Aston sought medical help after her symptoms—which included severe migraines, abdominal pain, joint dislocations, easy bruising, iron deficiency, fainting, tachycardia, and multiple injuries—began in 2015, per the New Zealand Herald. She was referred to Auckland Hospital, where a doctor accused her of causing her own illness. Because of his accusations, Aston was placed on psychiatric watch.
Research suggests women are often much more likely to be misdiagnosed than men. A 2009 study of patients with heart disease symptoms found 31.3 per cent of middle-aged women “received a mental health condition as the most certain diagnosis”, compared to just 15.6 per cent of their male counterparts. Additionally, a 2020 study found that as many as 75.2 per cent of patients with endometriosis—a painful disorder that affects the tissue of the uterus—had been misdiagnosed after they started experiencing endometriosis symptoms. Among those women, nearly 50 per cent were told they had a “mental health problem”.
As soon as I saw the symptom list I immediately thought “This sounds like EDS”. But I see Zebras because I have EDS
A friend of mine has it too and I recognised the symptoms straight away. Ridiculous how hard you have to fight for a diagnosis. EDS may be rare but it’s hardly unheard of! I hope you’re doing ok.
Thanks. I luckily have a relatively minor case (chronic pain and joint laxity sucks, but I can hold a full time job).
I’m just glad there is more awareness and more resources than a decade ago. I built the EDS subreddit, but I think I’m going to leave that to others on Lemmy.