Misdiagnosis of Gastroparesis

Alternative diagnoses list for Gastroparesis:

For a diagnosis of Gastroparesis, the following list of conditions have been mentioned in sources as possible alternative diagnoses to consider during the diagnostic process for Gastroparesis:

• Mechanical obstruction of stomach
• Small intestine
• Colon
• Early dumping syndrome
• Diabetic diarrhea
• Gas
• Gastrointestinal obstruction
• Eating disorder
• Bulimia
• Anorexia nervosa
• Stomach flu
• Stress
• Gastrointestinal infection
• Peptic ulcer disease
• Cytomegalovirus gastritis
• Pancreatitis
• Metabolic disease
• Drug toxicity
• Mechanical gastrointestinal obstruction
• Inflammatory gastrointestinal disease
• Neuropathic disease
• Hormonal disorder
• Post-operative state
• Primary central nervous disease
• Celiac disease
• Gluten sensitivity
• Gall bladder disease
• Dyspepsia
• Eosinophilic gastroenteritis

Diseases for which Gastroparesis may be an alternative diagnosis

The other diseases for which Gastroparesis is listed as a possible alternative diagnosis in their lists include:

• Diabetic Diarrhea
• GAS

Gastroparesis: Hidden Causes Misdiagnosed?

Causes of Gastroparesis may include these medical conditions:

• Functional gastroparesis
• Type 1 diabetes
• Type 2 diabetes - though gastroparesis is less common than for Type 1 diabetes
• Gallbladder disease
• Pancreatitis
• Postviral syndromes
• more causes...»

Rare Types of Gastroparesis:

• Diabetic gastroparesis
• Idiopathic gastroparesis
• More rare types »

Gastroparesis: Medical Mistakes

Related medical mistakes may include:

• Diabetes -- Health Mistakes
• Hypertension -- Health Mistakes
• Cholesterol -- Health Mistakes
• Obesity -- Health Mistakes
• Metabolic Syndrome -- Health Mistakes
• more mistakes...»

Gastroparesis: Undiagnosed Conditions

Commonly undiagnosed conditions in related areas may include:

• Chronic Digestive Disorders that can remain Undiagnosed:
  • Crohn's Disease -- Undiagnosed
  • Ulcerative Colitis -- Undiagnosed
  • Celiac Disease -- Undiagnosed
  • Heartburn -- Undiagnosed
  • GERD -- Undiagnosed
  • Inflammatory Bowel Disease -- Undiagnosed
  • Irritable Bowel Syndrome -- Undiagnosed
  • Carcinoid Syndrome -- Undiagnosed
  • Pancreatitis -- Undiagnosed
• more undiagnosed conditions...»

In-Depth Reports: Diagnosis and Misdiagnosis

Diabetes diagnosis and misdiagnosis (In-Depth Report): Detailed report on diabetes misdiagnoses, rare curable types, and less common diagnostic issues....read full report »

Read more about Misdiagnosis and Gastroparesis

Common Misdiagnoses and Gastroparesis

Metabolic syndrome often undiagnosed: Metabolic syndrome, also known as Syndrome X, is an often overlooked medical condition that causes a cluster of chronic symptoms. There are often four symptoms and conditions combined: obesity, hypertension (high blood pressure), high cholesterol, and diabetes (Type 2 diabetes) or in come cases pre-diabetes initially. See the introduction to metabolic syndrome.

Heart attacks can be undiagnosed: Although the most severe symptoms of heart attack are hard to miss, there are varying degrees of severity. It is altogether too common for people to die from undiagnosed heart attack, or from delaying too long to call for emergency help. The prognosis for treatment is far better for patients treated in the early stages of a heart attack. The most common misdiagnoses include heartburn, or other less severe causes of chest pain. See the introduction to heart attack and the symptoms of heart attack.

Heart attacks can be overdiagnosed: Although many people die from heart attacks, there are also many cases where people fear that they have a heart attack, but actually have something milder. Some of the conditions which may be causes of chest pain, causing fear of a heart attack, including an anxiety attack, heartburn, and so on. See the causes of chest pain and the symptoms of heart attack.

Cluster of diseases with difficult diagnosis issues: There is a well-known list of medical conditions that are all somewhat difficult to diagnose, and all can present in a variety of different severities. Diseases in this group include multiple sclerosis, lupus, Lyme disease, fibromyalgia, thyroid disorders (hypothyroidism or hyperthyroidism), chronic fatigue syndrome, diabetes - all of these can have vague symptoms in their early presentations. Also, depression can have some symptoms similar to these conditions, and also the reverse, that many of these conditions can mimic depression and be misdiagnosed as depression.

