Another mystery diagnosis...solved

While eating dinner tonight, I caught the tail end of Mystery Diagnosis, on TLC. Last time I watched it, John (my roommate) and I were able to diagnose Sjögren Syndrome pretty easily, which made me feel pretty smart. Today, the woman was complaining initially of trouble breathing, and then pain/weakness in her hands. Since it was towards the end of the show, they already said that she had been diagnosed with interstitial lung disease. As soon as I heard the symptoms, I was pretty sure she had an autoimmune disease. In the end, she wound up also having leg muscle pain (which further supported an autoimmune disease) and was diagnosed with polymyositis. I didn't specifically come up with her having that particular disease, but it is an autoimmune disease. Besides, polymyositis is really a kind of cop-out diagnosis anyway (it means lots of muscles with inflammation). Also, if you're not familiar with the show, it follows around patients who have diseases that stumped many doctors and often took many years to diagnose. So, I think I'm doing pretty good coming up with an underlying cause in less than 15 minutes.

Sometimes medical school sucks, but it's always nice to get a little reminder that you are actually learning (and remembering) a lot!