Were you ever seriously misdiagnosed while in the military? The problem is often more complex than you think.

I was MediVac'd out of Iraq in Dec of 2009 for a ruptured disc in my lower back. I went to Landstuhl for initial eval and then sent on to Brooke Army Med Center (BAMC) for further eval. On the 5th of Jan 2010 the neurosurgeon performed a discectomy, laminectomy, and an Open Transforaminal Lumbar Interbody Fusion (TLIF) fusing my L4-L5 vertebrae. This next part is a little hazy but when I awoke in the recovery room it felt like my right leg was going to explode. I was in the 7th level of Hell and screaming did no good. The nursing staff responded by giving me massive doses of morphine. I would drift in and out of consciousness waking only to scream while writhing in indescribable pain. I eventually went into acute respiratory failure and aspirated my own stomach fluids. I awoke to a crash team working to revive me. I had checked out of the net and only the quick thinking of a young 2LT nurse saved my life. He shot me up with Narcan which cancelled all the opiates out of my body. I remember this part very clearly. Two doctors were trying to determine if I'd had a heart attack, I was screaming and choking on my own puke, and an older woman nurse was whispering in my ear that everything would be alright. I asked for my wife and they said they'd sent her back to the hotel. I figured they didn't want her to see me die. Then someone pushed me forward to slide a film tray behind my back so they could take a chest x-ray and I felt a white hot stab of pain that went thru my entire body and I screamed so loud that I passed out. I next awoke 5 days later intubated in the ICU. The neurosurgeon had cork-screwed and crushed my L5 nerve root with a pedicle screw you'd have to see to believe. I would go on to have an additional 3 fusion surgeries (L4-S1) both Posterior and Anterior (back and front) and I have a spinal cord stimulator and an intrathecal pain pump to help me deal with lower back pain. I was eventually medically retired at 100% and I will face a lifelong challenge with basic activities of daily living.

Back. right after 9/11, the Army had a catch-all diagnosis for soldiers seeing a mental health professional: personality disorder. Today, many of those soldiers would be considered a PTSD case.
Husband was discharged with it. RE code 3. Been re-diagnosed several times with no such disorder.A great soldier with multiple awards, prior Spec Ops selection, and dropped like a hot potato. No chance of reentry because he must appeal directly to the Board in D.C for change of code.
*sigh* A second opinion can save your life. Yes. And sometimes, it comes too late.
Glad somebody caught your issue in time. Spinal problems are nothing to play "hit and miss" about!

Yes. One time I was diagnosed as being completely sane. Took some fighting, but I showed them.

Middle of the afternoon, chatting with the BN master gunner, started feeling light headed, short of breath, and an odd pain in my chest.

Aid station couldn't help, so I went to the ER.

ER immediately hooked me up to a heart monitor, and found nothing wrong.

They took an X-ray of my chest and found nothing wrong.

Grasping at straws, they had me drink a nasty concoction to numb my throat (thinking acid reflux). Didn't work.

Send me home with a 3 day no PT profile.

The next afternoon the hospital called me at the motor pool and asked me to come back in. Turns out a SPC medic noticed a collapsed lung (they are not as obvious as you might suspect) on the X-ray that the doc had missed.

I had a TSgt who worked for me and then he transferred to our HQ. He got sick and they diagnosed as Lupus. They wanted to medically retire him and he fought it. Our general got involved to no avail. The medically retired him. About four years later they examined him and said he didn't have Lupus after all. They told him he had to go back on active duty or take a lump sum (small lump sum). By that time he had of course excepted the medical retirement and had a good civilian career going for him so he decided to just take the money. He died about 8 years after that, with guess what? Lupus!

I fully understand all and agree there is nothing wrong with a second opinion. Remember this, just like anything else not all Providers are created equal and not all medics know what they think they know. Your MD's/DO's that come in to practice are 99% straight out of school and have had no residency yet, which means they are just GP's (general practitioners). Don't expect much, but the smart ones will realize their scope of practice and punt you to a specialist.

I have been in medicine for a long time now, I have learned a great deal and truly care about my Marines/Sailors and anybody else that walks into my office.

A good Practitioner will take the time a listen to and treat the patient as a whole. That is why I am applying to DO school when I get back, I love their Philosophy on medicine and how they work with their patients as a team. Not that Allopathic (MD's) are bad by any means I just prefer the Osteopathic approach to medicine.

Reading some of ya'lls horror stories make my ordeal sound petty but at 26 years old I feel like an old woman lol. I was involved in a motor vehicle accident at the age of 22 before my first deployment and by the time we got back from 15 months in Iraq, I started going to our MTF because of the pain in my neck and back. They did usual xrays, mri's, treatment with muscle relaxers, those lidocaine patches, physical therapy, the usual. It wasn't until I got to Fort Bragg when my pain started to escalate and I was having days where I felt like I was going to die. Turns out my C3/4/5/6 vertebra and T spine are severely damaged so I was thrown around between different pain clinics, was told I'm too young for surgery, and now I'm finally at a pain management clinic where I can still function. But yeah, 26 years old screwed up back for the rest of my life.....lovely. Anyone else have chronic back pain?

I was diagnosed as being able to tolerate large amounts of bovine fecal matter, when in reality I have a severe anaphylactic reaction to it.

Turns out it's a Med DQ. ;)

I was going through my medical records since I'm filing a VA disability claim, and I shit you not, I have a diagnosis of "vaginal bleeding" in my file.

When I really stopped and thought about it, it really kinda summed up my 12 years of service ;)

I hope this does not sound like a pat on the back for me, or a my profession is the best post, but, as an Army Physical Therapist, I have revised many orthopedic diagnoses that were sent to me from the Medical side. The biggest thing that I have seen in my 20 years as a PT (civilian and military) is that if you listen and ask the right questions you can have your problem answered before you touch a patient. Then, you can fine-tune your tests for a definitive diagnosis and treatment plan, which in my case has been immediate referral out of my clinic for more definitive care because the problem was out of my scope of practice.