Chronic digestive conditions often misdiagnosed: When diagnosing chronic symptoms of the digestive tract, there are a variety of conditions that may be misdiagnosed. The best known, irritable bowel syndrome, is over-diagnosed, whereas other causes that are less known may be overlooked or misdiagnosed: celiac disease, Crohn's disease, ulcerative colitis (both are called inflammatory bowel disease (IBD)), diabetic gastroparesis, diabetic diarrhea. Other possibilities include giardia, colon cancer, or other chronic infections.

Intestinal bacteria disorder may be hidden cause: One of the lesser known causes of diarrhea is an imbalance of bacterial in the gut, sometimes called intestinal imbalance. The digestive system contains a variety of "good" bacteria that aid digestion, and they can decline for various reasons, leading to digestive symptoms such as diarrhea. The main treatment is to eat foods containing probiotics, typically yoghurt cultures. See intestinal imbalance and probiotics.

Antibiotics often causes diarrhea: The use of antibiotics are very likely to cause some level of diarrhea in patients. The reason is that antibiotics kill off not only "bad" bacteria, but can also kill the "good" bacteria in the gut. This leads to "digestive imbalance" where there are too few remaining "good" bacteria in the digestive system. The treatment is typically to use "probiotics", such as by eating yoghurt cultures containing more of the good bacteria. See digestive imbalance and probiotics.

Food poisoning may actually be an infectious disease: Many people who come down with "stomach symptoms" like diarrhea assume that it's "something I ate" (i.e. food poisoning). In fact, it's more likely to be an infectious diarrheal illness (i.e. infectious diarrhea), that has been caught from another person. Such conditions may be transmitted via the fecal-oral route.

Mesenteric adenitis misdiagnosed as appendicitis in children: Because appendicitis is one of the more feared conditions for a child with abdominal pain, it can be over-diagnosed (it can, of course, also fail to be diagnosed with fatal effect). One of the most common misdiagnosed is for children with mesenteric adenitis to be misdiagnosed as appendicitis. Fortunately, thus misdiagnosis is usually less serious than the reverse failure to diagnose appendicitis.

Poorly healing leg rashes a classic sign of chronic disease: Recurring leg rashes, or poorly healing leg rashes, are a classic sign of undiagnosed diabetes, particularly of Type 2 diabetes, but also Type 1 diabetes. They can also occur with poor diabetic control. However, there are many other possible causes of leg rashes. See causes of leg rash or misdiagnosis of diabetes.

Leg cramps at night a classic sign: The symptom of having leg muscle cramps, particularly at night, is a classic sign of undiagnosed diabetes. However, there are also various other causes. See causes of leg cramps or misdiagnosis of diabetes.

Celiac disease often fails to be diagnosed cause of chronic digestive symptoms: One of the most common chronic digestive conditions is celiac disease, a malabsorption disorder with a variety of symptoms (see symptoms of celiac disease). A variety of other chronic digestive disorders tend to be diagnosed rather than this condition. See introduction to celiac disease or misdiagnosis of celiac disease.

Obesity-related conditions undiagnosed in children: A variety of conditions are associated with obesity (see obesity), but these tend to be undiagnosed more often in child patients than in adults. Some of the overlooked conditions may include hypertension, diabetes, acanthosis nigricans, etc. See misdiagnosis of obesity or introduction to obesity.

Chronic digestive diseases hard to diagnose: There is an inherent difficulty in diagnosing the various types of chronic digestive diseases. Some of the better known possibilities are peptic ulcer, colon cancer, irritable bowel syndrome, or GERD. Other sometimes overlooked possibilities include Crohn's disease, ulcerative colitis, chronic appendicitis, Celiac disease, Carcinoid syndrome, gastroparesis, and others. See all types of chronic digestive diseases.

Gastroparesis: Rare Types

Rare types of medical disorders and diseases in related medical areas:

• Chronic Digestive Disorders -- Rare Types:
  • Crohn's Disease -- Rare Types
  • Ulcerative Colitis -- Rare Types
  • Celiac Disease -- Rare Types
  • Inflammatory Bowel Disease -- Rare Types
  • Irritable Bowel Syndrome -- Rare Types
  • Carcinoid Syndrome -- Rare Types
  • Pancreatitis -- Rare Types
  • Gallstones -- Rare Types
  • Lactose Intolerance -- Rare Types
  • Peptic Ulcer -- Rare Types
  • Colon Cancer -- Rare Types
  • more ...»
• Chronic Major Diseases -- Rare Types:
  • High Cholesterol -- Rare Types
  • Heart Disease -- Rare Types
  • Cancer -- Rare Types
  • Depression -- Rare Types
  • Type 2 Diabetes -- Rare Types
  • Type 1 Diabetes -- Rare Types
  • Hypertension -- Rare Types
  • Hemochromatosis -- Rare Types
  • Metabolic Syndrome -- Rare Types
  • Thyroid Disease -- Rare Types
• more rare diseases...»

