It’s something all of us zebras are familiar with. We’re experiencing some new symptom. We go to the doctor, and they order some tests. But the tests all come back… negative? Where do we go from there? A negative isn’t a positive.
A test coming back negative for something really isn’t helpful. Positive test results mean a diagnosis. And a diagnosis means treatment. Even if the diagnosis is something scary, it’s still something you can deal with head-on. It’s not more questions. It’s not more people telling you what you’re experiencing isn’t real because there’s no official diagnosis on it. And believe me, it can be hard to get people to take you seriously if you don’t have a diagnosis- both among your average person, and also with doctors.
So what do you do when you get a negative test result? Often, it’s not just as simple as “get another test” or “find a new doctor.” Sometimes, you’re already seeing the best person for the job, and the diagnosis isn’t one that’s going to be found through tests.
Sometimes, it just takes some really good guess-work.
For instance, between 5 and 20 percent of all people will test positive on an ANA (antinuclear antibody) blood test. This is a common test for an autoimmune condition; pretty much every one of them has a positive ANA test as a requirement for diagnosis (See? A positive isn’t a negative, just like a positive isn’t a negative). But that being said, only around 7 percent (and growing) of the population has an autoimmune condition.
So if as many as 20 percent of people have positive ANA results, but only a little over 7 percent of people have the conditions that are indicated by this test, what do we do with this information? Well, a lot of doctors will see a positive ANA test, and if none of the other “common” tests show something, dismiss it as you just being among that percent of the population who has raised ANA levels but no condition.
That’s where the good doctors come in. The good doctors will recognize that some things don’t present typically, and therefore may not present typically in tests. They also are the ones that realize that sometimes the best way to make a diagnosis is to take a look at the symptoms, use their medical knowledge, and make a guess.
Yep, you heard me right.
Sometimes, the best doctors can do is guess, and that’s okay. Because a good doctor who’s making a guess will know how to proceed from there. Often, that’ll mean figuring out a treatment plan.
Let’s put it this way- if it looks like a duck and talks like a duck, chances are pretty good it’s a duck, even if you can’t do genetic testing on it to prove that it’s a duck.
It’s something I’ve experienced more than once, where a diagnosis has been achieved through treatment rather than testing. And from talking to friends, it’s not that uncommon. Your doctor has a theory, standard testing can’t or won’t give them an answer, so they treat what they think it is. If the treatment works, they’re right and you’ve got both your diagnosis and your treatment. They’re wrong, and it’s all back to square one.
As I’ve talked about before, sometimes it can take a while to get to your destination. And sometimes it takes some guesswork to get there. But a negative test result isn’t a positive when you’re dealing with a new symptom.
Until next time.
-Nick