009 11:30:09 AM PDT by SuziQ
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To: willyd

I’ve got Crohn’s. It damned near killed me four years ago. Terrible disease that cannot be cured.


46 posted on 06/11/2009 11:30:12 AM PDT by Virginia Ridgerunner (Sarah Palin is a smart missile aimed at the heart of the left!)
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To: Virginia Ridgerunner

A close relative was diagnosed with Crohn’s and suffered for five years then had a “spontaneous remission” and has had no symptoms in 10 years.Stuff happens. Hang in there FRiend.


47 posted on 06/11/2009 11:35:10 AM PDT by JoeProBono (A closed mouth gathers no feet)
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To: Vaduz
Why not??????

Exactly that. When I read the brief description of her symptoms, my first thought was that it was Crohn's disease.

48 posted on 06/11/2009 11:53:16 AM PDT by IYAS9YAS
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To: Gabz
Had a problem with your doctor recently I see.

Please speak of your own experience and do not attempt to speak for all or about all.


I've had serious problems with multiple doctors on multiple occasions, and have had contact with quite a number of people with serious illnesses who have shared many similar horror stories with me.

And I'll state my opinion any way I please, so you can keep your schoolmarm attitude. Thanks.
49 posted on 06/11/2009 11:53:18 AM PDT by fr_freak
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To: fr_freak

State your opinion any way you want, just expect you will be called upon it by people with a different opinion.

“Schoolmarm attitude????” Me? That’s a laugh. But thanks for the compliment.


50 posted on 06/11/2009 12:01:12 PM PDT by Gabz
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To: CholeraJoe
Then next time you are seriously injured or are having severe chest pain, why don't you call a faith healer or a massage therapist?

After several years of dealing with multiple doctors, my attitude now is that I'll go to a doctor for any obvious problem, such as a bone sticking out of my leg or some such thing, but going to a doctor when you have a non-obvious problem WITHOUT doing the research to diagnose yourself first is a waste of time. The doctor will most likely reach for the easiest diagnosis even if he has to ignore half your symptoms to do so, and will prescribe you medication that either does nothing, or makes the problem worse.
51 posted on 06/11/2009 12:02:19 PM PDT by fr_freak
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To: Scythian

I really don’t wanna swap strep... ;-)


52 posted on 06/11/2009 12:03:04 PM PDT by mouse_35
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To: Gabz
State your opinion any way you want, just expect you will be called upon it by people with a different opinion.

I take it you are in the medical profession, eh? Is that why you are so sensitive about this?
53 posted on 06/11/2009 12:04:05 PM PDT by fr_freak
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To: fr_freak

I’m sorry you feel that way. Perhaps you will be treated better under Obamacare.


54 posted on 06/11/2009 12:04:34 PM PDT by CholeraJoe (Was it over when the Bugs nuked Buenos Aires? No!!)
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To: JoeProBono

Well too bad she didn’t Obama’s health care plan...she wouldn’t have had to hear the bad news for at least another 4 years...


55 posted on 06/11/2009 12:09:31 PM PDT by surfer
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To: Blueflag
Shame on her docs. Crohn’s is not a difficult diagnosis.

My personal experience has been that lots of docs miss lots of easy calls.

Lots.

56 posted on 06/11/2009 12:24:32 PM PDT by TankerKC (01/20/09 = 09/10/01)
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To: CholeraJoe
I’m sorry you feel that way. Perhaps you will be treated better under Obamacare.

Under Obamacare, I probably wouldn't even bother going to the doctor with the bone sticking out of my leg. They'd make me wait 3 weeks anyway.
57 posted on 06/11/2009 12:24:35 PM PDT by fr_freak
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To: CholeraJoe
I’m sorry you feel that way. Perhaps you will be treated better under Obamacare.

I wish I didn't have to pile on, but I'm the one who found that my son was allergic to milk, not the pediatrician I saw repeatedly with a screaming baby. I also diagnosed my own pelvic pain after being told I had to live with it.

Good doctors are worth their weight in gold. But sometimes they are way too damn dismissive.

58 posted on 06/11/2009 12:37:01 PM PDT by Dianna (Obama Barbie: Governing is hard.)
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To: CholeraJoe

Another one? Let’s bash trial lawyers instead. ;)


59 posted on 06/11/2009 1:08:31 PM PDT by secret garden (Dubiety reigns here)
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To: jakerobins

I basically diagnosed my own lupus. Doctors had just been treating the symptoms for years, but never connecting the dots.
We received a solicitation letter from the Lupus Foundation which had a list of 10 symptoms which might indicate one had Lupus, I had 8 of the 10. I took the list to my internist and she sent me to a rheumatologist. BINGO. After 12 years of suffering I finally had some answers!


60 posted on 06/11/2009 1:18:13 PM PDT by kalee (01/20/13 The end of an error.... Obama even worse than Carter.)
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