Failure To Diagnose Gastroparesis

Failure to diagnose Gastroparesis may be associated with the following:

• Failure to diagnose gastroparesis can lead to malnutrition and dehydration
• Failure to diagnose gastroparesis can cause bacterial overgrowth as the food is not being pushed through the digestive system
• Undiagnosed gastroparesis can lead to the formation of bezoars (solid masses of food) which is dangerous as it blocks the digestive system. Nausea and vomiting can occur when a bezoar develops
• Undiagnosed gastroparesis is dangerous for diabetics as the slow passage of food through the digestive system and vomiting makes sugar control more difficult. This can exacerbate the symptoms of both conditions and lead to complications
• Often gastroparesis remains undiagnosed because the abdominal symptoms are non-specific and are readily attributable to other causes
• Because no cause can be found for many cases of gastroparesis, medical professionals tend to insinuate that the symptoms being experience are imagined rather than real
• Many patients suffer with the symptoms of gastroparesis for years before they are finally diagnosed accurately
• Because diabetic gastroparesis usually occurs after many years of suffering from diabetes, health professionals tend to dismiss gastroparesis in patients who have stomach complaints but have only had diabetes for a relatively short time
• A gastric emptying test is often used to diagnose gastroparesis. However, a negative result from this test does not conclusively determine that a diabetic patient does not have gastroparesis. Stomachs of diabetics can be unpredictable an may have sporadic periods of normal and abnormal functioning so testing for gastroparesis must be repeated or other testing methods used if the results are negative but the patients is suffering symptoms that indicate gastroparesis
• The failure to diagnose gastroparesis can result in sepsis due to a bacterial infection that results in food sitting in the digestive system for too long and rotting

Notes On Hidden Causes Of Gastroparesis

The following may be hidden causes of Gastroparesis:

• Hidden causes of gastroparesis include alcohol, viral infection, anorexia nervosa, bulimia, gastroesophageal reflux disease, amyloidosis, nervous system diseases (abdominal migraine, Parkinson's disease, stroke, brain injury), metabolic disorders and hypothyroidism
• Other causes of gastroparesis include certain stomach surgeries (vagotomy, fundoplication), connective tissue disorders (scleroderma), lupus erythematosus, vasculitides, myopathic disorders (muscular dystrophy) and thyroid dysfunction
• Medications that can cause gastroparesis includes chemotherapy, aspirin, NSAID medication, anticholinergics, narcotics, calcium channel blocking medications, clonidine, dopamine agonists, lithium, nicotine, progesterone containing medications and tricyclic antidepressants
• Although infrequent, adrenal and thyroid problems can cause gastroparesis
• Diabetes is a common cause of gastroparesis and over a third of cases have no detectable cause
• Surgery for gall bladder removal can result in gastroparesis
• A lung transplant may be an underlying cause of gastroparesis

Notes On Wrong Diagnosis Of Gastroparesis

Wrong diagnosis of Gastroparesis may be associated with the following:

• Gastroparesis is frequently misdiagnosed because the symptoms are wide-ranging and variable and the condition may be mild or severe and occur sporadically in some patients and frequently in others

Complications Of Misdiagnosis Of Gastroparesis

The following may be complications of misdiagnosis of Gastroparesis:

• Stomach symptoms caused by gastroparesis has been misdiagnosed as stomach flu and stress
• Often teenage girls who present with stomach symptoms and weight loss due to gastroparesis are misdiagnosed with an eating disorder
• Gastroparesis is often misdiagnosed as a viral infection
• Stomach symptoms due to gastroparesis are often misdiagnosed as a psychological problem

Other Notes On Misdiagnosis Of Gastroparesis

• Symptoms may be exacerbated by diets which are high in fiber or fat and carbonated drinks
• Gastroparesis in patients who only present with nausea may be difficult to diagnose
• Misdiagnosis of gastroparesis can result in unnecessary surgery such as gallbladder removal
• Misdiagnosis of gastroparesis can result in use of medications which may exacerbate gastroparesis symptoms

General Misdiagnosis Articles

Read these general articles with an overview of misdiagnosis issues.

• Misdiagnosis Overview
• How Common is Misdiagnosis?
• Over-Diagnosed Diseases
• Under-Diagnosed Diseases
• Types of Misdiagnosis
• Wrong Type Misdiagnosis
• Why Does Misdiagnosis Occur?
• Difficult Diseases to Diagnose
• More premium medical articles ...

About misdiagnosis:

When checking for a misdiagnosis of Gastroparesis or confirming a diagnosis of Gastroparesis, it is useful to consider what other medical conditions might be possible misdiagnoses or other alternative conditions relevant to diagnosis. These alternate diagnoses of Gastroparesis may already have been considered by your doctor or may need to be considered as possible alternative diagnoses or candidates for misdiagnosis of Gastroparesis. For a general overview of misdiagnosis issues for all diseases, see Overview of Misdiagnosis.

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