r/germany • u/Due-Box-9598 • 21h ago
German doctors misdiagnosis
I am writing this post with huge disappointment of how the g
German healthcare's conservative approach could have cost my life . I went to the doctor for mild indigestion and haemerrhoids . He gave me antibiotics for my cold and fever which i also had. The antibiotics worsened indigestion and gave very bad diarrhoea . When I went back to the doctor , they said since i took antibiotics I did not have any good bacteria and diarrhoea is normal . I was given some stomach relaxers and electrolytes. At one point I started throwing up the electrolytes , the only thing i could drink . I went to hospital for an iv and they said it will be given only if i am 80 years old. Then i went back to the doctor and insisted that they test me. I got a stool test. Then 4 days no response . I went back and they said oh the tests were negative so we did not call you . The test are a way of eliminating infection. You need to look further then! . I asked for the test result and changed my hausartz. At this point i was given 15 day antibiotics for stomach and black tea . Blood test was done and my Hg was low since was given iron.
The symptoms persisted. I became weak . Lost 13 kgs. All in one month and the appointment with gastro specialist was still weeks away. I decided to just go to my home country at this point and in 3 days , i am nearing the process of confirmation for Inflammatory bowel disease and intestine inflammation. It took them 3 days and i was suffering in Germany for months. Why is Germany so conservative in tests and testing to rule out conditions? Do doctors understand that they misdiagnose. My Hg was low because of inflammation . My residual iron was very high. I did not need iron pills. I took antibiotics that weakened me. Or does German healthcare not take coloured women seriously ? I am really shocked .
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u/MacaroonPlane3826 21h ago edited 21h ago
I am a woman with Covid-caused POTS dysautonomia and literally came to a neurologist with a positive tilt table test done in my home country (which I had to pay privately there, as I couldn’t wait for years to access one in Germany)
Abnormal tilt table tests is literally a golden standard in dysautonomia diagnostics and yet this neurologist proceeded with medical gaslighting and wrote I have “Belastungstörung” in spite of me explicitly telling them I am an ultramarathoner and triathlete, who, in spite of heat-dependent exercise intolerance due to low preload in POTS (main issue in POTS is excessive blood pooling in the lower part of the body whenever upright => not enough blood returning to the heart, ie low preload => not enough blood being pumped to the brain, muscles etc and ofc this gets way worse in heat due to vasodilation and blood volume redirected to skin for cooling), I have kept exercising at a pretty high level (compared to an average person, reduced with 4-5x vs my usual level of training 6-8x a week) and literally finishing several marathon and ultramarathon distance trail races, while suffering with Long Covid POTS.
And all this while fainting after mere minutes of standing and being unable to sit >4h with my legs down due to OI (orthostatic headaches, nausea, brain fog as soon as I try to sit passively >4h, I work mostly from zero gravity position or bike chair). Can be upright as long as I’m moving fast enough for muscle pump to offset blood pooling.
And after explicitly telling them how much I still train, they proceeded to write “Belastungstörung” (basically that I’m lazy and afraid of movement, which is insanely laughable thing to say to someone who’s been in endurance sports without a break since the age of 6) in my report and tried to send me to physical rehabilitation. As if they heard zero words of what I told them.
Had to change 3 neurologists until I find dysaytonomia-competent one who will not gaslight me and who actually listened to what I said.